Full List of Travel Insurance Benefits for the Amex Classic Green Card [2026]

Update:

The American Express^® Classic Green Card is not available for new applicants. But those with the Platinum Card^® from American Express or the American Express^® Gold Card may be able to product change to the Amex Classic Green card.

One of the most underestimated cards out there is the American Express^® Classic Green Card, which is actually one of American Express’ first cards. It was the original card that was born in 1969, but it has fallen out of favor in recent years due to the meteoric growth of more premium options like the American Express^® Gold Card and the Platinum Card^® from American Express.

In fact, the money-colored card happens to be a good pick if you want travel perks and the ability to earn lots of points, all for a reasonable $150 annual fee.

In this guide, we’ll be walking you through its lesser-known travel insurance benefits that can come in handy if your trip goes awry.

The information regarding the American Express^® Classic Green Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Snapshot

American Express^® Classic Green Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the ins and outs of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

This card can provide a great way to accumulate Membership Rewards points on eligible travel, transit, and at restaurants.

All information about American Express^® Classic Green Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points.

American Express^® Classic Green Card

This card can provide a great way to accumulate Membership Rewards points on eligible travel, transit, and at restaurants.

Welcome Offer

No welcome offer is available.

None

UP's Offer Valuation*:

Up to $0

Annual Fee

$150

APR

See Pay Over Time APR

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

Update: The American Express^® Classic Green Card is no longer available for new applicants, but is available via product change. 
The Amex Classic Green card is an excellent all-around travel rewards card, earning 3x Membership Rewards points on eligible travel and transit purchases, as well as at restaurants, with access to American Express transfer partners and a reasonable annual fee.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 3x points at restaurants worldwide, on all eligible travel purchases, and on transit purchases
• Up to $219 per calendar year in statement credits after you pay for a CLEAR+ membership with the card
• Access to American Express transfer partners

Cons

• $150 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Read Full Review

Card Highlights

• Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® points on travel, including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds, and vacation rentals.
• Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® Points on transit purchases, including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways.
• Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® points on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the US.
• $219 CLEAR+ Credit: Receive up to $219 per calendar year in statement credits when you pay for your CLEAR+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) with the American Express^® Classic Green Card.
• Payment Flexibility: When it comes to paying your bill, you have options. You can always pay in full. You also have the flexibility to carry a balance with interest or use Plan It^® to split up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. You may be able to keep spending beyond your limit – you’ll just need to pay for any new purchases in full when your bill is due.
• Trip Delay Insurance: If a round-trip is paid for entirely with your Eligible Card and a covered reason delays your trip more than 12 hours, Trip Delay Insurance can help reimburse certain additional expenses purchased on the same Eligible Card, up to $300 per trip, maximum 2 claims per eligible account per 12 consecutive month period. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Coverage is provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees: No matter where you’re traveling, when you use your American Express ^® Classic Green Card there are no foreign transaction fees.
• $150 annual fee.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

Why the Amex Classic Green Card Is Worth Considering

Although it’s not as popular compared to the Amex Gold card or Amex Platinum card, the Amex Classic Green card is actually one of the most powerful Amex cards for earning travel rewards. That’s because you’ll earn up to 3x Membership Rewards points on many popular spending categories.

The Amex Classic Green card earns Membership Rewards points at the following rate:

• 3x points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
• 3x points on travel, including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and more
• 3x points on transit, including trains, buses, ferries, subways, and more
• 1x points on other purchases

The feature that sets the Amex Classic Green card apart the most from its sister cards like the Amex Gold card and Amex Platinum card is the ability to earn 3x points on travel, which is defined very broadly.

For example, if you book a hotel through Booking.com, pay for a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, or order an Uber using your Amex Gold card or Amex Platinum card, you’d only earn 1x points on those purchases. Not so with the Amex Classic Green card — you’ll earn 3x points on those same transactions!

The points earned on the Amex Classic Green card are Membership Rewards points (just like you’d earn with the Amex Gold card and Amex Platinum card), which means you can transfer them to travel partners and book luxury award travel for pennies on the dollar!

