With the massive hurricane hitting the Northeast today and tomorrow, thousands of flights are grounded and many people stuck with no way to get to/from their destination. Half the people stranded are probably trying to get home on their return flight or hanging out at the airport on a layover. While some people I know are thrilled to spend a few extra nights in Aruba, the extra hotel costs due to being stranded can absolutely add up. One credit card perk (primarily offered by Chase and Discover) that is many times forgotten about is travel delay reimbursement.
If you booked your airfare with the following credit cards, you are entitled to these reimbursements:
- Chase Credit Cards (Mariott Rewards, Ritz Carlton Rewards, Hyatt Visa, Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire, Ink Bold, Ink Plus, Ink, United MileagePlus): For delays of 12+ hours, you can get reimbursed up to $300 per ticket for lodging and meals. I cannot find any Chase site that fully details this out.
- Escape by Discover Credit Card: For delays of 6+ hours get up to 3 consecutive days of expenses covered of $150 per day for lodging and meals. You can learn more about this here.
American Express gives you trip delay reimbursement, but you must have purchased this add-on option for $9.95/person when you purchased your ticket with an already enrolled card. You can learn more about this here.
If there are any others that I am forgetting, feel free to list them in the comments section to help out other readers. Make sure to get full documentation of your flight delay or flight cancellation. You will need this information when submitting it to Chase/Discover. Also, make sure to keep all receipts for reimbursement.
I actually have never used this before, but it is absolutely a great thing to keep in mind. If you are flying out of the Northeast in the Winter, for example, it is definitely a good idea to purchase your ticket with one of these credit cards for the delay benefits.
Has anyone used this benefit before and what was your experience? To learn more about many of these credit cards listed above, check out this page. I have many of the cards listed out, including full blog posts on the perks, sign up bonus, benefits, etc.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Does this work for the Chase British Airways credit card as well?
@VG – I couldnt find anything on the BA card when I checked while writing the post, but that doesn’t mean the benefit doesn’t exist. It is definitely worth calling Chase to find out definitely.
Oh boy, I wish I had bought my Delta tickets with my Chase United and not Delta Amex…makes me rethink the value of my Amex cards.
Barclays US Air MasterCard is waving cash advance fees for their cards for the next two days as well, at least here in NY
Any travel insurance is worth the investment during the Holidays.
I’m traveling from LA to new york this Friday for the weekend getaway with 2 young kids (3 and 7). My gilt Alex hotel deal is for this weekend too. Do you think I should still go? I donno if AA will let me schedule and i don’t know if gilt will refund. They didn;t budge on the $75 dollar credit when I booked. Thanks for your great postings.
For Hyatt Visa, I found mention of the travel protection benefits, but can’t seem to locate any specific terms… Might have to call the number listed. https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-Cards/hyatt-travel-protections.htm
@Stephanie – Thanks for sharing.
The 4 of us are suppose to travel from LAX to New York for the weekend. Tickets were purchase on AA citi using companion passes. I have 2 kids (3 and 7yrs). I’m not sure if I can get a refund from gilt for the Alex hotel. They didn’t even honor the $75 off hotel deal. So I wonder if they will reschedule. Thanks for your great postings!!!
@DC – When is your flight? If Thursday or Friday and into JFK you will probably be okay. Also, I think most hotels in NYC will accommodate you – it is a mess here so they really should have the heart to understand.
I’ve never had to make a claim but in winter 11-12 I h ad to make two trips into potentially bad weather areas. I booked via AMEX and gladly paid the $9.95 fee. I must say that FINDING the option to buy that inexpensive insurance was NOT easy. I had booked several weeks ahead of time and finally had to CALL AMEX to complete the enrollment ask to be charged the additional $9.95. Yes, the detail are available, but they do not make them easy to find. (A lot of AMEX benefits are like that…) Given the winter risk in some areas, I believe the slight additional cost trivial, especially when during weather-related delays or cancellations, your favorite airline owes you nothing.
@Cook – Thanks so much for sharing this. I’ve never used this service, but I’m glad it eventually worked out
if i buy an award ticket and the fees are charged to my amex and i buy the coverage, am i covered?
@susie – Did you purchase travel delay coverage? If so, you should be, but not 100% sure.
what about amex plat? no extra fee, but how much is reimbursed? more than the $300 from chase cards?? i can’t remember
@guest – You need to enroll in the add-on service of $9.99 per flight.
I, too, had a weekend booked for NYC beginning tomorrow. Given the transportation problems in the city, I opted to cancel the trip. Had purchased flight with Chase United Mileage Plus card and received a full refund. Hotel was points, so I was able to cancel and have all points refunded (Hilton Diamond). Now the only problem is tickets to the Met are not refundable. Even with the difficulty in getting around in the City, they refused to refund. So I’m out of $600 bucks. Thinking of disputing with my credit card.
marc
Was stuck in London this past week. Use BA Chase Visa for added costs..Just got off the phone with them and they don’t offer the trip delay coverage… Bummer, would have been nice..
@Freddy – Darn, thanks for letting me know though.