The 10 Best Cards for Lost or Delayed Baggage Coverage [2024]

It comes as no surprise to frequent travelers that airlines sometimes mishandle baggage. The good news, however, is that the rate at which bags are mishandled has declined significantly. This improvement comes even as the number of travelers worldwide has increased by over 60% in a 10-year period.¹

This welcome decline, detailed in a 2022 report by air transport IT specialist SITA, is a result of increased airline automatic baggage tracking systems, new regulations requiring airlines to track bags, home-printed bag tags, self-service bag drops, and other technology advancements in baggage tracking.

According to SITA, the number of mishandled bags worldwide is down from 5.60 bags per thousand in 2019 to just 4.35 bags per thousand in 2021. In the U.S., your chances of mishandled bags are 1.85 per thousand.

The lower frequency of lost, damaged, or delayed bags may mean little unless the mishandled bag is your bag.

Lost, damaged, or delayed baggage coverage that comes with your travel rewards credit card can alleviate the pain of the experience. Coverage that compensates you for lost or damaged luggage, lost contents, or replacement items due to a delay, can be a welcome benefit should you need it.

While airlines are required to compensate you when your bags are mishandled, it’s good to have complimentary baggage coverage as a backup if airline compensation does not cover your entire loss.

Here’s a review on how baggage insurance works, which cards carry this useful coverage, and some helpful tips on how to avoid lost, stolen, or delayed baggage.

How Does Baggage Insurance Work?

There are several things that can happen to your baggage during your trip. The common carrier could lose your bags, the bags could become damaged, someone could steal your bags, or your bags could just be delayed.

Regardless of the event, you’ll still be inconvenienced, and you may even incur unplanned expenses.

Here’s what you can expect when you have baggage insurance on your credit card.

Lost, Damaged, or Stolen Baggage Insurance

This coverage normally covers an incident where your bag is lost, damaged, or stolen while in the care of a common carrier such as an airline, train, bus company, or cruise line. Coverage includes the cost of the contents and either replacing or repairing the lost/damaged baggage.

The common carrier would normally provide compensation for such an incident. The lost, damaged, or stolen baggage insurance that comes on your credit card is in excess of, or secondary to, coverage above what the airline would pay.

The top 3 reasons bags get lost, as reported by SITA, are the following:

1. Transfer mishandling
2. Failure to load
3. Ticketing error/bag switch/security/other

The current limit of liability for airlines is $3,800 for each bag lost, damaged, stolen, or delayed domestically, and around $1,780 for international travel itineraries.

Delayed Baggage Insurance

Delayed baggage insurance is really a means of reimbursing you for incidental expenses you incur when your bags are delayed longer than a specified amount of time.

According to the 2022 SITA report cited earlier, the top reasons for delayed baggage include:

• Transfer mishandling (41%)
• Failure to load (18%)
• Ticketing error/bag switch/security/other (18%)
• Airport/customs/weather/space-weight restriction (8%)
• Tagging error (6%)
• Arrival mishandling (5%)
• Loading error (4%)

Regardless of the reason your bags are delayed, chances are you’ll need to replenish essential items while you’re without your possessions. Airlines are required to reimburse for incidental expenses up to $3,800 domestically and approximately $1,780 internationally.

The 5 Best Personal Cards for Baggage Insurance

Card Summary

Card	Welcome Bonus and Annual Fee	Benefits for Baggage Insurance
Chase Sapphire Reserve®	Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $550	Up to $100 per day for a maximum of 5 days if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours for delayed luggage Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $95	Up to $100 per day for a maximum of 5 days if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours for delayed luggage Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage
The Platinum Card® from American Express	Earn 80,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first 6 months. Annual fee of $695 (rates & fees)	Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage ($2,000 per bag with a $10,000 maximum for all covered people per trip for New York State residents)
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $395 (rates & fees)	Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage
American Express® Gold Card	Earn 60,000 points when you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 6 months. Annual fee of $250 (rates & fees)	Up to $1,250 per covered person for lost luggage ($10,000 maximum for all covered people per trip for New York State residents)

