Citibank Travel Insurance Singapore Review 2018

August 3, 2018

Citibank travel insurance is one of the most popular travel insurance options in Singapore, perhaps because you can get complimentary Citibank travel insurance if you charge your travel fare to selected Citibank credit cards.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the free travel insurance coverage and see if it’s adequate, or whether you should pay for an upgrade (by opting for paid Citibank travel insurance).

Citibank complimentary travel insurance – is it good enough?

You can get complimentary travel insurance if you charge your full travel fare to either a Citi PremierMiles Card or a Citibank Cash Back or Citibank Rewards Card. Here’s a quick look at the coverage:

Citibank complimentary travel insurance	Citi PremierMiles (provided by AXA)	Citibank Rewards / Cash Back Card (provided by AIG)
Medical expenses (overseas)	$40,000	$40,000
Emergency medical evacuation	$100,000	$100,000
Personal accident (death or TPD while on common carrier)	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
Flight delay ($100 every 8 hours)	$500	$500
Trip cancellation	$500	$500
Baggage delay ($200 every 8 hours)	$600	$500
Baggage loss/damage	$1,000	$1,000
Adventure activities covered?	Yes	Some

So, is this free travel insurance good enough? It depends on what kind of coverage you need.

First, both plans focus on personal accident coverage – i.e. a payout in the event of a plane crash, car accident and the like, and so the PA component is much higher than that of the standard travel insurance. However, everything else has MUCH lower coverage limits.

The free travel insurance you get with Citi PremierMiles, which is provided by AXA, is slightly better. It even covers stuff like skydiving, bungee jumping, rock climbing and parachuting. Both policies cover the basic stuff like hiking up to 3,000m and scuba diving with a license.

However, you should note that the PA component is specifically for while you’re on a common carrier (i.e. mode of transport, e.g. train, plane, bus). So you won’t get a payout in, say, a tragic trekking accident. You can only claim for evacuation or medical expenses.

Bottom line: Citibank complimentary travel insurance has very low coverage limits compared to even basic travel insurance plans. You may want to boost your coverage by opting for a paid plan.

Citibank travel insurance at a glance

Citibank does not sell “house brand” travel insurance (like DBS does with DBS TravellerShield Plus), but it does distribute two brands: AIG Travel Guard and AXA Smart Voyage.

Because Citibank AXA travel insurance and Citibank AIG travel insurance come in 3 tiers each, there are actually 6 different plans to choose from when you buy Citibank travel insurance.

For brevity’s sake, I’ve chosen to only compare the cheapest Classic plans from each insurer. The higher tier versions of each plan typically have the same benefits structure, just that the coverage limits are higher.

Travel insurance plan	AXA Smart Voyage (Classic)	AIG Travel Guard (Classic)
Price for 1 week (ASEAN)	$41	$40 (Thailand not included)
Price for 1 week (Asia)	$51	$55 (Japan, Korea, Australia, NZ not included)
Price for 1 week (worldwide)	$85	$80
Promotion	30% off single trip plans
Medical expenses (overseas)	$250,000	$200,000
Emergency medical evacuation	$600,000	$500,000
Personal accident (death & TPD)	$200,000	$100,000
Travel delay ($100 every 6 hours)	$1,000	$1,000
Trip cancellation	$5,000	$5,000
Baggage delay ($200 every 6 hours)	$1,200	$1,000
Baggage loss/damage	$4,000	$3,000
Adventure activities covered?	Yes	Yes

Citibank travel insurance promotion

Citibank distributes travel insurance from two of the most high-end travel insurers in Singapore, AXA and AIG. Naturally, the prices are on the high side.

The current promotion of 30% off does help things a bit, but not by much. A week’s coverage in ASEAN will still set you back $28, which is rather on the high side.

Note that there are big price discrepancies for certain countries, because AIG practices a non-standard zoning system whereas Citibank AXA travel insurance is pretty standard.

For example, AIG doesn’t include Thailand in its list of ASEAN countries (cheapest tier), or Japan, Korea and Australia in Asia (second tier). That means if you want to buy travel insurance for a trip to Osaka, you’ll have to pay for worldwide coverage, which is the most expensive of all.

On the other hand, if you’re planning a trip to Peru, Citibank AIG travel insurance gives you a very good deal because it classifies South America in the second tier of countries, while most insurers will charge you the rate for worldwide coverage.

What does Citibank travel insurance cover?

Citibank travel insurance coverage isn’t impressive on the basic plans, especially AIG. These two premium insurance companies are known to concentrate their benefits on the higher-tier brands.

On the positive side, both insurers cover a wide range of outdoor activities:

Outdoor activity	Covered by AXA?	Covered by AIG?
Hot air balloon	Yes	Yes
Scuba diving	Yes (up to 40m)	Yes (up to 30m)
Skiing and other ice/snow sports	Yes	Yes
Hiking or trekking	Yes (up to 6,000m)	Yes (up to 3,000m)
Mountaineering or outdoor rock climbing	Yes	Yes
Marathons and other competitions	Yes (marathon, biathlon, triathlon)	Yes (but not ultramarathon, biathlon, triathlon)
Jet skiing	Yes
White water rafting	Yes (up to Grade 4)	Yes (up to Grade 4)
Skydiving	Yes	Not stated
Paragliding, hang gliding or parachuting	Yes	Not stated
Bungee jumping	Yes	Not stated

Unlike some insurers that require you to upgrade to a second tier plan to get coverage for basic stuff like trekking, both AXA and AIG are pretty lenient, with AXA being slightly better than AIG in that respect (though that shouldn’t matter unless you’re super into extreme sports).

Generally both insurers cover leisure outdoor activities as long as you’re doing it with a licensed guide or with a tour operator.

Citibank travel insurance claim procedure

Emergency hotline: Depending on the plan you bought, either call the AXA emergency hotline at +65 6322 2566 or AIG emergency hotline at +65 6733 2552.

AXA claims procedure: Submit your claim through this online form or print the travel claims form and mail with your documents to AXA Insurance Pte Ltd, 8 Shenton Way #24-01 AXA Tower, Singapore 068811

AIG claims procedure: All the info and forms you need are on the travel insurance claim page.

You can submit a claim through the online form or download the hard copy claim form and mail them with your documents to Travel Claims Department, AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte Ltd, AIG Building, 78 Shenton Way, #07-19, Singapore 079120

Conclusion: should you get Citibank travel insurance?

With Citibank, you have a choice between complimentary travel insurance (with a Citi PremierMiles, Citibank Cash Back or Citibank Rewards Card) or paying for a premium insurer.

Free things are always nice, but if you look at the coverage limits on the complimentary insurance plans, you’ll realise that the limits fall way short of industry standards for paid travel insurance. Take it up at your own risk!

If you plan to buy travel insurance with Citibank, you’ll have to pay a premium because both AIG and AXA are high end insurers. It’s expensive and the coverage isn’t spectacular for what you pay, to be honest.

Still, both insurers have a good reputation for swift emergency assistance, and the nice thing is that they cover a wide range of adventurous activities. So if good emergency assistance is your top priority, then you might find Citibank travel insurance worth your money.

Looking to buy Citibank travel insurance? Compare all Singapore travel insurance policies by price and coverage first.

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