Phoenix family fights insurance over travel coverage

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix family booked an incredible 72-day cruise and purchased travel insurance just in case the unexpected happened.

Unfortunately, something did happen, and the family wound up with a $45,000 bill that the insurance company won’t pay.

Pat Wuensche and her family travel a lot, and one trip was just too good to pass up. It was a cruise from Los Angeles to Japan, and then a second cruise from Singapore back to the USA.

The two cruises would give the family plenty of time to visit all around Asia. When they booked, the travel agent asked if they wanted travel insurance. “I thought, ‘We’re going to be gone a long time,’” Wuensche said. “‘We better cover ourselves.’ So I went ahead and paid for it on both trips, just as a precaution.”

Good thing they did because once they arrived in Japan, Wuensche fell ill and had to be hospitalized.

Her doctors didn’t have good news. “So he said, ‘How long can I keep you in the hospital?’ And I said, ‘How about one day?’ And he said, ‘No, you need to cancel the whole rest of your trip,’” Wuensche said.

Wuensche and her family canceled the rest of their journey, including that second cruise.

Wuensche ended up spending 57 days in the hospital, where the staff spoke very little English. “The doctors knew very few words,” she said. “When they first discovered it was COVID, I was put in isolation so my family couldn’t even visit. I was really in isolation. It was tough.”

Wuensche knew her hospital stay would be expensive. However, she had purchased insurance for the trip, which included medical care.

Wuensche eventually recovered, and as soon as she got home, she submitted her hospital claim to Aon Travel Insurance, the company used by the cruise line.

Aon kept asking her to resubmit her itemized expenses, including not only Wuensche’s hospital stay but also other expenses like the family’s extended stay in a hotel, which all totaled around $45,000.

The claim dragged out for months without progress. “It is frustrating because you think you can go there with peace of mind knowing if something happens, you’re okay,” she said. “And unfortunately for us, something happened.”

With no answers, Wuensche reached out to On Your Side, which contacted Aon Insurance, and the company agreed to take a closer look at her claim.

They determined that Wuensche’s policy only covered her cruise, so when Wuensche canceled the cruise, all of her coverage stopped.

They did cover the $8,000 cancellation fee for her cruise, but since her medical bills were not related to the cruise, they are not covered. Wuensche says she can’t believe it. “It should be covered. Absolutely.”

In this case, the travel insurance still came in handy because it saved the family thousands of dollars in cruise cancellation fees.

Also, always read the fine print because travel insurance is incredibly specific when it comes to what it covers and doesn’t cover.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.