Allianz not paying for trip continuation due to trestle fire damage

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
coalman

coalman

Train Attendant
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2020
Messages
64
Location
Happy Valley, Oregon
I was on CS that was stopped by trestle damage from fire and returned to my start Portland. I had paid 30$ to Allianz. Part of the policy is for "continuation of trip" due to interruption. I was on my way from Portland Oregon to San Juan Capistrano for a family reunion when we had to turn around. I called Allianz, they said, yes, they would pay. Send in receipts.
I took a plane from Portland to Santa ana airport 480$. A taxi from airport to Amtrak Santa Ana station 35$./ and 11$ trip from Santa ana Amtrak to San Juan Capistrano. They only payed for taxi 35$ and said I must call back during business day to talk to claims manager.
Has anyone else had trouble with Allianz insurance?
I have not heard back from amtrak on reimbursement for trip interruption. They said would be contacted.
Can anyone give me advice on this? Thank you.
 
coalman said:
I was on CS that was stopped by trestle damage from fire and returned to my start Portland. I had paid 30$ to Allianz. Part of the policy is for "continuation of trip" due to interruption. I was on my way from Portland Oregon to San Juan Capistrano for a family reunion when we had to turn around. I called Allianz, they said, yes, they would pay. Send in receipts.
I took a plane from Portland to Santa ana airport 480$. A taxi from airport to Amtrak Santa Ana station 35$./ and 11$ trip from Santa ana Amtrak to San Juan Capistrano. They only payed for taxi 35$ and said I must call back during business day to talk to claims manager.
Has anyone else had trouble with Allianz insurance?
I have not heard back from amtrak on reimbursement for trip interruption. They said would be contacted.
Can anyone give me advice on this? Thank you.
Click to expand...
You need to Call Amtrak Customer Relations( not Customer Service!) @ 800-USA-RAIL/ tell " Julie" you want an Agent after she starts her Spiel after the COVID Announcement, then when the Regular Agent answers, ask for Customer Relations and explain what happened.

You should get a full refund for the Amtrak part, and possibly a Good Will Voucher for future travel on Amtrak.

The Insurance should cover your Airfare and other expenses within the parameters of the Policy you had, you have to talk to the Claims people as they said.( don't expect Full re-embursement)
 
Definitely keep us posted on dealing with Allianz on this. I have a trip scheduled on the CS later this month (after the 14th) and we purchased an Allianz policy to cover us. It hasn't been cancelled yet but wondering if I need to book a flight and hotel instead of my CS trip if Allianz will cover it. Complicating matters is that the CS trip was booked using AGR points so we aren't due any sort of cash refund from Amtrak to use toward alternative plans.
 
It's been ages since I read the fine print but the last time I looked closely the trip insurance offered on Amtrak.com was the most restrictive and least generous that I had ever seen at that time. Within five minutes I realized it was basically worthless as written and never bothered to look at it again. That's not to say that all travel insurance is a terrible value but I would recommend looking for a general purpose policy rather than one written for Amtrak specifically.
 
Keep pursuing the claim, calmly but insistently. I have been told that travel insurance claims have a high rate of exaggerated claims and even out and out fraud, so that may explain why they wanted more information. Your claim ought to be easily provable and would seem to be an easy one for them to validate and compensate for.
 
Allianz is not the easiest travel insurance company with which to file a claim. They have a very rigid process and are unwilling to "bend" in order to help the customer.
 
Update: Allianz rep explained that 35$ I recieved is automatic. I submitted claim as soon as I returned on Amtrak but before air flight. Even though the website says my claim is closed, it will in fact be evaluated in 10 14 days for the airfare receipts I submitted. So I may still get paid by Allianz. Amtrak offered full refund or cost plus 150$ travel voucher which could not be combined with miles, had to be used within a year, and had to be completely used or balance left forfeited. I took refund. I forgot to ask for an upgrade or station pass in addition. I will report on Allianz when I hear from. Thanks for all your comments. This is a great asset to Amtrak travel and I am planning more trips. Food, passengers, crew, and roomette were great.
 
So my trip on the 26th has now officially been bustituted. I wonder if this counts as an interruption for Allianz's purposes or if they'll just say "well you can go take the bus" and refuse to pay for my alternate hotel/flight.
 
Watching this thread as we use Allianz (directly) for our travel including cruises which also includes Amtrak travel.
I have no claims experience with them.
Last year, I did have a river cruise (and Amtrak travel) cancelled due to the pandemic. I queried Allianz to change the dates to a yet to be determined re-booked cruise. They instead had me request a refund of the premium, which I did. I provided a couple of documents to verify the cruise had not yet happened when cancelled and I had no claims pending on that policy. The full premium was credited back to my AGR card in about 2 weeks.

The "replacement" cruise is coming up - Amtrak involved!
 
Last edited:
I filed July 4th. Just got notice that Alliance will pay for plane fare to and from the destination that I was traveling to on the Amtrak Coast Starlight that was interrupted by trestle fire in Northern California. Documents were lost twice. There were dropped phone calls, very long phone waits, website malfunctions, and multiple miscommunications that easily cost as much in customer service expenses as the reimbursement itself. Allianz is a huge insurer, but if my experience is at all typical, its customer service business model is not functioning well and is probably not sustainable nor profitable. Would I insure with them again? Probably, because they have deep pockets, and just plan on double-checking the process. This was a slam dunk reimbursement. I would hate to have to deal with them on anything that was iffy.
 
Phone calls? Lost docs? How did you make your claim?

I filed online and uploaded the documentation on their website. It was super easy.
 
Bob Dylan said:
You need to Call Amtrak Customer Relations( not Customer Service!) @ 800-USA-RAIL/ tell " Julie" you want an Agent after she starts her Spiel after the COVID Announcement, then when the Regular Agent answers, ask for Customer Relations and explain what happened.

You should get a full refund for the Amtrak part, and possibly a Good Will Voucher for future travel on Amtrak.

The Insurance should cover your Airfare and other expenses within the parameters of the Policy you had, you have to talk to the Claims people as they said.( don't expect Full re-embursement)
Click to expand...
Don't back off... Amtrak and the insurance provider must make amends for what is a very justifiable claim. Don't give up... stay calm and stay the course... maintain your absolute right for compensation. It is due to you!
 
I filed online with Allianz, but the claim was closed on the website immediately, so had to call to confirm whether they got the receipts I uploaded online, and they couldn't find them. It went downhill from there.
Amtrak gave a total refund in the first week afterward.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top