Chase Sapphire Reserve^®

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a premium travel rewards card that offers a long list of travel insurance benefits. In addition to baggage insurance, you’ll find travel-related benefits including worldwide airport lounge access, travel statement credits, 50% more redemption value for travel, and the ability to transfer points to travel partners.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card comes with both baggage delay and lost luggage coverage:

• Baggage delay — up to $100 per day for 5 days for baggage delays of over 6 hours
• Lost luggage — up to $3,000 per passenger

Currently, it offers a solid welcome bonus, as well as the ability to earn up to 10x Ultimate Rewards points. The earnings are broken down like this:

• 10x points on car rentals, hotels, and dining booked via Ultimate Rewards
• 10x Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft through March 31, 2025
• 10x points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 through March 31, 2025
• 5x points on airfare booked via Ultimate Rewards
• 3x points on all other dining and travel purchases
• 1x points on all other purchases

That means you can earn a return on spending of up to 20%, according to our valuations. That’s almost unheard of!

And when you’re a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you’ll get a $300 annual travel credit every anniversary year, a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, access to the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resorts Collection, a $100 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS application fee credit, and the best travel insurance in the business.

Digging even deeper, you’ll find a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership perk, a 50% redemption bonus for booking through Chase Travel (to get 1.5 cents per point of redemption value), and the ability to use Pay Yourself Back for a 25% to 50% bonus on rotating categories.

This card has no foreign transaction fees, as well as purchase protection, extended warranty, and so much more.

Why We Like Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

We love Ultimate Rewards points because of their flexibility and top-shelf value. With a value of 2 cents each, the elevated earning rates on some bonus categories of 10x, 5x, and 3x points, are equivalent to returns of 20%, 10%, and 6%, respectively.

You can redeem points through Chase Travel, for cash-back, gift cards, statement credits, charitable donations, Amazon.com purchases, and more.

But with a little bit of planning and strategy, you can transfer your points to Chase travel partners for award travel. This way, you can get a much higher redemption value.

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

Despite having a lower annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers best-in-class travel insurance benefits like primary rental car insurance coverage, trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, and trip delay coverage. This includes baggage insurance!

The coverage for baggage insurance on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is identical to the baggage insurance coverage on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card:

• Baggage delay — up to $100 per day for 5 days for baggage delays of over 6 hours
• Lost luggage — up to $3,000 per passenger

With this card, you’ll earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points on travel booked through Chase Travel, 3x points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries, 2x points on all other travel, and 1x points on all other purchases.

Plus, with a 10% points bonus after every anniversary, you can earn a boost of points each year.

And that’s after a generous welcome bonus.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card also boasts a $50 annual statement credit for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel. You can also use this card to shop with peace of mind, thanks to the purchase protection, zero fraud liability, and extended warranty benefits.

Lastly, there are no foreign transaction fees or costs to add authorized users.

The Platinum Card^® from American Express

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 125k (or 150k) points with the Amex Platinum. The current public offer is 80,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

The Amex Platinum card is considered one of the best premium travel rewards cards on the market.

Undoubtedly, it offers the most luxury benefits of any card out there. If you look at the card table above, you’ll routinely see gigantic welcome bonuses for new cardmembers.

With a long list of luxury travel benefits such as worldwide lounge access, hotel and car rental elite status, 5x bonus earning categories, travel insurance, and statement credits, the card is a wise choice for the frequent traveler.

Although it doesn’t offer delayed baggage insurance, it offers lost luggage coverage of up to $3,000 per covered person. For New York State residents, the total coverage amount is capped at $10,000 for all travelers and a maximum of $2,000 per bag.

