no2chem

I had to book some AA award tickets today. By habit, I almost gave the agent my AA card # --- but I remembered that the AA branded credit cards have no insurance on award redemptions. It's unclear to me why Citi has this restriction, but getting around it is as simple as using for example, a Chase card to pay for the award.

Anyway, don't see this pointed out much around here... but just so people know, as I've used baggage delay insurance many times, would suck to miss out on it just because it's an award ticket that you paid with the wrong card.

beachfan

Thanks!

Microwave

I've updated the thread title to make more clear what is being asserted; there's no problem with booking an AA award with an AA credit card, as long as someone is willing to take the risk of an issue or has travel insurance by other means.

~Moderator

guv1976

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Are you sure that a Chase credit card provides insurance on an AAdvantage redemption? I thought that Chase cards only provided insurance on award tickets redeemed with miles earned from Chase cards, and there are no Chase cards that earn AA miles. (If you were talking about a BA Avios redemption for travel on AA metal, that might be different.)

Suggest you review the terms/conditions of the travel insurance coverage offered by your particular Chase card.

ThreeJulietTango

Does the Barclay card have a similar caveat?

MrJBoy

I'm not sure if all Chase branded cards have the same policy, but at lease Chase Sapphire Preferred covers Trip cancellation/interruption insurance for tickets booked with miles as long as I pay part of the trip with the card such as tax. It doesn't matter if AAdvantage redemption or not. I always use CSP card to pay tax for award tickets just in case because of that. If common carrier travel is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, CSP covers me and my family for up to $500 per ticket of non-reimbursed expenses such as hotels and meals.

guv1976

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What do you make of the following language, which immediately follows the definition of "Covered Trip" in the CSP Guide to Benefits"? "Rewards means points, miles, cash Rewards, or any other type of redeemable Rewards, provided that all Rewards have been accumulated through use of a Rewards program sponsored by Chase Bank USA, N.A. and/or its affiliates."

It's not clear to me why that language would be there if merely charging to a CSP card taxes and fees on an award redeemed with miles not earned by a Chase-sponsored program would suffice to trigger the coverage.

Ragnarok

The language you quoted is under Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption coverage.

And it has this provision: "If any or all of the Covered Trip was paid for using redeemable Rewards, the Company will reimburse the Insured Person for Rewards used. "

So perhaps they only want to reimburse Rewards that are earned in a Chase-sponsored program.

The Trip Delay Reimbursement coverage on the other hand, does not contain the language you quoted, but rather just, :

"To be eligible for this coverage, you need to purchase either a portion or the entire cost of your Common Carrier fare using your Account. Coverage is in excess of any expenses paid by any other party, including applicable insurance."

armus

The citi AA card used to explicitly cover award travel, but it was dropped about 1-2 years ago when a new coverage pamphlet was mailed out. I don't think the change was made explicit in the cover letter. I'm not aware of Barclay's ever having the coverage. Every card I've had (besides citi AA prior to the change) requires the entire cost to be paid for using the card and arguably the travel was primarily paid for using miles and thus not covered.

Sant

By not using the Citi AA credit card, you lose out on getting 10% of the redeemed awards back.

I made this mistake once when I used another credit card to book a roundtrip F award to Sydney.

guv1976

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"By not using the Citi AA credit card, you lose out on getting 10% of the redeemed awards back."

Not so. You can use any form of payment to ticket the award. As long as you hold a qualifying Citi/AA credit card, you'll get the rebate (but only up to a maximum of 10,000 miles per calendar year).

EqualOpp

Using a Chase UAL MP card to pay for AA taxes now. Reviewed the benefits guides for Citi AA and Chase UAL, and for:

Trip Cancellation and Interruption - no reimbursement of points (at 1 cent/pt) unless Chase sponsored program. (Does that mean UAL MP, is that 'Chase-sponsored' or does it only mean UR points?)

Trip Delay (12 hrs+), Lost Luggage, and Baggage Delay - Yes, coverage applies on Chase UAL MP, regardless of whether one used FF miles/points.

The Citi AA cards don't provide ANY coverage for AAdvantage Awards. That's how I read this. Seems stupid from the Citi AA end. Deceiving!

I'll second the 10% back of miles regardless of credit card used to pay the taxes. I don't see any language that the Citi AA card has to be used.

socrpro192

Thanks completely forgot that.

no2chem

Yeah, this is my read of it as well, I think UA MP is included in chase sponsored...

Also, when I redeemed using my non-AA cc, I got the 10% back no problem.

nrr

The AA miles you redeem does not have to be (solely) for flying; I possess a Citi AA Adv. cc, and get the 10% bonus (up to 10,000) for hotel stay redemptions [at aa.vacations.com].