Note: This post was most recently updated in April 2024 to reflect new features.
Buying travel insurance is one thing. Being able to access it and other essential trip information quickly, in one place, is another thing altogether.
With new updates and features, Allianz Travel Insurance’s Allyz® TravelSmart app brings a fresh approach to using travel insurance benefits on the fly. Now travelers can use the Allyz® TravelSmart (pronounced ‘all-EASE’) app to track flights and itinerary details, to receive location-specific traveler alerts, to find medical services, and to file claims.
This industry-leading, holistic approach to a travel insurance app is great for every level of Allianz travel insurance plan holder. Even travelers without an Allianz plan can use helpful features to find hospitals, medical terms and translations, and current health, security, transportation, and weather notifications that can impact travel.
Before you read on, go ahead and download the Allyz® TravelSmart insurance app by Allianz to your phone (iPhone or Android). It's free and useful even if you don't have an Allianz travel insurance plan.
Just as we started to update this post, we had an unexpected opportunity (a.k.a. sudden illness) to test the app’s features. More on that below.
We first purchased travel insurance in 2014 (we pretty much just crossed our fingers before that) and moved to our current annual travel insurance plan in 2015. Then in 2018, before traveling to Greece, we started using the TravelSmart app. (TravelSmart was originally launched in 2013 but has undergone several major updates since then.) As Allyz® TravelSmart, it's now one of our favorite travel apps, and one we keep on our phone all the time, whether we're traveling or not. Here's why.
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Access your travel insurance plan on the fly
Sometimes it's not enough to know you have coverage; you might need to show proof of travel insurance to participate in some tours. Just use your plan email to log in to the app (we encourage you do this before you leave home), and you'll find your plan number, names of insured persons, expiration date, and even all the fine print. When you need to supply your plan info to someone else, a PDF format copy can simply be emailed to yourself. It works!
Most organized tours and most adventure activities require your travel insurance plan number when you sign up. With the app, this is always at our fingertips.
Remember, your plans’s fine print is worth a read, or re-read. While traveling, do you suddenly wonder if your travel insurance covers bungee jumping? Look before you leap. (It probably doesn't.)
Country Emergency Info
The Assistance icon in the main navigation is your instant connection to local emergency numbers for police, fire, and ambulance. This is the best feature, as far as I’m concerned, because 9-1-1 is not universal and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t remember the local country’s emergency number in time of need.
These emergency numbers, as well as Allianz's customer service and medical assistance numbers, are dialed directly by touch screen.
Finding Nearby Medical Services
From the Services section in the Allyz® TravelSmart app (another icon that appears across the bottom of every page), go to the Hospital Finder section. Here you’ll access a list of hospitals and clinics nearby, arranged by distance from your location. (Of course, this requires you to enable location services on your phone.)
From experience, looking for a doctor in Jerusalem, an emergency room in Hanoi, and a clinic in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. I know the relief I felt just seeing the listings on the app, knowing where to start. In Jerez recently, I just showed the app's listings to the hotel staff, and they helped me identify the best choices.
You can view options by list or on a map, and Allianz's preferred partners are indicated, too. Seeing the preferred selections, I was comfortable choosing an ER in Hanoi even before contacting the insurance company – and while the taxi and hotel staff were still discussing where to drive me – saving me more time and panic. The Allyz® TravelSmart app is a quick way to find providers you know will be OK with your insurance company.
If you are uncertain about your needs or the selection of providers, you can always call the medical assistance number for clarification and reassurance, 24/7.
Medical Dictionary and Translator
Often the most difficult part of being sick while traveling is communicating the specifics of your condition or medical history. Allyz® TravelSmart’s services include both a medical dictionary and a very helpful translator. Medicine and first aid terms are available in 18 languages. This is especially handy when traveling in countries using other than the Latin alphabet, like Greece or Japan, for example. Just show your phone with the translated word to the doctor or pharmacist.
(I got lucky in Japan when I was escorted through the ER process by the hospital’s chief administrator who was called in because he spoke English!)
