Hi everyone,
I am struggling to understand the difference between Air Glacier / REGA / Livret ETI and I can’t find a lot of information about them. Could you please help me understand what each one offers and if there are any overlapses between them?(not accounting for some LAA or LAmal compleentary insurances)
Thank you very much in advance for your help!
I don’t know about Air Glacier or Livret ETI. But regarding Rega:
Rega is not an insurance company. Unless Regal picks you up (A different helicopter arrives depending on the region), Rega membership is of no use to you. In my case, rescue is already included in the supplementary health insurance, which is why everything you list here is not worthwhile for me. It is therefore worth checking first whether this is also the case for you.
I have rega and I consider it a donation for the swiss alpine farmers.
Rega does save cows from time to time 
It’s the only case where I’m happily overinsured.
I have the TCS membership + ETI “Schutzbrief”.
Can’t give a conrete feedback, since did not had an issue (crossing fingers, that it will remain like that!)
Air Glacier is the same as Rega, i.e., it will intervene only if you need helicopter rescue. It operates mainly in Valais. So, it is an interesting alternative if you live in Valais or are there often and if you do activities in the mountains in that canton.
ETI is much more global and will cover every case. So yes, ETI + Rega/Air Glacier is over-insurance; go with ETI if you need travel insurance. They are very good, even in really dramatic cases, and I have experienced that, unfortunately.
I have TCS ETI worldwide and Rega, not sure i will ever need both. I hope not 
As stated by @Wismie, Air Glaciers and Rega offer the same coverage. Whoever is the one in charge of interventions in a given area will intervene and they’ll bill each other when required (if you’re a member of Air Glaciers and got an evacuation with a Rega helicopter, for example). In case of emergency, calling 144 and letting them dispatch whatever transportation is needed is the most efficient way to handle it in Switzerland.
My understanding is that the ETI Livret only covers situations linked with travelling more than 50 km away from your home or abroad (or linked to a planned travel in such an aread). They would, per my understanding, for example, not cover transportation costs linked to a hiking accident in the mountains in Switzerland if it happened within 50 km of your home.
I would take a Air Glaciers/Rega membership if I was planning on hiking in Switzerland (or otherwise go to remote areas where ambulances are likely not to be able to access) and I would take an ETI Livret (or other similar insurance) if planning to travel abroad. I would take both if planning to do both.
At least for Rega that’s not true. Rega also has airplanes and will either transport you themselves or organize transport for you depending on the severity of your accident also outside of Switzerland → This is how we help you | Swiss Air-Rescue Rega
I confirm that this is actually the case as a friend of mine was flown back from Marocco with the Rega plane.
Source? I have just read Rega’s “Gönnerbestimmungen“. It is not written anywhere there. Conversely, Air Glacier covers the costs of Rega. At least that’s what it says on their website. Which speaks in favor of Air Glacier in this case.
REGA’s Q&A: Questions and answers | Swiss Air-Rescue Rega
Q: Does Rega patronage also cover operations performed by the rescue organisations responsible for air rescue services in the canton of Valais?
A: Yes, Rega patronage is also valid for missions performed in Valais by the local rescue organisations. The Conditions of Patronage are the same as for the rest of the country.
Air Glacier’s “Frais pris en charge” [FR]: Carte de sauvetage
Partout en Suisse et au Liechtenstein:
Sauvetages héliportés opérés par Air-Glaciers ou toute autre compagnie de sauvetage tierce illimité"
“Inbegriffene Leistungen” [DE]: Rettungskarte
Überall in der Schweiz und Liechtenstein:
Helikopterrettungen, durchgeführt von Air-Glaciers oder Drittunternehmen unlimitiert
I admit I haven’t dug deeper into the legalese.
Rega is a confusing organisation… They don’t mention any of this in the Gönnerbestimmungen, but they do in the FAQ. I wouldn’t rely on that.
Rega and Air Glaciers do the same thing: They provide the actual manpower and equipment and carry out the search and rescue operations. They then bill the relevant insurance (UVG accident insurance, private search and rescue insurance, etc.) for the cost of the operation.
The only major difference between them is the region in which they operate.
The (possible) advantage of having a membership is that the association may waive additional costs that are not covered by your insurance, at their discretion. In practice, they often do because that is their added value.
For example, UVG accident insurance only covers search and rescue if you have had an accident or are in iminent danger of having an accident. If you get stuck because of lost/broken equipment, or get snowed-in in an alpine hut because of stormy weather, that generally wouldn’t qualify for UVG insurance coverage because there is no imminent danger of an accident.
A situation like that happened to a good friend of mine, and Rega waived its charges when the insurance refused to pay.
If you have private search and rescue insurance from your health or travel insurance (Livret ETI, for example), check the T&Cs for exclusions to determine whether a Rega membership could benefit you.
@Nasgarr What was your final decision regarding Rega vs Orthers?
Hijacking this thread a little bit but maybe someone else can help. I find myself in this same situation after having 2 bills from TCS due next month in my e-bank. I’m not really sure how I got into this situation.
I have a car and I’m fairly sure that when I signed up for the car insurance (from smile) I read somewhere that it was generally a good idea to not have roadside assistance from that insurance and instead get it separately from TCS because of their quality and coverage. Is that the TCS membership or the ETI booklet? So I probably signed up for one there.
Then I’m not really sure when and how I signed up for the second one and if I really need it or not. Also what payments I did as it can’t find it on their website or my bank statements. (I will need to check out later with my gf as it might be on her bank account instead of mine). I know at some point I had to call assistance from them because the battery of my car died. I vaguely remember that I had to sign up for something and had to wait a day because of it (no big deal as it was parked anyway) otherwise it probably would have been more expensive. Can’t remember if it was the first of the second package.
I also have Travel and aviation accident insurance from my UBS credit card.
So in a nutshell if anyone can clarify the difference between the ETI and membership? Then I can maybe understand which one exactly I want. I will call them tomorrow and try to clarify with them but nothing in their website is in English so it might be a bit more tricky.
Apologies for the mess of a situation. It seems that there’s always a bazillion things to take care of, impossible to be on top of everything
That’s the membership.
TCS has the nasty habit of sending offers (like the ETI booklet) with the bill included, that make it look like it’s a bill to pay and not the initial registering step if you don’t look at the document closely (like, even a quick full read doesn’t make it apparent that you are actually contracting coverage by paying that bill which isn’t for something you’ve already contracted).
I would check if it is an advertising bill. Given you don’t have payment history for it, I would guess it very well could be.
Thanks for the reply.
I don’t have the payment for it but on the TCS website I checked and I do have that product valid. It is expiring in 30 days. Based on the policy number XXXXX/00 it seems I only did it the once, while on the membership it is XXXXX/04 but maybe I’m just reading it too much.
I have to say that is rather dishonest especially if it isn’t clear like you mentioned. I suspect that they send it also around the time where the other bill is to be paid and maybe we just mistakenly took it for the other one. Since I don’t have it in my bank statements, most likely my gf paid it.
I’ll try to call them tomorrow and cancel it for next year if possible. But so I guess that the one I want for Roadside assistance is the membership, not the ETI is that correct?