If you have ever gone on group tours through travel agents, AIG travel insurance (or the AIG Travel Guard) might ring a bell because AIG works with a lot of agents in Singapore.
For the risk-averse, it’s pretty hard to beat AIG travel insurance for peace of mind as they have an 24-hour in-house emergency assistance network called AIG Travel Asia Pacific (ATAP) with 8emergency centres worldwide – whereas the overwhelming majority of insurance companies work with third-party rescue service providers like ISOS.
Naturally, AIG travel insurance also has a reputation for being expensive. To combat this, they have introduced a lower Basic tier to try to capture the “price-conscious” (okay, cheapskates).
Contents
1. AIG Travel Insurance: Summary
Unlike other insurance providers such as NTUC and MSIG with multiple travel insurance plans for you to choose from, AIG only has one travel insurance plan called the AIG Travel Guard which comes in four tiers:
- Basic (cheapest)
- Standard
- Enhanced
- Supreme (too expensive, not reviewing in this article)
The price of your AIG travel insurance largely depends on which country you’ll be travelling to. As with all travel insurance companies, AIG has divided their prices into three regions of travel:
- Region 1, ASEAN: Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Brunei, Laos and Myanmar
- Region 2, Asia: China (excluding Tibet), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Macau, Maldives, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela
- Region 3, Worldwide: Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Nepal, Tibet and the rest of the world (excluding Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea and the Crimea region)
Premium
S$83
- Overseas Medical Expenses
- S$1,000,000
- Travel Cancelation / Postponement
- S$10,000
- Loss/Damage of Personal Baggage
- S$5,000
- Premium
- S$83
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Here’s a summary of the main travel insurance coverage that AIG TravelGuard offers:
| AIG Travel Guard | Basic | Standard | Enhanced |
| Price (ASEAN) | $48/week | $60/week | $83/week |
| Price (Asia) | $48/week | $72/week | $85/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $68/week | $114/week | $132/week |
| Overseas medical expenses | $50,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 |
| Emergency medical evacuation | (part of overseas medical expenses) | – | – |
| Personal accident (death & TPD) | $0 | $100,000 | $200,000 |
| Travel delay ($100/6 hours) | $200 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Trip cancellation | $2,500 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Baggage delay ($200/6 hours) | $0 | $1,000 | $1,200 |
| Baggage loss | $3,000 | $3,000 | $5,000 |
| Outdoor adventure | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Other useful benefits such as pregnancy-related medical expenses, hospitalisation allowance, compassionate visit, credit card fraud are only found in the Enhanced plan.
- Overseas hospitalisation cash allowance: $200/24 hours, maximum of $10,000 (Standard plan) and $30,000 (Enhanced plan)
- Medical expenses for women: Up to $5,000 if you get the Enhanced plan
- Compassionate visit: $3,000 to $5,000 for a family member to visit you if you passed away overseas alone
- Medical expenses in Singapore: $10,000 (Standard) or $25,000 (Enhanced) if you need to continue treatment for injuries after returning to Singapore. $2,000 (Standard) or $5,000 (Enhanced) for illnesses that you got overseas.
- Credit card fraud: Up to $2,000 if you get the Enhanced plan
- Pet care: $50/6 hours, maximum of $500 for Enhanced plan only
AIG’s travel insurance coverage pales in comparison, since competitors such as Great Eastern travel insurance offer $50/day overseas hospitalisation allowance even for their lowest tier Classic plan. AIA travel insurance, on the other hand, offers women’s overseas medical expenses coverage of $2,000 even for their most basic plan.
2. AIG Travel Insurance Covid Cover
Here’s a summary of AIG travel insurance’s Covid coverage:
| AIG TravelGuard Covid Coverage | Basic | Standard | Enhanced |
| Overseas medical expenses | $50,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 |
| Emergency medical evacuation | (part of overseas medical expenses) | – | – |
| Early return home | $0 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Overseas hospitalisation allowance | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Overseas quarantine allowance | $50/day, max 14 days | $50/day, max 14 days | $100/day, max 14 days |
| Trip cancellation | $2,500 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Trip postponement | $0 | $500 | $1,000 |
AIG travel insurance’s Covid-19 coverage is very limited with only $50,000 in overseas medical claims (Basic). If you’re hospitalised overseas due to Covid-19, you’d probably have to foot part of the bill yourself. Touch wood, but if you passed away due to Covid-19 or need to be medically flown back to Singapore, this AIG Covid-19 travel insurance may not be sufficient to cover your medical evacuation expenses.
