Credit card travel insurance: When it will and won’t help

Travel now is more unpredictable than ever. I’ve been lucky that none of my trips this year so far have been incredibly affected by delays or cancellations. However, it’s quite possible that your next flight could be delayed or canceled.

Other TPG staffers have experienced travel issues in past years. For example, TPG aviation reporter Sean Cudahy had every leg of one of his flights canceled last year, while TPG senior editorial director Nick Ewen spent time in New Jersey instead of Greece two years ago due to weather-related delays.

If you’ve been reading TPG for a while, you may already know that some credit cards provide travel insurance when you use your card to book your flights (or pay the taxes and fees on award flights). And you may even be using one of these cards to book your trips. But you may not know what is and isn’t covered by these benefits when your travel doesn’t go smoothly.

In this guide, I’ll give a high-level overview of some scenarios where you can — and can’t — expect your credit card’s travel insurance benefits to assist.

Credit card travel insurance

We’ve written entire articles about credit cards that provide travel insurance. So, I recommend checking out the following stories to learn more about the travel insurance provided by top travel rewards cards:

But, the protections provided by each card are different. So I recommend reading — or at least skimming — your card’s guide to benefits before your next trip to familiarize yourself with those specifics. You can call the number on the back of your card for a physical copy or link if needed.

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Cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card provide excellent travel protections. But, I believe the Chase Sapphire Reserve® provides the best travel insurance overall.

In this guide, I’ll use the benefits offered to Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders as examples for would help (or not) in several scenarios. If you generally pay for your travel with a different card, consider how the benefits on your card may differ.

Related: 7 travel mistakes to avoid on your next trip

Times when your credit card’s travel insurance can help

If your travel doesn’t go smoothly, benefits from your travel rewards credit card may offer reimbursement or other help. Here are four real-life scenarios where your credit card’s travel insurance may come in handy.

Your flight is significantly delayed or canceled

First, the bad news: If your flight is canceled, you’ll need to work with your airline to get rebooked. If your flight is significantly delayed, you’ll need to either wait out the delay or work with your airline to get rebooked on a different flight.

But, the good news is that some cards offer trip delay reimbursement when you use your card to pay for your flight (or the taxes and fees on an award ticket). And this benefit can help as you wait for your delayed or rebooked flight.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve to book your original flight, Chase may reimburse you for “reasonable expenses incurred during the delay.” In particular, you can get up to $500 per ticket when you’re delayed for more than six hours or your delay forces you into an overnight stay. Chase says reasonable expenses include “meals, lodging, toiletries and medication.”

But, you’ll only be covered if you are delayed due to “equipment failure, inclement weather, strike [or] hijacking/skyjacking.” So, if you’re delayed due to the crew timing out during inclement weather, you’ll be covered.

Conversely, if the airline simply can’t find any crew to operate your flight and doesn’t provide you documentation stating the delay or cancellation is due to one of the aforementioned eligible reasons, you won’t be covered.

Your baggage is significantly delayed

Once again, let’s discuss the bad news first: You must report your delayed baggage to the travel supplier. For example, if your checked baggage doesn’t appear on the belt after your flight, you must go to the airline’s baggage office and fill out a report.

Usually, the airline will start trying to locate your baggage at this point. But often, the airline won’t offer to reimburse you for any essentials you might need while you’re separated from your baggage.

Luckily, some credit cards cover baggage delays. For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve to book your flight, Chase may reimburse you “for the emergency purchase of essential items, such as toiletries, clothing and chargers for electronic devices (limit one per device).”

In particular, Chase may reimburse you up to $100 per day for up to five days. To qualify for this coverage, your baggage must be “delayed or misdirected” for more than six hours each day that you use the benefit.

The items you purchase and include for reimbursement should be “essential.” But, Chase excludes some items from reimbursement, including hearing aids, artificial teeth, prosthetic devices, tickets, jewelry, electronics and recreational equipment.

Related: What to do when your luggage is delayed or lost by an airline

You must cancel or interrupt a trip

First things first: No credit card offers “cancel for any reason” trip insurance as a complimentary benefit. But you might be covered if you must cancel or interrupt your trip for specific reasons.

Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders might be eligible for reimbursement of “nonrefundable prepaid travel expenses charged by a travel supplier” and “redeposit fees imposed by a rewards program administrator.”

