If you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, you are eligible for the card’s travel insurance benefits when you use the card to book your trip.
Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance provides reimbursement for specific expenses in certain travel situations, such as trip cancellations, interruptions, lost baggage, and more. However, what are its benefits compared to a standalone travel insurance policy?
Let’s take a closer look at what Chase Sapphire Preferred trip insurance can cover for cardholders.
What Does Chase Sapphire Preferred Trip Insurance Cover?
Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders receive the following trip insurance benefits:
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: If you require assistance during your travels, Chase Sapphire Preffered provides a travel and emergency assistance service. This service includes access to legal and medical referrals, as well as various other travel and emergency support.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement: If a flight is delayed for more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, your unreimbursed expenses, like lodging and meals, are covered up to $500 per ticket.
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance: If your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, or other covered situations listed by your travel insurance, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person, $20,000 per trip, for prepaid nonrefundable travel expenses. Your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses include airfare, hotels, and tours.
- Baggage Delay Insurance: Reimburses you for essential purchases that you make, including toiletries and clothing purchases up to $100 a day up to 5 days if your baggage is delayed for over six hours by an airline.
- Lost Luggage Coverage: Coverage up to $3,000 per eligible traveler to repair or replace checked or carry-on baggage. This benefit applies if the baggage is lost, damaged, or stolen throughout the duration of a covered trip.
- Auto Rental Coverage: If you charge the entire rental car cost to your Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can be reimbursed for up to $60,000 for theft and collision damage for most rental vehicles with an MSRP of $125,000 or less.
- Travel Accident Insurance: Accidental death and dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000 when you pay for your transportation (flight, cruise, etc.) with your card.
How Do I Qualify for Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance?
To qualify for coverage, you generally need to pay for your travel expenses with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card or with Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you earned from it. Benefits can also apply to the cardholder’s immediate family members during their travels.
However, a separate travel insurance policy can cover every prepaid, nonrefundable expense related to your trip, regardless of how you paid for it. As long as you include these expenses in your trip cost in VisitorsCoverage’s quote tool, then you are covered.
How Does Chase Sapphire Preferred Trip Insurance Work?
When you book your trip flights, accommodations, and other eligible covered travel reservations with your card, you can receive trip insurance benefits.
If you want to use your travel benefits, you will need to submit a claim through your Chase account. You will need to fill out a claim form and supply required supporting documents. Keep in mind that Chase partners with insurance companies to underwrite and administer their travel protection.
If your claims are approved, you are reimbursed for your eligible expenses through your card.
Is Chase Sapphire Preferred Trip Insurance Enough Coverage for Travelers?
Medical Coverage
One key thing to know about Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance is that it does not offer emergency medical benefits. Having medical coverage is a huge concern for travelers, especially when venturing internationally, where your home country insurance likely won’t cover you. For example, if you are a senior on Medicare traveling abroad, you would most likely have to pay out of pocket if you happen to get into a medical emergency without strong travel insurance coverage.
Pre-Existing Conditions
Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance excludes pre-existing conditions, which leaves travelers with chronic illnesses vulnerable. If you need to cancel your trip because of a reason related to your pre-existing condition, you may not receive a reimbursement for your prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses with your Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance.
Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) Insurance
While the trip cancellation coverage provided by Chase Sapphire Preferred is appealing, it’s important to note that there is no coverage for situations where you may want to cancel outside of the reasons explicitly covered by your credit card’s insurance policy. For example, if you want to cancel your trip because of a change of mind or due to a fear of travel, Chase Sapphire Preferred cannot provide this kind of cancellation. Meanwhile, many third-party trip insurance policies provide an optional Cancel For Any Reason add-on, ensuring you can cancel for literally any reason and still get a partial reimbursement.
These kinds of coverage gaps can be filled with a third-party trip insurance policy. Where the Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance lacks, a trip insurance policy can most likely cover, ensuring you get the best travel insurance coverage you may need.
