themicah

I just went through the Trip Delay Protection claims process for the first time. tldr: it works.

Background

My family was on a flight home that suffered a 3 hour 51 minute weather delay, the duration of which we were stuck on the plane. We boarded on time, but various ground stops at our destination led to us sitting on the runway awaiting clearance to take off, circling awaiting clearance to land, diverting to refuel, and sitting some more awaiting clearance to take off again.

I have a Citi Prestige card and the tickets were purchased using TYPs.

The expenses we claimed were pretty minor: some sandwiches at the arrival airport and the quickest ride home we could get that would hold all five of us and all our stuff (UberSUV).

Claims Process

I called the Citi Benefits hotline (855-569-7446) the day after the flight and spoke with an agent (native-speaking American English accent) who took my information, offered sympathy regarding the delay, and told me I'd get an e-mail the next day with the claim form and requests for documentation.

The next day I got an e-mail, as promised, requesting the following:
The claim form was included inline in the e-mail, and indicated that I could sign electronically, so I simply replied to the e-mail and filled in my name and the date in the signature boxes, then attached a PDF with everything else.

The card billing statement was a little tricky in my case, since tickets purchased with TYPs don't show up on a credit card statement (but TYP-purchased tickets are definitely eligible for the Trip Delay Protection benefit according to the Prestige TOS). So I included a copy of my card statement from the applicable month (figuring there was probably a drone somewhere checking boxes on a checklist) as well as a printout of my TYP redemption history from thankyou.com for good measure.

Travel itinerary was no problem. I simply sent a copy of my original travel confirmation e-mail (which also showed that I had redeemed TYPs for the ticket). I noted in my e-mail reply that the flight was purchased with TYPs and they could reconcile the travel confirmation with the TYP redemption history.

For support of trip delay, I had anticipated needing something, and asked the GA when I got off the plane at my destination for some sort of proof of delay. She wasn't familiar with the concept, but printed out a flight status summary that showed the original scheduled arrival time and the actual arrival time (as well as the unscheduled refueling stop). It did not show the reason for the delay, but the adjuster ultimately accepted it. I later learned that some airlines have an online form to request a proof of delay especially for trip insurance claims (there are some links in this thread). It can take a few days for the airlines to respond to those requests, however.

For proof of settlement I had nothing, as it was a weather delay and the airlines don't give you anything for weather delays. I said as much in my e-mail reply.

Expense receipts I had, no problem.

Proof of relationship I told them I shouldn't need, since my claim was well under the limit for one traveler, so they could simply drop the others from the claim rather than request more documentation. In a later conversation I learned that it would have been sufficient to simply say in the e-mail "ABC is my wife, BCD is my son age X, and CDE is my daughter age Y," which apparently constitutes "proof" in the insurance world.

Two days after I sent all my documentation in, I got another e-mail thanking me for providing documentation, but they were still missing the exact same list of documents. After some busy days at work, I called them to ask if I really needed to submit everything again. The guy on the phone started to say he just needed the support of trip delay, proof of airline settlement, and proof of relationship. But after putting me on hold they apparently accepted the airline printout I gave them as support of trip delay, accepted my verbal explanation that there was no proof of settlement because there was no claim to be made for a weather delay, and accepted my verbal statement that the other travelers were my wife and children (it probably helps that we all have the same last name).

A day after the phone call I got another e-mail from an adjuster, asking for my children's ages. I replied with the ages. Two days after that, I got an e-mail saying my claim had been approved and that I can expect a check in the mail. I'll report back when I get the check.

Miscellany

I had assumed that all claimed expenses needed to be charged to my Prestige card, and had charged them accordingly. But since the claim is handled by an outside insurance company and they are issuing a check (not a statement credit), I suspect it's not necessary.

The insurance company handling these claims for Citi (IDS Property Casualty Insurance) is the same one handling claims for Chase.

I will say that knowing we had this benefit made our delay somewhat less stressful. Instead of freaking out about what would happen if we got stranded overnight in the refueling city, we started researching hotels (without caring about the price, since we effectively had a $500/person budget). And of course being an FT nerd, as the delay approached the 3hr mark I found myself rooting for it to last JUST A LITTLE LONGER so I could see how the benefit really worked. Fortunately my wife is a good sport and didn't kill me. And, well, you're welcome!