Additionally, you are eligible to earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points as shown here:

• Earn 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines or with AmexTravel.com (on the first $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year)
• Earn 5x points on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com
• Earn 1x points on all other purchases

The reason why we love this card, though, is that it offers one of the longest lists of luxury travel benefits out there:

• Access to Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection (includes perks like free breakfast and upgrades)
• Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
• Complimentary rental car privileges with Avis, Hertz, and National
• Up to $200 in airline fee credits
• Up to $200 in prepaid hotel credits
• $189 in CLEAR Plus credits
• Up to $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue credits
• Up to $240 in digital entertainment credits
• Up to $100 in Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credits
• Up to $300 in Equinox credits
• Up to $12.95 in monthly Walmart+ credits

It doesn’t end there — you’ll still get purchase protection, extended warranty, zero liability fraud protection, and no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees).

Why We Like Earning American Express Membership Rewards Points

We love earning American Express Membership Rewards points because they’re invaluable — worth 2.2 cents by our valuations — so you’ll earn a return on spending of up to 11% with the Amex Platinum card.

Although you can use these points for cash-back, gift cards, merchandise, statement credits, charity, and travel booked through AmexTravel.com, we are strong proponents of transferring your points to the American Express transfer partners.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X card is one of our all-time favorite credit cards. But Capital One hit it out of the park here with a huge list of perks in a single card.

Start off on the right foot with a generous welcome bonus and incredible bonus categories of up to 10x Capital One miles:

• 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
• 2x miles on all other purchases

You’ll notice that this is one of the few credit cards that earns 2x miles on all purchases, regardless of categories — and these miles can be transferred to travel partners, too.

The card doesn’t offer delayed baggage insurance, but offers up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage, and also offers valuable protections like travel insurance.

Looking further, the Capital One Venture X card has an annual travel credit of $300 for Capital One Travel bookings, an anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles every account anniversary year, complimentary access to Capital One Lounges and Plaza Premium Lounges, a Priority Pass Select membership, Hertz President’s Circle status, and an up to $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit.

This is one of the few credit cards with cell phone protection insurance. It also offers rental car insurance, no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees), and the ability to add up to 4 authorized users for no additional annual fees (rates & fees).

Why We Like Earning Capital One Miles

Capital One miles are worth around 1.8 cents each, which means you can earn a return on spending as high as 18% when you use the Capital One Venture X card.

When it’s time to book travel, transfer those hard-earned Capital One miles to airline and hotel partners for luxury first and business class travel.

If that doesn’t fit your needs, you can use Capital One miles at a reduced value for cash-back, gift cards, online shopping, statement credits, and Capital One Travel.

American Express^® Gold Card

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card. The current public offer is 60,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

The Amex Gold card has a dual personality. It’s a fine choice as a travel rewards card for both earning and redemption, while also offering 4x earnings on everyday purchases at U.S. supermarkets and restaurants worldwide.

While the card doesn’t offer delayed baggage insurance, it offers lost luggage coverage of up to $1,250 per person. For New York State residents, this is capped at a total of $10,000 for all covered passengers on the covered trip.

But what’s really special about this product is that the Amex Gold card offers many benefits like generous earnings, travel benefits, and everyday protections, in addition to baggage coverage.

It’s one of the best credit cards for daily spending because it offers exceedingly attractive bonus categories on top of an already awesome welcome bonus.

Expect to earn up to 4x Membership Rewards points:

• 4x points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
• 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year)
• 3x points on flights purchased directly with the airline or at AmexTravel.com
• 1x points on all other purchases

That’s equivalent to a maximum return on spending of 8.8%, by our valuations.

In total, this card also offers up to $240 in statement credits every year:

• $10 per month in Uber Cash for rides or eats orders in the U.S. (up to $120 per year)
• $10 per month in dining credits at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Milk Bar, select Shake Shack locations, and Wine.com (up to $120 per year)

It confers access to Amex’s The Hotel Collection, travel insurance, and Amex Offers, and has no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees).

