How My Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Turned a Nightmarish Three-Day Flight Delay Into a Free Vacation

It was my final day on trip in New York City. I used to be taking a last trip on the Staten Island Ferry when my cellphone buzzed with a textual content from American Airlines. I froze. My flight had been canceled attributable to inclement climate. This have to be a mistake, I believed, trying round. 

The skies had been clear. It was just a few hours earlier than my flight, and I used to be nearly to depart for the airport. Instead, I known as American Airlines.

For some, an unplanned in a single day delay in probably the most costly cities on this planet can be a significant headache. But I used to be a private finance author who beloved testing issues out myself. With no urgent must get residence instantly and having booked my flight with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card* with its journey delay reimbursement perk, I could not have been extra happy.

A customer support consultant confirmed the flight delay, and I quickly obtained one other textual content inviting me to rebook my flight for the subsequent day. A couple of hours later, rain began pouring — simply because the airline had predicted.

Dear reader, consider me after I inform you — I used to be excited.

What to know concerning the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s journey delay reimbursement profit

Some of the most effective options of the $95-annual-fee Chase Sapphire Preferred Card are its journey protections. 

They embrace journey cancellation/interruption insurance coverage, misplaced baggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance coverage, journey accident insurance coverage, auto rental protection and journey delay reimbursement — the profit I used on this journey.

If your (or one other coated traveler’s) frequent service journey is delayed for greater than 12 hours or requires an in a single day keep for a coated cause, Chase will reimburse you for as much as $500 of affordable bills (per coated traveler, per journey) incurred through the delay that is not reimbursed by your airline or different journey insurance coverage insurance policies.

According to the phrases and circumstances, “coated causes” are gear failure, inclement climate, strike or hijacking/skyjacking. “Reasonable bills” embrace meals, lodging, toiletries and medicine. The protection begins in your journey departure date and ends in your journey completion date.

To activate this profit and the Preferred’s different journey protections, you merely must pay on your ticket along with your card. Oh, and remember to maintain all of your receipts — you will want them when it comes time to file your declare.

How I Used my Chase Sapphire Preferred to fund a bonus NYC trip

After confirming with the airline that my flight was actually canceled, I rigorously learn the phrases and circumstances of the journey delay reimbursement profit. Then I known as Chase customer support to substantiate a couple of issues I wasn’t certain about.

First, I ponder if my scenario was a coated delay. Since my flight was canceled and rebooked to a unique one, I wasn’t certain if this was technically a “delay.” (Spoiler: it was.)

Second, what constituted a “affordable” expense for meals? The customer support consultant urged a $50 restrict per meal. (Easy sufficient.)

Third, was I eligible for protection despite the fact that I’d booked the flight with airline miles and solely paid the taxes and charges with my Sapphire Preferred card? (Again, no snags right here.)

With my questions answered, it was time to deal with myself — “fairly” — on Chase’s dime.

I booked a hostel bunk for about $75 an evening after which headed to dinner, the place I splurged on a sashimi platter, drink and dessert. At round $48 after taxes and tip, it was the costliest meal I’d had shortly. But hey, it was scrumptious, and Chase was paying, which made it style all the higher.

I completed my night with a beautiful stroll in Central Park. At this level, I used to be feeling fairly good. Without needing to fret concerning the additional prices, the delay felt like much less of an inconvenience and extra like a bonus trip.

The subsequent morning, I grabbed breakfast at an area bagel store for$17 and headed for the airport.

Everything went easily till rain clouds began rolling in whereas the aircraft was on the tarmac. We had been advised takeoff can be delayed by half an hour, then one other half an hour, and so forth and so forth, till they lastly canceled the flight a number of hours later. When I obtained the hyperlink to rebook, the primary accessible flight was two days later. I used to be caught in New York for one more two nights.

After retrieving my baggage from the chaotic mess at baggage declare, I handled myself to a elaborate poke bowl ($21) as comfort.

With no flight the subsequent day, I explored downtown New York and stopped by a taco place for a scrumptious lunch — $23. It was a beautiful time, however I used to be now nearing my journey delay reimbursement’s $500 restrict and beginning to miss residence.

Thankfully, the skies had been clear the subsequent day. My flight took off with out situation, and I might lastly go away New York — three days after I used to be presupposed to.

