botham

I have always received excellent service from Amex, but this week I had a problem and my opinion has changed!

I have two l/h holidays booked using my AP card.

Last weekend, I was admitted to hospital and had an unforgettable experience. I have type 2 diabetes along with a few other nasties.

Once I had returned home and thought about the future, I wondered about the travel insurance and have spoken with AMEX a number of times and have been given significantly different information.

My thoughts when taking out an insurance policy would be that it would be valid, provided that the policyholder declared full facts when buying it, or in the case of AMEX, having a 'live' card and paying with it.

I now find out that unless a doctor deems me unfit to travel, I would then have the choice, but I wouldn't be covered for any illness related to Diabetes. If doctor deems me unfit to travel, AMEX would consider paying the cancellation bits.

I have tried to complain about my treatment over the phone and conflicting information given, but cannot find out how to this, apart from on social media.

I only found out the original information was false when I asked for it in writing, so please beware what they tell you.

Gagravarr

Were you diagnosed with diabetes after the time you took out the card, or was it pre-existing at card application time? If the latter, did you explicitly make Amex aware of it at the time you took out the card?

Oh, and do you have the Personal or Small Business UK Plat card? I'm told (via Raffles / Head For Points) that the Small Biz card has better travel insurance...

botham

I have Personal AP charge card.

I was only diagnosed last weekend and on renewal had no idea.

Thanks for the heads up on the SB card

papyPiHi

Hi folks,

I have a question which might seems weird, but here's the situation:
->Flying to NCE on Friday, tickets booked 24h before the french ATC strike was announced. Flights are on BA, booked with Avios and Amex plat, CE out, ET back in
->Hotel booking not yet done, however the hotel I am looking at only accepts Visa and Mastercard, with full amount kept if there's a cancellation within 2 weeks prior to the stay

Looking at the flight data for the past two days, it is likely that the flights we are on will be cancelled. and since one flight out of 2 is cancelled on the LHR-NCE, with sales still open, there's a chance we won't be able to make it

In that case, would the hotel be refunded via Amex Plat? Even though it's booked on Mastercard, I assume that as long as the flight is booked using Amex, we are covered?

Thanks for your help!

Andrew_G

From the Terms and Conditions:

For the benefits under this section to apply transport and/or
accommodation must have been Purchased in full using:
I. the Card;
II. American Express Membership Rewards® points; or
III. Any travel rewards programmes provided the taxes
and/or surcharges have been Purchased
using the Card.

and

“Purchase” or “Purchased” means items paid for or pre-booked
using your Card or items paid for where Your selected provider
would not accept Your Card.

So I would guess it's okay?

LondonElite

I think you will be ok. A few years ago during the Iceland volcano ordeal we were staying in a private house in the Caribbean and got stuck for another ten days (it was a real drag). I emailed the owner, he said we could stay and he sent us an invoice for the additional nights, I had my bank wire him the money, and sent it all off to Amex. They paid up in full without fuss.

Gagravarr

If you claim, make sure you make it very very clear on the form that the merchant didn't take Amex

I had one claim denied because I hadn't paid on my Amex, even though the merchant didn't take it. When I complained, they initially denied that clause existed, then blamed me for not making the "didn't accept amex" part clear enough in the claim! So, avoid my stress and complaint, and make it so clear + remind them of the T&C, so they can't try to weasel out of paying it...

LondonElite

Other than writing that they don't take Amex, how do you make this very very clear?

Gagravarr

I'd suggest cutting and pasting the bit of the T&C that the seemed to forget about into the claim:

(from page 11 in the definitions section)

papyPiHi

Many thanks for the replies!
In the end we got lucky, our flight was one of those not affected by the ATC strike, so we wnt throught without issues. But thanks for the info, I'll keep in mind since that configuration can happen as I am travelling quite often to France and some B&Bs do not take Amex there

Recondite

Hello,

I am interested in getting the platinum, as once the extended travel insurance is taken into account it is financially cheaper than buying services cheaper (eg. PP, Insurance, plus MR bonus etcetera).

I note in the terms that one has to have *purchased* their trip with their card to be eligible. Now, the trip I am taking is an extended (5 month) trip, and the flight out has already been booked. How exactly do they offer extended trip (/'gap year') insurance, if you need to book it all in one go?

Am I missing something here? The exact terms I am referring to are; "PERSONAL BELONGINGS, MONEY AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTS which are lost, stolen or damaged when your trip has been purchased on the Card account." The insurance is specifically for;

• WORLDWIDE TRAVEL INSURANCE Worldwide Travel Insurance provides cover for the Cardmember and supplementary Cardmembers, their respective partners and dependent children under the age of 25 (an “Insured Person”), whether travelling together or travelling alone on business and leisure trips of up to 90 days. The insurance also covers grandchildren of the Cardmember and supplementary Cardmembers under the age of 25 when travelling with an Insured Person.
• Gap Year Worldwide Travel Insurance benefits will also cover trips of up to 365 consecutive days for Cardmembers’ and supplementary Cardmembers’ dependent children under the age of 25 travelling on a ‘gap year’

I currently have the Preferred Rewards Gold, for reference.

Appreciate any advice

DaveNCL

Would someone be able to confirm whether the main travel insurance including medical expenses, trip cancellation, repatriation are covered if parts of or the whole trip was not paid using the card?

I understand some of the trip delay, replacement clothing allowance when bags go missing on flights, etc, are only covered if the flights were bought using the card.

It it is not quite clear if the first part of what I would consider normal travel insurance is covered. As an example I travel a lot for work where my trips would be paid using my corporate card but I would need travel insurance coverage.

Thanks in advnace, I couldn’t find anything whilst searching.

mia

UK Platinum travel insurance was substantially revised in 2012, and its likely you will find something in this thread:

UK: Hugely detrimental changes to Platinum travel insurance from January 25, 2012

...but that leaves open the possibility of further changes since.

RockyRobin

pallhedge

It's consensus opinion that Amex Platinum's travel insurance benefits are not very good--certainly not relative to its competitors like Citi Prestige and Chase Sapphire Reserve. I suspect that once you do more research, you will reconsider your plan.