DEC 5, AA2180 ORD-MIA Delayed 23 hours in total.
Anyone been in this boat before? Amex travel insurance is refusing to cover this as the American airline statement on this is that the crew timed out in the end so that's the reason for the overnight delay and Amex's terms do not cover crew delay.
I'm sure the original reason was not crew delay as we were all there at the gate waiting for a plane to show up [from LHR if i recall from what the gate agent said], but I have no documentation of that.
AMEX is refusing to cover this and American Is refusing to say anything other that crew timed out in the end; and they will not tell me why crew was ready at the gate without a plane. Seems like a very silly catch-22 situation.
Looking at the travel delay insurance T&C for the AMEX Platinum Card (other cards may have other benefits) that can be found
here, I see no reference to an exclusion for crew issues, but I do see where it appears it does not apply if you are departing from youir home city. Was that the case? If not, I don't see why that should not cover expenses as stated in these terms. You might want to ask for a written reference to where they are claiming they should not pay.
EDIT: As per post #54 below, it appears a terroist act or hijack would be covered (normal exclusions, IME), but other than that, basically only weather, mechanical or even some document issues.. But nothing with crew timeouts, lack of crew, or even lack of equipment, from what I now read. (So sad I didn't read more carefully in the first place!)
Specifcally,
guv1976 was referencing:
"B. Covered Losses: Covered Losses include Covered Trip delays that result from the following\:
1. Inclement weather, which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from traveling or continuing on a Covered Trip (e.g. severe weather that delays the scheduled arrival or departure of a Common Carrier);
2. Terrorist Action or hijacking;
3. A Common Carrier’s equipment failure, as documented by the Common Carrier;or
4. Lost or stolen passports or travel documents."
Hence I stand corrected and enlightened. And I now believe AMEX has a clear path out of any payment.