Travel

[haddon9]

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@Caffeina wrote:

My Chase Visa has free trip cancellation/interruption insurance when using it to buy airline tickets. Check and see if you have a card that has that benefit.

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@Caffeina  I have a Chase Visa & will have to check!

[Boehm Collector]

@bargainsgirl ... I would never travel abroad without it.  Have purchased it from World Nomads the last two times we went to Italy.  But I think I will go through my AAA  for our trip to Italy in September.  

[Stray]

I would never travel without it.  We use AIG.  Last year we were in Thailand for a month.  My DH became ill suddenly and was admitted to ICU and hospitalized 4 days.  We had pharmacy expenses, follow up care & issuance of fit to fly certificate.  With travel insurance, you can go to a private hospital which is pricier but standards comparable to Europe/USA.  AIG coordinated care at the hospital, assisted with travel home and paid 100% of our expenses, no complicated paperwork & an agent of AIG called me daily.  When you are in a foreign country & encounter language barriers when someone is seriously ill, well, insurance is priceless & so is the coordination by experienced people. 

I must say tho not the subject, I wish we had the same level of care & caregivers here as we did in Thailand.  Immaculate hospital, competent & caring professionals.  Upon returning to the US, all records including scans were presented to us by the hospital, our physician at a major NYC teaching hospital stated he was impressed with the level of care. 

[Bibione]

I have flown to Italy about 30 times to visit my parents.Only in the last 3 years I have purchased insurance.Two years ago I had to change flight dates because my mother went to the E.R..in Italy.

I sent Allianz all flight and medical documents,I recieved a check for the 750 dollars I paid to fly 2 weeks earlier.

Now I buy insurance even for concert tickets.That same year I had tickets to see Lady Gaga,but because I had to go to Italy earlier I missed the show.

[Financialgrl]

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@Miss Shelly wrote:

We travel a few times a year.  Sometimes out of the country, other times within USA, and cruises.    We purchase an annual travel policy from Allianz.  My main concern is medical evacuation. It also covers medical expenses, trip interruption, lost luggage and a lot of other things.   The policy was about $450 for the year and covers both myself and husband.  Gives me peace of mind. 

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I never buy it when in the US.  Instead I buy refundable flights and the last trip I took there was hotel cancellation up to the day before.  Medical evacuation was always my worry as well. I used to take a lot of cruises.  Travel agent used to get us a policy with coverage for $1M medical evacuation bc getting you off a ship during an emergency is extremely expensive.

Took many cruises and the very last one I took - there were 2 onboard medical emergencies.  The first was able to remain in the infirmary under the care of the ship doctor/nurses and taken off ship once we hit port - it happened at night on an Alaska cruise - so they made an announcement that the ship was speeding up to get to port quicker - and we would miss the sailing by Mendenhall Glacier at 6:30 am.  They made the announcement bc the ship now would now not be in the path.  

On the return trip they also had a helo evacuation for someone that had a stroke while onboard.  We knew something was happening bc you could hear the announcements for medical staff and any doctors onboard to also go to the infirmary.  We also noticed our ship had slowed down considerably and seemed to travel in wide sweeping circles to avoid sailing farther away while awaiting air transport and so the helo could land.  

[debcakes]

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@Stray wrote:

I would never travel without it.  We use AIG.  Last year we were in Thailand for a month.  My DH became ill suddenly and was admitted to ICU and hospitalized 4 days.  We had pharmacy expenses, follow up care & issuance of fit to fly certificate.  With travel insurance, you can go to a private hospital which is pricier but standards comparable to Europe/USA.  AIG coordinated care at the hospital, assisted with travel home and paid 100% of our expenses, no complicated paperwork & an agent of AIG called me daily.  When you are in a foreign country & encounter language barriers when someone is seriously ill, well, insurance is priceless & so is the coordination by experienced people. 

I must say tho not the subject, I wish we had the same level of care & caregivers here as we did in Thailand.  Immaculate hospital, competent & caring professionals.  Upon returning to the US, all records including scans were presented to us by the hospital, our physician at a major NYC teaching hospital stated he was impressed with the level of care. 

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My daughter actually ended up in a hospital in Bangkok after breaking her ankle in three places while zip lining in Laos.  She had bought her insurance as an afterthought just about two weeks before the trip after asking me if I thought she should. Her insurance is not good outside of the UK. 

It had another name, but was handled by AIG.  They were wonderful. I was flown over to care for her. They put us both up in a very nice hotel until the Dr said she could fly, then they flew us both back to London first class. They no doubt spent about 20,000 on me plus all of my daughter’s medical expenses plus transportation. Since then I am a true believer in insurance.

Which hospital was your DH in? My daughter was in Bumragard.  Not sure about the spelling.

[Stray]

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@debcakes wrote:

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@Stray wrote:

I would never travel without it.  We use AIG.  Last year we were in Thailand for a month.  My DH became ill suddenly and was admitted to ICU and hospitalized 4 days.  We had pharmacy expenses, follow up care & issuance of fit to fly certificate.  With travel insurance, you can go to a private hospital which is pricier but standards comparable to Europe/USA.  AIG coordinated care at the hospital, assisted with travel home and paid 100% of our expenses, no complicated paperwork & an agent of AIG called me daily.  When you are in a foreign country & encounter language barriers when someone is seriously ill, well, insurance is priceless & so is the coordination by experienced people. 

I must say tho not the subject, I wish we had the same level of care & caregivers here as we did in Thailand.  Immaculate hospital, competent & caring professionals.  Upon returning to the US, all records including scans were presented to us by the hospital, our physician at a major NYC teaching hospital stated he was impressed with the level of care. 

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My daughter actually ended up in a hospital in Bangkok after breaking her ankle in three places while zip lining in Laos.  She had bought her insurance as an afterthought just about two weeks before the trip after asking me if I thought she should. Her insurance is not good outside of the UK. 

It had another name, but was handled by AIG.  They were wonderful. I was flown over to care for her. They put us both up in a very nice hotel until the Dr said she could fly, then they flew us both back to London first class. They no doubt spent about 20,000 on me plus all of my daughter’s medical expenses plus transportation. Since then I am a true believer in insurance.

Which hospital was your DH in? My daughter was in Bumragard.  Not sure about the spelling.

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@debcakes - Phuket  International Hospital.  The protocol was the accepted treatment by US standards and the total amount was under $5000.  AIG was wonderful; it is expensive but well worth it when you must use it.  This was the first time I did use it but always carried insurance.  It's the medical aspect of it that I find most valuable. 

[Lipstickdiva]

I wouldn't bother with it for traveling within the US.  

DH and I have done 3 cruises and I always get travel insurance on my cruises.  I am a AAA member but never even thought about trip insurance through them.  Duh.  I always go through AIG.  

There has been at least 1 medical emergency on 2 out of the 3 cruises I have been on and a passenger had to be airlifted off the ship.  I can only imagine the cost. 

[Gorgf]

My Medicare suppliment insurance covers all travel including foreign travel. This is something maybe to consider. It is a not a government suppliment , rather a private Medicare Suppliment.