Finding the appropriate travel insurance card depends on what coverage and benefits are most important to you. Before applying, read carefully through its terms and conditions to identify what protections may be offered by that credit card.
Credit cards with travel rewards typically provide greater benefits. Chase Sapphire Preferred provides rental car primary coverage so you don’t have to file claims through your auto insurer for coverage of rentals cars.
Trip Cancellation
Travel insurance provides reimbursement if you must cancel or interrupt your trip for covered reasons, and certain credit cards offer this coverage as a perk, such as Chase Sapphire Reserve and United Club Infinite cards. Policies typically cover nonrefundable prepaid passenger fares but coverage limits can differ significantly.
When selecting a card with trip cancellation coverage, it is also wise to look for additional protections such as lost baggage insurance or secondary rental car collision damage waiver. Such features are frequently offered by premium rewards credit cards like the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite and Platinum Card from American Express.
However, many cards with high annual fees come with significant perks that outweigh their costs; ensure the benefits outweigh their annual fees before making your choice. You may find a credit card offering travel protections at an attractive cost such as Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Ink Business Preferred Credit Card from Capital One and Ink respectively.
Trip Delay
If your travel plans get derailed, travel delay coverage can cover additional expenses (such as accommodations and meals) while waiting to get back on schedule. Some cards offer this as a standalone benefit while others bundle it into cancellation/interruption policies.
Compare policies by looking for how many hours your delay needs to last before coverage kicks in – often known as the “trigger time.”
Each policy comes with its own daily limit and total coverage maximum, meaning once these numbers have been reached, no further delays will be reimbursed for.
Some cards, like the World of Hyatt card and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card, provide both per-day limits and per-trip maximums in their trip delay coverage policies. You should refer to each policy of these and similar cards to see exactly what’s covered – generally, these limits range between $150 to $250 per day and cover expenses such as meals and transportation costs.
Trip Interruption
Credit card travel protection plans provide coverage for the cost of any prepaid travel expenses paid with credit cards should you need to cancel or interrupt your trip, although their coverage varies from card to card.
Allianz Global Assistance cards provide travelers with comprehensive trip cancellation/interruptions coverage. Their comprehensive plan covers loss of prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses due to sudden needing to cut trip short or return home for reasons such as illness/injury of traveling person(s), family emergency(s), work circumstances(s), natural disaster(s) etc.
If you need additional coverage than offered by credit cards, consider purchasing an independent travel insurance policy. Squaremouth or another travel insurance comparison website is a good place to get quotes and assess whether these cards’ coverage meet your needs; additionally make sure they cover preexisting medical conditions coverage – an integral component of comprehensive travel insurance policies.
Emergency Medical Evacuation
Medical evacuation coverage can save lives and limbs when traveling abroad. Most travel medical insurance and some travel credit cards include it as standard coverage.
However, travel insurance usually doesn’t cover flights home in case of illness or injury – which makes standalone evacuation plans such as Medjet an invaluable option for adventure-minded travellers traveling to remote destinations.
These plans tend to provide higher levels of service than evacuation membership programs by working directly with hospitals to guarantee direct payment, as well as helping during the treatment process. They provide daily medical reports to family members for review and interpreter services if required, navigate paperwork efficiently, negotiate costs responsibly, and arrange repatriation arrangements if the worst happens – many benefits of which are included with premium credit cards but may vary by policy.
