It’s hot topic at the moment: With the current financial insolvency of airberlin and potential bankruptcies of South African Airways and Alitalia, many travelers are wondering if they’re protected in the event of cancelled flights, cancelled routes, or even airline elimination. Under such occurrences of insolvency, airlines and travel agencies aren’t responsible for reimbursing your ticket costs, so who is?
Well, the answer potentially lies in the fine print of your credit card’s Guide to Benefits. When charging airline tickets on a credit card, you may be covered under implicit trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance policies. We’ve combed over the fine print of these policies for the nine core cards featured on Credit Card Pro. Here, who does—and who doesn’t—have you covered if your airline or travel agency goes belly up (in order from best to worst).
*BEST * Chase Sapphire Preferred® and Chase Sapphire Reserve℠
When charging airline tickets to either of the Chase Sapphire cards, the implicit trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance policies compensate loss from “financial insolvency of the Cardholder’s travel agency, tour operator, or travel supplier.” Coverage is provided up to $10,000 per trip.
Citi Prestige® Card
When charging airline tickets to the Citi Prestige® Card, the implicit trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance policies compensate loss when “a travel supplier, such as an airline or lodge, goes out of business or goes into financial default after the purchase of the Trip, impairing the Covered Travelers’ ability to travel.” Coverage is provided up to $5,000 per trip.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
When charging airline tickets to the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite® Card, the implicit trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance policies compensate loss from “default of the Common Carrier resulting from Financial Insolvency.” Coverage is provided up to $2,000 per trip.
Luxury Cards: Mastercard® Black Card™, Mastercard® Gold Card™, Mastercard® Titanium Card™
In August 2017 all three Luxury Cards started providing a form of trip cancellation & trip interruption insurance when charging airline tickets to any of their three cards. However, under their policies, airline and agency insolvencies are NOT covered reasons for insurance collection. Therefore, no coverage is provided.
American Express Platinum and Gold Cards
It often seems that American Express’ premium cards offer an endless array of benefits. However, we were pretty surprised to find that trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance is not one of them. Therefore, no coverage is provided.