The 5 Best Business Cards for Baggage Insurance

Card Summary

Card	Welcome Bonus and Annual Fee	Benefits for Baggage Insurance
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	NEW OFFER: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $95	Up to $100 per day for a maximum of 5 days if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours for delayed luggage Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express	Earn 120,000 points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $695 (rates & fees)	Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage ($2,000 per bag with a $10,000 maximum for all covered people per trip for New York State residents)
American Express® Business Gold Card	Earn 70,000 points after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $375 (rates & fees)	Up to $1,250 per covered person for lost luggage ($10,000 maximum for all covered people per trip for New York State residents)
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card	Earn 75,000 miles after spending $10,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. Annual fee of $650 (rates & fees)	Up to $1,250 per covered person for lost luggage ($10,000 maximum for all covered people per trip for New York State residents)
United Club℠ Business Card	Earn 75,000 bonus miles + 1,000 Premier qualifying points (PQP) after $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open Annual fee of $450	Up to $100 per day for a maximum of 3 days if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours for delayed luggage Up to $3,000 per covered person for lost luggage

Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

Similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, the Ink Business Preferred card also offers travel insurance benefits including primary rental car insurance coverage, trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, and trip delay coverage.

Currently, this card’s baggage insurance matches the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card:

• Baggage delay — up to $100 per day for 5 days for baggage delays of over 6 hours
• Lost luggage — up to $3,000 per passenger

The main difference is that the Ink Business Preferred card has some amazing business spending categories jam-packed into a card with a low annual fee, which is why we refer to it as the king of small business credit cards.

First of all, the welcome bonus is absolutely killer, easily worth $2,000 by itself!

On up to $150,000 per cardmember anniversary year in combined purchases, you can earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points in these categories:

• Ads purchased with search engines or social media sites
• Internet, cable, and phone services
• Shipping expenses
• Travel

If you max out the 3x points, your business travel purchases can enjoy baggage insurance and a return on spending of 6%.

This credit card comes with primary rental car insurance, cell phone protection, extended warranty, purchase protection, no foreign transaction fees, no additional fees for employee cards, and zero liability for fraud.

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 170,000 points with the Amex Business Platinum. The current public offer is 120,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

The Amex Business Platinum card is one of the most elite business cards you can have — and has an impressive welcome bonus to show for it.

Pay for your entire common carrier ticket with your Amex Business Platinum card and/or Membership Rewards points and receive up to $3,000 in coverage for carry-on bags and $2,000 for checked baggage for a covered loss or damage incident (there is no coverage for delayed bags). The Baggage Insurance Plan coverage amount is the total per person, per trip.

In addition, expect to earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points as follows:

• 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels with AmexTravel.com
• 1.5x points on eligible purchases at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, software and cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year
• 1x points on all other purchases

Earning 5x points is equal to a return on spending of around 11%.

This card has no preset spending limit, which means you can scale your business purchases without needing to worry about a normal credit limit.

You can access top-notch lounges with the American Express Global Lounge Collection, get luxury hotel perks at Fine Hotels & Resorts, and utilize a 35% Pay With Points rebate (maximum of 1 million points back per calendar year).

Similar to the Amex Platinum card, the Amex Business Platinum card has a ton of statement credits available, including:

• Up to $400 in statement credits for U.S. purchases with Dell
• Up to $360 in Indeed credits
• Up to $200 in airline fee credits
• $189 in CLEAR Plus credit
• Up to $150 in Adobe credits
• Up to $150 in wireless credits

Lastly, recall that with this card, you’ll enjoy top-of-the-line travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees), purchase protection, extended warranty, and much more.

Bottom Line: As with the consumer version of the card, the Amex Business Platinum card offers a ton of benefits — including travel benefits, travel booking perks, car rental/roadside assistance, and more.

American Express^® Business Gold Card

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 110,000 points with the Amex Business Gold card! The current public offer is 70,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

The Amex Business Gold card is one of the best business cards available, especially if you have significant amounts of business spending categories.