Hot Tip:

If you want to learn more about how to maximize the value of Amex Membership Rewards points, read our guide on the best ways to redeem Membership Rewards points.

The Amex Classic Green card also offers an annual CLEAR+ membership credit of up to $219 to add even more value to your wallet. CLEAR+ gets you access to expedited security at airports and stadiums around the U.S.

Finally, the Amex Classic Green card offers a number of travel insurance benefits, which we’ll dive into in detail below.

Travel Insurance Benefits

With the Amex Classic Green card, you don’t get access to fancy Amex Centurion Lounges or perks like free breakfast and room upgrades when booking through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts.

But you’ll still get a handful of useful travel protections and benefits that could save you thousands of dollars in the long run (though we hope you won’t ever have to use these benefits because that would mean an unfortunate incident has occurred).

Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

If you tend to rent cars while traveling, you might be surprised to discover that many credit cards offer insurance for your rental car. In this case, the Amex Classic Green card comes with secondary rental car coverage (not to be confused with primary rental car coverage).

Secondary rental car insurance requires you to file a claim with any other insurance policies you have (including the one you use for your main car at home) before any of its coverage can apply.

Also, this particular rental car coverage policy covers rentals of up to 30 consecutive days and insures up to $50,000 per rental.

Premium Protection

With the Amex Classic Green card, you also have the ability to purchase primary rental car coverage through Premium Protection, which comes at a low, fixed price of between $12.25 and $24.95 for the entire rental duration (eligible rentals can be up to 42 total days in length).

There’s no deductible, and this is a per-rental rate, not a per-day rate, which translates to much greater savings over other primary car rental insurance policies. The policy includes accidental death/dismemberment coverage, rental car damage, theft, and loss of use coverage.

Exclusions

Keep in mind that neither of these policies offers liability coverage — so if you are deemed at fault for the incident, you’ll be solely responsible for any costs and damages incurred regardless of whether you purchase Premium Protection or stick with the standard secondary car rental insurance. There’s also no disability coverage or uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage with Premium Protection.

Also, there is no coverage available when renting motor vehicles in these countries:

• Australia
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Any other countries subject to comprehensive sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (e.g. Iran, Cuba, etc.)

Filing a Claim

You can file a claim for a covered incident by calling 800-338-1670 within 30 days of the loss or as soon as reasonably possible. You can also file a claim at the American Express Claims Center.

After opening a claim, you’ll be sent additional forms within 15 days of reporting the incident to complete. These claims must be submitted, alongside any required documentation within 60 days after the incident.

Any claims that are fully substantiated will be paid within 30 days after your claim is approved.

Trip Delay Insurance

Another lovely benefit of the Amex Classic Green card is trip delay insurance, which can cover you in the event that you’ve booked round-trip travel (which can consist of a combination of one-way tickets) entirely on your Amex Classic Green card and there’s a covered delay of more than 12 hours. Coverage is also secondary to any primary coverage you may hold.

This insurance policy covers common carrier tickets, meaning any land, water, or air conveyance operating under a valid license for the transportation of passengers for hire and for which a ticket must be purchased prior to commencing travel.

Commercial airline tickets are eligible, as are high-speed train tickets and even cruises. However, some exclusions include taxis, limousine services, commuter rail or commuter bus lines, personal automobiles, or rental vehicles.

You, eligible family members, and traveling companions can get up to $300 in trip delay coverage towards the purchase of reasonably essential expenses like meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items if your trip is delayed more than 12 hours.

You can be approved for up to 2 trip delay claims every consecutive 12-month period.

Covered losses include:

• A common carrier’s equipment failure
• Inclement weather, which prevents a reasonable and prudent person from traveling or continuing (e.g. severe weather that delays the scheduled arrival or departure of a common carrier)
• Lost or stolen passports or travel documents
• Terrorist action or hijacking

Exclusions

Anything that falls outside of the categorization for covered losses is considered to be an exclusion for trip delay coverage.

