Travel Insurance Malaysia 2026: What 5 Policies Pay

Nobody reads a travel policy before buying it. You click the friendliest number, you fly, and the document only becomes interesting at the worst possible moment — in a foreign hospital, or in front of a claims form. Alamak.

Everything below was read on 22 September 2026 off five insurers’ own pages and policy documents — Allianz, Etiqa, Zurich, AIG, Tune Protect — and, for redress, off Bank Negara Malaysia, FMOS, CAAM and FlySmart. Where an official document prints no figure, none is printed here.

Quick Answer: check four rows before you pay — medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation and repatriation, trip cancellation, travel delay. Across the five insurers read today, published medical caps run RM 200,000 to RM 1,000,000 and evacuation caps RM 500,000 to RM 20,000,000, or Unlimited . Winter sports need a rider on three of the five, are excluded outright with no rider on Tune Protect, and are a base benefit only on Zurich . If a claim is refused, the free route is your insurer’s complaints unit, then FMOS .

• The number most people quote is the wrong one: medical expenses and evacuation are two benefits with two caps. Allianz Travel Easy pays up to RM 200,000 in medical and up to RM 1,000,000 in evacuation — and the bigger number keeps getting repeated as though it were the medical limit .
• The cap you need may not be on the marketing page: Etiqa’s product page benefit table has no evacuation row. That limit appears only in the Schedule of Benefits inside the policy contract .
• The complaint channel changed and most guides have not caught up: MAVCOM was dissolved on 1 August 2025 under Act 856, and the Ombudsman for Financial Services became FMOS on 1 January 2025 .

Four numbersWhat's refusedComplain path

The four documents behind every travel policy

All five publish the same stack of paper, each layer answering a different question .

• The Product Disclosure Sheet (PDS) is the two-page summary, with one worked illustration — one traveller, one destination, one plan — and its premium.
• The policy contract is the contract, and it holds the Schedule of Benefits: every benefit and its cap, per plan. This is where the number you need lives. Etiqa’s product page has no evacuation row; the cap is only in the contract .
• The certificate of insurance is what arrives after you pay: your plan, your dates, your sum insured. If it disagrees with the brochure, it wins.
• The product page is marketing, but also the insurer’s own published word. Every figure below traces to one of these four.

One habit worth copying: look for the date. Four of the five PDS carry one on the front page — Etiqa 01/06/2026, AIG 01 Jan 2026, Tune Protect 28/12/2025, Zurich stamped 20250901. The two Allianz sheets carry none . Etiqa goes further and publishes two policy contracts, split by whether you signed up on or after 7 November 2025 .

The four numbers that decide what you get paid

Medical expenses is the hospital bill overseas. Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation is the air ambulance, the medical escort and, if it comes to that, bringing a body home — a separate benefit with a much larger cap. Trip cancellation is the non-refundable money you lose if you cannot go. Travel delay is cash that starts ticking after a fixed number of hours.

Confusing the first two is the commonest error, and the old version of this page made it. Allianz Travel Easy pays medical up to RM 200,000 and evacuation up to RM 1,000,000 . Quoting the million as the medical limit overstates the cover five times over.

Five insurers, as their own documents print it

One named plan per insurer, so the columns mean something. These are not equivalent plans — every company slices its range differently and sells cheaper and dearer tiers. Read it as “what this named plan publishes”, never as a league table.

Two things the table cannot show. The channel changes the product: Allianz Travel Easy is online only, Travel XPert goes through authorised agents , and Zurich splits the same way . And the top of each range is higher than the row shown — Allianz XPert Prestige RM 550,000 medical and RM 35,000 cancellation , Etiqa Platinum RM 500,000 medical and RM 50,000 cancellation (its evacuation cap on Platinum is separately RM 1,500,000) , Zurich Diamond Unlimited medical .

Unlimited, sub-limits, excess and the family cap

Unlimited is a word, and it belongs to one benefit on one plan. Zurich prints it for evacuation on Silver, Gold and Diamond, and for medical on Diamond only; the Lite plans cap evacuation at RM 1 million . Anywhere else, the cap is the cap.

Sub-limits sit under a headline: Etiqa’s baggage benefit is separately limited to RM 500 for any one article, pair or set. Excess is what you pay first — Etiqa’s medical benefit reads “in excess of RM 100” , and Tune Protect applies RM 50 per insured person on baggage .

The family cap surprises people. Zurich says there is no limit on how many family members can join a family plan — then caps the whole family at 300% of the individual Schedule of Benefits . Unlimited children, a ceiling on the money. Etiqa prints an overall family limit beside almost every benefit .

Winter sports and diving: a rider on four of the five

Zurich is the exception: its published schedule carries Special Coverage — amateur sports including scuba diving, winter sports and bungee jumping — as a benefit row with its own limit on every plan, RM 100,000 to RM 500,000, not as an extra . Its PDS still excludes any activity above 3,000 metres .