If I Have Chase Sapphire Preferred, Why Should I Still Consider Travel Insurance?
Even if you are a Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholder, it is important to still consider purchasing a travel insurance policy for your trip. While Chase Sapphire Preferred does come with some trip protection benefits, it may not offer enough coverage for most travelers.
With a travel insurance plan, you can receive way more protection for your trip, for both your prepaid and nonrefundable expenses and medical situations.
For example, if you experience a covered trip cancellation and your prepaid and nonrefundable costs are more than $10,000, you won’t be able to recoup the costs beyond the Chase Sapphire Preferred benefit maximum. However, with travel insurance, you can typically receive coverage for up to 100% of your prepaid nonrefundable trip costs.
Additionally, having medical coverage on a trip is vital for travelers, especially when you are headed abroad. Without emergency medical coverage, you may be left with a potentially financially devastating medical bill if you have an accident or become ill during your trip. With a travel insurance plan, you can have necessary emergency medical coverage and coverage for emergency medical evacuation in very serious instances.
Get Proper Protection Through VisitorsCoverage
To ensure that you are well protected in a variety of situations during your trip, and want to go beyond your Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance, secure travel insurance through VisitorsCoverage.
We offer a wide range of travel insurance plans that are specifically curated to meet the needs of every traveler. Compare our available travel insurance plans, or contact our Customer Success Team to ensure you get the best travel insurance coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance Versus Third-Party Travel Insurance
What are the covered reasons for trip cancellation under Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance?
Covered reasons for trip cancellation under Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance include the following:
- You or your travel companion becomes seriously ill, injured, or dies, and a doctor advises canceling the trip
- A close family member of yours or your travel companion dies or becomes seriously ill, with a doctor’s confirmation
- Severe weather or a named storm warning is making it unsafe to travel to your destination or your permanent residence
- You are called for jury duty, and it cannot be postponed or waived
- You or your domestic partner receives new military orders
- A terrorist incident or a U.S. government terrorism warning is issued at your permanent residence or at your destination
Who is the underwriter for Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance?
The underwriter for Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance is Indemnity Insurance Company of North America.
Who else can be covered under Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Insurance?
Under Chase Sapphire Preferred, the cardholder and immediate family members, including their spouse or domestic partner and dependent children under 22, are typically covered. Additional travelers may be covered depending on the benefit, like trip cancellation or interruption.
How does the pre-existing conditions waiver offered by a third-party trip insurance policy work?
To secure the pre-existing conditions waiver, you must do the following:
- Purchase your travel insurance policy soon after making your first trip payment (within 14-21 days, depending on the policy)
- Insure the full cost of the trip, including your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses
- Be medically stable at the time of purchase
With the waiver in place, your travel insurance policy may cover your trip cancellations, interruptions, or delays related to your pre-existing medical condition, which would otherwise be excluded from your policy without the waiver.
Will a third-party travel insurance plan pay medical providers directly, or do I have to pay upfront?
It typically depends on the care you receive. For emergency hospitalizations, direct billing may be available, but it is best to contact the 24/7 assistance services to explain your situation, and they may direct you to a hospital that can provide direct billing. With non-emergency care, you typically pay upfront at a clinic or urgent care and then file a claim for reimbursement.
How long do reimbursements usually take for the Chase Sapphire Preferred travel insurance versus standalone travel insurance?
Many Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders online have reported that it takes about a few weeks, and in some cases, over a month. This can also be seen with the standalone travel insurance claims process. It ultimately varies based on whether you have all of the provided paperwork and whether you are contacting your insurance provider as soon as possible.
How much extra is Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) insurance, and is it worth it?
While the CFAR travel insurance cost can add 40% to 50% to your base premium, it may be worth it for travelers who want the flexibility to cancel their trip for any reason, including personal conflicts or family emergencies, and still recuperate a majority of the costs that you would have otherwise lost.
