Travel claim exceeds USD1 Million

“This was a difficult case but AHI made it easier for all concerned. AHI did exceptionally well in all respects and the staff involved were a credit to the company.”

Senior Broker

A 73-year-old Company Director, Andrew Jennings*, was travelling with his wife to the United States under his company’s Corporate Travel Policy placed with AHI. 

As Mr Jennings had a number of pre-existing conditions, his broker and AHI advised him to source medical certificates from his treating doctors, who declared him fit-to-fly. However, when he was on the plane, Mr Jennings began experiencing medical difficulties.

Mrs Jennings contacted AHI Assist as soon as they arrived to say her husband was unwell and in distress.  

Mr Jennings was taken directly to a Michigan hospital and admitted to ICU where he continued to decline in health. He was moved to a larger facility in Cleveland where, after multiple tests it was found he had contracted a virus after a recent surgery in Australia.  

The infection continued to worsen over the next few days and was complicated by his medical issues. While doctors were able to operate, the surgery failed to improve his health. 

AHI flew Mr Jennings’ two daughters over the US to be with their family.  

Doctors advised Mr Jennings would need to be moved to a long term care facility in the next week but sadly Mr Jennings passed away a few days later.   

What the Broker said...

With Mr Jennings’ pre-existing medical conditions, he had to gain the relevant medical approvals to be cleared for travel. AHI were helpful and adopted a positive, can-do attitude towards making their trip happen. 

After Mr Jennings fell ill, AHI did everything possible to ensure he received the best standard of care. 

The communication from AHI was outstanding throughout. Each morning, I would call AHI’s Claims Manager and before I could even ask, he would provide an update on Mr Jennings after receiving nightly reports from the US and AHI Assist  

When it became clear Mr Jennings’ health was quickly deteriorating, AHI focussed on supporting the family. At a time when this family’s world was falling apart and they were emotional, stressed and anxious, AHI went above and beyond. 

AHI’s commitment to fairness was evident and I continually heard them say,

AHI went beyond the scope of the policy in numerous ways. An example of this was the provision of cover for both of their daughters to fly to the US to be with their father in his time of need, even though his wife was already by his side.   

After Mr Jennings’ passing, AHI helped the family with the repatriation arrangements and all of the relevant costs. 

This wasn’t an easy process but AHI made it easier for all concerned. AHI did exceptionally well in all respects and the staff involved were a credit to the company. 

Large travel claims don’t happen every day. Prior to this case, the largest claim I had dealt with was $20,000. This case ended up costing well over $1 Million USD yet AHI’s attitude was, ‘this is what we do and what we’re here for. Fortunately these cases don’t come along often but when they do, we want to make sure they’re done right.’ 

There are a lot of covers provided by these business travel policies but in my mind the most important are the medical and crisis covers. That’s not an area where you want to be cutting costs. It doesn’t appear to be important until it actually happens and then everything is important because you are dealing with people’s lives. 

Most of my travel business goes through AHI, because I have always found them easy to deal with, and that was even before this case. This case simply cemented my view.