Justifying CSR if you fly at most once or twice a year?

[barthooper]

I feel like I could make use of the UR that I would have banked from mostly dining spending (and the bonus). However I hadn't been on a plane until last year but I see more occasional air travel in my future. I tend to have decent restaurant and bar spending ($7k last year) since I am more often than not buying for two. I'm also drawn to it due to the trip cancellation and delay insurance. I pay highway tolls to get to work for roughly $300 a year so even with no other travel there's the travel credit in addition to some occasional Uber/Lyft.

I am also wondering if anyone has experience testing if a long term cohabitating fiancee would be covered by these benefits. I realize the benefits say spouse or domestic partner but I wasn't sure if the latter extends to my situation or is rather a designated status. If not, would a fiancee being an AU confer these benefits? A couple of blogs say an AU gets everything but the travel and global entry credits but I haven't seen official Chase documentation of this. Not a deal breaker but the effective fee going from 150 to 225 is something to consider although it would be worth it versus adding trip cancellation insurance to individual trips.

Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

[wasCB14]

"Domestic Partner – a person designated by You who is registered as a Domestic Partner or legal equivalent under the laws of the governing jurisdiction or who is at least 18 years of age and competent to enter into a contract; is not related to You by blood; has exclusively lived with You for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the date of enrollment; is not legally married or separated and as of the date of enrollment has with You at least 2 of the following financial arrangements: a joint mortgage or lease, a joint bank Account, joint title to or ownership of a motor vehicle or status as a joint lessee on a motor vehicle lease or a joint Credit Card Account with a financial institution. Neither You nor Your Domestic Partner can be married to, nor in a civil union with, anyone else"

-CSR benefit guide dated 5/15/18 p43

[wasCB14]

And note that's without adding her as an AU. I believe if you add her as an AU she gets full coverage as a Primary Insured Person. Chase defines "Primary Insured Person" as "the Cardholder" and "the Cardholder" as "an individual to whom a credit card has been issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. and/or its affiliates". I don't see any language saying that the Cardholder cannot be an AU.

When I had a CSP, a Chase rep told me an AU got the primary rental coverage. I've read the same thing on here.

But I suppose I don't have a 100% certain answer in writing.

[barthooper]

Thanks. I appreciate your clarification on both points. Maybe the insurance matter won't be a big concern anyway as I'm now reading that it's generally recommended to get additional coverage over the $2500 medical that CSR provides which really is a drop in the bucket of what could go wrong, so I should probably get in the habit of buying additional insurance for trips anyway, in which case I could do just medical for me and cancellation + medical for her.

[wasCB14]

---

@barthooper wrote:

Thanks. I appreciate your clarification on both points. Maybe the insurance matter won't be a big concern anyway as I'm now reading that it's generally recommended to get additional coverage over the $2500 medical that CSR provides which really is a drop in the bucket of what could go wrong, so I should probably get in the habit of buying additional insurance for trips anyway, in which case I could do just medical for me and cancellation + medical for her.

---

For certain trips, extra coverage can be advisable. Note that CSR's emergency medical ($2.5k) and evacuation ($100k) benefits do not apply if an injury is due to: skydiving, scuba, skin, or deep sea diving, hang gliding, parachuting, rock climbing, and contests of speed. Also, medical evacuation costs can easily exceed $100k. The medical evacuation coverage from Amex Platinum is stronger (no cap, no excluded activities, and doesn't even require a customer to use the card to book the travel).

CSR may be worthwhile given your overall travel spend. Beyond that, maybe just plan for each trip as it comes up. I'm not really aware of a great solution for non-transportation-related medical costs for travelers.

[barthooper]

---

@wasCB14 wrote:

---

@barthooper wrote:

Thanks. I appreciate your clarification on both points. Maybe the insurance matter won't be a big concern anyway as I'm now reading that it's generally recommended to get additional coverage over the $2500 medical that CSR provides which really is a drop in the bucket of what could go wrong, so I should probably get in the habit of buying additional insurance for trips anyway, in which case I could do just medical for me and cancellation + medical for her.

---

For certain trips, extra coverage can be advisable. Note that CSR's emergency medical ($2.5k) and evacuation ($100k) benefits do not apply if an injury is due to: skydiving, scuba, skin, or deep sea diving, hang gliding, parachuting, rock climbing, and contests of speed. Also, medical evacuation costs can easily exceed $100k. The medical evacuation coverage from Amex Platinum is stronger (no cap, no excluded activities, and doesn't even require a customer to use the card to book the travel).

CSR may be worthwhile given your overall travel spend. Beyond that, maybe just plan for each trip as it comes up. I'm not really aware of a great solution for non-transportation-related medical costs for travelers.

---

I knew there were exclusions but those are for the most part things I wouldn't be doing on a vacation if ever. Appreciate the list though. I wasn't sure if others with CSR added additional coverage but I did find another site that broke down the coverage and made reference to the medical evacuation potentially being much higher. I'd definitely be willing to add extra coverage on top of trips. That's a lot easier to swallow if the price is greatly reduced because of UR paying for flights. This would work especially well when paired with a future Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. I've run the numbers and it seems to beat out everything except the Uber Visa in the long term (5 years) which of course doesn't have the travel insurance benefits but had been on my radar as well.

