Europe with AIG: AIG Won't answer my questions directly

The point of this entry is to share my experience with AIG, and their Travel Guard team, where I found gaps that their product team couldn't (wouldn't?) explain. Some context is necessary, and I hope you read on:

We've scored tickets to Turkey with Air France-KLM via two stopovers, and we'll be doing intra-Turkey journeys as well. As you can see, with a trip this mobile, the importance of good travel insurance is increased.

Okay, I admit, I purchased the travel insurance on the spot after reading the Policy Wording and realizing that you're covered if something happens before your trip, causing you to be unable to board the flight or something. Example:

• Today, you purchase insurance and tickets for your trip in June. At the time, there are no known applicable events in the exclusions which are scheduled.
• In May, the airport collapses (obviously this wouldn't have been publicly known at point of policy purchase, and ticket purchase)
• In June, your trip is somehow affected, and based on policy wording, you should be covered.

Yeah of course I quickly purchased AIG insurance for us, because I'm a born and bred Singaporean who grew up reading Mr. Kiasu and Mr. Kiasi, and my brother did tell me that when he landed in CDG a few years back, the plane had nowhere to dock because a portion of the CDG airport had collapsed. COLLAPSED. D:

Good thing I did, because I soon discovered that there were planned strikes in Paris, in May (not my travel dates). I only found out after some guy in a travel forum spoke of it, linking to an obscure European news website (sorry ah, I only read work-related news. But how much news do YOU read?).

Back to the insurance and the clause "which was publicly known", here is the relevant portion of the AIG Travel Guard policy wording:

Section 27 (Travel Delay), EXCLUSIONS
We will not pay for any delay:
2) that results from a Major Travel Event, Civil Unrest, Riot or Commotion, Strike or adverse weather conditions, actual or suspected mechanical breakdown/derangement or structural defect of the Common Carrier which was publicly known at the time You booked Your Trip or purchased this insurance, whichever occurs last.

Okay so this means we are not covered if we decide to you know, pop over on a trip to Syria, where there is extensive worldwide coverage regarding civil unrest. Yes. The Syrian Civil War is definitely publicly known, and I understand why it is excluded.

But how about less reported events which can still disrupt your travel, such as air traffic strikes in France? This was largely a domestic issue, and got most of its coverage in regional (UK, FR, EU) news. Definitely didn't get prime-time coverage in Singapore.

While Daily Mail and The Independent features on the issue were on page 1 of Google when you search for the event, it was only after detailed searching, did I find the news on Today and The Straits Times. It wasn't on Page 1 of the Google search results, testament to how little those particular webpages have been visited. So. How many people read The Independent in Singapore? How many people read the Straits Times cover to cover?

This begs the question - what is the definition of publicly known? Are they going to survey Singapore to see what percentage of the public has knowledge of the strikes?
Because AIG has not defined the clause, let's look at their definition for "Public Place", for an idea of how AIG approaches the matter:

PUBLIC PLACE means any place to which the general public has access, 

Using their definition of public, doesn't it mean every news website, regardless of language is regarded as public? Does this mean that if a Turkish event had been mentioned as being planned exclusively in some Turkish tabloid in Turkish, I wouldn't be eligible for cover?

Is it reasonable for general travellers to even know this?  Everything online is, after all global. And anything online that isn't password protected can be considered to be "Public". Even the Hurriyet Daily. Ha. You didn't know the Hurriyet Daily, did you? It's a leading Turkish news site. I wonder how many Singaporeans know and read the major newspapers of their holiday destinations.

Of course, I then sought to know whether given that at the point of purchase, there were NO publicly known strikes at the time of purchase, as a policy holder, I would be covered in the event that there was a strike. Thus I contacted AIG asking for a contextual, email confirmation on the same. 

