An Expensive Lesson Learned.

[Cruzin Terri]

I posted this on the Insurance Forum and think it is worth posting here as well, since I was to take an Oceania Sirena Cruise from Rome to Miami.

 

Let me start by saying that I am not blaming AMEX.  i did not do due diligence by reading and understanding all the terms and conditions of the insurance so I blame no one but myself.

This post is only so that anyone else who may be thinking of using the insurance provided by the AMEX Platinum Card understand when and how they may be able to get reimbursed.

Here is my story:

We were planning a trip to Italy and then a cruise from Rome back to Miami.  We booked our airfare with Chase Points and paid for our cruise with the AMEX Platinum Card.  The cruise was under $10,000 so I figured that in the event we had to cancel for a covered reason, we were insured.  

Well, two days before we were to leave for Italy, my husband became ill and we were unable to go.  My airline tickets to Italy (purchased using Chase Points) were fully refundable.  So that was refunded and the points re deposited in my Chase Ultimate Rewards account.  I had opted to pay for the hotel stays at the time we stayed rather than the early, non-refundable rate.  So I canceled in time.  The only money we stood to lose was the cruise fare. So I felt we had a shot at getting that back with AMEX.  So I called them to file a clam.

 

Not so easy.

What I failed to notice was that AMEX says that a Covered Trip is a period of round trip travel 1) to one or more destinations other than an Eligible Traveler’s city of residence at the time of departure where 2) the period of round-trip trave ends when the Eligible Traveler returns by Common Carrier to the city of departure: 3) the trip does not exceed 365 days away from the the Eligible Travelers city of residence and 4) The Eligible Traveler charges the full amount of the cost of the the transportation by Common Carrier(s) to your Eligible Card.  The period of round trip may consist of round trip, one-way, or combinations of round trip, one-way tickets with Common Carriers.

 

So the very first question, after verifying my identity, was how did I pay for the tickets to get to Italy.  As soon as I told her I used the Chase Ultimate Rewards, she let me know the terms and conditions of the insurance and immediately went on to inform me that my claim was most likely to be declined due to the fact that I did not pay for all my transportation by common carrier with the Platinum Card.

 

It was a lesson for me and I share it with you so that you do not make the same mistake I did.

Please don’t flame me for not reading the T&C’s.  i already know I made a mistake.  I write this as a helpful hint for others who may be thinking of doing likewise.

Terri

[tropicalkerry2002]

WOW!!! 

Everyone who reads this will certainly be checking ANY insurance policies for this wording from now on!

Thanks for the warning, and sorry you found out. Hope your husband is doing well.

[YourWorldWithBill]

Thanks so much for writing this, @Cruzin Terri! I also rely on the Platinum card, and although I had heard about this condition some time ago, it's easy to forget when booking trips involving multiple "carriers". Your post made me stop and think carefully about whether my current bookings are covered!

 

I wonder whether someone who used airline miles to pay for their airfare to get to the embarkation would be covered. Doesn't sound like it. That's not my issue right now, but good to remember.

[Cruzin Terri]

7 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Thanks so much for writing this, @Cruzin Terri! I also rely on the Platinum card, and although I had heard about this condition some time ago, it's easy to forget when booking trips involving multiple "carriers". Your post made me stop and think carefully about whether my current bookings are covered!

 

I wonder whether someone who used airline miles to pay for their airfare to get to the embarkation would be covered. Doesn't sound like it. That's not my issue right now, but good to remember.

I asked that question. She said that you would have to pay any taxes/fees with the AMEX card.

Hope that helps.

Terri

[YourWorldWithBill]

6 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

I asked that question. She said that you would have to pay any taxes/fees with the AMEX card.

Hope that helps.

Terri

Good to know. On a trip a while ago when I knew the total cost was going to exceed the 10K I called and spoke to someone at the insurance dept. to pay the $64 for extra coverage, and was told about the requirement to pay for everything with the card. A stroke of luck.

[tropicalkerry2002]

Okay,  now I'm confused...

I thought you were saying you wouldn't get the money for the cruise back because the whole trip wasn't paid for with your AMEX(the flights were with points)

What am I not understanding? Thanks.

[Cruzin Terri]

18 minutes ago, tropicalkerry2002 said:

Okay,  now I'm confused...

I thought you were saying you wouldn't get the money for the cruise back because the whole trip wasn't paid for with your AMEX(the flights were with points)

What am I not understanding? Thanks.

