gglave

Be careful what you wish for...

Mauricio23

I finally heard back from the claims processor today. The claim was denied because the reason for the delay was coded by Air Canada as "late inbound aircraft". In the opinion of the claims processor, this is not a "covered cause". That the inbound aircraft was late because of a weather delay at the point of origin does not matter to them. The customer service representative could only tell me to file an appeal if I wanted to. This is a $110 claim, and I have better things to do with my time. An appeal would likely not prosper in any case, as "late inbound aircraft" is not a specifically covered cause - although it is the weasel reason of choice for airlines who don't want to acknowledge scheduling or mechanical reasons down the line. Amex never denied me a claim when the stated reason was "late inbound aircraft". I know where my future credit card business is heading.

In a sense, I am glad this happened over a small claim. Now I know to never trust Capital One with any purchase that requires any kind of insurance. I hope this information proves useful to others considering their services.

ffsim

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't the whole point of trip delay insurance to cover you in the case of flight delays >4 hours? Why would the type of delay matter?

Mauricio23

When you go to the fine print, they have a list of "covered causes". Decent insurers, like Amex, pay for all delays. Crappy insurers, like the one subcontracted by Capital One, try to find any reason not to pay.

gglave

Interesting - Good reason to be cautious about Capital One.

Last week my flights into and out of SFO were greatly delayed due to weather (fog). Because they were ground-stopped at their originating airport they were listed as "late inbound aircraft." Obviously they were late inbound - They hadn't left because of bad weather in SFO.

Thanks for the information.

simba8

I think this topic should be in the credit card discussion, but
if the insurance company authorized you to go ahead book and the hotel and meal, they are now on the hook. Denial like the one you experienced wouldnt fly in court.
They are hedging that you'll just walk away.

Mauricio23

Which I will. I am not going to court over $110. Hopefully they will lose way more than that in the long run.

brunes

This is really interesting. I find this thread very valuable. I have had an Apsire for a couple of years now and for the most part have been happy but then again I have never had to file a claim. This thread is eye opening and I am probably going to move to another card after I read over the insurance in more detail. The insurance is a big reason I got the card over others in the first place.... if I didn't care about insurance there are better cards out there.

Has anyone ever used TD Infinite insurance?

AMCyyz

Hi @Mauricio23 – Please accept my apology for my absence on this thread. For some reason, I didn’t receive any notification that there were new posts; otherwise I would have jumped into the conversation right away.

The Aspire Travel World MasterCard is considered top in class for the insurance benefits it provides, which is why it's so popular among Canadian travelers and consumers. The Flight Delay benefits offered on the Aspire card are similar to the Flight Delay benefits covered by other credit cards in the marketplace.

After reading your post, we reviewed your claim with the underwriter and with WTP, the administrator of the benefits. We found a couple of discrepancies:

First, there was a lengthy delay in reviewing and processing your Flight Delay claim. In addition, it would appear that the claims the administrator reviewing your claim did not investigate the "late inbound flight" clause provided by the airline more fully. It’s quite conceivable that the delay may have indeed been caused by a mechanical breakdown or a weather delay.

As a result of this review, the claim will be processed and you will be reimbursed for your expenses in full. Could you please contact us at [email protected] so we can discuss this matter further with you. I think you’ll be pleased with the outcome.

Best regards,

Andrew

Mauricio23

Following Andrew's reply here, I received a letter from WTP apologizing for the long time it took to process my claim, and thanking me for my feedback. Included with the letter were two checks - a full payment of my claim, and a reimbursement of my annual credit card fee.

The letter made it clear that the payments are a gesture of goodwill, and that WTP stands by its original adjudication of the claim. That is, the next time someone submits a flight delay claim where the airline states that the reason for the delay was "late inbound aircraft" (or any reason that is not mechanical, weather, or strike), it will be denied (but promptly). Since Air Canada states "late inbound aircraft" as the reason for the vast majority of their delays, this Canadian credit card is of very little value as an insurance product when flying on Canada's largest airline.

As I explained in private correspondence to Andrew, I am glad that Capital One stands behind its World Aspire product, and consider this issue resolved to my satisfaction. I might also add that, despite the rocky patches, I feel the customer service experience with Capital One ended on a high note. It speaks well of a company when screw ups are recognized and made right.

At the end of the day, however, the World Aspire Mastercard flight delay insurance coverage remains highly deficient relative to at least one main competitor. The AMEX Gold Rewards Card, for the same annual fee and with otherwise very similar benefits, covers *any* delay regardless of what the airline states as the reason (with the usual exclusions of terrorism, war, and nuclear reaction). Because of this, I cannot rely on the World Aspire Mastercard as an insurance tool for my considerable travel spend, and cannot recommend it to anyone in search for a card with travel insurance benefits. I will continue to use this card and its excellent rewards program for all my non-travel spend; I hope the folks at Capital One review and update their insurance coverages so as to make their product competitive on that front again.

gglave

Thanks for the update.

Good reason to avoid the card, as many of my weather delays are ground stops where the aircraft is 'late inbound.'

Note that it's not just AC - UA will also have a 'late inbound' status if they have a weather-related ground stop.

AMCyyz

Hi Mauricio,

Thank you for your follow up comments on this matter. We really appreciate all customer feedback. I can confirm that all of your concerns have been shared with the appropriate associates for review.

We value your business with us.

Sincerely,

Andrew

kwflyer

AMCyyz:

There are no notifications and its up to the user continue to follow threads in a proactive manner, especially on ones that they have commented on.

As someone who has worked in PR, and used different social media channels, I'm surprised you didn't educate yourself prior to engaging yourself in this communication channel.

Mauricio:

Thanks for the feedback. I was actually looking to get this card as I liked the 2% flat earning rate (redemption tiers are another story) but the travel insurance fiasco is a deal breaker for me.

I too have made travel claims with AMEX, and have never had any problems with them. They process my clams, in a timely manner for whatever the travel/flight/baggage reason was, and don't quibble over the travel/airlines coding for delay.

This is the difference between a true platinum product (and flawless execution of service) and a sub par one (who want to nickle and dime high CC spenders)

513263337

Thanks OP for sharing this experience. Very valuable information.

I have been using this card since it launched and I always charge all travel on it because of the travel insurance included. Now that I look at the clauses carefully, it does say:

If not because of this thread I would never have thought that something like "late inbound aircraft" is not covered, when the underlying reason for an inbound aircraft to be late is within the covered causes.

For example if an inbound flight was delayed because of weather, this situation should be interpreted as a covered scenario even by applying literally their terms & conditions, which states, delay of the flight was the result of inclement weather, which, in this case for example, it ultimately is.

I guess I have to be very careful with this card from now on...

Mauricio23

In fairness, the reply from Capital One was that they would pay a claim where the late inbound aircraft resulted from an upstream weather scenario, as long as they get written confirmation from the airline that this was indeed the case. Good luck with getting that statement from Air Canada. All I got was a computer printout stating "Reason for delay: late inbound aircraft", and a blank stare when I asked them to clarify that the original problem was weather. "Sir, I can only give you what the system tells me was the reason for the delay".

Since the Amex policy covers any delay regardless of reason, I do not see the point of bothering any further. The only exception would be a hijacking, which Capital One covers and Amex does not.