Compared to other travel insurance plans, AIG travel insurance’s Covid-19 coverage is sorely lacking.
Sompo’s lowest tier Essential travel insurance plan, for example, offers $100,000 in overseas medical Covid-19 expenses, and another $100,000 for medical evacuation – so much more than the $50,000 in overseas medical expenses and evacuation that AIG is offering.
3. Outdoor Adventure and Extreme Sports
The AIG Travel Guard travel insurance plan’s outdoor adventure and extreme sports coverage is sufficient for the normal traveller.
Here are the outdoor adventure activities that AIG travel insurance covers:
| Outdoor adventure | AIG travel insurance |
| Hot air balloon | Not stated |
| Scuba diving | Yes, up to 40m with qualified dive instructor, PADI cert |
| Skiing and other ice/snow sports | Yes |
| Hiking or trekking | Yes, up to 6,000m with licensed operator |
| Mountaineering or outdoor rock climbing | Yes, up to 3,000m |
| Marathons and other competitions | Yes (excludes biathlons, triathlons and ultra marathons) |
| Jet skiing | Not stated |
| White water rafting | Yes, up to Grade 3 |
| Skydiving | Yes, tandem skydiving with licensed company |
| Paragliding, hang gliding or parachuting | Yes, tandem activities with licensed company |
| Bungee jumping | No |
AIG covers some sports and adventure activities done at leisure level, including sailing, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, white water rafting and scuba diving. That should be good enough for most travellers.
But there are some restrictions for aerial or airborne activities. You can go parachuting or skydiving with registered companies but forget about hang-gliding, paragliding, etc. The list of covered activities and their limitations is in the AIG policy wording.
4. AIG Travel Insurance Terms and Conditions
Before you purchase any travel insurance, you should watch out for the terms and conditions which may affect your travel plans adversely. Here are some terms and conditions from AIG travel insurance that might matter to you:
- No Post Trip Covid Coverage: If you returned to Singapore and tested Covid positive, your AIG travel insurance will not be able to cover your medical expenses.
- Length of Trip: You will only be covered for a maximum of 182 days if you purchased a single trip plan, and 90 days each trip if you got an annual multi-trip plan.
- Claim within 30 Days: You’ll need to ensure that your claim documents reach AIG’s office within 30 days of your incident. If you’re ill and not able to do that, your reason for submitting your claims late (no later than 1 year) will have to be “reasonable” to AIG.
- No Pre-Existing Conditions will be covered. If you need travel insurance for pre-existing medical conditions, try MSIG or NTUC travel insurance plans instead.
- Overseas Medical Expenses for Pregnancy: Covers pregnancy-related illness or injuries you suffered while overseas for 90 days. Doesn’t include first trimester, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage.
- Air Miles and Hotel Reward Points: If you booked your flight tickets or hotel stays with miles or points, your flight tickets or hotel bookings will not be covered.
- Call AIG Travel Asia Pacific Before Hospitalisation: You must inform AIG before you get hospitalised (means you stay in the hospital as an in-patient for over 24 hours) else your hospitalisation cannot be claimed.
5. AIG Travel Insurance Claims Review
Claims is, perhaps, one of the most important part of a travel insurance plan. I mean, you can get $2 billion in medical coverage but if the claims process is notoriously difficult, then what is the point?
And, alas, AIG’s travel insurance claims reviews are all pretty bad. A quick search through forums such as Reddit and Hardwarezone will reveal many users with their AIG travel insurance claims denied or rejected, citing pretty intricate and complex (at least to a regular folk) terms and conditions in the policy wording.
To be honest, as a regular Singaporean, I won’t spend 3 days studying the AIG travel insurance policy wording before I purchase it or jet off. I mean, if claims are so difficult… then just steer clear of it like your ex-girlfriend.
AIG Overseas emergency hotline: Call +65 6733 2552 for 24-hour medical and emergency help
AIG Claims hotline: Call +65 6224 3698 to get help with your AIG travel insurance claims
AIG Online claims: Submit your claims with all supporting documents through AIG’s online claims submission form
Hard copy claims: Download the hard copy claim form and mail them with your documents to AIG
Travel Claims Department
AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte Ltd
AIG Building
78 Shenton Way, #07-19
Singapore 079120
Things to note: Claims must be made within 30 days of the event, incident, loss, or hospitalisation etc.
