Travel Guard Insurance
Editor Review The Good: Travel Guard can guarantee payment to a medical facility to ensure your admission; job loss coverage; “Cancel for any reason” coverage available; Platinum plan has a short 60 Look Back period for pre-existing medical conditions; Long 15 day Free Look period; Cancel for work reasons on some plans; Platinum and Gold plan have primary medical coverage; Job loss coverage on all standard plans; Platinum and Gold offer Cancel for Work reasons as part of the base policy. The Drawbacks: Variety of plans can make decision difficult; Some plans unavailable in all states. The Bottom Line: Travel Guard is a leader in the world of travel insurance. They have a plan to fit every need, but deciding between these 18 plans can make some travelers confused. Where to Buy Travel Guard Insurance:Buy Direct from company- Get a quote and purchase directly from the Travel Guard website here. This is a good choice if you have decided on Travel Guard, and are ready to purchase. New Feature: “Ask the CEO” featuring Dean Sivley of Travel Guard |
| Company Name |
Travel Guard |
| Website |
http://www.travelguard.com |
| AM Best Rating |
A |
| US Travel Insurance Association Member |
Yes |
| Refund Policy |
15 Day Free Look |
| 24/7 Emergency Assistance |
Yes |
| Plans offered by Travel Guard Travel Insurance |
Packages
Platinum (Cruise, Tour & Travel) Sportsman’s Travel Protection Plan Adventure Travel Protection Plan Medical Medevac Per Trip Plan-Individual Specialized Flight Guard |
| Address/Phone/Fax/Email |
Travel Guard 3300 Business Park Drive Stevens Point, WI 54482 1-800-826-4919 webmaster@travelguard.com |
| Policyholder Questions | 1-800-826-1300 or 1-715-345-0505 (collect) |
| Travel Assistance/Emergencies |
1-800-826-1300 or 1-715-345-0505 (collect) |
More about Travel Guard Insurance
Travel Guard, an industry leader of travel insurance plans, offers a range of travel insurance plans designed to cover U.S. and non-U.S. residents on vacations, business seminars, or simple weekend getaways.
Their website describes valuable plans that include medical coverage, trip interruption, emergency medical services, baggage expenses, accident coverage and more. There are customized plans available that are specific to last minute travelers, golfers, sportsman and adventure enthusiasts.
From the Travel Guard website, you can get quotes, information about labor strikes that may affect your travel, and instant international alerts that may affect your coverage. In addition, you can make changes to purchased policies online up to 24 hours prior to departure. A 24-hour emergency travel support line is available to you 7 days a week. In short, their travel insurance is easy to buy and easy to manage.
Travel Guard understands that your vacation can take a year to save for but it can be destroyed in seconds. While you can’t prevent unexpected storms or accidents, you can do something to cover your travel investment.
Travel Guard Travel Insurance Plans
Cruise Insurance Plans
Don’t get left high and dry on your next cruise
These insurance plans cover cruises of all sizes and shapes. They include coverage for trip cancellation and interruption, trip delays, emergency medical expenses, baggage expenses, and more. They also include a wide variety of options that often apply for modern travelers and can ensure that your insurance is applicable to your situation.
The Cruise insurance plans are intended to cover individuals, couples, families, and multiple member parties as they travel the world. One of these plans is perfect for those who want to cover their investment and add some extra coverage for those special circumstances that apply to their lives.
Multiple insurance plans are available under this policy type, including:
Single Trip Insurance
The best insurance plan to cover your next trip
The Travel Guard Single Trip insurance plans are some of the most comprehensive and useful plans available on the market, covering a wide variety of contingencies and exceptions that apply to modern travelers.
The Single Trip insurance plans are intended to cover individuals, couples, families, and multiple member parties as they travel the world. One of these plans is perfect for those who want to cover their investment and add some extra coverage for those special circumstances that apply to their lives.
Single Trip insurance plans may include coverage for terrorism, missed connections and delays, inclement weather, uninhabitable homes, military deployments, lost travel documents, credit cards, car accidents, and more. Depending on the plan you choose, various options are available.
