are points insurable?

Flying on credit card points. Hotel stay on hotel points. The hotel points are not refundable once booked. Not sure on flights. Will trip insurance refund the value of points?

Flying on credit card points. Hotel stay on hotel points. The hotel points are not refundable once booked. Not sure on flights. Will trip insurance refund the value of points?

Suggest you contact Steve at www.TripInsuranceStore.com

I've discussed this issue with him, but only about the airline points.

In that case, only the fee to re-bank the points (or change the dates) can be included in insurance, but that's never a huge cost anyway.

A bigger concern is that some of the ways we use the airline points, there is a 1 year limit to re-use them or such. And that's not insurable, because there is no direct $$ cost to us. (It would be nice if that changed somehow.)

Are you sure the hotel points can't be re-used somehow, perhaps with a fee?

Any chance you could reserve hotel with a fully refundable rate, and closer to departure date, when there's less likely to be something changed (but not impossible, of course), then change to a "points rate"?

(I'm not that familiar with hotel points... yet.)

Check your credit card terms and conditions regarding points before you purchase insurance.

if it is insurance through the airline possibly but as a rule insurance is for components that cost money call the company

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Related question: I purchased a couple of EWR-AMS tickets mostly using Chase Ultimate Rewards points (I had to pay under $50 since I did not have quite enough points). I need to buy travel insurance since we're going on a cruise. I spoke to Steve for his suggestion of which insurance to purchase, and he told me I should not buy insurance on the value of the tickets since they were purchased with points as they would not be covered. But when I went to the Delta website, I was able to download a receipt showing the full price of the tickets (~$1700), charged to a Visa card (the card # was not mine). Would I be able to use that in case of a claim involving the airfare (which I guess would only be if I needed to cancel before my trip)?

Related question: I purchased a couple of EWR-AMS tickets mostly using Chase Ultimate Rewards points (I had to pay under $50 since I did not have quite enough points). I need to buy travel insurance since we're going on a cruise. I spoke to Steve for his suggestion of which insurance to purchase, and he told me I should not buy insurance on the value of the tickets since they were purchased with points as they would not be covered. But when I went to the Delta website, I was able to download a receipt showing the full price of the tickets (~$1700), charged to a Visa card (the card # was not mine). Would I be able to use that in case of a claim involving the airfare (which I guess would only be if I needed to cancel before my trip)?

What do you mean about finding a price for tickets on a card that is not yours?

Ticket prices are dynamic, so even if your tickets were purchased with cash, what someone else paid for similar (?) tickets would never matter for insurance purposes.

On all of our travel insurance claims, the insurer needed to see proof that we had paid the amount we were claiming. So if a hotel cost was claimed, they needed to see that specific charge (amount and vendor) on one of our charge statements. Same for car service or meals or whatever.

At best, you might be able to claim a charge you incurred to change the awards tickets or to somehow re-deposit the points.

And you might be able to get the $50, but maybe not, as you would still have those "points", so you didn't lose them anyway.

What do you mean about finding a price for tickets on a card that is not yours?

Ticket prices are dynamic, so even if your tickets were purchased with cash, what someone else paid for similar (?) tickets would never matter for insurance purposes.

 

On all of our travel insurance claims, the insurer needed to see proof that we had paid the amount we were claiming. So if a hotel cost was claimed, they needed to see that specific charge (amount and vendor) on one of our charge statements. Same for car service or meals or whatever.

 

At best, you might be able to claim a charge you incurred to change the awards tickets or to somehow re-deposit the points.

And you might be able to get the $50, but maybe not, as you would still have those "points", so you didn't lose them anyway.

I meant that when I logged into the Delta site, and downloaded a copy of the receipt for my ticket purchase, it showed the full price, charged to a credit card (turns out it was a MC, and the last 4 digits listed weren't mine). With Ultimate Rewards points, when redeemed and you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, they are worth 1.5c each. It's not like airline miles where the receipt would show that you used miles and a minimal price (fees and taxes) was on the ticket.

So are you saying that the receipt from Delta would not be sufficient for an insurance claim? I would need to show that the charge hit my credit card?

I don't see how I'd get my points back given that the tickets are non-refundable.

I meant that when I logged into the Delta site, and downloaded a copy of the receipt for my ticket purchase, it showed the full price, charged to a credit card (turns out it was a MC, and the last 4 digits listed weren't mine). With Ultimate Rewards points, when redeemed and you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, they are worth 1.5c each. It's not like airline miles where the receipt would show that you used miles and a minimal price (fees and taxes) was on the ticket.

 

So are you saying that the receipt from Delta would not be sufficient for an insurance claim? I would need to show that the charge hit my credit card?

 

I don't see how I'd get my points back given that the tickets are non-refundable.

I obviously cannot speak about the *specific* terms for the policy that you purchased.

However, all of the policies we've had or even discussed (and yes, the issue of "awards tickets" has definitely come up, and been a troublesome concern), the insurance was to cover "nonrefundable" costs that had, indeed, been paid. (A "receipt" for a cash purchase would probably be fine, but it's rare that things like airline tickets are paid in cash these days, although some other costs, such as tours or even hotels, might be done as cash.)