In the case of trip interruption, cardholders can be reimbursed for change fees and costs to return a vehicle to their residence or the closest rental agency.

Many credit cards offer trip cancellation and interruption insurance. But, you’ll only be eligible for reimbursement if you must cancel or interrupt your trip for specific reasons listed in the guide to benefits.

For example, you may be eligible for reimbursement if you can’t postpone or waive a call to jury duty or subpoena from the courts, and you prepaid for nonrefundable travel expenses with your Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Your luggage is lost or damaged

Earlier, I discussed a scenario where your baggage is delayed. But it’s also possible that your luggage becomes lost, stolen or damaged. As with delayed baggage, you must file a claim with the travel provider once you discover the issue.

Some travel providers will provide reimbursement to repair or replace your luggage. But, if the reimbursement isn’t enough, you can also seek additional reimbursement via the baggage insurance offered by your credit card. If you booked your travel with your Chase Sapphire Reserve, you could get up to $3,000 per traveler per trip.

Related: Should you get travel insurance if you have credit card protection?

Times your credit card’s travel insurance won’t help

Of course, your credit card’s travel insurance won’t help you in every situation. Although you may still find relief through your travel provider or individual travel insurance, here are some real-world scenarios where you might not be covered, using the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s travel protections as an example once again:

• You want to be on a different flight: Flight delays and cancellations are frustrating. But you’ll need to work with your airline to get on a different flight. None of the trip delay insurance plans offered by credit cards will let you buy a new flight and then reimburse you for it.
• Staffing issues lead the airline to delay or cancel your flight: According to Chase Sapphire Reserve’s guide to benefits, only trip delays caused by “equipment failure, inclement weather, strike [or] hijacking/skyjacking” are eligible for trip delay reimbursement. So, if the airline can’t find a crew for your flight due to its employees being sick, for example, you won’t be covered.
• Your lodging canceled on you: It’s frustrating to be walked from a hotel or have your lodging canceled on you. After all, you may face much higher prices if you need to book a new stay. But, except in specific cases covered by trip cancellation and interruption insurance — such as if your lodging at your trip’s destination is “made uninhabitable” — your credit card benefits aren’t going to help.
• Your common carrier or travel insurance policy already provides what you need: As an example, if you are delayed overnight and the airline provides you with hotel and meal vouchers, you can’t claim reimbursement for these same expenses through your credit card’s trip delay benefit. The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s guide to benefits states the trip delay benefit “applies to reasonable expenses incurred during your delay not otherwise covered by your common carrier, another party or your primary personal insurance policy.”
• Your delay caused you to miss things you already paid for: Trip delays may cause you to miss shows, activities, separately booked flights, hotel nights and more. But, the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s trip delay benefit is only for reasonable expenses you incur during your delay. As such, any prepaid trip expenses won’t be covered.
• You have to cancel or interrupt your trip for a noncovered reason: As discussed above, the trip cancellation and interruption insurance offered by credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve only covers you if you need to cancel or interrupt your trip for select reasons. So, if you need to cancel or interrupt your trip for other reasons, your credit card’s travel insurance won’t help. For example, you wouldn’t be covered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s insurance if you didn’t obtain a necessary visa or your airline became financially insolvent.
• You left an item or bag behind on the train, airplane or boat: Although some cards include recently purchased items you lose under purchase protection insurance, most travel insurance offered by credit cards won’t reimburse you for items you inadvertently left behind.

Travel insurance benefits vary from card to card, though. And, only select family members may be covered along with you for some benefits. So, take a look at your card’s guide to benefits, or call the number on the back of your credit card to learn whether your specific scenario will be covered.

Related: 8 times your credit card’s travel insurance might not cover you

Bottom line

Of course, this article assumes you used a credit card with travel insurance to pay for your trip, and the exact protections vary from card to card. But hopefully, this guide gave you an idea of the types of help you may get from your credit card’s travel insurance if things go wrong with a trip.

Finally, some premium travel cards offer additional perks, like lounge access, that may help if you face troubles while traveling. It can be much more relaxing to wait out a delay in the comfort of a lounge. Plus, you may gain access to agents that can help you rebook or handle complicated bookings if you have access to your airline’s lounge.

Related: 5 ways to ensure you have lounge access before your next flight

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.