Multiple insurance plans are available under this policy type, including:
- Platinum (Cruise, Tour and Travel)
- Tee, Tour and Travel
- Gold (ProtectAssist)
- Savvy Traveler
- My Travel Guard
International Insurance
Your best bet when traveling to a new country
The Travel Guard international insurance plans are some of the best in the market for travelers with destinations outside their home country. Each plan covers a wide variety of contingencies and situations that can apply to modern travelers.
The International insurance plans are intended to cover individuals, couples, families and multiple member parties as they explore new countries. One of these plans is perfect for those who want to cover their international travel investment and even add a little extra coverage for those special circumstances that can occur during travel. Plans can cover trip lengths up to 365 days.
International insurance plans can include coverage for terrorism, missed connections and delays, inclement weather, inhabitable homes, military deployments, lost travel documents and credit cards, car accidents, and more. Depending on the plan you choose, various options are available.
Multiple insurance plans are available under this policy type, including:
Student Insurance
You’ve saved your money and made your plans, now keep them safe
The Travel Guard Student insurance plans are some of the best in the market for travelers with destinations outside their home country. Each plan covers a wide variety of contingencies and situations that can apply to student travelers. Whether it’s a week-long trip through the U.S. or a semester spent backpacking abroad, covering your monetary investment is always a wise choice.
Most of the Student insurance plans include basic features intended to cover students as they explore new countries. Trips are coverable up to 365 days. Optional coverages are available and vary based on the plan. A customizable plan lets you pick and choose the optional features you feel are best to apply to your trip according to your concerns.
Multiple insurance plans are available under this policy type, including:
Travel Medical Insurance
Rest assured … your health is covered as you travel
The Travel Guard Medical Travel insurance plans provide that extra assurance sometimes necessary in an unpredictable environment when you are far from your regular doctor and outside the boundaries of your usual medical coverage. These plans allow you to cover a single trip or enroll in annual coverage for those who travel often and don’t want to worry about making new commitments with each trip.
These plans provide features, such as medical evacuation to transport you to the nearest hospital and even home, plus medical expense coverage for a sickness or injury that occurs during your trip. Optional coverages are available and vary based on the plan. Customizable plans allow you to choose the features you feel are most useful to cover your health and medical well-being. These plans are targeted to individuals who want to be sure they are covered for medical emergencies when they travel.
The following plans are available under this policy type:
Where to Buy Travel Guard Insurance:
Buy Direct from company- Get a quote and purchase directly from the Travel Guard website here. This is a good choice if you have decided on Travel Guard, and are ready to purchase.
Screenshots from the Travel Guard website
Where to Buy Travel Guard Insurance:
Buy Direct from company- Get a quote and purchase directly from the Travel Guard website here. This is a good choice if you have decided on Travel Guard, and are ready to purchase.
K | Mar 17, 2009
Scum of the earth – use our tax dollars to line your pockets. Thanks AIG Travel Guard!
K | Mar 19, 2009
Let’s see – they pay travel agents 50% commission per policy and AIG reports a fourth quarter $60 BILLION + loss… How can they afford that? Oh! That’s right – with our tax dollars! Classy company…
LH | Apr 2, 2009
We had experience with a person who carried this insurance. They had a dental emergency. The dental office waited EIGHT MONTHS to get paid. The company was contacted many times – they always had an excuse. After giving them one more week and threatening to report them, a check was finally received. Forget them!
res | Apr 16, 2009
Travel Guard came through in the clutch when my mother-in-law developed heart problems when my wife and I were on a cruise in 2005. They got us home, reimbursed us for the unused portion of our trip and totally held our hands through the entire process. I can’t say enough about the assistance and customer service we received from this company.
mark | Apr 29, 2009
They screwed me out of $291.40. I called their rep on the day of cancellation with no help. I filed their claim to all their specifications to have them say that I rescheduled the trip instead of canceling the trip. They paid the $100 reschedule fee but not the increased ticket price. I will never use Travel guard again. They will find a way not to pay a claim.
Mark
LC | May 5, 2009
This is an extremely sleazy company. I will not do business with them again and will tell everyone I know the same!
We purchased insurance on two tickets we bought with 100,000 miles. They screwed us out of all if it, saying that the medical condition I had was pre-existing because I had recently been pregnant. I had been recently pregnant, but I developed some very bad (separate) health problems after losing the pregnancy and after buying the tickets and related insurance.
