Barclaycard has added a new and valuable benefit to some of their cards!
As of April 1, 2017, you’ll now get trip delay insurance when you reserve your flight with Barclaycard World Elite Mastercards, like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard and Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard.
So if your trip is interrupted for 6+ hours, you could get your expenses, like meals and hotel, reimbursed!
I’ll tell you what this new benefit means. And show you how to use it!
Barclaycard Trip Delay Insurance
Link: Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard Benefits
Link: Barclaycard Arrival Plus
Link: Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard Benefits
Link: Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red
Barclaycard has made an upgrade to some of their cards. World Elite Mastercards like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red now come with trip delay insurance!
To see your new benefits, log-in to your Barclaycard account and check the “Benefits” section of your account. Here are the new Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard Benefits and Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard Benefits.
But Barclaycard issues other World Elite Mastercards too, like the JetBlue Plus Card. So check your account for your new guide to benefits!
Who Is Eligible for the Coverage?
When you purchase the trip entirely with your card, you, or your family member, and your travel companions will be covered. But the perk only applies applies to purchases made with your eligible card on or after April 1, 2017.
And you’re eligible for up to 2 claims per 12-month period.
However, if you use any certificates, vouchers, frequent flyer points, etc. for part of your trip, you’ll still be covered as long as you pay the remaining portion (like taxes & fees) with your eligible Barclaycard credit card!
That’s great news for folks who use the Barclaycard Arrival Plus to pay taxes and fees of award tickets, because they can redeem Barclaycard Arrival miles at a rate of 2 cents per mile to get a statement credit for travel purchases of $100+!
Note: Coverage is secondary, which means if you have other insurance, or the airline gives you vouchers for the delay, Barclaycard will only cover amounts NOT already reimbursed.What’s Considered a Trip Delay?
According to Barclaycard, you will be reimbursed for travel expenses, up to $300 per trip, if you are kept waiting for 6+ hours for any of the following reasons:
- Inclement weather
- Airline equipment failure
- Lost or stolen travel documents, including passport
Does This Mean You Should Buy Airfare With Your Barclaycard?
This is a great addition to these cards. But keep in mind, there are cards with much better travel insurance coverage, like:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – If your trip is delayed for 6+ hours, you could be reimbursed for up to $500 per ticket for reasonable expenses (meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items)
- Citi Prestige – If your trip is delayed for 3+ hours, you could be reimbursed for up to $500 per ticket for reasonable expenses (meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items)
The coverage is much higher with these cards. While the new Barclaycard benefit covers $300 per TRIP, these cards cover $500 per TICKET.
Plus, both of these cards earn bonus points for travel purchases. You’ll earn 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and 3X Citi ThankYou points with the Citi Prestige.
Check out my post on which card has better travel protection!
Note: Cards like the Barclaycard JetBlue Plus include a free checked bag when you use the card to pay for your ticket. So you’ll have to decide if that perk is worth more to you than using a card with better trip delay coverage.Bottom Line
Barclaycard has added trip delay insurance to their World Elite Mastercards, like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red.
You’ll get up to $300 per trip in reimbursed travel expenses when you’re delayed 6+ hours, for reasons like inclement weather or airline equipment failure. This is good news for folks who like to book airfare with Barclaycard Arrival miles. Because there used to be NO trip delay coverage.
However, there are still cards with much better trip delay insurance, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Prestige. So use one of those if you can!