Here is where the nightmare begins:

1. I received a call from June Lee (AIG), which quickly deteriorated into her telling me that all cases could only be approved on a case-by-case basis, EVEN IF the situation as it happened, was covered by Policy Wording. So does that mean that I purchase insurance on the off-chance that when shit happens, I MAY or MAY NOT be covered? Nice one, June Lee (AIG). Just hoping now that if a problem happens, my case will be approved. (Update: They've since emailed me to resolve this misrepresentation by June Lee (AIG).)
2. When I requested to be forwarded to a manager since she couldn't answer my question, she demurred (she wasn't demure. heck, she wasn't even polite) refused to. And yet she insisted that her response would be to simply insert the relevant bit of the policy wording. Wow, June Lee (AIG). That's really insulting because it insinuates that I was a bad consumer, by not read the Policy Wording before buying. Guess what, June Lee (AIG), I actually read the Policy Wording before buying - which is why I even sent that email in the first place. What is the point of giving me something I already have (the Policy Wording), especially when I've confirmed that I've read it? I stated that I was looking for a contextual confirmation.
3. Because I wasn't getting my contextual confirmation, I sought to define the parameters of the policy wording. I then asked her what "publicly known" meant, and she wasn't able to define it. She said the publication had to be global. Again, isn't every publication available to anyone with a URL global? So okay, I asked whether there was a minimum circulation qualification, and nope, she wasn't able to answer the question either.

Very well, June Lee (AIG). It was clear the conversation was going nowhere, so I told her to do what she said she would be doing at the start - to just email me the relevant clause like she offered, lest this issue escalates, and she says I asked to not be emailed.

Next, I dropped AIG a second email with my questions as above, and also expressing my discontent regarding my experience with June Lee (AIG), and in addition, I just requested confirmation again, that YES. Given that there were no known scheduled strikes in France for my travel dates, I would be covered.

They said they would check.

And then AIG proceeded to delegate the response to June Lee (AIG), who then gave me one more template response:

We hereby certify that the Policyholder (Policy Number PDXXX) XXXX is insured with AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd. under Travel Guard Individual Premier Annual Plan under Zone 3 coverage.
We are pleased to inform that our Travel Guard Insurance covers for Travel Delay both locally and overseas, subject to the specific Terms and Conditions of the policy. ---

AIG, that really doesn't answer my question - So does AIG recognize that there are no known scheduled strikes in France on that day, as of now?

I purchased the policy on 13 April. Any news published on or before 13 April already exists. If I can't find the news, and neither can you, you should give me the answer:

YES. Given that there are no publicly known scheduled strikes in France for the policy holder's travel dates published on or before 13 April 2015, she would be covered, subject to the other specific Terms and Conditions of the Policy.

Else who's stopping you from magicking a random, back dated news article in a non-English language from an obscure but public news site when shit happens? I'm not saying you would, I'm saying you could. Did the team leave this little loophole there to protect yourselves? Because I'd really rather pay more insurance, than be saddled with uncertainty.

AIG really needs to define these items regarding publicly known:

1. Define "known". Does hearsay that becomes true after awhile become knowledge?
2. How big must the publication's circulation be, in order to be judged by AIG as a proof of public knowledge? So would unsubstantiated news on forums and Xiaxue's blog be considered to be publicly known, considering their vast readerships?
3. News breaks on Social Media before making it to big news channels, so that an event becomes publicly known BEFORE the official news picks it up. MH17 was one such example. So does that mean customers have to be at the forefront of all Social Media? When does the news become "publicly known"? 
4. Must the news of the event be published on a news/government site to be publicly known?
5. Shouldn't there be a definition as to the language of the news that is published. Wouldn't it be terribly unfair if the Major Travel Event had been published in a news I didn't understand?

I think if this "publicly known" clause must exist, it should only apply to news in the language of the Policy I've purchased, and should have to be published in a major broadsheet (meaning top 3 in its country of publication) in order to be recognized, else the burden of proof that customers must bear is unreasonably heavy.

By the way, even after I complained about June Lee, they got her to return my call again. As if there's only one Customer Service Representative in that NYSE-listed insurance company. I tried but failed to internalize what she was harping about, so I just closed off the call saying I'd be raising a ruckus if anything funny happened.

Really, AIG? Couldn't you get someone ELSE to attend to me? Rest assured that I won't be purchasing insurance with you again.

Just to illustrate how deplorable their Customer Service is, I'm recounting some REAL brand experiences I've had this year, and portraying them AIG style:

Brands Featured: American Express, Golden Village, Air France

Time for you to up your game, AIG? Your brand came highly recommended by my mom who had ONE good experience with you a few years back. Looks like your brand has not aged well.