The baggage insurance is just the icing on the cake. This policy matches the insurance on the Amex Gold card (and similarly no bag delay coverage):

• Lost luggage coverage of up to $1,250 per person
  • For New York State residents, coverage is up to $10,000 for all covered passengers on the covered trip

Pay for your entire fare with your Amex Gold card or Amex Business Gold card and/or Membership Rewards points and receive up to $1,250 in coverage for carry-on bags and $500 for checked baggage for damage or loss due to a covered incident. The coverage amount is the total per person, per trip.

This card earns 4x Membership Rewards points on the top 2 categories in which your business spends the most every month (up to $150,000 in combined purchases every calendar year):

• NEW! Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
• NEW! U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
• NEW! Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)

If you max out the 4x categories every year, you’d earn 600,000 points, which is worth a whopping $13,200, according to our valuations of 2.2 cents per point.

As with the consumer card, the Amex Business Gold card comes with great benefits, including accelerated business earning, customized spend categories, travel benefits, and cash flow benefits — all essential for a business owner.

This includes no preset spending limit, no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees), purchase protection, extended warranty, and up to 99 total employee cards with no annual fee, after the first employee card with a $50 annual fee (rates & fees).

Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business Card

The Delta Reserve Business card has some terrific Delta-specific benefits, as well as overall travel protections, including baggage insurance.

In fact, the baggage insurance is almost identical to Amex Business Gold card’s coverage (again, no bag delay coverage):

• Lost luggage coverage of up to $1,250 per person
  • For New York State residents, coverage is up to $10,000 for all covered passengers on the covered trip

Enter the Delta SkyClub at no cost and bring up to two guests or immediate family at a rate of $50 per person per visit. Effective 2/1/25, Reserve Card Members will receive 15 Visits per year to the Delta Sky Club; to earn an unlimited number of Visits each year starting on 2/1/25, the total eligible purchases on the Card must equal $75,000 or more between 1/1/24 and 12/31/24, and each calendar year thereafter.

You’ll even get an annual complimentary companion certificate good for a round-trip First Class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean, or Central American flight each year. Lastly, the other perks include complimentary upgrades, Main Cabin 1 priority boarding, free checked bags, 20% back on inflight purchases, and more.

With the Delta Reserve Business card, you will earn 1.5x SkyMiles per dollar for the rest of the year after you spend $150,000 on your card! For purchases made directly with Delta, you’ll earn 3x SkyMiles. Otherwise, you’ll get 1x SkyMiles.

Finally, there’s a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit.

Why We Like Earning Delta SkyMiles

We like Delta SkyMiles because they’re flexible and can be used for Delta flights, as well as premium international business class flights on partners like Air France and KLM.

We value Delta SkyMiles at around 1.2 cents apiece, which lags behind Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One miles.

But if you need the benefits when flying on Delta, this card is a good option.

United Club℠ Business Card

The United Club Business card is the ultra-premium United co-branded credit card for business owners.

Currently, the United Club Business card offers coverage of up to $3,000 per trip for lost or damaged luggage is provided with the card. Baggage delayed over 6 hours has a benefit of $100 per day for up to 3 days for reimbursement of essentials.

This is almost identical to the coverage from the Ink Business Preferred card, Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and Chase Sapphire Reserve card with 1 exception: the delayed baggage coverage is offered for up to 3 days instead of 5 days.

Baggage coverage is one of the many benefits of the United Club Business card, so these cards might be worth considering if you’re a loyal United flyer.

But in addition to baggage coverage, the United Club Business card earns 2x miles on United purchases and 1.5x miles on all other purchases. It also usually offers a great welcome bonus.

