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This post has been updated to include a section on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card which also offer Trip Cancellation & Interruption Insurance.
When deciding which cards to add to your rewards earning portfolio, each credit card has advantages; however, some have features that make them stand out from the crowd. The fantastic return on spending with the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, the anniversary free night certificate that comes with the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, or the bonus points on travel spend and excellent benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
Which cards you apply for requires a careful examination of your travel goals and a deep understanding of the benefits attached to each card. We've detailed how the Sapphire Preferred covers you with primary Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver and, in this post, we want to expand on the Trip Cancellation and the Trip Interruption Insurance.
There are some crossovers in the definition for the two which we'll group together, and the differences between them will be highlighted.
Who Does The Insurance Cover?
Automatic coverage is provided to the primary cardholder and their immediate family which includes spouse or partner, children, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.
What is Trip Cancellation Insurance?
Trip Cancellation Insurance covers you and immediate family members when a Covered Loss prevents you from traveling and results in the cancellation of travel arrangements for a Covered Trip. The coverage will reimburse you up to $10,000 per person for each Covered Trip up to $20,000 total per Covered Trip.
What is Trip Interruption Insurance?
Trip Interruption Insurance covers you and immediate family members for up to $10,000 for each Covered Trip when a Covered Loss causes interruption to a Covered Trip (up to $20,000 total per Covered Trip), either on the way to your point of departure or after you have departed.
Note: Breaking it down, Trip Cancellation covers you BEFORE you leave, and Trip Interruption covers you from the moment you start traveling.
For both benefits, a Covered Trip is defined as:
Covered Trip means any pre-paid tour, trip or vacation when some portion of the cost for such travel arrangements less any redeemable frequent flyer miles, points, coupons or certificates, or other types of redeemable Rewards has been charged to your Account.
If you have redeemed Chase Ultimate Rewards® from the cardholder's account or if you used your Sapphire Preferred to pay for the taxes and fees associated with an award booking from another program, you are covered.
A Covered Loss is defined as:
- Accidental Bodily Injury, Loss of Life, or Sickness experienced by you, a Traveling Companion, or an Immediate Family Member of you or a Traveling Companion
- Severe weather, which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from beginning or continuing on a Covered Trip
- Change in military orders for you, your Spouse, or your Domestic Partner
- A terrorist action or hijacking
- A call to jury duty or receiving a subpoena from the courts, neither of which can be postponed or waived
- Finding your or your Traveling Companion’s dwelling to be uninhabitable
- Quarantine imposed by a Physician for health reasons
- Financial insolvency of the Travel Agency, Tour Operator, or Travel Supplier whose services you booked
While it covers a lot of situations, you'll notice the absence of any delays or cancellations by the carrier, travel agency, or tour operator (unless the cancellation is caused by severe weather or organized strikes).
Meaning missed connections and stays due to delays aren't covered. Under certain circumstances, some costs associated with delays will be covered by another benefit called Trip Delay Reimbursement which is detailed in the Sapphire Preferred Benefits Guide .
What isn't covered?
What isn't covered differs slightly between the two benefits.
Trip Cancellation
- When travel arrangements are canceled or changed by the carrier, travel agency or tour operator unless severe weather or strikes
- Change in your financial or business circumstances
- Pre-existing conditions
- Any accident, injury or loss caused by attempting anything illegal including street racing, any professional sport for you are paid or receive a prize, suicide or self-harm, war, flying on a rocket-propelled aircraft, and where there are U.S. trade and economic sanctions in place.
Trip Interruption
All items included under Trip Cancellation plus anything caused directly or indirectly by the insured party:
- Traveling against the advice of a Physician
- Traveling while on a waiting list for specified medical treatment
- Traveling for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment, or traveling in the third trimester (the seventh month or after) of pregnancy
Important Note: While we have summarized what is and isn't included we highly recommend you read the full list which can be found inside Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption section of the Sapphire Preferred Benefits Guide .
How to file a claim?
To make a claim on your travel arrangements you need to contact the Plan Administrator (1-888-320-9961):
Plan Administrator
Card Benefit Services
P.O. Box 72034
Richmond, VA 23255
Some documents that may be required include:
- Completed claim form
- Copy of the travel itinerary
- Confirmation of the reason for the Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption—i.e. medical documents, death certificate, or other documentation supporting a Covered Loss
- Copy of the Credit Card statement that shows the charge for prepaid travel arrangements for Trip Cancellation
- Proof of expenses incurred due to a Trip Interruption
- Copy of the cancellation or refund policies of the Common Carrier, Tour Operator, or Travel Supplier
The timeframes to submit claims, documents and proof of loss vary depending on when you initially notify Chase of the claim. Details can be found in the Claim Information section of the Sapphire Preferred Benefits Guide .