Whenever we've asked about any sort of reimbursement possibilities for "awards" travel, we've found that the best would be the cost of "re-banking" the awards, which tends to be a modest fee, much like the "change fee" or "cancel fee" for airline tickets paid for in cash, when that is allowed. That is what the "loss" would be, as we'd have the awards points/miles "back".

Are you sure that you can't arrange to "re-use" those awards?

As far as the "fees" with awards travel, our tickets to Asia involved a lot of points, but only something like $5.60 for some sort of fee. Obviously, losing those points but getting back the $5.60 wouldn't make us happy, either. But that isn't what would happen. We *have* cancelled awards travel, and there was a modest fee to arrange to have the awards "put back" so they could be used again, albeit in some cases, within a time limit such as one year.

As far as a "full price" shown, that probably wouldn't be useful for a claim, as *you* didn't pay that price.

We agree that the insurance does NOT work particularly well in an "awards travel" case.

In making past claims, we found it is not sufficient to submit a receipt or invoice from the travel provider...they wanted the credit card bill showing we were actually charged the receipt/invoice amount. Or the check/bank account used for payment.

In making past claims, we found it is not sufficient to submit a receipt or invoice from the travel provider...they wanted the credit card bill showing we were actually charged the receipt/invoice amount. Or the check/bank account used for payment.

Thanks for clarifying that about payments.

The only time we might have had to deal with a cancelled check, the vendor (a private tour guide, just an individual) required advance payment and didn't take charge cards. So, reluctantly, we sent him a check; "reluctantly", because he had stated it was refundable up until one week prior. We did not think we'd see that money (we had cancelled with more than 2 weeks to go for that tour), but belatedly, a check did arrive! Because we were delayed in submitting the insurance claim (we were too busy dealing with the medical issues for several weeks), we just removed that item prior to submitting the claim.

(I think we were just going to submit his receipt, but don't remember what the "what we almost did" details were :) )

On the other hand, there definitely are some tours, some quite pricey, where we need to pay in cash, but those tend to be paid on the day of the tour, "at the time".

I meant that when I logged into the Delta site, and downloaded a copy of the receipt for my ticket purchase, it showed the full price, charged to a credit card (turns out it was a MC, and the last 4 digits listed weren't mine). With Ultimate Rewards points, when redeemed and you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, they are worth 1.5c each. It's not like airline miles where the receipt would show that you used miles and a minimal price (fees and taxes) was on the ticket.

 

So are you saying that the receipt from Delta would not be sufficient for an insurance claim? I would need to show that the charge hit my credit card?

 

I don't see how I'd get my points back given that the tickets are non-refundable.

https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirepreferred/travel

If you've booked a hotel stay with points, and the hotel won't let you redeposit those points if you cancel, I don't know any travel insurance policy that would "reimburse" you. You aren't out any cash.

If you book air travel with frequent flyer miles, I have had policies that would reimburse me, up to a certain amount, for the fee to redeposit the miles into my frequent flyer account.

If you book an award ticket and don't use it, no travel insurance company will reimburse you what the flight would have cost if you paid with cash. You don't have that loss. You didn't pay that amount for the ticket.

To file any type of claim, the insurance company will require proof that you actually paid for the loss you are claiming.

I had the same question. I booked tickets to Dublin using Citi Thank You points (122k of them), similar to the Chase points discussed above. (Unlike MisterBill99, when I log into my Delta account, the receipt shows 0.00) These aren't airline miles, but they are paid tickets which earn points with the airlines. I checked the T&C of Citi and the following verbiage is there, but it's rather confusing as to what is reimburseable with a covered event .

"You will be reimbursed for the following eligible amounts resulting from the cancellation, interruption or extension of the Covered Traveler’s Trip due to a covered reason:

A. The value of the Covered Traveler’s unused transportation tickets or forfeited deposits, minus any refund or credit received from the airline or other travel supplier(s).

B. Change fees charged by the airline or other travel supplier(s)

C. A credit/voucher that is not used by its expiration date or within 12 months of the issuance date, whichever is sooner."

Now I'm pretty sure if I called Delta and had to cancel, even my non-refundable economy class tickets have some value, good for a year from purchase date, I think. And then any changes fees and rate changes. But line item C is what I'm not sure about. Maybe Steve or someone smarter than I can explain that part. If I can't use the credit they will reimburse?

To late to edit, but I should have added this part:

"If a Trip is cancelled, interrupted or extended for a covered reason (See What’s Covered), you may be reimbursed up to $5,000 per Covered Traveler per Trip.

To be eligible for coverage under this benefit, your Citi card and/or ThankYou® Points must be used to purchase at least a portion of the Trip. In the event of partial payment, we will only reimburse the lesser of the actual amount paid for with your Citi card (including ThankYou® Points) or the maximum coverage per Trip. "

In my case I paid with 122k Thank You Points, the tickets were $758pp if I had paid cash. In the event that something happens, I'd love to just redeposit the points, but I'm not sure what they would do.