For example, if the airline struggles to staff your aircraft with a crew, this would not be grounds for a covered trip delay because it doesn’t fall under the 4 bullet points above.

Filing a Claim

You can open a claim by calling your Benefits Administrator at 844-933-0648 within 60 days of the covered loss. The representative will provide instructions for submitting a completed claim and any required documentation which must be furnished within 180 days after the date of the covered loss.

Baggage Insurance Plan

Another great travel protection benefit of the Amex Classic Green card is the baggage insurance plan. Simply pay for your common carrier ticket entirely using your Amex Classic Green card (or using Membership Rewards points) to get baggage insurance coverage.

Coverage can apply to the cardmember, cardmember’s spouse or domestic partner, cardmember’s dependent children under 23 years of age, or dependent children because of a handicap condition that occurred before the attainment of the limited age of 23.

With the exception of war, acts of war, service in the armed forces or united auxiliary to it, acts of the customer or government authority, you can be eligible for the replacement cost of baggage and its contents subject to these coverage limits:

There’s also a sub-limit of $250 maximum per covered person per trip for all bags for high-risk items like jewelry, sporting equipment, photographic or electronic equipment, and more.

Lastly, for New York state cardmembers, there’s a maximum limit of $10,000 in aggregate per trip for all covered persons.

Exclusions

Here are the types of property that are excluded from coverage:

• Cash or its equivalent, notes, accounts, bills, currency, deeds, evidence of debt or intangible property, rare stamps or coins
• Credit cards and other travel documents including passports and visas
• Documents and tickets of any kind
• Eyeglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses
• Food, consumable, and perishable items
• Hearing aids
• Living plants and animals
• Prescription or non-prescription drugs
• Property shipping as freight or shipped prior to the departure date
• Prosthetic devices
• Securities
• Traveler’s checks and other negotiable instruments including gift certificates, gift cards, gift checks, food stamps

Filing a Claim

You can file a claim by visiting the American Express Online Claim Center or by calling 800-228-6855. You’ll need to provide notice of a claim within 30 days of the loss or as soon as reasonably possible.

Complete the claim form and submit any required or supplemental documentation within 60 days. This includes a list of the items lost, receipts, and other reports.

Approved claims will be paid within 30 days after satisfactory proof of loss evidence has been received.

Travel Benefits

Outside of travel insurance and protection, there are still a number of ways the Amex Classic Green card can help when you’re traveling.

CLEAR+ Credit

CLEAR+ uses biometrics to digitally verify your identity and move you through security faster at major airports and stadiums across the U.S.

When you use the Amex Classic Green card to pay for a CLEAR+ membership, you can receive up to $219 per calendar year in statement credits, which can offset the entire cost of an annual CLEAR+ membership.

Hot Tip:

If you travel a significant amount and value airport lounge access, you might want to consider getting the Amex Platinum card, as it offers access to over 1,550 different lounge locations worldwide.

Emergency Travel Assistance

With the Amex Classic Green card, you can get 24/7/365 assistance through the Global Assist Hotline, which can point you in the right direction if you’re looking for medical, legal, linguistic, or other urgent needs while traveling more than 100 miles away from home.

You can reach the Global Assist Hotline by calling 800-333-2639. If you’re outside of the U.S., you can call collect at 715-343-7977.

This service is a referral service only, so you’ll be responsible for any out-of-pocket costs incurred.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Amex Classic Green card does not charge any foreign transaction fees which makes it a great card to use when traveling internationally.

Final Thoughts

While the Amex Classic Green card may not be as popular as Amex’s other cards, it definitely shouldn’t be written off. The card comes with an impressive rewards structure as well as core travel protections and insurance benefits that can come in handy when your travels are interrupted.

The Amex Classic Green card also earns valuable Membership Rewards points, which can be used to book luxury award travel through Amex’s airline and hotel partners.

Finally, the Amex Classic Green card also comes with other benefits like an annual CLEAR+ credit of up to $219, no foreign transaction fees, and more!