Location-specific Alerts
We like this newly updated Allyz® TravelSmart feature a lot. Enter your trip details in the app’s Trip Organizer section. Allow push notifications by registering for alerts. The app's Alert Center will send notifications of all sorts of pertinent issues, like earthquake warnings, civil unrest, epidemic hotspots, dangerous weather systems, transportation disruptions, or other issues that can affect your travels. Best of all, the Alert Center offers advise on how to respond to these issues.
TP50 Travel Tip: We also recommend, especially if your itinerary takes you to destinations out of the ordinary, to register your travels with the U.S. State Department's travel page. In case of natural disasters or emergencies, you’re health and safety will be more readily accounted for.
File Claims Easily
With any potential insurance claim, it’s best to be in touch with the company early and often. Allianz's Allyz® TravelSmart makes it really simple to contact them. The Assistance navigation offers one-touch phone connections for medical or customer service questions, and an email button, too. We like to announce our issues before filing any claim, and preferably before taking any action.
Having the app on your phone means you can easily file a claim on the fly, right from the app's Home Page. The in-app process is clean and simple. Some of your info will be auto filled, and you can upload photos or scans of documents using your phone to demonstrate proof of loss. Via the app, you can track the claim's progress on the go, too.
Assistance on the Allyz® TravelSmart app includes FAQs, a customer service phone number, and a medical assistance phone number.
TP50 Travel Tip: Use a mobile scanner app to store your claim documents on your phone. Scans are more secure than your photo images and can be named and organized for easy reference. The image quality is better than a photo, too. We use TinyScanner to keep essential private documents like passports and necessary data like credit card images, front and back.
Your Trip Itinerary
Enter your flight details in the Trip Organizer section, and the Allyz® TravelSmart app will track your flight status up to one year in advance. Here's a handy place to get information on your terminal and boarding gate, as well as changes in flight status. Even though we track flights elsewhere, we like to keep the info in our Allianz app in case of delays or cancellations that might trigger a travel insurance claim.
TP50 Travel Tip: We generally use both our airline app and/or Trip-It Pro to track flights, the latter because it organizes all our other arrangements including hotels, tours, and ground transportation.
Best Practices Preparing for International Travel
The best use of the Allyz® TravelSmart app is to download it and sign in before your trip. As with all travel insurance issues, the more you know in advance, the easier it is to access help in times of need. The app keeps your critical travel information and insurance details in a tidy package.
With all the helpful assistance in the Allyz® TravelSmart, we also remind travelers to do their own research in advance of – and during – international travel. Specifically, check out the State Department travel page for your select country. This includes the information you’d get when you sign up for travel alerts (any active volcanoes in Greece these days?) and provides the country’s basic info regarding passports, visas, vaccinations, currency restrictions, etc. All good to review before you travel.
Go to the State Department’s helpful travel page if you want to investigate STEP (Smart Travelers Enrollment Program) on your own.
If you are concerned about health issues in your destination country, do find a travel clinic in your area, or speak with your doctor. They are excellent is providing the necessary vaccinations and precautions.
For other apps that will simplify your traveling life, check out this article on our 20 favorite travel apps.
For a complete picture of travel insurance options, see our post, Travel Insurance Basics: What to Look For and When to Buy.
Note: This post and other posts on TravelPast50.com may contain paid or affiliate advertising links. This post is sponsored by Allianz Partners (AGA Service Co.) and we've received financial compensation. However, all opinions expressed are our own.
This is great information. Travel insurance is really a necessity these days.
Thanks, Vicki. It’s a handy app to have at the ready–for anyone with or without a policy. You’re right. Having travel insurance is just smart.
Having your insurance policy on your phone is HUGE. We went on a tour a few months back and didn’t have our insurance policy info with us and it was a whole to-do getting a copy of it. And that medical translator could actually be a lifesaver.
Right, Mike. It’s one of those things we don’t think we’ll need to access–until we do! Gotta love our smart phones!