The other four put it behind a rider or outside the policy. AIG sells a Special Sport rider for winter sports and scuba diving at RM 50 per trip in its own illustration . Etiqa excludes sports such as sky diving unless the Adventurous Activities Coverage is added, an optional benefit in Section G of its contract . Tune Protect’s PDS excludes extreme sports outright .

Allianz is worth reading twice, because its own pages give two lists. The FAQ describes an Additional Sports optional rider covering certain water and winter sports, mountaineering to 4,500 metres and high-altitude mountaineering to 5,500 metres. The comparison table instead shows a Leisure Sports Activities row plus one optional benefit, High Altitude Mountaineering above 3,500 metres. The PDS lists only that one . Elsewhere the same page says leisure sports are included at no additional charge . Both statements are Allianz’s and are not reconciled here; if your trip involves a slope or a tank, ask in writing which list applies to your plan.

What these policies refuse to pay

Pre-existing conditions are excluded by all five. If a condition already exists, a travel policy is not where you insure it — a medical card is a different product with different rules.

Countries differ sharply, and this is where a cheap policy turns out to be no policy. Tune Protect names 14 it does not cover: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, the Russian Federation including Crimea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Zimbabwe . AIG excludes travel in, to or through Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, or Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk . Zurich says there are no excluded countries, noting only that Israel needs a proper entry permit . Check the destination list before the price, and your entry requirements at the same time.

Epidemics and pandemics are not treated the same way by all five. Etiqa excludes COVID-19 unless its COVID-19 Additional Benefit is taken; with it, an international trip gets cancellation up to RM 5,000 and disruption up to RM 5,000 regardless of age, plus medical up to RM 300,000 and evacuation up to RM 100,000, each halved for travellers aged 61 to 80 . AIG names epidemic or pandemic in its exclusions , and Tune Protect sells COVID Lite and COVID Plus plans on top of Basic . Allianz is the exception: its Travel Easy policy wording covers Covid-19 as an Illness under the base policy for overseas trips, with no separate exclusion or add-on.

Altitude catches hikers: Zurich excludes any activity above 3,000 metres and AIG excludes mountaineering and trekking above the same line .

When cover starts, and the deadlines that kill a claim

Cash before cover. Allianz’s PDS says the policy is automatically null and void if the premium is not received before cover commences; Etiqa, Tune Protect and AIG require the same .

Seven days for cancellation cover. Etiqa pays nothing on trip cancellation if the plan was bought less than 7 days before departure , and Tune Protect reimburses it only if the policy was bought at least 7 days before the trip . Buying at the airport gets you medical and delay cover, not cancellation cover.

The last moment to buy. Etiqa requires purchase before you leave Malaysia and at least 2 hours before departure, recommends 6 hours, and sells up to half a year ahead . Its international cover then runs from 6 hours before scheduled departure until the earliest of: you get home, 6 hours after landing back in Malaysia, or the policy’s own expiry date .

Thirty days to notify. Etiqa wants claims notified no later than 30 days after the event ; Allianz, in writing within 30 days upon return .

Trip length caps. Allianz covers up to 200 days on a return overseas trip, 90 days on one-way and annual policies, 31 days domestically . Etiqa caps a single international trip at 180 days and an annual-plan trip at 90 days, and does not allow one-way journeys . AIG matches at 180 days, 30 days domestic and 90 days per trip on annual multi-trip .

What it costs: the illustrations in the PDS

No Malaysian travel insurer publishes a flat price list; premiums move with age, destination, duration and plan. What each does publish is one worked illustration per PDS, with its conditions attached.

Three charges recur. Stamp duty of RM 10.00 is printed on the Allianz, Etiqa and AIG illustrations, while Tune Protect’s prints a dash . Service tax of 8% applies to the premium on domestic plans only, which is why an overseas illustration shows nothing for it — the wider picture is in our guide to SST for consumers. And a 25% discount for buying direct is printed by three of the five, while Allianz instead lists a separate 25th Anniversary 25% Discount campaign document under Downloads . Every PDS also carries the same line: benefits under eligible products are protected by PIDM up to limits .

A delay claim, as the official pages describe it

Delay is the benefit most people actually use, and the rules are published. Etiqa pays automatically for flights delayed 2 hours or more: RM 100 for the first complete 2 hours on every plan, then RM 250 every 6 hours to the plan ceiling on the three international plans — the Domestic plan pays only the first RM 100 and nothing further . Tune Protect pays instantly through its app when DuitNow is chosen .

Two conditions are easy to miss. Etiqa pays nothing if the airline announced the delay 12 hours earlier, and nothing under 2 hours . And the clock differs: Allianz counts in 5-hour blocks , Zurich and Etiqa in 6-hour blocks after the first payment .