Sapphire Reserve and Ink Preferred Trip Interruption & Cancellation Insurance
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Trip Interruption & Cancellation policies of the two Sapphire card's are identical, both covering up to $10,000 per person per covered trip (up to $20,000 per covered trip), and covering up to $40,000 per year.
One of the really cool features of this insurance on the Sapphire card's is that it will cover immediate family members, even when the cardholder isn't present, as long as a portion of the trip has been paid for with the card.
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
The trip interruption and cancellation insurance offered by the Ink Preferred will cover up to $5,000 in pre-paid or non-refundable travel expenses if a trip is canceled or cut short by a covered situation as per the benefits guide. The policy covers the cardholder, immediate family members, and also persons employed by the company for which the Ink Preferred account is issued, meaning you can claim on employee trips that go awry. It also covers trips purchased using UR points from the account which will be reimbursed a 1¢/point.
That the card will also cover employees of the account holder could be a huge money saver for any employer, see the benefits guide below for the details.
Final Thoughts
It may seem like a large amount of information to take in, but having a thorough understanding of how the benefits work, what is covered and what is required to file a claim can save you thousands of dollars and a big headache down the road.
If you ever consider purchasing 3rd party insurance for any of your travels, by understanding the benefits afforded to you through the use of your Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Preferred, you might find out that you're already covered without the need to spend anything extra on that insurance.
Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance are just one more reason for you to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I was traveling in Venezuela and I arrived 1 hr 50 min before my flight, my ticket said arrive 2-4 hours before. At this airport there are not that many flights out of the country and all the security leave exactly at 9 am. It isn’t mentioned anywhere, so I had to buy another ticket for the next day. Would this be covered?
That’s a really niche case. I’d reach out to Chase’s benefits administrator to ask if they cover that.
If I miss my flight connection due to weather and need an overnight stay, will this be covered by Trip Delay insurance? If so, would this be true for tight connections which are considered legal connections by the carrier?
In the first case, yes, Chase’s trip insurance will cover it (on eligible cards). However, for tight connections that you miss due to the airline’s fault, you’re typically going to need to get the airline to cover your expenses.
For the CSR, “Covered Hazards” are: “equipment failure, inclement weather, strike and hijacking/skyjacking”
What about cancelling trip for June 8 th to Europe due to the virus?
I think the only answer is to submit a claim online or call and see.
My doctor recommends I cancel my travel plans to Hawaii due to the Corona virus outbreak. Though I don’t have the virus I do have a pre-existing condition (high blood pressure) that put me in the high risk pool. Will my trip cancellation benefit with Sapphire Reserve cover me?
Hey Ron, it’s been really hard to get a clear read on the exact policies. It seems like claims adjusters have a pretty wide scope for discretion. I’d absolutely file a claim and see what happens. Please keep us posted! It’s been hard to get good data points.
My father has cancer but is currently stable. I want to plan a family trip out of country. If I book airline tickets and hotels using the chase sapphire preferred card and last minute my father takes a turn for the worse and we can no longer travel, would that be covered by the trip cancellation policy or would it be considered pre-existing condition?
Is there an age limit for immediate family children on trip cancellation/interruption? If I book a trip using points outside of Ultimate Rewards, and pay the $5.60 security fee with the card, would my trip be covered? What if they additional expenses are put on another card?
I see that there is for trip delay, age 22. What if they are an authorized user on the card?
Thanks for your help! Hard understanding the best travel insurance now that Citi dropped everything.
Hey Matthew, authorized users should be covered regardless of age. I would definitely recommend looking at the full terms of the insurance policy to make sure you understand all the details.
If you pay the taxes of $5.60 on the card, the trip is covered. Here’s our list of card benefit guides: https://awardwallet.com/blog/master-list-credit-card-benefits-guides/
If you get sick in route to your next flight, does the trip interruption/cancellation benefit cover that?
I’m really not sure. I would imagine you’d have to make the case that a “prudent” person would not continue the trip. I would guess the claims examiner would want to see a doctor’s note advising you not to travel at the very least.
I reserved a hotel with a no cancellation provision on Chase sapphire reserve) My mother has just been pit into hospice. Can I cancel and file a claim if the hotel will not cancel. .
Sorry to hear about your mom. Not sure if a family medical emergency is a covered trip cancellation reason, but worth investigating (with Chase) for sure.
It is just a joke for Chase travel protection. Their system is really complicated and require you to upload a lot of documents. Then they will pretend stupid saying some of the document are missing but didn’t tell you what it is. If you keep calling them, they will ask you to upload the documents again and again. Eventually if they feel you are serious, they will give you $10 like dealing with a beggar
Traveling to FLL this weekend. Hurricane supposed to hit thats spot. Would i be able to cancel hotel, car and flights?
