CSA travel insurance - a resolution

[Connie]

Back in June, we went to STT and before we went, we purchased trip insurance from CSA. My Mom ended up with blood clots in her lung and I was frantic to get back home. We ended up contacting CSA immediately and they were able to get us on a flight the next day. We left 5 days early, and I just wanted to give some recommendations for anybody purchasing travel insurance.

1. Keep EVERYTHING. This includes your original down payment, and final payment for your condo or villa. Keep the check or make sure you get a copy from your bank.

2. Keep your original payment for your airfare. I'm talking about the credit card bill and your original boarding passes.

3. If you rent a car, keep everything including their numbers and proof of what you paid. We were lucky, Discount car rental did not charge us for 10 days, they charged us for a week rental, so that was fine with us.

4. Make sure that you give the insurance company the phone number for your Villa or condo. An email from the owner of our condo was not enough. They had to talk to her directly.

5. They will ask for copies of hospital records, so I would get on that right away. That was the last thing they asked us for, so it took about another month for us to fill out the paperwork, send it to the hospital and then for the hospital to release the records.

6. You will need for the primary doctor to fill out a form, confirming the dates that anyone was treated.

7. If you call CSA, your claim is handled by an adjuster. I really never talked to her when I called. She was always on the phone and they told me I would get a call back within 24-48 hours.

If anybody has any question, let me know. It was pretty frustrating because we had already put out the money and just wanted to get it back.

Would I purchase travel insurance again? Absolutely. We'll be receiving a check for about 1400.00. But, I have learned a lesson and that is to keep a file, put EVERYTHING in it and be ready if it ever happens again.

[WhereToNextYear?]

Thanks for the advice! I always throw out my boarding passes - never thought to keep them.

I'm glad it all worked out for you.

[ClevelandDave]

So true, Connie. Good advice.

I worked with a provider other than CSA. We had to cancel our June visit and I had purchased the Cancel For Any Reason option.

While this allowed us to steer clear of the medical documentation, you must remember that YOU have to produce "proof of loss". This means legal documentation...copies of documents addressing every expense that you want reimbursement for.

These folks aren't going to rip you off, BUT they do demand documentation (for obvious reasons) and there is no flexibility on this issue.

I would never set up an major trip without trip insurance!

[PA Girl]

Thanks for the advice! I always throw out my boarding passes - never thought to keep them.

Yep. We were delayed (overnight) due to missed connection and the only proof the trip insurance company would accept was our boarding pass, which I didn't have. USAir wrote three seperate letters clearly stating the entire chain of events and that we were on flight XYZ the following day. No good, the insurance company would only accept that boarding pass.

I wrote about our experience under Marcia's thread on the OT forum.

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

Thanks!!! I copied this to my 2012 trip file! Good info to consider!!!!