We recently heard about a woman who’d purchased insurance on her airline ticket, only to have to resort to a public shaming of the company behind it, Allianz, for her $451 refund when she canceled her trip for health reasons. Which begs the question: What about other kinds of ticket insurance — are they worth it or will you just end up battling an insurance company when it comes time to claim a refund?

The Los Angeles Times’ David Lazarus reported on the earlier case of fighting for a refund and writes that his curiosity was aroused regarding other kinds of ticket insurance as a result. Ticketmaster promotes concert or event insurance — also provided by Allianz — when customers go to check out online, and many customers take the bait.

The site makes the $7 buy-in sound like a pretty good bet — after all, stuff comes up once in a while that could prevent you from attending a planned event: “Event ticket insurance insures your financial investment of the event tickets including taxes and shipping costs … should you not be able to attend the event for a covered reason,” the site said.

Covered reasons also sound relatively reasonable:  You’re covered if you miss an event due to illness, car breakdowns, house fires and oh yeah — death. Well, death due to natural causes.

But as the myriad exclusions show, there’s a whole slew of reasons you can’t use to get a ticket refund, like committing suicide. So if you choke on a chicken bone, your estate gets that money back. But if you take your own life, forget it.

You also won’t be covered if: You’re pregnant; have to miss the event for personal reasons; because of a mental-health issue; a breakout of war; terrorism; nuclear radiation or a pandemic disease. And don’t even think about getting your money back if you lose your tickets, they get stolen or the venue/promoter up and decides to cancel the event — which seems like a pretty big exception.

All of the above will keep you from a refund, as well as if you’re a fan of flying, as anyone “operating or learning to operate any aircraft as pilot or crew” is on the excluded list.

While a company spokesman reassured Lazarus that Allianz totally loves pilots, the exclusion exists due to the “added risk taken on by those who operate aircraft.” Cops, firefighters, trapeze artists and other risky professions are apparently fine, however.

If you’re not worried about a nuclear war breaking out and not currently doing your best Amelia Earhart, go for it. Otherwise you might want to take a long, pregnant pause before clicking that insurance box.

Is event ticket insurance just for chumps? [Los Angeles Times]

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