Planning a dream trip is all the time thrilling. However irrespective of how rigorously you plot out the small print, generally life throws a wrench within the works.
Sadly, that is what occurred on a current journey that I took with my household earlier this yr. Fortunately, my Chase Sapphire Reserve® and its journey protections got here to the rescue proper after we wanted them, saving us over $1,500 all informed.
Here is what occurred and the way we had been capable of leverage my card’s advantages to keep away from dropping some huge cash.
Planning our dream trip … then canceling it
In February, my husband, our son and I had been all set for an unimaginable safari journey. We had been going to remain on the Retreats at Sayari in Tanzania, the place lions, cheetahs and elephants are sometimes noticed roaming freely across the space. After that, we deliberate to finish the journey with a number of days of rest at Mango Home Seychelles, LXR Accommodations and Resorts — a luxurious lodge on the Seychelles’ largest island, Mahe.
We had been planning our journey for months, determining the logistics and find out how to save probably the most cash on such a grand journey. We booked our flights utilizing my Chase Sapphire Reserve® card and redeemed a few of our Final Rewards factors to scale back the price of the journey.
Redeeming the factors instantly by Chase Journey℠ at a fee of 1.5 cents apiece utterly lined the price of our three tickets on a Kenya Airways hopper flight from Nairobi to the Seychelles.
We additionally transferred a few of our leftover factors to Qatar Airways Avios and used them to e-book a portion of our journey within the airline’s luxurious business-class QSuites; we paid the steadiness on the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Regardless of utilizing factors for a part of the journey, the out-of-pocket expense was nonetheless a number of thousand {dollars}.
With the whole lot squared away, we eagerly counted down the months and days till our journey. Nevertheless, simply sooner or later earlier than our departure, our son got here down with the flu. Touring with our sick baby was out of the query, particularly on a sophisticated itinerary like this, the place we could not be capable of search medical care simply if we wanted it.
So, with heavy hearts, we canceled your entire journey. Whereas we managed to get our cash and factors again for the flights, the airways hit us with cancellation charges. We needed to pay $327 to Kenya Airways and $1,080 for 2 tickets on Qatar Airways, totaling simply over $1,500 in charges. The third Qatar Airways ticket was booked on one other card and it was absolutely refundable, so we did not have to fret. Nonetheless, ouch.
Every day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Every day e-newsletter
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
Advantages of Chase Sapphire Reserve’s journey insurance coverage
Feeling the sting of these charges, I made a decision to discover the journey insurance coverage advantages offered by my Chase Sapphire Reserve. This card provides a plethora of protections that many cardholders, myself included, typically overlook. However they will turn out to be useful for conditions like mine, and that is precisely what they’re supposed for.
Listed below are among the journey protections of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, particularly.
Journey cancellation and interruption insurance coverage
This profit covers as much as $10,000 per particular person and $20,000 per journey for nonrefundable journey bills in case your journey is canceled or interrupted on account of illness, extreme climate and different lined conditions. As with every sort of insurance coverage, make sure to learn the phrases and circumstances rigorously to make sure that your journey and circumstances shall be eligible.
Journey delay reimbursement
This covers bills like meals and lodging in case your journey is delayed greater than six hours or requires an in a single day keep for a lined purpose.
Baggage delay insurance coverage
Any such insurance coverage reimburses you for important purchases similar to garments or toiletries in case your baggage is delayed greater than six hours.
Misplaced baggage reimbursement
This safety will reimburse you as much as $3,000 per particular person per lined journey in case your baggage is misplaced or broken. Word that sure objects like electronics and jewellery usually are not lined.
Journey and emergency help providers
This service offers authorized and medical referrals or different journey help once you encounter issues away from residence. This service doesn’t cowl the price of these providers, however you’ll have assist discovering them.
Emergency medical and dental profit
This profit reimburses vacationers as much as $2,500 for medical bills should you or a right away member of the family get sick or injured 100 miles or extra from residence.
My expertise submitting a Chase Sapphire journey insurance coverage declare
After brushing up on these advantages, I figured my state of affairs needs to be eligible for the cardboard’s journey interruption and cancellation profit. I made a decision to file a declare for the $1,500 in airline cancellation charges.
Submitting a visit interruption and cancellation declare with Chase was easy in my case, however it required endurance, persistence and diligence (and we now have had reviews of points coping with Eclaims from readers up to now).
I used the net kind accessible by the Eclaims Line web site. The shape requested for detailed details about our journey, together with:
- The rationale for the cancellation
- Our flight itineraries
- Medical information
- Receipts of bills
- The airways’ cancellation clauses for our tickets
After submitting my preliminary declare, I had a number of back-and-forth calls and emails with Chase; the corporate requested extra paperwork and clarifications, similar to written proof of the airways’ cancellation insurance policies, documentation of the cancellation charges I had paid and extra. Whereas this a part of the method was time-consuming, I knew it was necessary to be thorough and attentive to expedite the approval.
And simply keep in mind that there are cut-off dates on when you’ll be able to submit a declare. With Chase Sapphire Reserve’s journey interruption and cancellation insurance coverage, it’s important to contact Eclaims inside 20 days of your journey cancellation to have the prospect of being lined.
Lastly, after a few months of offering the mandatory documentation and answering follow-up questions, we acquired approval for our declare. Within the meantime, we lined the cancellation charges by placing them on our Chase Sapphire Reserve.
I began the declare course of round Feb. 15. Within the first week of Could, about 78 days later, $1,507 was instantly deposited into our checking account. The aid was immense. Figuring out that we had this security web gave us peace of thoughts and softened the blow of our canceled journey.
Key takeaways for vacationers
Here is what I discovered from my expertise utilizing the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s journey interruption and cancellation protection and what different vacationers ought to bear in mind in case they ever must invoke it.
Know your advantages
Familiarize your self along with your bank card’s journey protections. Many premium bank cards, just like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, include strong insurance coverage advantages that may prevent vital cash if issues go incorrect.
Preserve documentation helpful
When planning a visit, save all receipts, itineraries and correspondence. This can make submitting a declare smoother and guarantee you’ve gotten all of the documentation you are more likely to want helpful.
Be affected person and protracted
The claims course of might be prolonged and require a number of documentation submissions. Keep organized and reply promptly to any requests from the insurance coverage supplier.
Begin your declare as quickly as potential
When you encounter a difficulty that your card’s journey insurance coverage would possibly cowl, file a declare shortly. The potential financial savings might be substantial, and you do not wish to lose out on any cash by lacking the declare submission time window.
Backside line
Whereas we had been disenchanted to overlook our safari and Seychelles getaway, the silver lining was discovering simply how useful the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s journey insurance coverage might be. It saved us greater than $1,500 and offered a security web that turned a probably main monetary hit right into a manageable state of affairs.
So, subsequent time you are reserving a visit, take into account the peace of thoughts that comes with figuring out a dependable journey insurance coverage coverage protects you.