When the arbitrator finally called me back, she was entirely unsympathetic. I was told I could file an appeal, but SHE would be the one to review it and HER decision is final! Great appeals process.
Like I said, please don’t do business with these people. They are unscrupulous. I wish I had researched them before buying the insurance.
Traveler | May 21, 2009
Very poor service if you make a claim. Excellent service in taking your money! They will give you every excuse in the book on why they are not able to provide service in paying a claim. They are an AIG company, does that tell you anything? Not a company to be trusted. Just like everyone else says…avoid this company!
Anne S | Jun 10, 2009
I had a great experience with them when my husband and I needed a doctor on our trip to Spain. We got into a car accident so I called travel Guard and they hooked us up with a great hospital and one of their reps actually communicated to the doctors in Spanish— taking out a huge stressor for us. We were reimbursed quickly for the medical expenses too… which amounted to $800!
Alexi | Jun 10, 2009
That surprises me. Did you ask for a mgr to talk to. I was supposed to take a safari vacation in Africa and and had to cancel at the last minute b/c my father was in the hospital. They were really helpful. Actually, they sent me a check for my trip In the mail with in a week! $2,000 – I was actually very impressed .
Elizabeth Filliettaz | Jun 13, 2009
Our many thanks to agent Stephanie Burclaw for going to bat for us in a sticky situation with Continental Airlines. After canceling our flight to Florida from Bangor Maine, they offered only a $260.00 refund for tickets that would cost us over $585.00 apiece from Portland, Me. She managed to procured tickets from Portland and a voucher to stay overnight the evening before the flight. She went out of her way to make life a little easier for two grateful seniors!
James Leffler | Jul 27, 2009
Very poor service. I faxed claim six weeks ago and received no response. They do not provide you with a phone number for individual inquiries on claims on the claim forms. Now tell me their fax has not worked for the last couple of weeks and I need to submit everything by mail, and essentially begin the claims process from step one.
Elizabeth Wharton | Sep 12, 2009
I usually use Travel Guard health coverage for international and US travel. I have had good luck with claims in the US. While in Japan however, I became ill and needed to see a doctor. I called Travel Guard to get guidance on where to go, they gave me two options and I chose one. I went to the hospital and was treated by a doctor who spoke English. Keeping all receipts and documents, I went about my business and finally returned home. Filing the claim, submitting all documents was easy. Then the company emailed and sent a letter asking for a document that apparantly was not included. I was now home in the US, had no other documentation, and the paperwork was all in Kanji – Japanese! Though I’ve explained that to the company, twice, they insist that I submit that document. Well, the claim has not been paid and I am switching to another carrier. It was fun while it lasted, Travel Guard, but this is rediculous!
Ron | Sep 17, 2009
We purchased an insurance from Travel guard when we went on cruise to Bahamas.They said they will pay up to 150% if ever we will have problems with our travel. Thats what we thought until my wife got sick and tested positive on flu and suddenly we are confined on our stateroom and make us wore a masked.Anyways we called in travel guard insurance and let them know what happened and they told us not to worry they will take care of us.We are advice to be isolated in Florida for 14 days!! and the cruise line got us a reservation in a hotel with no room service.what are we gonna do?not eating while staying 14 days?so we decided to drove back home and be isolated on our very own home. Again Travel Guard told us not to worry with expense just keep the records and send it with the claim.We filed May 15,2009 and until now September 17,2009 on going process. WE WILL NEVER BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE FROM THEM AGAIN!!!!
Lillian Wigmore | Oct 23, 2009
Is there a lower than a 1. This company sinks. I have faxed and call over 16 times. I just want my $160.00 back from trip. I have filed everyting they have ask got ok form fax but they just want more. My motner died and they want want dr report. ANYONE who buys insurance from them is nuts. I can’t even get someone important to call me back WHAT A COMPANY.
Vincent | Oct 29, 2009
Wow, this is surprising to us. Our family had an excellent experience with Travel Guard. One of our kids came became ill on our trip to Canada last year and we needed to see a doctor… Travel Guard located a local pediatrician who got her the medication she needed. We were supposed to return home on a flight the next day, but at luck would have it, our flight was cancelled! Again, TravelGuard came to the rescue by coordinating new flight arrangements for us and reimbursing us for all of our meal and hotel expenses in the meantime while we waited to get onto our new flight! This company was a lifesaver!
