Chase Sapphire Trip Cancellation Insurance

Very helpful to know. We have this card as well, and will use it for trip insurance.

We have a Chase Sapphire and did receive compensation for several travel expenses when I got Covid on the Rick Steve’s Portugal tour and had to leave the tour. Just remember to have all your documents in order, upload them all together and don’t give up. It took us several months and numerous phone calls but we were finally compensated. You also need to remember that they only compensate for those expenses paid by the card before your travel. For example, they would not pay for a hotel room, etc. after we were booted from the tour.

Thanks, Laurie! Good to know! I have the card but have never tried to use the cancellation benefits.

So glad to hear that the Chase credit card insurance worker, as it should.

As for Expedia not being gracious about refunding a non-refundable reservation . . . . Well that is no surprise. Non-.refundable means exactly that. You should not expect kindness or consideration from a company like Expedia.

As for your experience with United, I suspect that a booking with credits might come with some flexibility.

Laurie, good to know! I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred for a non-refundable hotel stay with The Residence Hotel for this spring (the deal was too good to pass up) and had read the fine print, so it looked like it was safe. Hopefully I won't need it but good to know that if I do, it should work out.

I had had a good experience with them earlier this year when I used the same card to pay for my rental car, and wound up having to pay a £1000 deductible due to a scratch on the side that I got at a National Trust car park. I sent them all the required paperwork, and was reimbursed about 2 months later, which I was fine with.

FWIW, their customer service is great. I had some questions about the process and called them, and the woman I spoke to was very nice and very helpful.

As for Expedia not being gracious about refunding a non-refundable reservation

I dealt with Expedia several years ago on this, and it was explained to me that they (Expedia) will only cancel a non refundable hotel reservation if the hotel agrees to it (i.e., the hotel holds all the cards in this transaction). So I called the hotel and told them my sob story, they said they would allow the cancellation, so I then contacted Expedia again and told them to speak to the hotel...and voila!

By the way, I googled telephone numbers for Expedia helplines. I could have never accomplished this through the online portal. It required making "human" connections with Expedia and also the hotel. Frankly, I got lucky...my mistake was making a non refundable purchase in the first place. I learned my lesson and have never done that again.

Thank you for posting this. We also have a Chase Sapphire card, and I have wondered about the travel insurance.

Quick update: Judging from the communication I've now received from Expedia, Chase must have contacted them to refund the stay, because Expedia has refunded my credit card. I guess Chase has more pull than I do!

I knew I was taking a chance with the non-refundable room, but it was a good price, and only about 5 months out, so the only thing I figured might interrupt our trip might be a hurricane, not major spinal surgery! I'll still consider non-refundable rooms in the future if they're a great deal, since I know if something does come up to interrupt the trip, I have some recourse.

I continue to debate getting a Chase Sapphire card. In order to use the trip cancellation, does the whole trip need to be on the Chase card? I typically manage well without the insurance, but there are times that I give it some thought. I purchased trip cancellation insurance for the two cruises we took. Thinking back, I think there was quite of savings for paying from my bank account. So if I had a Chase card, depending on costs, seems like I still might have to purchase trip insurance. I think it was similar, for the Rick Steves tour we did.

@Jules. Depending on card, sapphire or reserve, there are slightly different requirements. Read carefully

Your logic on paying cash to get a cheaper rate fails to take into account that you get 3% back in cash via points when paying with your card. Same discount but now you have travel insurance. The cash savings would need to be closer to 5-6% in order to save money by paying cash and buying travel insurance separately!

@jules The card covers trip expenses that were paid for on that card. We haven't purchased trip insurance, since the coverage on this card covers most scenarios (illness/injury, severe weather, delays, lost luggage). It also provides solid car rental insurance. We pay for literally everything on our Chase Sapphire card all year (groceries, cell phone, insurance, etc.), and pay it off every month. I bank our points to use as a statement credit after we get home from our trip (sort of a "free" trip fund). I currently have about $800 in points sitting on that card.

They currently have a promotion for new card members to receive 60K points (worth $600) if you spend $4K on purchases in the first 3 months.

We just got this card last spring. So far, we love it. We got the priority pass and have already used 3 lounges at the airport that we otherwise would not have been able to use. Plus, we have lots of points for hotel stays.

@Carol, thank you. I had no idea the card was also a cash back card. Are there restrictions on what the points can be used for? When traveling out of the U.S. we don't stay in chain hotels, preferring, small local, family owned. Also, we'll always use our Delta Amex for air, unless we use a different airline for the flight.

Has anyone used this card for insurance on a big ticket item? like a 2 week cruise?

Are there restrictions on what the points can be used for?

No, you can use your points as a statement credit. That was one of the selling points for me. We charge everything for our trip except airfare on it (We use our United Mileage card for that), then use our points to (at least partially) pay it off at the end of the trip. That way, all the travel expenses are covered by their insurance. As a bonus, you're earning even more points while you're on your trip!

Points can be used in three main ways.
1. Direct Cash Back on statement.
2. Money off travel booked through Chase travel portal 1.5X the value of the points
3. Transfer to a partner frequent flier program. (I flew business class to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines by doing this)

I once again encourage you to read through the websites and program benefits for the specific card you are looking at.