topic Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC in Credit Cards

Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:44:14 GMT

I am looking for the CCs/reward cards that can cover flight cancellations (domestic or international, cancellation due to e.g. weather but not personal matters) while using the CC/rewards card to purchase the ticket from airline or the ther places. Chase FU seems to have this option before but when I checked it recently, I could not find such travel protection.

Some travel card CCs with high AF might provide this option. The only card that I have with AF is PRG and it seems that it does not cover this part. Any suggestion? Shall I go for a travel CC card with AF to get this coverage?

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

simplynoir — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:15:47 GMT

Yeah, AMEX for all its benefits the trip insurance aspect is very lacking. If you're looking for travel/flight/hotel insurance probably can't go wrong with the CSP ($95 after first year) or CSR ($450). It's why I decided to get the CSR myself recently.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:33:06 GMT

A good travel CC should have these coverages otherwise, it would be difficult to count on only MR points.

It seems that AMEX has these options but a separate enrolment is needed (coverage on delay, cancellation, ...). Not sure whether the enrolment needs to be done before purchasing ticket or can be done afterward, and not sure whether any payment is needed to have these coverages.

BOA PR seems to have these option by default. Looks quite interesting CC while no info on domestic/international coverage, coverage independent of ticket purchasing method (airline, other sites). Any idea?

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:36:31 GMT

Chase CCs have the 5/24 qualification rule. Quite far from this qualification

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 23:40:15 GMT

I believe the USAA Visa Signature has flight delay insurance. The Ritz-Carlton cc from JP Morgan is another, and not subject to the 5/24 rule.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:03:20 GMT

Buying travel insurance via AMEX can be costly and it increases by the flight ticket. I am wondering on the ways that the users should use some AMEX travel cards like Platinum with its high AF or PRG for travels in economical ways to be covered also by insurance. The insurance seems to be applicable if using the AMEX cards for a complete payment (not using MR points). If considering the travel insurance costs, the effective AF of using Platinum for covered travels would be much higher than 550$.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

simplynoir — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:13:53 GMT

Then the TYP or Prestige card from Citi will fit the bill based on my search.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

iced — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:26:57 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
I am looking for the CCs/reward cards that can cover flight cancellations (domestic or international, cancellation due to e.g. weather but not personal matters) while using the CC/rewards card to purchase the ticket from airline or the ther places. Chase FU seems to have this option before but when I checked it recently, I could not find such travel protection.

Some travel card CCs with high AF might provide this option. The only card that I have with AF is PRG and it seems that it does not cover this part. Any suggestion? Shall I go for a travel CC card with AF to get this coverage?

Airlines are required to either get you to your destination or refund your money. If they cancel a flight due to weather and don't rebook you or refund you (their choice, usually), you have legal recourse with the airline, not the card. I'm not aware of any credit cards that would insure this scenario.

If you're looking for one that reimburses you for expenses incurred as a result of significant weather delays (hotel, meals, etc), there's several. I know several of the Chase travel-centric cards do, and I imagine other banks have similar offerings. While I can't conclusively say they don't exist, the odds of a no-AF card having this level of travel protection is very low. Expect to pay an AF.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:41:24 GMT

My concern is cancellation coverage on multiple flights instead of a round-trip. If a city would not be a major hub, arranging long distance flights with reasonable lay-over and cost can be difficult. Therefore, instead of booking a round-trip, it might be better going for muliple separated flights. In such cases, if due to weather one of the early flights would be cancelled, the airline would cover only the cancelled flight and the entire of the trip would be in jeopardy. I think, for this specific senario, having a travel insurance coverage by the CC would be helpful (assuming they cover the cancellation of the rest of the flights due to the cancellation of an early flight).

What are the recommendations to have travel coverages, if the city is not a major hub?

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

pip3man — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:45:42 GMT

The Citi Prestige offers this benefit and I’ve taken advantage of it. My first trip cancellation claim, I was issued a check of approximately $2k for the cost of the ticket and the other was $500 for a trip delay (which reimburses out of pocket cost in the event of a flight delay). Claim process was painless and straightforward

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

iced — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:50:23 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
My concern is cancellation coverage on multiple flights instead of a round-trip. If a city would not be a major hub, arranging long distance flights with reasonable lay-over and cost can be difficult. Therefore, instead of booking a round-trip, it might be better going for muliple separated flights. In such cases, if due to weather one of the early flights would be cancelled, the airline would cover only the cancelled flight and the entire of the trip would be in jeopardy. I think, for this specific senario, having a travel insurance coverage by the CC would be helpful (assuming they cover the cancellation of the rest of the flights due to the cancellation of an early flight).

What are the recommendations to have travel coverages, if the city is not a major hub?

Are these flights on the same airline or different airlines? The scenario I'm seeing come to mind in your post would be similar to one I am doing (generic example below):

1. Book a R/T ticket from XXX-YYY on the dates of Jan 1 returning Jan 10

2. Book a R/T ticket from YYY-ZZZ on the dates of Jan 3 returning Jan 8

You are worried if the XXX-YYY flight is delayed by weather to the point that you miss your YYY-ZZZ flight, yes? This is covered as an "expense" with several premium travel cards (the CSR covers this up to $10,000). The second flight is treated as if it were a cruise, tour, or some other pre-planned event you could not make due to the delay.

If both flights are on the same airline, it should be a non-issue as the airline should be able to rebook the YYY-ZZZ for free since they know exactly why you were unable to make the flight.

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

xenon3030 — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 01:11:18 GMT

Let's consider the following detailed senario. I want to book a flight from the AA city, not a major hub, on Jan 1 to go to the CC destination and I want to come back on Jan 10. CC and DD are major hubs. The BB-CC and CC-DD flights can also include connecting flights.

Jan 1: AA-BB and then, BB-CC.

Jan 10: CC-DD, and then, DD-AA.

For such travels, a multi-city booking can be used via e.g. Kayak and also, using multiple airlines (e.g. due to long distance international flights). If AA-BB would be cancelled, I cannot reach BB-CC and I need a reimbursement for that. Any ideas on the way to have travel insurance coverage on such complicated flights? Is it needed to buy 4 travel insurances or just one?

Re: Flight cancellation coverage by CC

iced — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 01:29:13 GMT

That should be covered by card insurance. You’re insured by the virtue of buying the tickets with the card the insurance is on, so you’re not buying any insurance per se. The trick in your case is that it may all be seen as a single large trip, and cards usually have a limit on how much they’ll reimburse for one trip, so if you have several expensive tickets and prepaid hotels in this trip you might hit that cap.