The major selling points of this card are the United-specific perks:

• Complimentary United Club membership
• Free first and second checked bags for yourself and a companion on the same reservation
• Premier Access travel services, including priority check-in, security, boarding, and baggage handling benefits
• The ability to earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to 1,000 PQPs in a calendar year
• Upgrades on award tickets for yourself and a companion on the same reservation
• 25% statement credit on United inflight purchases

But the benefits extend beyond that, including membership in the Avis President’s Club, access to the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection, no foreign transaction fees, no-additional fee employee cards, and travel insurance.

Why We Like Earning United MileagePlus Miles

We value United MileagePlus miles at around 1.3 cents each, which makes an earning rate of 2x and 1.5x miles worth a return on spending of 2.6% and 1.95%, respectively.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to get even better value when you redeem them for luxury travel.

Chase Baggage Insurance Coverage and Other Benefits

Chase offers 2 types of coverage for mishandled baggage. Its lost luggage reimbursement and baggage delay insurance coverage give you peace of mind if your baggage is lost, damaged, stolen, or delayed.

• Lost Luggage Reimbursement provides a benefit of up to $3,000 per person, per trip, for lost, damaged, or stolen luggage whether checked or carry-on.
• Baggage Delay Insurance coverage on the card includes a benefit of up to $100 per day for up to 5 days for the reimbursement of essentials such as toiletries and clothing

What Is Covered on Chase Cards?

Checked or carry-on baggage is covered along with personal property within the baggage.

Who Is Covered on Chase Cards?

Chase covers the cardholder and immediate family. Immediate family is defined by Chase to include your spouse, domestic partner, your children (including adopted children and stepchildren), legal guardians or wards, siblings or siblings-in-law, parents or parents-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, along with aunts and uncles.

Bottom Line: Selecting a travel rewards credit card with a package of benefits and protections can give you peace of mind, should any unexpected travel mishaps occur. 

American Express Baggage Insurance Coverage

While most American Express cards do not carry baggage delay insurance, you’ll find coverage for lost, stolen, and damaged luggage on over 50 American Express-issued cards.

What Is Covered on American Express Cards?

Travel bags and suitcases, including contents, whether carry-on or checked with a common carrier.

Who Is Covered on American Express Cards?

The cardholder, spouse or domestic partner, and dependent children under 23 years of age are covered for baggage insurance.

Bottom Line: If you’re a frequent traveler and value luxury travel benefits, the Amex Platinum card or the Amex Business Platinum card can offer tremendous value. Both cards come with complimentary worldwide lounge access that, if purchased separately, could cost more than the card’s annual fee. 

Capital One Baggage Insurance Coverage

Although we only covered the Capital One Venture X card in this guide, many of Capital One’s premium credit cards offer luggage insurance.

What Is Covered on Capital One Cards?

As expected, coverage includes both checked bags and carry-ons. Contents are included, as well.

Who Is Covered on Capital One Cards?

Coverage is offered to the primary cardholder, and all immediate family members when they’re on the same covered trip as you.

Additionally, you must pay for a portion or the entire cost of the covered trip with your credit card to qualify for coverage.

Filing a Claim

Whether your baggage is lost, damaged, stolen, or delayed, you’ll need to follow certain steps to ensure your claim is processed successfully.

• Report the loss or damage immediately to the common carrier before leaving the airport, station, etc., and keep a copy of the report.
• In the event your luggage is delayed, report the loss, then wait the required number of hours before purchasing incidentals.
• Also in the case of delayed luggage, save the receipts for any items purchased.
• Report the loss to your credit card claims administrator by calling the number on the back of your card and filing a written report.
• Submit all requested supporting documentation within the required time period, usually 60 to 90 days from the date of the incident.

Because coverage on your credit card is usually secondary, you will want to obtain documentation from the common carrier as to their policy and the amount of payment you received from them, if any. In the case of lost luggage, you’ll also need receipts for the more valuable contents of your luggage.

Since claims are handled by a third party, not the credit card issuer, you’ll need to provide documentation that your common carrier ticket was purchased with a qualifying credit card.