She said you would be able to use miles but the taxes and fees would need to be paid with you AMEX CARD.  I used Chase points for my plane ticket. Miles would be okay as long as they are airline miles, not points from another credit card.

Terri

[tropicalkerry2002]

Ah, now I see. Thank you.

[roberts2005]

Is this the same for Chase Ultimate reserve?

[Charles4515]

4 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

Is this the same for Chase Ultimate reserve?

I don't think the Chase Reseve Card insurance requires the complete booking to be insured roundtrip but they would have had to book the cruise with the Chase Reserve Card. 

[Cruzin Terri]

26 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

Is this the same for Chase Ultimate reserve?

No it is not.  At least part of the booking has to be paid by the Sapphire Reserve to be covered.  I just read all the terms.

Terri

[Hlitner]

54 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

No it is not.  At least part of the booking has to be paid by the Sapphire Reserve to be covered.  I just read all the terms.

Terri

Having filed two major Chase claims (and been reimbursed for both claims) I can verify that, at least in our case, everything did not need to paid with Chase.  Their coverage was limited to how much was paid on the card (up to their maximums).

 

Hank

[roberts2005]

51 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Having filed two major Chase claims (and been reimbursed for both claims) I can verify that, at least in our case, everything did not need to paid with Chase.  Their coverage was limited to how much was paid on the card (up to their maximums).

 

Hank

Thank you for confirming this.  We tend to book our own air, most times using miles.  And pay with the related airline card.

[Hlitner]

4 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

Thank you for confirming this.  We tend to book our own air, most times using miles.  And pay with the related airline card.

I will repeat what we have often posted on the Cruise/Travel Insurance blog which is, always read the policy!  The terms that exist today, may be changed tomorrow.  AMEX and/or Chase could easily change their coverage at any time.  In fact, when we used to have an AMEX Platinum card, they did not include any travel insurance.  This was one reason (of several) why we gave up our AMEX Platinum and got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  When AMEX realized they were losing quite a few customers to Chase, AMEX finally added travel insurance to their card.  Competition is a wonderful thing :).

 

Hank

[ak1004]

@Cruzin Terri very helpful thanks for sharing!

 

Any Canadians who read this, any idea if this is true for Canadian credit cards? I read my Visa Aeroplan Infinitie privilege card, as far as I could see, it covers all expenses paid by the card. It doesn’t mention that all expenses including air has to be paid by the card.

[1985rz1]

17 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I will repeat what we have often posted on the Cruise/Travel Insurance blog which is, always read the policy!  The terms that exist today, may be changed tomorrow.  AMEX and/or Chase could easily change their coverage at any time.  In fact, when we used to have an AMEX Platinum card, they did not include any travel insurance.  This was one reason (of several) why we gave up our AMEX Platinum and got a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  When AMEX realized they were losing quite a few customers to Chase, AMEX finally added travel insurance to their card.  Competition is a wonderful thing :).

 

Hank

You don't need to have a Chase Sapphire Reserve for Chase travel insurance.  The Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same travel insurance coverage as the Reserve card.  There are other benefits that tje Reserve card offers above the Preferred card, but the travel insurance is the same.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you for posting this Terri. I am really sorry you experienced this, and hope that your husband is doing well. 
We generally transfer our points from Amex and Chase into our frequent flyer accounts with the airlines to become miles that we use for flights. Earlier this year, because they share many of the same lines, I transferred from both to my Flying Blue account. Is this the same/similar  path that you took, or did you book using Chase travel services for your miles?  I just wonder if that makes any difference. 
Regardless, thank you for posting this. It is a great reminder….or heads up. 

[Cruzin Terri]

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you for posting this Terri. I am really sorry you experienced this, and hope that your husband is doing well. 
We generally transfer our points from Amex and Chase into our frequent flyer accounts with the airlines to become miles that we use for flights. Earlier this year, because they share many of the same lines, I transferred from both to my Flying Blue account. Is this the same/similar  path that you took, or did you book using Chase travel services for your miles?  I just wonder if that makes any difference. 
Regardless, thank you for posting this. It is a great reminder….or heads up. 

I used Chase Travel Services and paid for the tickets using points.  The points were actually worth 1.5 times the points.  We were to fly on Air France to Venice.  While I did not have enough to transfer the miles, I thought we got a good deal for the price on business class tickets.  As it is, the points were returned to my account and I will be able to use them in the future.

My husband is doing better and we will try to do this trip in the Spring without the transatlantic cruise.

Thank you for asking.

Glad my posts were helpful.

Terri

[Vineyard View]

I have not gone that route before so thank you for that further information. 
 