Hey Mike, severe weather is included in the list of covered reasons. The trip cancellation language describes the following as a Covered Loss: “Severe weather which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from beginning or continuing on a Covered Trip”
I’d recommend contacting the number on the back of your card to discuss the coverage and claim documentation requirements.
I’m glad someone had a better experience with them. I am still dealing with them almost 2 months later. They didn’t like how my doctor filled out the physician form that I waited a month to get back from him, and they don’t like that I don’t have any official cancellation letter from Frontier, since I was told we couldn’t go on the trip after we had already checked in and I couldn’t get through to Frontier to cancel, so we just didn’t show up. I can get them to tell me on the phone they could see we never checked in, but can’t send me anything official to that effect.
Just had a return flight canceled on me a few weeks back, got stranded overnight and sent to a different airport on my return – $160 for hotel and $140 for Uber to get home, since my car was elsewhere. I was asked for one additional document after my initial claim was filed, and then 3 days later I had a full refund of $300 in hand. Excellent customer service!
I keep the Chase Reserve strictly for peace of mind when it comes to things like this – glad to see they followed through on their end. Hardest part was getting a document from American Airlines about the canceled flight… other than that, smooth sailing. The card has paid for itself now with just one claim!
Hi Megan,
Why was your flight canceled? We are getting so screwed on canceled flights booked through Kiwi (ie they are not doing anything about that the flights are just gone and give us just outrageous options for rebooking) and are hoping to get *some* amount back as it was booked on Chase but not really feeling too confident…
Brianne
I completely tore my ACL and I’m waiting for surgery in May. I am not supposed to travel for about 3 months, my trip is scheduled for the end of June. I bought 5 one way tickets (myself, husband and 3 children) to New York and 5 one way return tickets that are non-refundable. WIll this be covered by Chase Freedom signature?
Without knowing the exact details, it’s hard to say. Your best bet is to contact the Benefit’s Administrator on 1-888-320-9961. They will ask you to supply proof of the injury and a letter from your doctor saying you can’t travel.
My girlfriend was in an accident, where she was hit from the side by another driver. Completely his fault. I paid for a vacation to hawaii for us using my CC points for the flights, and credit for the resort stay…
two questions if you don’t mind… She is not allowed to do ANY excursions – even biking or hiking… due to 3 herniated disks in her back…
She is not my immediate family but my girlfriend for 3 years now…
Would I be able to get reimbursed if I cancelled everything? Both the points and the money?
Thanks in advance, we would prefer to do the trip when we can actually do more than lay around in the resort or on the beach.
Please call Chase and speak to benefit services to receive an official answer. My understanding is that you would not be covered as you are not related.
They said, i have to show proof of domestic partnership with two forms of shared finances – my lease counts as we live together and are both on it. As does the the chase card as she is an authorized user of the card… So with those two items, she is covered, as well as me. according to the claims benefits person i spoke with.
Hey Jason, so sorry to hear about the accident. Really appreciate you following up with the data point on how Chase handled your claim. I’m sure this will be helpful for other readers. Happy holidays!
Hello, We have a trip coming up next week to overseas. I just returned from Europe last week and have severe sinusitis and ear infection. I don’t think I’d be able to travel next week with my 2 kids. I bought the tickets on Chase Business Preferred Ink. Do you think with a doctor’s note, I’d be able to get reimbursed for the trip through the trip cancellation insurance? Has anyone had any experience?
Thanks for your help.
Based on this info, you should be eligible. Call the number on the back of your card to speak with the benefits administrator for what required documentation they’ll need.
Horrible customer service. Will try anything to deny claims.
Will be interesting to see if this earthquake in Lombok will be covered. Cancelled Trip since only out $250 in cancellation of flights from USA.
Was flying into Denpasar (Bali) then was to take a boat to Gili Islands / Lombok but didn’t have anything else booked in advance.
Per Chase Benefits, earthquakes aren’t covered under the clause “Severe weather, which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from beginning or continuing on a Covered Trip” since earthquakes aren’t weather.
I used trip cancellation benefit and claim process was very simple. WE uploaded documents like doctors note, airline cancellation policy, Airbnb cancellation policy detailed itinerary and got full refund. Very happy to have this card.
Is it necessary to call and specifically cancel the flights that I can’t take due to a medical condition or is it the same if I don’t show up for the flight.
You *should* call, but are not required as I understand.
Does this insurance cover emergency flights home for illness?
Yes, but please read the terms in entirety to review your specific scenario.