Free Travel Delay Insurance with the right credit card

Hurricane Irene taught a lot of travellers that airlines have no responsibility to pay for your expenses if your flight is cancelled or delayed overnight due to weather. Why? Because weather is an exemption for most of the consumer protection laws imposed on airlines. They can get off stranding you with nothing more than the name of a hotel to call for a discounted rate.

The good news is, there is something called travel delay insurance, and with a select few credit cards, it’s included free of charge when you use the card to make your airline ticket purchase.

You can get reimbursed for:

• Hotel expenses (generally about $150 per night)
• Meals
• Taxi fare

All for a total of reimbursement of about $300 per incident as long as your trip is delayed for about 18 hours or more. It can be due to weather, mechanical problems, or other reasons your airline delays your trip. You simply charge the expenses to the credit card, then contact the credit card company’s insurance partner to file a claim.

Chase is the most aggressive with offering a travel delay insurance benefit. It’s available on the Chase Sapphire, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Hyatt Visa, and United Mileage Plus Club credit cards. Discover also offers it with its Escape by Discover card. Please contact each bank for details on requirements for the benefit, as they can change, but they each cover reasonable expenses you’d incur with an overnight delay.

All of these cards are good choices for reward earning, though our favorite is the Chase Sapphire Preferred as it offers 2x points on all travel and dining purchases, as well as the ability to transfer points 1:1 to Continental/United, British Airways, Amtrak, Marriott, Priority Club, and Hyatt.

Interestingly, American Express’ premium credit cards — including the Platinum Card — don’t offer this benefit.