We love Italy/Med in the Springtime. I hope that works out for you. Glad to hear your DH is doing better

[FlyerTalker]

12 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

We generally transfer our points from Amex and Chase into our frequent flyer accounts with the airlines to become miles that we use for flights.

 

12 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

I used Chase Travel Services and paid for the tickets using points.  The points were actually worth 1.5 times the points.

 

These post point out the two ways to use credit card points.

 

Vineyard used the transfer option, to change Chase points into Flying Blue miles.  This transfer is at 1:1 ratio.  Terri used the payment option, where Chase points get used as a cash substitute.  With the reserve card, this is at a ratio of 1 to 1.5 cents.

 

Each of the two methods has advantages and disadvantages.  The cash method is simple and direct, and you are getting a fixed exchange value.  OTOH, it is only using points to defer a cash payment on standard revenue tickets.

 

The former takes Chase points and converts them to FB (or other) airline miles.  As such, you then have to use those miles to find and book award tickets.  This adds additional complexity and the need to find appropriate award inventory.

 

In my case, I almost always find that the transfer method gets me better bang for the buck.  This week, I bought business class tickets to Copenhagen for a cruise next year.  The "cost" was 50,000 points + $220 per ticket.  Had I instead used the Chase points to defray the ticket price, I would have only gotten $750 towards a ticket costing several thousand, rather than a complete ticket.

 

Now, this came about because I was able to find award seats.  But I crunched the numbers to find the method that would give me the greatest return.

 

Let me share a tip, one that applies in many life situations:  The CC companies hype how you can use the points to offset the cost of a ticket.  That's the big promo they splash across the website.  The tip is to remember the trick about restaurant menus - the items in the "boxes" or highlighted are those that give the biggest margin to the restaurant.  They want to draw attention to the moneymakers.  Same with CC point redemption - transfers to airlines is less profitable to them, since they need to buy the miles from the carriers.

 

Do the math and figure what works best for you, and for your specific situation.

 

 

[roberts2005]

I agree with your post for the most part.  Sometimes it pays to use Chase points to purchase tickets.  Last January I needed round trip business class tickets JFK to EZE (Buenos Aires). Cost of award tickets were out of sight.  So I used the Chase points to purchase.  For me it worked this time.  Most times I will transfer to United.  One point about using Chase to purchase tickets.  I wound up with a discounted business class ticket so I received less AA miles than I expected.

 

Booking round trips next September for JFK to FCO direct using miles was exorbitant.   Only way to get a reasonable redemption was doing stopovers in London.  57,500 versus 200,000 or more.

 

If I didn’t get the 57,500 redemption, it would probably made sense to buy the tickets,

 

Buying tickets for cash presents a problem if you need to cancel.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, roberts2005 said:

Buying tickets for cash presents a problem if you need to cancel.

 

Depends upon the carrier.  Check for specific rules regarding cancelling tickets, and whether you get a cash or credit back.  Also, some highly discounted tickets do not allow for ANY credit back in case of cancellation.

 

Caveat emptor.  Do your research.

 

 

[Cruzin Terri]

For me, I did not want to transfer miles because Chase does not have an agreement with American and if I transferred to BA I would have to go through Heathrow.  Not exactly what I wanted to do.  The price was right on AirFrance and with 1.5 redemption rate I was able to get refundable tickets at a very good price.  When we were unable to go, All my Chase points were redeposited back into my account.  i lost nothing on the airfare.  

If I had transferred the points to an airline, I would be stuck with those miles, whether or not I was able to use them later.  I felt I had more flexibility the way I did it.  Not sorry with the choice I made.

Terri

[susiesan]

Don't give up/in without a fight. Travel insurance companies always deny your claim on the first submittal. Call back and ask for a supervisor. If that doesn't work turn it over to your state's attorney general office/insurance commissioner. Sometimes that gets you results. 

 

I don't get why Am Ex insurance won't cover the cruise cost if you paid for it with the AmEx card. Makes no sense.

[ak1004]

43 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Don't give up/in without a fight. Travel insurance companies always deny your claim on the first submittal. Call back and ask for a supervisor. If that doesn't work turn it over to your state's attorney general office/insurance commissioner. Sometimes that gets you results. 

 

I don't get why Am Ex insurance won't cover the cruise cost if you paid for it with the AmEx card. Makes no sense.

 

I agree.

 

It says "The Eligible Traveler charges the full amount of the cost of the the transportation by Common Carrier(s) to your Eligible Card." But you did pay for a full amount of your cruise with Amex.