PVDtoDEL

Except in Europe, where EU261/04 applies, airlines generally don't put pax up for weather delays.

nookanaya

To make a claim you need a statement of delay from the carrier. When they give you hotel/meal vouchers they would probably say that in the statement of delay. If they don't mention the vouchers you might be able to make a claim, if you happen to have a hotel/meal receipt for that same night.

MDtR-Chicago

You should still be able to make the claim if you have expenses above what is covered by the voucher(s). For example, they don't tend to offer much for food and it's likely you'll have more than one meal you need covered. And, anyway, have you seen the line to wait for those vouchers?

And, as alluded by PVDtoDEL, you probably aren't getting anything if it's a weather delay in the USA.

canadiancow

Welcome to the USA

I know that Air Canada puts up all in-transit passengers who have to overnight due to weather (e.g. If you're flying YUL-YYZ-SFO, and your YYZ-SFO is cancelled after you arrive, you get a hotel. But if the YUL-YYZ is cancelled, you do not.).

I know that United and American do not give a sh**, regardless of whether you're *G or in paid domestic F.

That would be insurance fraud.

As MDtR-Chicago said, if you take your $7 United food voucher, go to an airport restaurant, and have a $30 dinner, you can claim the other $23, but not the full amount.

I just received my first check on Friday for a trip delay claim, and I must say, I am extremely glad I chose this credit card.

litesalt

When it comes to cancellations due to inclement weather and other forces outside the airlines control, they may put you up if you have elite status, but otherwise they are pretty quick to tell you that they are not obliged to make any accommodations for you other than rebooking you onto the next flight without charge.

I am currently going through this process right now because I was a distressed passenger in Charlotte for two days last week during the winter storm, and they don't explain the program very well.

Apparently they'll only reimburse for trip delay expenses for the passenger, spouse, and immediate family only. I'm not entirely sure why familial status matters, but it came as a surprise to me that I'm not going to get my friend's covered, even when I paid for this ticket.

canadiancow

That's pretty clear in the rules. While I was in the United Club trying to figure out when I could actually get out the next day, I also had the benefit book open on my tablet, and I was trying to figure out exactly what I could do.

That being said, I do think it's strange that only family is covered, even if you're paying for the ticket. I think the assumption is that if you pay for a friend's ticket, they're probably paying you back (as was the case in my situation), so you're not "paying" for it. Whether or not that assumption is true, though...

zeusmt

Does anyone know if the United Club Card has this same benefit?

picards007

I recently had a positive and interesting experience using trip delay protection through Visa card services associated with my CSP.

Background:
- Booked a RT through the Chase UR Portal
- Return leg cancelled due to icy ground conditions after about 5 hours of rolling delays.
- Airline unable to provide return travel until 2-3 days later, so decided to use Amtrak for a long ride back. Airline refunded the return leg of my trip (note: if you book through the UR Travel portal and get a refund, you have to follow up with Chase to have the refund applied back to your original CC - the travel portal purchases tickets from the airline with a corporate card and when that card gets refunded, they have no idea where to apply the credit unless you call to have them do it manually).
- Transferred UR points to Amtrak while I was on the phone with an Amtrak customer service agent and booked a one-way ticket for the next morning.
- Crashed on a friends couch for the night.
- About 10 hours into alternative return journey, Amtrak runs into "indefinite" delays due to downed electrical power lines at about 2 hours away from my final destination. Rented a car from the train station to complete the journey.

I wasn't planning on using this protection when I started my return journey (really I just wanted to get back in one piece and still have a job waiting for me) so I did not save any receipts. Only after I returned home I figured it was worth a shot...

Filing the claim:
- Deducted the airline reimbursement for the cancelled leg from my claim.
- Airline would not provide written proof of cancellation after I returned, used a print out from flightaware.com.
- Had no idea how Visa would treat UR points (no guidance provided) so claimed the cost of the Amtrak ticket had I not redeemed miles figuring they would apply their own valuation to the points anyway.
- Had no receipt from restaurants or Amtrak cafe car and other food vendors/restaurants starting from the first airline delay, only CSP statement. Had to get Chase to retrieve receipts from the vendors after Visa asked for itemized receipts as part of the normal back-and-forth with these things.
- Paid cash for a couple taxis so could not claim those as I did not save the receipts.

Was reimbursed for all expenses claimed. The most surprising part was the Amtrak award ticket value and the rental car. My thinking is that my overall claim was relatively small (<$300) and I was pretty forthright with the expenses I was claiming (food/drink, Amtrak, and rental car) and those I would not claim (those paid with cash).

picards007

https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-...rotect-new.htm

Looks like it, although if your version is different (particularly if for some reason it's not a Visa Signature card), you could always call Chase and get the T&Cs and benefits mailed to you.

MDtR-Chicago

This is a great report and it's another situation where it seems they're taking reasonable interpretations of the rules. Glad it worked out for you and you made it back!

MDtR-Chicago

Was looking at a benefits page for the Marriott Premier card today and it seemed to indicate that the card does have this coverage now:

Can someone who has recently received the complete cardmember agreement check to see if this coverage is substantially the same as the CSP coverage?

If so, that would be an excellent benefit enhancement.

Long Zhiren

Yes, the 12 hours business has been in the coverage for a long time.

This is very odd. The weather-related terms haven't changed in years, but we got the same response from a Chase rep the other day.

The best interpretation that I could make is that some terms were changed on November 1, 2013. If a trip's tickets were purchased prior to November 1, 2013, the new terms do not apply to that trip. i.e. I believe the Chase reps are a bit confused, and everyone else with them.

Prior to November 1, 2013, trip interruption/missed transport arrangements were covered only if someone's health was involved (i.e. weather-related is not covered)--and then you'd need a health provider's record of your immediate diagnosis for anything to be covered. Read: Transport, not missed hotel costs, etc. The coverage expanded after November 1 to non-health related reasons like weather and cancelled flights.

Trip delay expenses for hotels and meals, on the other hand, have always been covered for weather related items.

Another odd twist: Instead of Enhancement Services, we are now being referred to Crawford & Company to file claims.

canadiancow

12 hours or an overnight stay. I've definitely missed 11pm flights and been rebooked onto 8am flights (although AC provides hotels for weather issues, so I didn't need a credit card there), and I'd be annoyed if that wasn't eligible for trip delay

I bought a ticket in January for travel in January and made a successful claim for a hotel after my flight was cancelled due to weather. I think you just need to make it very clear that you're calling about a trip delay claim.

SansSerif

Does anyone know if there is an annual dollar/claim cap on this benefit? I don't have my little benefits booklet in front of my right now.

picards007

From my CSP Guide to Benefits booklet:

"Trip Delay Reimbursment: covers up to a maximum of $500 for each purchased ticket for reasonable expenses, on a one-time-basis, incurred if your covered trip is delayed by a covered hazard for more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay."

As far as I can tell, there is no annual limit. For Trip Cancellation coverage however, there is a $20K limit per year and $10K max per occurrence.