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Flight delays are inevitable if you're a frequent traveler. 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 terminal or pay for an expensive airport hotel room during a long delay. If you hold a Chase travel rewards card, you likely have access to some of the best trip delay protection available.
While Chase's Trip Delay coverage can take the financial sting out of unwanted delays, AwardWallet users often express confusion around the claims process. For example, who is covered? What delays and expenses will the coverage reimburse? And what do you need to do to submit a successful claim?
In this post, we'll show you how to use the Trip Delay Reimbursement benefit offered by one of our favorite credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. However, the process is similar for other Chase cards with this benefit, though reimbursement maximums and other specifics vary.
Page Contents
What Delays Are Eligible for Chase Trip Delay Coverage?
Trip Delay Reimbursement differs slightly between cards. Generally, Chase requires just a portion of the travel cost to be charged to your card, meaning you can pay with points or miles, and you only need to cover the award fees & taxes with the card to qualify for coverage.
Chase Trip Delay Reimbursement benefit covers flight delays due to:
- Equipment failure
- Inclement weather
- Labor strikes
- Hijacking or skyjacking
Your claim will be denied if you miss your flight due to sleeping in, traffic, or are given advanced notice of the delay.
How Long of a Delay is Needed for Chase Trip Delay Coverage?
The coverage on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card kicks in after a 6-hour delay or any delay that requires an overnight stay, which is standard among high-end travel rewards cards. Meanwhile, coverage on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, and other eligible Chase credit cards coverage starts after a 12-hour delay.
If you’re unsure what level of protection your card offers, check out our master list of credit card guides to benefits.
- 10X points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 10X points on Chase Dining (including prepaid reservations and prepaid takeout purchased through Chase)
- 5X points on airfare purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on all other travel
- 3X points on dining at restaurants
- 1X points on all other purchases
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Who is Covered by Trip Delay Reimbursement?
Chase Trip Delay Reimbursement covers you and your family members. A family member may include a spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, and other immediate family members.
What Expenses Does Trip Delay Reimbursement Cover?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® features Trip Delay coverage of up to $500 per covered traveler in associated costs. Some reasonable expenses include:
- Lodging
- Meals
- Toiletries
- Medication
Trip Delay Reimbursement is secondary and kicks in after reimbursements are supplied by the airline or other insurers.
What to do if Your Flight is Delayed
First, 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 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, etc.), the delay's length, whether it required 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, you can request this information online or over the phone.
Keeping itemized receipts for all expenses incurred due to the delay is also essential. These include the cost of accommodation, transport, and meals. You don't need to pay for these expenses with your Chase card.
How to File a Trip Delay Claim With Chase
To file a claim, go to chasecardbenefits.com or call the Benefit Administrator at 1-800-350-1697 within 60 days of the delay. The completed claim form and all requested documentation must be returned within 100 days of the trip delay.
You'll need to include:
- Completed and signed claim form.
- An account statement showing the travel fare was charged to your eligible Chase card. If more than one payment method was used, include documentation showing a portion of the purchase was made with your Chase card.
- Copy of your itinerary.
- A statement from the common carrier that shows why the covered trip was delayed.
- Copies of itemized receipts for the claimed expenses.
- Any other documentation that's deemed necessary to substantiate the claim.
While the process may seem like a hassle, you'll find the workload much less burdensome if you start recording everything from the moment the flight is delayed. And with up to $500 in expenses on the table for each covered traveler 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 of those cards. Swiping the right card when paying for flights can save you thousands of dollars by reimbursing you for costs incurred when you're delayed.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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.
This article is out of date. The new processor is https://chasecardbenefits.com/.
At eclaimsline it will let you start processing and then after you get so far tell you that you need to go to the new website.
Thanks for flagging this. I’ve assigned this post to be overhauled with the new process.
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.
very useful info, thank you!
We don’t travel as much now, but delays seems to occur more often nowadays….good to know there is possible recourse
@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 had a 24 hour weather delay on April 16 so this article has really been helpful as I have started the claims process!
Wonderful info
I learned so much that I didn’t know
Thanks
really good coverage
Thanks much for the info!
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.
What a fabulous post!! Many thx!
Very helpful info, thanks.
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,
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.
Nice summary of one of these cards’ most underrated benefits
Good point, I will need to check my cards to see if any similar benefits apply!
thanks for the heads up
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.
I need to go back and check my delayed flights. Thank you ever so much.
Good info, thanks!
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.
Definitely necessary info
Thanks for this! Super useful.
Useful info.
Very helpful! Hope I won’t need it though.
Great post, very useful information
Do these benefits apply regardless of where you are flying?
Yes.
Thank you for this valuable information. Hopefully I will never have to file a claim with my CSR.
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.
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!
Good info. Hopefully doesn’t happen too often, but bookmarked this for reference.
Some extra information here I didn’t know about, based on this I’ll be prepared in the future, thanks!