Look to your credit card for travel protections
With delays and cancellations for air travel worse than ever, your credit card’s travel insurance could come in handy to cover various aspects of what could go wrong with your trip.
Insurance for trip cancellation or interruption kicks in if your prepaid or nonrefundable flight is canceled or your trip is cut short due to events that are out of your control — think severe weather, mechanical failure or a medical emergency — and it’s considered a covered event under your policy. An expansive policy may also reimburse you for prepaid hotel costs.
All coverage is secondary to any reimbursement you get from the airline or hotel, and you’ll need to keep detailed receipts to ensure a successful claim. If you’re unsure of what’s covered, call your issuer.
Although the coverage limits vary, you will generally get the most comprehensive insurance benefits with travel cards that have annual fees.
For example, the no-fee Chase Freedom Unlimited Visa card comes with coverage for trip cancellation or interruption for up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for nonrefundable passenger fares.
But the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa ($95 annual fee) ups the limits to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for fares as well as other nonrefundable expenses, such as hotels and tours. The Sapphire Preferred also comes with baggage-delay insurance and trip-delay reimbursement.
Your card may also offer benefits that can get you through airport security or customs quicker. Several travel cards offer a statement credit to cover TSA PreCheck ($85 for five years) or Global Entry ($100 for five years).
As a bonus, your card may cover you for CLEAR ($189 a year), the biometric identification scanner at the airport, in full or at a discounted rate.
Your card issuer wants to be your travel agent, too. For example, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One and Chase all have travel portals where cardholders can book flights, hotels, rental cars and more by using their credit card or by redeeming the points and miles they have earned.
And card issuers are providing incentives for cardmembers to do so. The Capital One Venture Rewards Visa ($95 annual fee), for example, gives cardholders five miles per dollar spent on travel booked through Capital One Travel. For more information on how to use these travel portals effectively, go to kiplinger.com/ kpf/creditcardtravelportal.
If you decide to book a rental car either through your credit card travel portal or directly with a rental car company, you may also have rental car insurance as a perk.