This Credit Card Perk Scored Me a $500 Free Vacation After My Flight Was Delayed

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

The skies had been clear. It was only some hours earlier than my flight and I used to be nearly to go away for the airport. Instead, I referred to as American Airlines.

For some, an unplanned in a single day delay in one of the vital costly cities on this planet can be a significant headache. But as a private finance author who loves testing out cash hacks, I used to be additionally interested by a bank card perk I’d by no means used earlier than. I booked my flight with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card*, which comes with a visit delay reimbursement perk.

On the opposite finish of the road, the customer support consultant confirmed the flight delay and I quickly acquired one other textual content inviting me to rebook my flight for the following day. Just a few hours later, rain began pouring — simply because the airline had predicted.

Dear reader, imagine me once I let you know — I used to be excited.

Read extra: Don’t Sleep on the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s 100K Point Bonus. Here’s How I’d Use It

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

Some of the perfect 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 lined traveler’s) frequent provider journey is delayed for greater than 12 hours or requires an in a single day keep for a lined cause, Chase will reimburse you for as much as $500 of cheap bills (per lined traveler, per journey) incurred in the course of the delay that is not reimbursed by your airline or different journey insurance coverage insurance policies.

According to the phrases and circumstances, “lined 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 have to pay on your ticket together with your card. Oh, and you’ll want to preserve all of your receipts — you will want them when it is 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 referred to as Chase customer support to substantiate a couple of issues I wasn’t positive about.

First, I ponder if my state of affairs was a lined delay. Because my flight was canceled and rebooked to a distinct one, I wasn’t positive if this was technically a “delay.” (Spoiler: it was.)

Second, what constituted a “cheap” 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 most costly 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 further 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 airplane was on the tarmac. We had been informed takeoff can be delayed by a half-hour, then one other half-hour, and so forth and so forth, till they lastly canceled the flight a number of hours later. When I acquired the hyperlink to rebook, the primary out there 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 flowery poke bowl ($21) as comfort.

With no flight the following 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 house.

Thankfully, the skies had been clear the following day. My flight took off with out problem and I may lastly go away New York — three days after I used to be imagined to.

Filing the declare

Once I returned house, I began submitting the declare by chasecardbenefits.com. I crammed out a type with the next data:

• Traveler’s title 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 acquired from the provider 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 following rebookings
• My bank card assertion exhibiting 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 complete course of was very intuitive. Chase’s portal supplied clear directions concerning the data 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.

Eight days later, I acquired an e-mail asking for added documentation. Chase wished an announcement from the airline concerning the size and cause for the delay. I contacted American Airlines and acquired an official letter through 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 supplied my bank card assertion when submitting my unique declare, however I feel there was some confusion because of how I initially booked my flight.

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

My unique ticket was issued by Qantas, and my bank card assertion confirmed a fee (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 short be aware about how codeshare flights labored.

Ten days after submitting the extra documentation, I obtained an e-mail saying my declare had been accepted and asking how I’d wish to obtain my reimbursement. After double-checking that the e-mail was respectable, I selected direct deposit and crammed out a type with my financial institution data.

I acquired the cash two days later for the requested reimbursement. The whole, which lined all my meals, lodging and transportation bills in the course of the delay, got here out to about $380 — greater than sufficient to make up for the cardboard’s $95 annual charge.

Tips for maximizing bank card journey insurance coverage

The claims course of was comparatively easy 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 below are a few of my ideas:

• 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 lined underneath 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 dissipate 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 lodge. When my first flight was canceled, I had no concept that the delay would final three days. If I’d booked a lodge 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 saved 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 might be a delay between paying for these bills and getting your a reimbursement. I like to recommend constructing some buffer room into your price range when touring or having an emergency fund so you may pay for any sudden prices with out going into debt in case your reimbursement takes some time.

Final ideas

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

While I might by no means actively want for one thing to go flawed simply so I may check out the cardboard’s journey insurance coverage, realizing that these protections are there provides me further peace of thoughts every time I journey — and saves me a variety of stress and cash when issues do go flawed.

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