After 7 years of having an annual travel insurance plan with Allianz Travel Insurance, I finally used it for the first time. Filing my first travel insurance claim was so easy to do and getting it approved and paid out was equally as easy. The whole thing was streamlined; the email communications were excellent; the steps easily laid out; and results were quick and fair. Here’s what happened and how it worked.

What Happened

I checked my golf bag with United Airlines for a cross-country flight back home to New York from the West Coast. Everything seemed normal as I check my golf bag a lot. Two days later I went to play golf. I took my brand new custom made, expensive driver out of my bag to see that it was snapped in half where the shaft meets the head.

I was understandably annoyed and pissed off because I just gotten fitted for the custom made club at a Taylor Made clinic in Georgia. Obviously I knew I had an annual travel insurance policy with Allianz Travel Insurance but I first thought to call United Airlines as it was their fault.

What Happened with the Airline

I sent a direct message via Twitter to United and they sent me a number for the Premium 1K baggage service helpline. I called it and waited on hold for 35 minutes. Finally, I got a person on the line and they were most unhelpful. For instance, I didn’t have my baggage claim ticket. Basically because I got my bag at baggage claim and threw it out at Newark as I thought all was well-my mistake.

After a while they were able to dig it up; something that should have been simple with my ticket number. Then they asked me a bunch of questions about the incident as you’d expect and I was happy to answer. Then at the end they opened a file number and told me I had to bring my broken club to a United baggage office in an airport within 11 days.

I asked if I could just send pictures of the broken club as there wasn’t much to it other than it broke because it was clearly mishandled by their baggage guys. They said no and it had to be seen in person. This was most annoying as getting to a New York airport is a pain, time consuming and basically the last thing on Earth I wanted to do. Plus, no matter what happened, I knew it would take weeks or months to get paid out on anything-if at all. So I decided to file my first travel insurance claim with Allianz Travel Insurance.

How I Filed My First Travel Insurance Claim

I used my TravelSmart App; which I happen to be the spokesman for although this was totally unrelated. I simply had to input my annual travel insurance policy number. The TravelSmart App then knows your coverage details and coverage dates. With my annual plan, I am covered for up to $1000 in damage for checked bags.

Then I basically told the App what happened, posted my flight details and damage details. I was then asked for my claim amount of $650 and proof of damage or value. I happily provided this information and filed the claim.

I immediately got an email that my claim was received and filed and I’d be contacted if additional material was needed. Within 24 hours I had an answer and my claim was approved. On the App, you could choose how you wanted to be paid out and I chose check. It was that simple, unlike the insurance company of my house, wherein I had to call up experts from treeserviceremoval.com/
myself and had to carry out the process.

Although I am a paid spokesman for Allianz Travel Insurance this is not a sponsored post and I was not given preferential treatment. This was simply my experience filing my first travel insurance claim with Allianz Travel Insurance and how it worked. I was and am very impressed by how streamlined and simple it was to do. Nobody wants to have to file a travel insurance claim because that means something went wrong. But it’s nice to know that it does work efficiently assuming you have all the pertinent details.

Disclaimer: I work as an ambassador for Allianz Global Assistance (AGA Service Company) and receive financial compensation.

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