Chase Now Requires Full Payment for Trip Cancellation Insurance

Chase has long been recognized for offering some of the best travel protections of any credit card provider.

As Frequent Miler first reported, the issuer has now backtracked and reduced the value of its credit card trip cancellation coverage. This may affect your plans if your trip gets cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Here’s what you need to know.

Trip Cancellation Coverage Now Requires Full Payment

Trip cancellation insurance provided by some credit cards can be a lifesaver when your travel plans are unexpectedly ruined by airlines or while traveling.

One of the reasons Chase has been praised for its travel insurance protections is that cardholders can pay for any portion of the trip with their card, and travel insurance will kick in if something unexpected happens with your vacation plans.

For instance, if you book an award ticket using airline miles but pay the taxes and fees using a Chase credit card, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, you would be covered by Chase’s travel insurance benefits. This means that partial payment on travel purchases would still provide you with travel insurance protection.

While this still holds true for other travel insurance coverage benefits such as baggage delay insurance, lost or delayed luggage insurance, and trip delay insurance, for trip cancellation coverage to kick in with Chase, you must now charge the entire cost of the trip to your covered card and/or use Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Insurance coverage is restricted to “the actual amount charged to the Covered Card and/or redeemable Rewards used for a covered travel expense.” This means the trip cancellation coverage you receive will be determined by how much you spend or how many points you redeem for nonrefundable travel purchases. Previously, the full cost of the trip (up to the coverage maximum) was covered, even if you only paid a portion of the trip using your Chase card.

How Does This Impact You?

There aren’t many credit cards that offer full trip cancellation coverage when paying a portion of your travel purchases with your card, so Chase’s trip cancellation protection was generous to begin with.

However, if you frequently make non-refundable travel purchases or buy discounted travel gift cards to save money on a trip, you will not be able to obtain full trip cancellation insurance coverage when using your qualifying Chase card. To receive trip cancellation insurance, you must use your Chase card to pay for the entire travel purchase.

Final Thoughts

Using your Chase card to make partial payments on travel purchases will still provide you access to various travel insurance benefits, including coverage for lost luggage and trip delays. However, in order to ensure that trip cancellation coverage is activated, it is now necessary to charge the entire cost of your travel purchase to your eligible Chase card for complete protection.