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Flight delays are inevitable when traveling by air. Planes get held up by weather, mechanical, or personnel issues. But, provided you pay with the right card, you won’t have to rough it in the departures lounge or wear the outlay of an expensive airport hotel. If you hold a Chase travel rewards card, it’s highly likely you have access to some of the best Trip Delay protection available, provided you follow all the steps listed out below.
While Trip Delay coverage can take the financial sting out of unwanted delays, AwardWallet members often express confusion around the claims process. Who is covered? What delays and expenses will the cover reimburse? And what do you need to do to submit a successful claim? In this post, we aim to deconstruct the process for Chase cards using one of our favorite products, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
What Delays Are Eligible for Trip Delay Coverage?
Trip Delay Reimbursement differs slightly between cards. Chase requires just a portion of the travel cost to be charged to your card, meaning you can pay with points or miles, and only need to cover the award fees & taxes with the card to qualify for coverage.
Chase Trip Delay coverage includes:
- Equipment failure
- Delays due to inclement weather
- Labor strikes
- Hijacking or skyjacking
If you miss your flight due to sleeping in, traffic, or were given advanced notice of the delay, your claim will be denied.
Your Card Determines Your Level of Coverage
The coverage on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card kicks in after a 6-hour delay, which is standard among high-end travel rewards cards. If you’re unsure what level of protection your card offers, check out our master list of credit card guides to benefits.
Who is Covered by Trip Delay Reimbursement?
Chase covers immediate family only:
“your spouse, and your dependent children under 22 years of age.”
What Expenses Does Trip Delay Reimbursement Cover?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® features Trip Delay coverage of up to $500 in associated costs, which includes items such as:
- Lodging – Hotel for an overnight stay
- Ground Transportation – Taxi or Uber to and from the hotel, or a rental car
- Meals
- Personal or business necessities – Toiletries, medications, clothing, or other items needed when delayed
Trip Delay Reimbursement is secondary and kicks in after reimbursements supplied by the airline or other insurers.
What to do if Your Flight is Delayed
The first thing to do is record all the details and collect documentation to prove the delay was out of your control. The terms from Chase are somewhat vague, leaving the insurer plenty of wiggle room to deny your claim if you haven’t supplied the correct paperwork.
You’ll need records of why you were delayed (weather, mechanical, lost documents, etc), the length of the delay and whether it requires an overnight stay, and a statement from the airline confirming all the details. It’s best to obtain this from the customer service desk before leaving the airport, but with some airlines, it can be done via their website or through customer service after the fact.
It’s also essential to keep itemized receipts for all expenses incurred due to the delay. These include the cost of accommodation, transport, and meals. Note: You don’t need to pay for these expenses with the card providing the Trip Delay protection. We run through a valid trip delay claim in a previous post, detailing how each item was paid for with a breakdown of reimbursed expenses. Some of the costs were paid in cash, others on a separate travel card, but all were approved in the claim because receipts were kept itemizing each expense.
How to File a Trip Delay Claim With Chase
Head to eclaimsline.com or call the Benefit Administrator at 1-804-281-5772 within 60 days of the date of delay to file a claim. The completed claim form and requested documentation must be returned within 100 days of the trip delay.
You'll need to include:
- Completed and signed claim form
- Account receipt showing that the travel fare was charged to your eligible card. If more than one method of payment was used, include documentation that shows a portion of the purchase was made with your Account.
- Copy of the Common Carrier ticket
- Statement from the Common Carrier indicating the reasons that the Covered Trip was delayed
- Copies of receipts for the claimed expenses
- Any other documentation deemed necessary to substantiate the claim
While the process may seem a lot of hassle, if you start recording everything from the moment the flight is delayed, you’ll find the workload a lot less burdensome. And with up to $500 in expenses on the table for each companion traveling on your itinerary, the benefits can extend to thousands of dollars.
