Booked flights between Taipei and Matsu for myself and SO in Feb and paid with the my platinum card. The return flight was cancelled due to weather and we are currently waitlisting for the next available flight. I've read the terms but still a bit uncertain about a few things:

- Does it matter if I paid some of the additional charges (hotels, dinner and such) before hitting the 6-hour delay requirement? - Almost all expenses were charged before hitting the 6-hour mark. No question asked.

- Nothing (lodging/meals/car rental extension/convenience stores) here accepts Amex with some only accepting cash. Given the available data points, I assume it should be fine to pay with another card or cash? - I used a Mastercard and cash to paid the expenses. Only submitted the receipts and added a statement about none of the merchants accepted AMEX (as advised by the agent). Like many said the T&C did not require the use of AMEX but I still added the statements to avoid potential delay.

- I left my residence (CA) in Jan, and plan to return end of April. These flights (US to Taiwan and back) were not paid with Amex. The claim agent said that my "covered trip" is between Taipei and Matsu and the fact that I didn't pay my US-TW flights with Amex doesn't matter. But the terms do mention something about being less than 365 days away from my city of residence. Is the agent correct on this or should I prepare some documentation about my flights between US and Taiwan? - Did not need to submit any documentation related to when I left my residence. Only submitted itinerary on the trip between Taipei and Matsu.

This is the first time I'm filing for trip delay coverage with Amex, so appreciate if anyone can share their experience.

Update:
Claim was approved in full in less than 5 days. I've updated my own questions - hopefully they'll serve as positive DPs for someone down the road.