Up to $500 Back When Your Trip Is Delayed With These Chase Cards

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I’ve written about getting compensated for travel delays by paying $25 for AirCare, but here’s how you can get reimbursed for free!

Via Mile Writer, you can get up to $500 back if your trip is delayed.  But only if you have certain Chase cards.

Keep reading to find out which 12 Chase cards offer this protection.

Trip Delay Reimbursement

Several Chase credit cards offer trip delay reimbursement protection when you pay for your trip (and those of immediate family members) with your card:

If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.

Chase’s definition of a common carrier includes an airline, cruise ship, or train such as Amtrak.  Commuter trains and bus transportation are not included.

And in the Chase Sapphire Preferred Guide to Benefits, they list a “covered hazard” as:

equipment failure, inclement weather, labor strikes, and hijacking or skyjacking.

Noticeably absent is the overbooking “hazard.”  So if you get bumped off a flight, you may want to call Chase to see if they’ll compensate you beyond what the airline offers.  It doesn’t hurt to ask!

Also, Chase defines your immediate family as you, your spouse, and children under 22 years old.

So your family of 4 could get compensated up to $2,000 if all tickets (or a portion of) were paid with 1 of these Chase cards:

• Chase Hyatt
• Chase Ink Plus
• Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Chase Marriott Rewards (personal) and (business)
• Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire (no longer offered to new applicants)
• Chase United MileagePlus Club Card
• Chase United MileagePlus Explorer (personal) and (business)
• Chase United MileagePlus Presidential Plus (no longer offered to new applicants)

Note:  You should call Chase to make sure your card offers this perk.

And you do NOT have to pay for the entire trip with your eligible Chase card, only part.

For example, you could charge the airline taxes to your Chase Hyatt card and the remainder on your Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard card so you can redeem Barclay Arrival miles against your travel expenses of $25 or more.  And you’ll be covered under the Chase Hyatt card’s travel delay protection.

What Is Included

You can get reimbursed (up to $500 per ticket) for things you’ll need during your delay such as:

• Clothes
• Ground transportation (bus, shuttle, taxi, etc.)
• Hotel
• Meals
• Medications
• Rental car
• Toiletries

when you use the same card you used to pay for your trip.

This is great news when the airline won’t give you a meal or hotel voucher.  Or if you want to stay at a different hotel than the 1 the airline wants to pay for.

However, you have to be traveling round-trip and your expenses should be reasonable.  So I wouldn’t book a night at a fancy hotel like the Hyatt Regency Dallas when you could stay at the Hyatt Regency DFW International Airport.

Some folks on Flyertalk have been gotten reimbursed for clothes, hotel, meals, and taxi.

What Is NOT Included

There are some expenses that travel delay reimbursement does NOT cover such as:

• Advance notice (where the airline told you in advance about the delay but didn’t change your travel plans)
• Alcohol
• Missed flights (because of oversleeping, running late, etc.)
• One-way flights
• Tips

How to File a Claim

Within 60 days of your trip delay, you have to call the number on the back of your Chase card and talk to a benefits administrator to start a claim.  

You have to submit your claim form within 100 days of the delay with the following:

• Airline, cruise, or train receipt showing the charge to your eligible card
• Any additional documents requested by the benefits administrator
• Copies of your tickets (the original ticket and delayed trip ticket)
• Credit card statement showing the airline, cruise, or train charge
• Receipts for expenses
• Statement from your airline, cruise line, or train operator explaining why your trip was delayed

How to Get a Statement From the Airline

While at the airport ask a customer service agent for a military excuse (you may have to ask for a supervisor).  You do NOT have to be in the military.

Tell the agent why you want the statement and nicely ask that they include the following:

• That you were delayed.
• The reason why you were delayed (mechanical, etc.)
• The delay was more than 12 hours or required an overnight stay

Mile Writer has some tips and an example of a military excuse in his post.

Does Travel Delay Protection Apply to Award Tickets?

And you can get travel delay protection on award tickets!  But you have to charge your taxes and fees on your award ticket to an eligible Chase card.

According to this post from Flyertalk, Chase reimbursed the cost of hotel, dinner, and taxi when the poster’s award flight was delayed.

And Holly from Frugal Travel Guy got her expenses covered because she charged taxes and fees to her Chase Ink Bold card when weather caused her to stay 2 extra days in Jamaica on an award trip. (That must have been rough! :))

Bottom Line

You can get reimbursed up to $500 a ticket if your trip is delayed.

So if weather or equipment failure causes a 12-hour flight delay (or an overnight), your expenses like meals and hotel could be covered.   But only if you paid with a card that offers trip delay reimbursement like the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card card or 1 of the other 12 Chase cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred that offer travel delay protection.

And you do NOT have to pay for the entire trip with your Chase card.  You’re covered if you only pay the taxes and fees.  So you have protection when you’re traveling on an award ticket!

But you have to initiate a claim within 60 days of the delay.   And submit your completed claim form to Chase within 100 days of the delay.

What’s been your experience with submitting a claim to Chase for a travel delay?