[wasCB14]

---

@barthooper wrote:
I knew there were exclusions but those are for the most part things I wouldn't be doing on a vacation if ever. Appreciate the list though. I wasn't sure if others with CSR added additional coverage but I did find another site that broke down the coverage and made reference to the medical evacuation potentially being much higher. I'd definitely be willing to add extra coverage on top of trips. That's a lot easier to swallow if the price is greatly reduced because of UR paying for flights. This would work especially well when paired with a future Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. I've run the numbers and it seems to beat out everything except the Uber Visa in the long term (5 years) which of course doesn't have the travel insurance benefits but had been on my radar as well.

---

Uber is pretty good for a no-AF card...but 2%/3%/4% is superfluous for someone willing to pay $450 for a 4.5%+ card (3x, 1.5 cpp minimum through Chase travel) on all travel and dining. With CFU the 2.25% (1.5x, 1.5 cpp) beats Uber's 2% stuff.

[barthooper]

---

@wasCB14 wrote:

---

@barthooper wrote:
I knew there were exclusions but those are for the most part things I wouldn't be doing on a vacation if ever. Appreciate the list though. I wasn't sure if others with CSR added additional coverage but I did find another site that broke down the coverage and made reference to the medical evacuation potentially being much higher. I'd definitely be willing to add extra coverage on top of trips. That's a lot easier to swallow if the price is greatly reduced because of UR paying for flights. This would work especially well when paired with a future Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. I've run the numbers and it seems to beat out everything except the Uber Visa in the long term (5 years) which of course doesn't have the travel insurance benefits but had been on my radar as well.

---

Uber is pretty good for a no-AF card...but 2%/3%/4% is superfluous for someone willing to pay $450 for a 4.5%+ card (3x, 1.5 cpp minimum through Chase travel) on all travel and dining. With CFU the 2.25% (1.5x, 1.5 cpp) beats Uber's 2% stuff.

---

Yeah I wasn't at all intrigued by the 2% because I have a Citi DC. It would have been strictly for travel and dining but I now see the value of UR and a CFU combo would even render my Citi DC obsolete. I'd probably go with a CF instead for the 5x categories though. Secondarily I have a feeling Uber won't last that long before getting nerfed.

[iced]

---

@barthooper wrote:

I feel like I could make use of the UR that I would have banked from mostly dining spending (and the bonus). However I hadn't been on a plane until last year but I see more occasional air travel in my future. I tend to have decent restaurant and bar spending ($7k last year) since I am more often than not buying for two. I'm also drawn to it due to the trip cancellation and delay insurance. I pay highway tolls to get to work for roughly $300 a year so even with no other travel there's the travel credit in addition to some occasional Uber/Lyft.

I am also wondering if anyone has experience testing if a long term cohabitating fiancee would be covered by these benefits. I realize the benefits say spouse or domestic partner but I wasn't sure if the latter extends to my situation or is rather a designated status. If not, would a fiancee being an AU confer these benefits? A couple of blogs say an AU gets everything but the travel and global entry credits but I haven't seen official Chase documentation of this. Not a deal breaker but the effective fee going from 150 to 225 is something to consider although it would be worth it versus adding trip cancellation insurance to individual trips.

Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

---

With $300 or more in travel spend and at least $2,751 in dining/travel spend per year, the CSR will be a better value than the CSP, if UR are redeemed on the portal for travel. That threshold will go down if UR are transferred to partners for flights (and you book high cpm flights with the miles) or up if you just cash out UR for crap like gift cards or statement credits. At $7,500 per year in dining/travel spend, the UR portal redemption offsets the AF.

All of the other perks on the card are icing on the cake at that point. Whether you assign any value to them or not, they're basically throw-ins so it's only going to make the CSR stronger. Because you don't fly much, I wouldn't put much/any value on those perks and instead focus on the dollar/value return you'll gain via UR.

[barthooper]

---

@iced wrote:

---

@barthooper wrote:

I feel like I could make use of the UR that I would have banked from mostly dining spending (and the bonus). However I hadn't been on a plane until last year but I see more occasional air travel in my future. I tend to have decent restaurant and bar spending ($7k last year) since I am more often than not buying for two. I'm also drawn to it due to the trip cancellation and delay insurance. I pay highway tolls to get to work for roughly $300 a year so even with no other travel there's the travel credit in addition to some occasional Uber/Lyft.

I am also wondering if anyone has experience testing if a long term cohabitating fiancee would be covered by these benefits. I realize the benefits say spouse or domestic partner but I wasn't sure if the latter extends to my situation or is rather a designated status. If not, would a fiancee being an AU confer these benefits? A couple of blogs say an AU gets everything but the travel and global entry credits but I haven't seen official Chase documentation of this. Not a deal breaker but the effective fee going from 150 to 225 is something to consider although it would be worth it versus adding trip cancellation insurance to individual trips.

Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

---

With $300 or more in travel spend and at least $2,751 in dining/travel spend per year, the CSR will be a better value than the CSP, if UR are redeemed on the portal for travel. That threshold will go down if UR are transferred to partners for flights (and you book high cpm flights with the miles) or up if you just cash out UR for crap like gift cards or statement credits. At $7,500 per year in dining/travel spend, the UR portal redemption offsets the AF.

All of the other perks on the card are icing on the cake at that point. Whether you assign any value to them or not, they're basically throw-ins so it's only going to make the CSR stronger. Because you don't fly much, I wouldn't put much/any value on those perks and instead focus on the dollar/value return you'll gain via UR.

---

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Definitely I value the UR more but I was trying to find out those additional benefits because I would at least occasionally use them (e.g by not buying trip cancellation insurance got third party). I would definitely go for portal redemption or better. I'm not expressly interested in max CPP by putting it toward business class on an international flight. I would be perfectly happy with just economy stretched as far as the UR would go while also minimizing out of pocket cost.