Tojiddin | Nov 5, 2009
I had TravelGuard travel insurance. When I had to cancel my flight due to orders from the military, they sent me the information and processed my claim quickly, and I got the full refund. Quality service.
gb | Nov 14, 2009
Customer service tells you one thing…the company pays much less. I am out about $4K for lost travel and illness that they refuse to pay. More importantly they won’t tell you why. Save your money and take your chances. The only reason I gave them a 1 instead of 0 is because a rating was require.
Jhoantan | Dec 22, 2009
(sorry my english is not very good) I will not buy any insurance with Travel Guard anymore. I’ve just arrived from LGA New York to Dominican Republic, but in my routing SDQ-LGA I had some bottles packed in my checked luggage… everything was a mess ! Firstly the luggage was delayed in Fort Lauderdale because the routing tape was broken and the airline (Spirit) did not know where to send it. (even seeing I taped one stamp with the travel guard policy) Once I arrived, I called travel guard and they told me to call an agency which is a third party this airline use to deliver delayed baggage, all the clothes was dirty because they throw the bag and broke the rum bottles. My luggage arrived the next day at 5 pm in the Bronx, the delivery agent made two mistakes, firstly made a wrong delivery and re picked it and finally sent to me through a second agency… I made some calls but seems to be avoiding their responsability. Deeply I know my fault is big, but I should have had a better treat.
Donna | Jan 1, 2010
Dont waste your money.After six months of emails, phone calls and faxes still denied claim for missing our original flight from Atlanta due to delays in customs and security. Had to be picked up at another airport another state. Would not cover for service to pick us up of $200. We still had to pick up our luggage at orginal destination airport the following day..Save your money..just a money making scam.
sylvia | Jan 6, 2010
I used Travel Gaurd insurance when I had to get off a cruise ship in Hawaii. I was told that my return flight home and the missed days on the cruise would be covered. I was misinformed and Travel Gaurd would not stand behind their customer service representative who gave me this information (even thought their calls are recorded and there is a record of this call). In the end I am out $800. What a scam. I will never ever use this service. If you want to keep your money DON’T purchase insurance from Travel Gaurd. There are many options to choose from check out the competition – it can’t be any worse than this!
jeff gordinier | Jan 31, 2010
These shysters refused to cover a cancelled trip to visit a dying friend. When her doctor found out I was having an attack of shingles he said I could not see her. Travel Guard said “Too Bad”. I wouldn’t use these jerks to walk my dog. I informed them I would take them to small claims court and they laughed.
Cynthia C. | Feb 9, 2010
Jan, 2010, we inadvertantly left one of our mission supply bags @ the Manila, PH airport, not discovering it until 4 days later. Contacted TravelGuard agent in the U.S. Arrived Manila airport for return trip several days later, first airport person I saw, and inquired re: location of their unclaimed luggage area. They responded with 2 words, that of the name of the bag I was looking for. Bag retrieved, and supplies not lost. Great job, Travel Guard people!
leanne | Feb 20, 2010
They were fast to respond when our flight was canceled due to weather.
Macy | Feb 22, 2010
IF YOU PEOPLE HAVE PROBLEMS, GET A LAWYER! YOU CAN TAKE THEM TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT FOR ONLY $35, AND YOU WILL WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
Kelsey Jones | Apr 30, 2010
I booked a cruise in August 09–didn’t get travel insurance…added travel guard in March 2010, set sail on April 5th and on April 7th my grandfather passed away. My return flight alone was 721.00. I filed(by fax) my claim and in less than a month I had a check in hand. The check covered my unused trip and my unexpected flight home. I will never leave home without Travel Guard. Very quick and reasonably priced company!
susan spitz | May 20, 2010
we purchased a $500 policy for a trip abroad. On the 1st night in Madrid my passport was stolen. We were unable to continue on to Morocco as planned and had to wait in Spain for 5 days for the embassy to reopen to obtain an emergency passport to return to the U.S. we were held responsible for all hotels booked, car/driver, R/T tkt. Spain-Morocco. We supplied an abundance of documentation and received a pittance from Travel Guard after they took a month to ‘review” our records. READ THE SMALL PRINT. I would strongly discourage using this company.
