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

Trip delay insurance can cover reasonable expenses like food, transportation, and lodging when you book travel with your card and your trip is delayed significantly for a covered reason.

It’s important to book your travel with a card offering trip delay insurance. If your travel is delayed overnight, credit card trip delay insurance will often cover your expenses, even in cases when the airline won’t, like during weather delays.

Many, though not all, American Express cards offers trip delay insurance and Amex offers two tiers of the insurance product.

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

What is American Express trip delay insurance?

Trip delay insurance is credit card insurance that covers certain expenses you incur due to delays caused by a common carrier like an airline or train. If you’re delayed overnight, trip delay insurance can cover expenses like meals, a hotel room, and necessities like toiletries. Trip delay insurance often covers things that your airline wont, most commonly overnight delays due to weather.

Amex trip delay insurance can reimburse your expenses even in many cases when your airline won’t. Here are the types of trip delays Amex trip delay insurance typically covers.

	Covered by Amex trip delay insurance?	Typically covered by an airline?
Weather, including severe weather that delays or cancels flights.		Only in limited cases, like European flights where it is required.
Terrorist actions or hijackings.		No
A common carrier’s equipment failure.		Sometimes – Depends on airline and elite status.
Lost or stolen travel documents.		No

Overview of American Express trip delay insurance

American Express offers two tiers of its trip delay insurance benefit. Which tier you are covered by depends on which card you hold. Here is a quick overview of the terms of Amex trip delay insurance.

		Standard Tier	Premium Tier
	Cards covered	American Express® Gold Card Business Gold Card Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card	Platinum Card Business Platinum Card® The American Express Corporate Platinum Card®: Delta Reserve® Credit Card Delta Reserve for Business Credit Card Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
	Coverage amount	$300 per covered trip	$500 per covered trip
	Maximum number of claims	2 claims per eligible card per 12 month consecutive period	2 claims per eligible card per 12 month consecutive period
	Delay requirements	12 hours or overnight	6 hours or overnight
	People covered	You. Spouse or domestic partner. Dependent children under 19, or 26 if full-time students. Traveling companion.	You. Spouse or domestic partner. Dependent children under 19, or 26 if full-time students. Traveling companion.

How to be covered by Amex trip delay insurance

To be covered by Amex trip delay insurance, you must charge an eligible common carrier (such as an airline) fare 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:

• The full round-trip transportation cost of the airline or common carrier fare must be charged to your eligible card.
• Your trip must be round-trip, starting and ending at the same city.
• The round trip may not exceed 365 days away from your city of residence.

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.

More about Amex Trip Delay Insurance

Here’s a bit more about American Express trip delay insurance.

What expenses does Amex Trip Delay Insurance cover?

Trip delay insurance typically covers reasonable expenses that you incur as a result of your trip delay. Here are some of the things that Amex trip delay insurance may reimburse:

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

This list is not exhaustive. Reasonable expenses that you must incur as part of a trip delay are likely to be covered by this insurance.

Who does Amex Trip Delay Insurance cover?

American Express offers one of the only credit card trip delay insurance protections that provides coverage to your family and traveling companions. Here’s who is covered under Amex trip delay insurance:

• You, the cardmember, whose name is embossed on the Amex card used to book the trip.
• Your spouse or domestic partner.
• Your dependent children up to age 19, or under age 26, if they are full-time students.
• A traveling companion who made advanced arrangements to travel with you or your family members together.

Here’s how this coverage stacks up against the coverage of other card issuers that offer trip delay insurance:

Who is covered	Amex	Capital One	Chase
You
Spouse/Domestic Partner
Children Children must be unmarried dependents.	Up to age 19. Under age 26, if full-time student.	Under age 18. Under age 25 if full-time student.	Under age 26.
Traveling companion

How to file a 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