Tips for Minimizing Lost Baggage and Expediting a Claim

Avoid Short Connecting Times Between Flights — Really short connections can become impossible connections if there is even a slight delay. Although you may still make your connection, your luggage may not. Since the number 1 reason bags get lost is due to connections, allow enough time between flights to reduce the risk of lost baggage

Double-check Your Destination Tags — When checking your bags, be sure the destination printed on the baggage tracking tag is your final destination.

Add Additional Identification — Most of us attach a bag tag to our bags, with our name, phone number, and address on it, to identify our luggage. However, this tag, along with the baggage tracking tag, can be ripped off during transit. It’s prudent to add identifying information to the inside of your luggage as a backup to increase the chances of it being returned to you.

Divide and Conquer — Years ago, ships that sailed across the ocean would be attacked by pirates. In order to minimize losses, companies divided their cargo among many ships so if 1 was attacked, the losses were minimized. Do the same with your luggage. If you must check a bag, make sure your carry-on has a change of clothes, toiletries, and other necessities for a 1-night stay versus all of your items inaccessibly packed in your checked bags and subject to loss.

Document Your Belongings — Before you leave on your trip, take photos of your luggage and its contents. Should you need to file a damaged or lost baggage claim, you’ll have documentation to help expedite the process.

Hot Tip: Some airlines have delayed baggage guarantees. If your bags do not arrive within a certain period of time, they’ll compensate you. Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines each have a 20-minute guarantee for your bags to arrive on the carousel. Delta provides 2,500 SkyMiles and Alaska compensates with a $25 voucher off a future flight if your bags do not arrive on time. 

Everything Else You Need To Know

There are usually separate coverage limits for high-risk items such as jewelry, sporting equipment, audio/visual equipment, and furs. For example, the terms may state that these items combined (and other luxury items) may not exceed a total of $500 (or other specified amount) in coverage.

Some items can be excluded. These items can include documents or valuable papers, money, securities, tickets, checks/traveler’s checks, and some luxury items.

Baggage insurance coverage is secondary to other coverage and, in some cases, the total received by all sources cannot exceed the limits on the credit card coverage. For example, if you receive $3,500 from the airline for your bag and the coverage on your credit card baggage insurance is $1,250, you will not receive an additional payment from the credit card coverage. The Guide to Benefits for your specific card will spell out the exact terms of your coverage.

For baggage coverage that comes on your credit card to be valid, you normally have to pay for your entire ticket with the eligible credit card, points/miles earned on that card, or a combination of the 2.

Final Thoughts

While baggage insurance is nice to have, it is secondary to the coverage you would receive from the common carrier should your luggage be lost, damaged, stolen, or delayed.

Note that we have not included every card that has baggage insurance coverage, just a selection of some of the best cards. To find out if your card has baggage insurance coverage, access your specific card’s guide to benefits or call the number on the back of your card.

And bottom line, selecting a card that has an entire package of benefits you will use, not just baggage insurance coverage, results in the best overall value.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024.  Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier.  Additional terms apply.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $2,000 for checked baggage and up to a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier. The coverage is also subject to a $3,000 aggregate limit per covered trip. For New York State residents, there is a $2,000 per bag/suitcase limit for each covered person with a $10,000 aggregate maximum for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefits of the Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of American Express^® Gold Card, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus). For New York State residents, there is a $10,000 aggregate maximum limit for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $2,000 for checked baggage and up to a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier. The coverage is also subject to a $3,000 aggregate limit per covered trip. For New York State residents, there is a $2,000 per bag/suitcase limit for each covered person with a $10,000 aggregate maximum for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefits of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of the American Express^® Business Gold Card, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus). For New York State residents, there is a $10,000 aggregate maximum limit for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefits of the American Express^® Business Gold Card, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus). For New York State residents, there is a $10,000 aggregate maximum limit for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefits of the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the cell phone protection benefit of the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.