How long does AIG take to process claims? Within 10 business days. If it takes longer, try calling the AIG travel insurance claims hotline at +65 6224 3698 for your claims’ status update.
6. AIG vs Allianz Travel Insurance
A popular rival for AIG’s travel insurance is the German multinational insurance company, Allianz’s travel insurance. Here, we compare the main travel insurance coverage for AIG travel insurance vs Allianz travel insurance:
| AIG TravelGuard | Allianz Single-Trip Covid Travel Insurance | |
| Price (ASEAN) | $48 to $83/week | $77 to $113/week |
| Price (Asia) | $48 to $85/week | $97 to $146/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $68 to $132/week | $123 to $172/week |
| Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $50,000 – $200,000 | $1,000,000 to Unlimited |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation | (under medical expenses) | Unlimited |
| Personal Accident (Death & TPD) | $0 – $200,000 | $0 – $100,000 |
| Travel Delay (Overseas) | $200 – $2,000 | $1,500 |
| Trip cancellation, disruption | $2,500 – $5,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Baggage loss | $3,000 – $5,000 | $7,000 to $15,000 |
| Adventure activities | Yes | Yes (Platinum plan only) |
| Covid-19 Coverage | Yes | Yes |
| Claims Reviews Online | Negative | Slow claims process |
Total Premium
S$66.88
- Med. Coverage (Overseas)
- S$500,000
- Trip Cancellation
- S$10,000
- Loss/Damage of Baggage
- S$5,000
- Total PremiumTotal Premium
S$7612% Off - S$66.88
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Compared to AIG travel insurance, Allianz travel insurance’s medical-related claims are way more comprehensive. The trip cancellation and disruption related claims run up to a whopping $15,000 or $25,000 – great if you are staying in an expensive Maldives resort or the famed Crosby Hotel in New York City.
Allianz’s travel insurance premiums are way more expensive than AIG’s. However, there’s a silver lining – Allianz runs frequent promotions and promo codes for their travel insurance plans.
Although their claims process seems slow (racks up to 6 months), online users on Reddit have shared that they’ve successfully managed to get their claims from Allianz… with very much patience.
7. AIG Travel Insurance Promotion
AIG has an ongoing travel insurance promotion right now which offers you $30 or $50 in Grab vouchers. Use the promo code AIGTGB when you book your single-trip AIG travel insurance plan. If you’re thinking of using these Grab vouchers to offset your Grab ride to Changi Airport, we’re sorry to break the news to you – the Grab voucher will only be sent to you via email 6 to 8 weeks after you buy the travel insurance plan. (Unless you buy early.) Promo ends soon on 30 June 2022.
The other promotion they have is that you can get preferred rates for pre-departure PCR tests at $112 (includes GST). Your AIG travel insurance confirmation email will come with a link for you to book your pre-trip PCR test. You’ll need to get it done at one of the 36 Raffles Medical clinics around Singapore.
Premium
S$83
- Overseas Medical Expenses
- S$1,000,000
- Travel Cancelation / Postponement
- S$10,000
- Loss/Damage of Personal Baggage
- S$5,000
- Premium
- S$83
【Faster Cash Redemption | Travel Insurance】
Enjoy unlimited flexibility, get up to S$50 Cash via PayNow within 1 month* and up to S$20 off with no minimum spend* on iShopChangi.com when you purchase through MoneySmart! T&Cs apply.
8. AIG Travel Insurance Review
In all honesty, the AIG Travel Guard plans offer really poor value on their Basic plan, and only so-so on the Standard plan. So if you’re looking for a cheap and good deal, you can skip AIG completely.
The basic plan may be cheap but it is most definitely not good; while the Standard plan is acceptable but a good deal pricier than similar products on the market.
The only reason you might want to get the low- to middle-tier AIG travel insurance is if you booked your trip via a travel agency and they have some kind of exclusive discount that’ll put it back in the competition.
That said, the AIG Enhanced travel insurance plans have surprisingly good coverage, so if you want to buy from AIG, go big or go home. AIG seems to concentrate all their resources on the upper tier plans.
Plus, in terms of promised turnaround time, AIG states that they’re willing to commit to a 10 working day turnaround time from claim to settlement. However, online reviews seem to claim otherwise.
Looking to buy travel insurance? Compare all Covid travel insurance plans here.
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