Amex Trip Delay Insurance: Up to $500 of expenses reimbursed for travel delays.

American Express trip delay insurance can cover expenses like food, transportation, and lodging when you book your airfare or other common carrier tickets with your card and your trip is delayed significantly for a covered reason. This insurance is included on several premium credit cards like The Platinum Card, Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card.

Here’s everything you need to know about American Express trip delay insurance.

Amex Trip Delay Insurance at a glance

Which cards offer Amex trip delay insurance?

What does Amex trip delay insurance cover?

American Express trip delay insurance can cover reasonable expenses that you incur as a result of your trip delay. To get coverage, you must book your common carrier tickets using your card. Your travel must also be delayed for a covered reason. Depending on your card, you may have either $300 or $500 of coverage per trip. (See “Which cards offer Amex trip delay insurance?” above.)

Here are some of the things that Amex trip delay insurance may reimburse:

• Meals
• Lodging
• Toiletries
• Medication
• Personal use items

Your trip must be delayed for a covered reason

Amex trip delay insurance won’t cover every type of delay. Here are the types of delays that Amex trip delay insurance will cover:

• Inclement weather, including severe weather that delays the arrival or departure of a common carrier, such as an airline
• Terrorist action or hijacking
• Common carrier equipment failure
• Lost or stolen passports or travel documents

There are a few types of delays that are notably absent from this list. Crew scheduling delays and crew time-out delays likely won’t be covered. Delays to involuntary denied boarding or caused by equipment swaps for operational reasons may also not be covered.

If you need to file a claim, Amex will likely require you to obtain a statement of the reason for a delay from your air carrier or other common carrier.

Only delays over 6 hours or 12 hours are covered.

Depending on whether your card includes the standard or premium tier of Amex trip delay insurance, you may be covered for delays of more than 6 hours or delays of more than 12 hours. To receive any benefit from Amex trip delay insurance, your delay must be delayed by the time specified in your card’s trip delay insurance guide to benefits.

There is no provision for overnight delays. While other credit card trip delay protection benefits cover overnight delays regardless of length, there is no such coverage on Amex trip delay insurance. If you booked your trip using a card with Amex standard trip delay insurance and are delayed overnight, but your total delay is less than 12 hours, you will likely receive no reimbursement from the benefit.

Benefits are limited to $300 or $500 per trip and 2 claims per 12 months.

Amex trip delay insurance only allows 2 claims per 12 months per card account. Cards with the standard tier of trip delay insurance are limited to $300 per trip. Cards with the premium tier are limited to $500 per trip.

Limits are per trip, not per passenger. When you travel together with eligible traveling companions, it’s important to understand that the benefit maximum on your card is per-trip. This means that you and any eligible people traveling with you will be cumulatively limited to $300 of expenses total if you booked your trip using a card with the standard tier of travel insurance.

How to be covered by Amex trip delay insurance

To be covered by Amex trip delay insurance, you must charge your common carrier transportation to your card that carries the benefit. Amex trip delay insurance covers only round-trip travel, but it may include combinations of round-trip and one way tickets.

Here are the most important things to remember:

• Your trip must be round-trip, starting and ending at the same city.
• You can purchase one-way tickets. As long as your entire journey is round-trip, Amex trip delay insurance coverage will cover you.
• You must charge all common carrier fares to your eligible card. If you purchase a common carrier fare (airlines, ferries, train tickets, etc.) on another card, you may be ineligible for coverage. (Taxis, limousine services, commuter rail and bus line, personal automobiles and rental vehicles do not count as common carriers.)
• The round trip may not exceed 365 days away from your city of residence.

Who is covered by Amex trip delay insurance?

American Express trip delay insurance covers you and your family members when you book the entire round-trip cost of your eligible trip with your card. You do not need to be traveling with your family members for them to be eligible for coverage. Here’s who is included in family:

• Your spouse or domestic partner.
• Your dependent children up to age 19, or under age 26, if they are full-time students.

Additionally, your traveling companions are eligible for coverage if they are traveling with you for all or part of your trip.

Here’s a summary of who is covered in addition to you, the cardmember:

Amex trip delay insurance covers you when your airline won’t

I find trip delay insurance most useful to cover situations where an airline won’t. Most U.S. airlines will not cover a hotel room or meals if they consider a delay to be beyond their control, such as weather. Here are some examples of situations where trip delay insurance can come in useful:

What to do when you trip is delayed overnight

When your trip is delayed significantly, the most important thing to remember is this: Get receipts for everything.

When you later submit your claim, the benefit administrator will ask you for documentation, including your receipts. In many cases, if you don’t have itemized receipts, the benefit administrator may use that as a basis for denying your trip protection claim. At a minimum, be sure to do the following:

• Save all receipts from expenses that you want to have reimbursed.
• Get itemized receipts for everything. Don’t assume that the receipt you sign at the restaurant or the credit card receipt from the hotel. Get itemized receipts for meals and ask for an itemized bill at the end of your hotel stay.
• Print a copy of your boarding pass, flight itinerary, and receipt. You should be able to do this at an airport kiosk, or an agent might be able to assist.
• Snap a photo showing the flight. You’ll need to later get a statement from the carrier about the delay, but having some documentation can help.

How to file an Amex trip delay insurance claim

You must begin your claim within 60 days of the date of your travel delay, or your claim might not be honored. Like with most things insurance-related, it’s best to submit your claim as soon as possible.

To start your claim, you must call the benefit administrator at 1-844-933-0648.

The benefit administrator will provide you with more information about how to provide them with your proof of loss. You will likely be asked to fill out a claim form and provide the following:

• A statement from the airline or common carrier the the trip was delayed.
• The receipt for your travel showing your charge to your eligible card.
• Copies of your airline or common carrier tickets.
• Receipts for travel expenses.
• Other information requested by the benefit administrator.

The Amex trip delay insurance policy states that you must furnish written proof of your loss within 180 days after the date of your loss. American Express can extend this deadline up to one year. But it’s best to get your proof of loss in promptly.

After you file your claim, the benefit administrator will review your trip delay claim and make a determination. If they determine that you have a valid claim, you will receive reimbursement for your expenses, up to the limit of coverage.

Links to guides to benefits

Fortunately, American Express makes its guides to benefits easy to access. Here’s the link to the Trip Delay Insurance guides to benefits for all cards offering this benefit.

Frequently asked questions