For a hospital admission the instruction is the same everywhere: call before you are admitted. Tune Protect says to contact Europ Assistance on +603 7628 3650 first, otherwise charges may apply . Allianz offers cashless admission and discharge for overseas bills exceeding RM 20,000 per admission , and promises reimbursement within 3 working days on app or portal claims up to RM 5,000, or it pays double, terms applying .

For a sense of the sums, AIG publishes five cases on its own page, each marked as based on a real AIG claim: a hip injury and surgery in the United Kingdom with a nurse-escorted repatriation, about RM 80,000; rib fractures in Laos treated in Thailand, almost RM 40,000; a death in Tibet with repatriation of remains, almost RM 80,000; and two cases in China at roughly RM 52,000 each .

If the claim is refused: the 2026 complaint ladder

This is the part of the old page that was most wrong. There are two ladders, because there are two opponents: the insurer and the airline.

1. The insurer’s own complaints unit, first. Bank Negara Malaysia says to contact your financial service provider’s complaints unit, and that if it is not resolved within 14 calendar days, or you are unsatisfied, you may then come to BNM .
2. FMOS, for the claim itself. The Financial Markets Ombudsman Service was established on 1 January 2025 by consolidating the Ombudsman for Financial Services and SIDREC, under BNM and the Securities Commission . Its scope expressly includes travel insurance and takaful claims for direct losses not exceeding RM 250,000 , and it is free . File within 6 months of the insurer’s final decision, or after 60 days if there was no reply at all .
3. BNMLINK, for conduct. 1-300-88-5465, or +603-2174-1717 from overseas, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday; walk-ins by appointment through the eLINK form .
4. CAAM through FlySmart, for the airline. MAVCOM was dissolved on 1 August 2025 under the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Dissolution) Act 2024 [Act 856] and its functions passed to CAAM . Complaints still run through FlySmart, now under CAAM — flysmart.my, its app, the webform, and 1800-18-6966 within Malaysia . Complain to the airline or airport first; escalate to CAAM if it is unresolved after 30 days .

Two limits before you start: FMOS will not take a claim above RM 250,000 or a dispute already in court , and the Ombudsman’s decision binds the insurer, not you — accept it and a settlement agreement binds both sides; decline it and you may go elsewhere .

What none of the official pages prints

• A price list. Only the PDS illustrations above are published prices, each tied to one age band, destination and duration.
• Any official benchmark for a hospital bill abroad. The old version of this page printed a Singapore figure that appeared in two different sizes in its two languages. No official tariff was found for it, so it is gone rather than reconciled.
• A regulator’s rule behind the 25% direct discount. Three insurers publish it; no BNM page requiring it was found, so this page reports only what the insurers say .
• Claim approval rates, or how long a payout really takes. Beyond Allianz’s 3-working-day promise on small app claims , nobody publishes numbers. PIAM counts 19 direct general insurers and 4 reinsurers in Malaysia, but no per-insurer claims record .

Walaoeh Verdict

First: stop reading the headline number and start reading the row. Every one of these policies has a medical cap and a separate, much bigger evacuation cap, and the guides that get it wrong all err in the same direction — quoting evacuation as though it were the hospital budget.

Second: the two dates that decide whether a benefit exists at all are the day you buy and the day you claim. Seven days before departure for cancellation cover on most of these policies; for notifying a claim, Etiqa counts 30 days from the event but Allianz counts 30 days from your return home — check which clock your insurer uses. Miss either deadline and the cap in the table is irrelevant.

Third: the escalation route changed twice in two years and nearly every guide still uses the old names. It is FMOS since 1 January 2025, and CAAM through FlySmart since 1 August 2025. Both are free. This page re-checks these figures against the same official documents on a schedule, and the date it last did so is printed with the article.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these, all read on 22 September 2026.

• Allianz Malaysia — the travel and flight insurance product page, plus the Travel Easy PDS and the Travel XPert PDS.
• Etiqa — the TripCare 360 product page, the PDS dated 01/06/2026, and the policy contract for sign-ups on or after 7 November 2025, whose Schedule of Benefits carries the evacuation row.
• Zurich Malaysia — the Z-Travel Insurance (International) product page and its PDS.
• AIG Malaysia — the travel insurance product page with its published claim examples, and the PDS dated 01 Jan 2026.
• Tune Protect — the Travel Easy product page and the PDS dated 28/12/2025.
• Bank Negara Malaysia — Enquiries or Complaints and BNMLINK. FMOS — Our Scope, How to File a Dispute and the FAQ.
• CAAM — the 21 July 2025 notice on MAVCOM’s dissolution; FlySmart — home and Make A Complaint; PIAM — its own page for the industry figures.