LESLIE DUNN | Jun 13, 2010
I RATE TRAVEL GUARD TOP OF THE LINE. HAVING BEEN A TRAVEL AGENT FOR 23 YEARS I SAW OTHER TRAVEL INSURANCE COMPANIES DENY CLAIMS FOR INCOMPREHENSIBLE REASONS WHEN IN FACT THE REASONS WERE TOTALLY VALID!
I USE TRAVEL GUARD MYSELF …. THIS IS THE ONLY COMPANY I WILL USE. FOR EXAMPLE, I WOULD DO ANYTHING NOT TO HAVE TO FILE A CLAIM BUT I WAS TAKEN VERY ILL AND HAD AN EXPENSIVE AIR TICKET TO LONDON AND A SMALL DEPOSIT ON A HOTEL I HAD TO CANCEL. I ONLY CANCELLED THE AIR TICKET WITH TRAVEL GUARD NOT WANTING THEM TO BOTHER WITH A SMALL HOTEL DEPOSIT. THEY ACTUALLY PAID ME BACK THAT DEPOSIT!!!!! WITHOUT MY ASKING! I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT.
I AM TAKING A EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE THIS FALL AND WILL, OF COURSE, ONLY USE TRAVEL GUARD, THOUGH THE CRUISE COMPANY IS REQUESTING I USE THEIR INSURANCE. NO WAY!!!!
HAVING TO FIGHT FOR HONEST REIMBURSEMENT WITH A DISHONEST INSURANCE COMPANY WHEN YOU’VE BEEN TAKEN ILL IS HEINOUS!
THANK YOU, TRAVEL GUARD, FOR BEING THE BEST!
LESLIE DUNN
Richard Strayer | Jun 17, 2010
I had a legitimate claim which I filed. TG said wait for a month.
They provided not contact information. After 6 weeks I surfed the internet and found one word–denied. NO REASON stated and they did not even inform me. When I called an agent, she transfered me a number–”We are not available.” They can take your premium in a flash but have no intention of ever paying a claim. TG can hide but I will take action.
WCLJH | Jul 4, 2010
First off, let me start off by saying that to all the people that are upset with the company I apologize, but everyone knows that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose in insurance. Alot of the stories i hear are about people winning… I know alot of people who DO NOT read thier policy fine print and that’s where they end up hating the company… do you realize alot of those rules are rules placed by insurance commissoners of each state? Any customer knows that they should read the fine print… if the customer service rep read the whole policy with every in and out you would be on the phone for hours before you bought or before you moved on… not practical… that’s why travelguard makes it simple to access that information both online and through and link attatchment in the policy email that they send you. I also know that as the review states above.. you do have a LONG 15 day look back for a refund… so read your policy… buy smart…I can understand that sometimes you can’t provide the documentation and it may be difficult to obtain… but it’s how they pay their claims… again like all other insurance companys…. there needs to be proof.. another point to make is that you cannot make money off of an insurance company, take for example the guy who said he was rescheduling his trip and travelguard denied his claim for cancellation.. he’s still going on his trip why would they pay you for that trip when you just changed the dates.. they gave you back any fees you were charged.. just because you have travel insurance doesn’t mean that you would get a free trip i don’t understand… i didn’t see anywhere in the policies fine print where it covers for “fun” on a trip either… sometimes you have bad luck and it rains your whole trip and other times it’s worse and that’s why travelguard is there… i’ve heard of horrible situations that travelguard got people through and that’s what people should be reading. sure there are downfalls of EVERY company but the good needs to outweigh, and with travelguard i can say without pause, the good DEFINITLY outweights the bad…
Debbie | Jul 9, 2010
Do not purchase this insurance from Travel Guard, as this company will find any reason possible to deny your claim. Do yourself a favor and shop your insurance needs, and do not succumb to buying insurance from this company. Travel Guard will tell you that they deny less than 7% of the claims filed, although they got it backwards, as they approve just 7% of the claims filed, and deny the rest.