Final Thoughts
We’re huge fans of ancillary benefits here at AwardWallet, often rating the benefits received with rewards cards to be a significant contribution to the overall value on those cards. Swiping the right card when paying for travel expenses can provide thousands of dollars in value if your travel is delayed by causes beyond your control, providing reimbursement for hotel accommodation, meals, and transport to/from the airport.
If you’ve claimed Trip Delay Reimbursement from Chase in the past, we’d love you to share your experience in the comments below.
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.
Some extra information here I didn’t know about, based on this I’ll be prepared in the future, thanks!
Good info. Hopefully doesn’t happen too often, but bookmarked this for reference.
Super info. Trip delay coverage definitely gets a lot of lip service when card benefits are compared & discussed, and it’s fantastic that our travel cards have perks like this. However, the process of actually putting these coverages to use in the (relatively) unlikely event of an actual delay, for the first-timer, is pretty murky. This is the first/best write-up that I’ve seen of the actual procedure. Bookmarked!
What a great post! This is why the annual fees for these cards are worth it for frequent travelers.
I have never used the trip delay coverage but the one time that I (successfully) used the trip cancellation coverage, emailing to Chase’s eclaimsline did not work. Only after I faxed my documents in did they receive them and process my claim.
Thank you for this valuable information. Hopefully I will never have to file a claim with my CSR.
Do these benefits apply regardless of where you are flying?
Yes.
Great post, very useful information
Very helpful! Hope I won’t need it though.
Useful info.
Thanks for this! Super useful.
Definitely necessary info
Even though I don’t hold either of these cards, this is very useful info. I need to look into AMEX plat and Chase Sapphire Preferred to see if they have any similar benefits.
Good info, thanks!
I need to go back and check my delayed flights. Thank you ever so much.
Wow, what a great post. Curious though, where it says “records of why you were delayed,” does the airline or customer service have some kind of prewritten statement or form they hand out?
They have a standard form that they can populate with details and send to you as an email or PDF.
thanks for the heads up
Good point, I will need to check my cards to see if any similar benefits apply!
Nice summary of one of these cards’ most underrated benefits
I have to bookmark this, as If I have one, and preferably book with points, I use an airlines cobranded card just in case I really need a checked bag. But that hasn’t happened yet, and this benefit sounds better (and a checked bag can be paid with a card that offers airline incidentals rebates, just in case.
What a great summary of this cards benefits that are often overlooked. I do wish there would be a Canadian card that even had a few of these benefits! or is there one that I do not know about. Thanks,
Very helpful info, thanks.
What a fabulous post!! Many thx!
Very good to know. You never plan for what could happen wrong, you always plan for everything going right.
It’s always good to have a check list in case something goes wrong. Good thing I always save receipts to get points
from some apps too. I’ve never had to look very far when I need to return something or reference something.
Thanks much for the info!
really good coverage
Wonderful info
I learned so much that I didn’t know
Thanks
We had a 24 hour weather delay on April 16 so this article has really been helpful as I have started the claims process!
@Jo says: “where it says “records of why you were delayed,” does the airline or customer service have some kind of prewritten statement or form they hand out?”
@Howie Rappaport says: “They have a standard form that they can populate with details and send to you as an email or PDF.”
This exchange and revelation is particularly helpful going forward!
We don’t travel as much now, but delays seems to occur more often nowadays….good to know there is possible recourse
very useful info, thank you!
Our flight was just delayed (leaving home) and we would miss our international connection to Amsterdam. This was all due to weather out of Dallas. They’re not able to get us to Amsterdam for TWO DAYS! We’re sitting at home with an empty fridge and pantry. Does this mean we can eat out and get reimbursed for the next two days of our delay, regardless if we are in our home city and not an airport?
Hey Amy, I’m sorry to hear about the situation. Usually, the coverage does not cover you if you are stranded at home. Each card has it’s own terms, so I’d definitely call or review the insurance benefits documentation. We don’t have all cards, but many of the insurance docs can be found here.