Filing the declare

Once I returned residence, I began submitting the declare by means of chasecardbenefits.com. I stuffed out a type with the next info:

• Traveler’s identify and knowledge
• The date of the unique flight and the date of delay
• The ticket buy date of the unique flight
• The quantity of reimbursement I used to be claiming
• The quantity of reimbursement I obtained from the service or different insurance coverage insurance policies
• The cause for the flight delay

I additionally uploaded the next documentation:

• The ticket for my unique flight
• The itineraries of my unique flight in addition to the next rebookings
• My bank card assertion displaying I’d paid the taxes and charges for my flight with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card
• Receipts for all of the bills I used to be requesting reimbursement for

The entire course of was very intuitive. Chase’s portal offered clear directions concerning the info and documentation wanted and the place to place it. Organizing my paperwork, totaling my bills and filling out the claims type took me about an hour.

But Chase wanted some additional convincing

Eight days later, I obtained an e-mail asking for added documentation. Chase wished an announcement from the airline relating to the size and cause for the delay. I contacted American Airlines and obtained an official letter by way of e-mail a couple of days later, which I uploaded to the claims portal.

They additionally wished proof that I’d charged my unique ticket to my Chase Sapphire Preferred. I’d already offered my bank card assertion when submitting my unique declare, however I believe there was some confusion attributable to how I initially booked my flight.

I’d booked an American Airlines flight on the Qantas web site, one in all American Airlines’s alliance companions, utilizing Qantas loyalty factors by means of a course of often known as codeshare reserving. 

My unique ticket was issued by Qantas, and my bank card assertion confirmed a cost (for taxes and charges) made to Qantas. But the precise flight was operated by American Airlines and all of the documentation regarding the delay got here from American Airlines. 

So it appeared just like the flight I partially paid for with my Sapphire Preferred and the flight that was delayed had been two totally different flights. I uploaded all of the related documentation once more to the portal, together with a quick observe about how codeshare flights labored.

Ten days after submitting the extra documentation, I acquired an e-mail saying my declare had been authorized and asking how I’d prefer to obtain my reimbursement. After double-checking that the e-mail was professional, I selected direct deposit and stuffed out a type with my financial institution info.

I obtained the cash two days later for the requested reimbursement. The complete, which coated all my meals, lodging and transportation bills through the delay, got here out to about $380 — greater than sufficient to make up for the cardboard’s $95 annual price.

Tips for maximizing bank card journey insurance coverage

The claims course of was comparatively clean, however I nonetheless discovered some classes alongside the way in which. If you ever want to make use of your bank card’s journey insurance coverage advantages, listed here are a few of my suggestions:

• Read the phrases and circumstances earlier than doing something. Carefully learn the phrases and circumstances of your bank card’s advantages information to know what conditions are coated beneath your card’s journey protections, what the bounds are and what documentation is required. If you are uncertain about something like I used to be, name your bank card issuer or journey insurance coverage supplier for clarification earlier than spending any cash.
• Don’t burn up your allowance too shortly in case you are delayed longer than anticipated. Looking again, I’m glad I booked a less expensive hostel as a substitute of a resort. When my first flight was canceled, I had no concept that the delay would final three days. If I’d booked a resort at New York City costs, I most likely would’ve exceeded the $500 reimbursement restrict and ended up with out-of-pocket prices.
• Organize your documentation as you go. Every time I paid for a reimbursable expense throughout my journey delay, I instantly took a photograph or screenshot of the receipt and stored it in a devoted folder on my cellphone. I additionally took screenshots of each communication the airline despatched me, plus screenshots of my flight standing web page each time there was an replace or a brand new delay. Organizing my documentation as I went made issues so a lot simpler when it got here time to file my declare. 
• Have an emergency fund. Even if journey delay insurance coverage will reimburse you for bills, there will probably be a delay between paying for these bills and getting your a reimbursement. I like to recommend constructing some buffer room into your funds when touring or having an emergency fund so you possibly can pay for any sudden prices with out going into debt in case your reimbursement takes some time.

Final ideas

I’ve at all times favored the Chase Sapphire Preferred for its good rewards charges and switch companions, however this expertise taught me simply how precious its journey protections might be.

While I’d by no means actively want for one thing to go incorrect simply so I might take a look at out the cardboard’s journey insurance coverage, understanding that these protections are there provides me additional peace of thoughts at any time when I journey — and saves me a variety of stress and cash when issues do go incorrect.

*All details about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.