Valed | Jul 22, 2010
Very dissapointed, to say the least. We went to a European cruise in May, and got stuck in London for 3 days because of the volcano. We had spent 3K to finally reach the cruise ship (booking and re-booking the flights which have been cancelled, train to paris, plane to monte-carlo). I called the TG when we came home, and ASKED them if our policy covers this. They said YES, just provide the support, including confirmation from the air carrier that the flights were cancelled and any media articles about the event! I put together all the info (we had saved all the tickets): it turned out to be a 35-pages package. And yesterday I got a call from TG saying they don’t cover this because these are additional expenditures, and not the prepaid. I wonder, why did they tell me to do everything? Just to have the claim open? Which will justify their meaningless existence – to show that they have claims and they are working on them?
John Anthony | Jul 25, 2010
Travel Guard came to my rescue.
I purchased travel coverage for a 12 day Mediterranean cruise. I wanted to cover my round trip airfare and cruise costs for my wife and I. The policy cost $381 to cover our $9,000 trip costs.
While on our ship (day 6 of 12) we received communications of a immediate family member only had a few days to live from a fast moving cancer that was not known prior to buying the insurance or booking our trip. I immediately contacted Travel Guard and asked them what steps I needed to take. While on the phone I asked to start my claim and was given a claim number with a $0 amount initially. I have up to one year to submit. I told them to mail me all the forms to my home address. We had to make emergency short notice flight back to the US which was a cost above and beyond our original flight costs. We also had a delay that was overnight and had hotel costs, food and taxi costs.
Remember to always use a credit card and also ask for a receipt for anything you want to claim.
Well we made it home but the person died 1 hour before we arrived.
After a few weeks, I gathered all the documents, receipts, airline ticket stubs, letter from the doctor, death certificate for all the costs of the trip as well as the additional costs above and beyond to return to the USA. I numbered each document and indexed them for easy use by the Travel Guard and wrote a short page synopsis of the time line.
Yes it took some work to gather up what they wanted and I sent all the documents via registered receipt received mail. I mailed the documents on July 7, 2010. Checked online after a few days to insure they received the documents and the long list said received. If something was missing it would say so on the list. I did not receive any notification so far by them.
On July 21, 2010 I checked online and it said claim paid with a check number and my amount.
They returned exactly what I asked within a few dollars which was over $4,700.
Thank you Travel Guard for taking care of us in our emergency
barbara | Aug 1, 2010
My daughter was alone in Africa on vacation. she decided to extend her trip for 2 additional weeks. Travelguard would NOT extend her coverage for another 2 weeks for any price. No other company would insure her because she was already there. So as a result, my daughter had NO coverage for 2 weeks. Make sure you read the small print!!
Jimbo Taylor | Aug 3, 2010
The worst ins. company you could possible deal with. I would recommend another ins. company or go without. The claims process is so labor intensive that they make it impossible to get your claimed process in a timely manor.
Robert Stern | Aug 10, 2010
After many years of using them, and no claims, they have changed their policy. They do not print and send sticker labels to put on suitcases. I believe this is cheap advertising for them AND a possible deterrent to theft. This is a poor decision. I have just cancelled a policy and will go to someone else.
Amos Hockmeyer | Aug 13, 2010
Do not buy from TravelGuard!!! I had a delayed flight that caused me to miss a connection in Malaysia, the travel assistant on the phone was of very little help. When I came up with a better solution she agreed that I should do it, but then Travel Guard ended up denying the claim in the end. Greedy corporation, and very unhelpful. Just try calling to check a claim status…after a couple minutes of navigating through their phone system, you press 2 to check the status of a claim, and ‘click’ they hang up on you!!! Three times in a row. Do yourself a favor and shop elsewhere.
Andy Jones | Aug 13, 2010
They claim to reimburse for all sorts of mishaps….but read the fine print! They will find a way to deny your claim. I would give them less than 1 star if possible.
Michael Blaney | Sep 2, 2010
I have purchased the one year Travel Guard MedEvac insurance for the last few years for the family because of a number of overseas trips by family.
This year I was injured while traveling and required $7,000 of surgery overseas. We notified Travel Guard after an ER visit but prior to surgery the next day. We paid the surgery fee with our credit card. Once home it took several calls (mostly to convince Travel Guard they had all the medical records – there was not much to see). About 7 weeks later they sent a check for the full amount.
The only reason I did not give them 5 stars is because of their repeated requests for more medical records when we had told them a number of times they had everything.