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On December 30, 2021, more than 1,200 flights were canceled or delayed. In part this was due to staff shortages owing to Omicron, in part the impact of a giant snowstorm. 1,200 flights: that’s a lot of unhappy travelers, and a lot of last-minute hotel rooms to book. While trip insurance often covers scenarios like this, the majority of travelers still don't buy it. If that sounds like you, you may not be totally out of luck: Depending on which credit cards you own, you may be eligible for reimbursements to offset any unexpected travel-related expenses.
In fact, travel protection is one of the more common perks that credit card companies offer (another one being rental car insurance). While the details and rules of each policy vary based on the card itself, broadly speaking there are three main types of trip protection available: interruption, delay, and cancellation. To be eligible for any card’s benefits, however, you must have purchased your trip with that credit card.
Interruption coverage protects you if your travel is delayed or canceled while you’re already traveling. Say you’re trying to get to Dubrovnik from New York City, and your connecting flight out of Dusseldorf is canceled. Your credit card might reimburse you for related expenses like train tickets to get you to your destination (though we hope for your sake you don’t have to train from Germany to Croatia!).
Delay coverage may sound a lot like interruption protection, but it actually provides a different sort of assistance: trip delay will reimburse you for reasonable purchases made while you’re delayed. (In general, a trip is considered delayed if it’s more than six hours late, but that entirely depends on your credit card’s terms and conditions. Some are stingier than others with what constitutes an official delay.) If your flight out of O’Hare is delayed by a giant snow storm (and who hasn’t been delayed out of O’Hare?), your credit card might cover things like extra baby diapers, a night in a hotel, or a gourmet airport meal. Just remember to keep all your receipts!
Finally, cancellation insurance: this protects you if your entire trip is canceled before you even leave. A cancellation only qualifies if it's something out of your control — a force majeure, if you will — like severe weather, jury duty, or an illness. Note that Covid-19 no longer counts as an unforeseen event. And neither does being too hungover to travel (take it from us).
Of course, you can always buy more conventional travel insurance from a third-party. There’s a whole ecosystem of travel insurance products out there, with a lot of great options. OG travel insurance tends to be more comprehensive, but credit card coverage nevertheless acts as a good backup option. And while we’re getting into it, we’d love to recommend battleface, where you can customize your policy to fit your travel needs.
Whatever you choose, at Marble we want you to have some peace of mind before heading out on your adventure. That’s why we built a digital wallet to help you organize your insurance, so you can find everything you need when you need it, all in one digital hub. Create your Marble account today to start managing your insurance — and get rewards for doing it!
battleface Travel Insurance plans are underwritten by Spinnaker Insurance Company (an IL Corporation, NAIC# 24376), with administrative office at One Pluckemin Way, Suite 102, Bedminister, NJ 07921. Plans are offered and administered by battleface Insurance Services LLC, 45 East Lincoln Street, Columbus, OH 43215, National Producer Number 18731960 (FL License number L107363/CA License number 0M75381). Travel Retailers offering this plan may not be licensed insurance producers and cannot answer technical questions about the terms, benefits, exclusions, and conditions of this insurance or evaluate the adequacy of your existing insurance. Your Travel Retailer may be compensated for the purchase of a Plan and may provide general information about the Plans offered, including a description of the coverage and price. The purchase of this Plan is not required in order to purchase other travel products or services offered by your Travel Retailer. This is a brief description of the coverage provided under policy series RIG-1000. The Policy will contain reductions, limitations, exclusions, and termination provisions. Please refer to the Policy for complete details. If there are conflicts between the information on this site and the Policy, the Policy will govern in all cases. Not all products or coverages may be available in all jurisdictions.
Non-insurance services are provided by Robin Assist (in CA battleface Insurance Services LLC DBA Robin Assist).
