Travel Guard Insurance - warning! major rant

[WindingRoad]

OK I'm livid at this Travel Guard Insurance company and Frontier airlines right now. They advertise that you can be reimbursed for trip cancellations and/or interruptions. However, that only applies if you are critically ill, dead or some other ridiculous circumstances. I called them and basically they said they would file the claim but they wouldn't reimburse me anything, WTF? Why would I file the claim if it doesn't pay? Am I missing something here??? Frontier says that it's not their fault that I picked a ticket that isn't refundable yet they tout this insurance when you are checking out that will reimburse you for changes! The woman at Frontier just wanted to argue with me about it not being their fault that I picked that ticket. It irks me the most that the details of the travel insurance are not listed in any obvious place that says the insurance is only good under very specific conditions! So at this point, they credited me my ticket price which is almost the same as the $100 they charge to change a flight. I have not incentive to use them at all, and I won't. I just bought a new ticket from Delta. I have flown with Delta before and this was a non issue, they charged me a much smaller fee (like $25) to switch things around. Rant over

[WindingRoad]

Okay so the up side is I have the ability to work over Xmas break in order to recover some of that lost money. So that's good news.

[Pedal Wench]

I have flown with Delta before and this was a non issue, they charged me a much smaller fee (like $25) to switch things around. Rant over

Sorry -- Delta now charges at least $100 to change things. It might even be up to $150 now.

From Delta:Change Fees

Based on the fare rules, you may have to pay a service fee and/or a difference in fare. For travel within the 50 United States, the fee is $150 for Delta flights.

For travel outside the United States, the change fee is typically $250, but can vary based on location and type of fare. Changes are usually permitted only to the return portion of an international itinerary.

[Fredwina]

I think southwest is the only airline that doesn't do change fees

[tulip]

The only time I purchased travel insurance happened to be for a trip to Chile when the earthquake it. I was very glad to have purchased it!

I hope you get your situation resolved.

[sfa]

My understanding is that ALL travel insurance, regardless of the company, is to cover emergency circumstances that might arise that would require a cancellation of travel plans (or interruption of travel already in place). I've bought travel insurance from many companies before, including Travel Guard, and their document that describes what exactly is covered and what is excluded is very clear and easily accessible.

[WindingRoad]

Good to know Southwest doesn't charge these fees. My beef with this situation was that I went and looked up the PDF with all the little details about what they cover and it never implicitly stated that this was only for emergency changes. I admit I haven't book THAT many flights but now that I'm away from home I have to. It even says on my receipt the insurance was for unexpected changes like cancellations that come up, no mention of what type of unexpected changes. I read that as it was a way to make changes to your flight in any situation. They could state when you are paying for it that its for emergency use only, that would have clarified the whole thing. I'm sure if you are someone who has booked many flights online that this would not be a problem but for those of us who are relatively new to it or don't fly regularly a little more explanation is required. Preferably before we have already purchased the ticket with the false impression that the insurance is applicable to any situation.

[Biciclista]

always read your policy before signing or paying for it.
that will keep you from being in this position next time.
air travel is just less and less fun for all kinds of reasons.