mia

Citi's coverage is secondary. Lupine Travel has offered a full refund. Citi's insurer could take the position that you have been made whole, and accepting the discount and new dates constitutes booking a new trip that has not been delayed.

With regard to these two provisions the issue would seem to be whether they would pay for -both- rather than only one or the other.

themicah

First, this is a Trip Delay protection thread, not a Trip Cancellation/Interruption thread. But since we're already discussing...

I think there's a decent likelihood that CIti would pay for you to cut your trip short and go home when the cruise was supposed to start. I think it's a little less likely that they'd pay for you to go home earlier than that (which would mean them refunding more unused travel), although not impossible if you can make the case that those portions of the trip were all just leading up to the cruise. My one big concern is that the terms say that a postponed cruise is a "covered reason" if it's postponed "before the Trip Departure Date," so I could see them playing games where they either (1) argue that the cruise is its own discrete "Trip" and all you're entitled to is a refund of the cruise, or (2) if they do agree that the "Trip" is your whole 3 months journey away from LAS, that the postponement didn't happen "before the Trip Departure Date" and therefore it's technically not a covered reason. Those would both be crappy interpretations, but in my experience Virginia Surety is most definitely not above crappy interpretations of their vague rules.

I think it's extremely unlikely that they'd pay for you to fly back to Tahiti later, though. I read the "rejoin the Trip" as referring to a situation where you are stranded and trying to rejoin a Trip in progress (e.g., your flight is delayed so you get to the cruise departure point after the boat has already left, or you get hurt during a shore excursion and are in the hospital when the boat leaves port).

In my mind, Trip Cancellation/Interruption is intended to (1) reimburse nonrefundable expenses that you didn't get to use, and (2) help you if you're stranded by covering unexpected expenses and either getting you home or enabling you to resume your trip. It's not a guarantee that if you book a Trip with your card, they'll pay for a second Trip to enable you to do all the things you originally planned to do on the first Trip.

mh4ll

mia

Discussion here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...-comments.html

Often1

The denials don't strike me as being wrong, once one accepts that insurance is a contract, not a customer service gesture. These claims are binary and are either payable or not. The terms and the premium are based on each other and if they intend to cover something, they are clear in the definition.

themicah

I would agree with you IF the terms were clear.

But Virginia Surety started denying missed connection Trip Delay claims months before the updated 2018 T&C's that excluded missed connections went into effect (you'll find numerous reports of a phantom rule change in March 2018 in this thread and in the blogs, but the new rules weren't announced until June and didn't go into effect until the end of July). And without defining "delay" anywhere in the terms (old or new), they've started to take the position that a "delay" ends (and you're no longer eligible for reimbursement of expenses) when you depart the city in which you are delayed, even if you're rerouted with a layover in a third city before you reach your original destination. There is no hint of that anywhere in the T&Cs (in fact, the definition of "Trip Completion Date" suggests exactly the opposite).

jamesinclair

Its not Citi, its an insurance company. And the agents get paid to find ways to not pay out.

Nirvana91

Any recent data points for processing time (or at least when a decision is made) for claims? I submitted a request on 1/24 and receive an automated "we've received your documents" email right away, but nothing since then. I had a claim a few years ago that was approved in less than a week, but I'm assuming the time is longer now? Maybe I should wait until we hit the one month mark before following up.

enviroian

My sea-dfw flight was delayed 4 hours today. I left the plane and re-booked for tomorrow morning. I called Citi to confirm the travel delay benefit is good for >3 hour delay (i've used it twice already two years ago) but the rep told me as of last July that changed to now be effective for only delays that are >6 hours.

moe8555

Yes, this is quite old news now... Sorry to hear about your botched plans.

joe_miami

What caused the delay?

enviroian

In op deicer

enviroian

Okay so I soent some time reading this thread. Looks like the Citi executive card (aka premier?) travel delay benefits have degraded to 6 hours from 3 hour delay. I use my card primarily for the AC membership but the travel benefits are very important to me. That being said what is the best card for travel benefits? I already have an Amex gold. Upgrade to plat?

themicah

If you value trip delay coverage, Amex Plat doesn't offer it, so you're likely going to want to stick with Citi AA Exec or Chase Sapphire Reserve (both of which have 6 hour coverage). Overall I think the travel protections are a small notch better on CSR than CIti AA Exec, and the rewards are significantly better. But if you're keeping the Citi card for AA lounge access, then you have to weigh whether the rewards and protections are worth carrying another card and paying another annual fee.

There are several blogs that do pretty good comparisons of Citi Prestige (which is pretty much the same in terms of protections as AA Exec, but with different rewards and lounge access), CSR, and Amex Plat:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/battl...rewards-cards/

Nirvana91

Just to follow-up on this data point. Yesterday someone called and left a voicemail saying they were going to review my claim and contact me if there were any further questions. I never heard anything back yesterday, but this morning received an email that my claim was fully approved and I'd see a credit within 1-2 billing statements. So overall, I submitted 1/24, was reviewed 2/14, and approved 2/15. Not bad! I assume that mine was a pretty easy one (and low $), not sure if that makes any difference. It was just a couple meals and a taxi.