Chase Explorer Card Travel Coverage Claim

[6rugrats]

I often see people discussing travel insurance coverage they have through their credit card.  Here's how my claim went using the coverage provided by my United Chase Explorer Card.  I would note that a lot of credit cards have had changes in coverage since the time I purchased the cruise I'm discussing here.

 

In March 2018, I paid a deposit for a cruise for myself and my mom.  I purchased plane tickets through Delta.  Because my mom is older, insurance premiums through regular travel insurance would be quite high, and my main concern was medical, so I bought a travel insurance policy that would cover medical and medical evacuation and insured the trip for $2.00.  I called Chase and discussed the trip cancellation coverage available if I paid for the trip with my Explorer card and was assured we both would be covered if we had to cancel the trip for medical reasons, up to $1500 each.  It is very difficult to find the exact terms of this coverage; the details are not readily available on line.  I have since called and asked for a benefit booklet, which I am waiting to receive.  Suggest if you are counting on such coverage for your trip, you get a current copy of the details of your coverage and make sure it will cover what you need.

 

Right before final payment was due for this cruise, my mom's husband became ill and she was unable to travel.  Unfortunately, we were in the penalty phase for our cruise, and my penalty to cancel the cruise was $363.65 and my mom's penalty was $465.65; total penalties were $829.30.  The difference is cost was due to that always strange cruise accounting; I don't understand it.  

 

On November 16, 2018, I started a claim with Card Benefit Services, (eclaimsonline.com), the company that handles insurance claims for Chase cards.  My claim was for the airline tickets and the cruise penalty.   I will note that my job involves dealing with insurance claims, and I am very familiar with claim forms and necessary documentation.  It has been very difficult dealing with Card Benefit Services.

 

When I submitted my claim form in November, I included the following requested information:

 

Cruise Itinerary

Cruise Statment showing charges made and penalty assessed.  This clearly stated the penalty I paid and that I received no future cruise credit for another cruise

Credit Card Statment showing cruise charges and airline ticket charges

Windstar's Cancellation policy (which included cancellation dates and associated penalties)

A denial from Delta Airlines for ticket refund

A copy of the terms and conditions for these airline tickets, showing they were non-refundable and any credit left after cancellation would expire 3/5/19.

 

In response, I got another request a month later to send the exact same information.  I did and also sent the required Attending Physician's Statement, documenting my mom's inability to travel, as she had to care for her ill husband.  Again, about three weeks later, I was asked to send the cruise invoice, the Delta itinerary, the cruise itinerary, the guest invoice with prices, a statment from Windstar that I paid a cancellation fee and didn't receive a refund or credit and copies of our Delta tickets.

 

I repeatedly called to check on the claim and asked why they kept asking for duplicates of information they already had.  Each time I was told the claims examiner would call me in a couple days, but this never happened.  I called to check status on February 11, 2019, and was told they never received the letter from Windstar verifying I had no future cruise credit, so I sent for the third time

 

When I called Claims Benefit Services on February 20, 2019, I was told the claims manager would call me if they needed further information.  No call.  I called again on February 27, 2019 and was told they were waiting for the claims examiner to review the documents, but the claim should be finalized in five business days.  On March 7, 2019 I called repeatedly, but they had a phone system outage.

 

On March 14, 2019, they again asked for information about my "credit" with Delta Airlines.  These were nonrefundable tickets, purchased March 5, 2018 and any credit I retained expired on March 5, 2019.  I told them this, but they stated they required this is writing from Delta.  I called Delta Airlines (I rarely fly them and have no status on DL), and they couldn't have been nicer.  For some inexplicable reason, they refunded all the airfare!  Thank you, Delta!  As soon as this credit posted to my credit card statment, I forwarded it to Card Benefit Services and asked that they please finally process this claim.

 

No response, so I called again on March 30, 2019 and agent said my claims examiner would call me in two days.  They did call on April 1, 2019, and stated they would be paying $363.65 of my now $829.30 claim.  Asked how they came up with this amount, and the agent stated they didn't pay the rest because they didn't cover "friends."  I stated I wasn't traveling with a friend, it was my mom.  Was placed on hold for a long time, then the agent came back and said my mom would be covered, and it was scheduled for review April 3, 2019.

 

I called today and was informed only a spouse or dependent children would be covered, not any other relatives.  I have no way to check this until I receive the Benefits Booklet

 

The point of this long post is be sure who and what is covered before you depend on any trip insurance coverage through your credit card.  I didn't think we'd have to cancel this trip and my main concern was medical, and I had a policy for that.  Next time, I'd just purchase a regular travel insurance policy.  It's absolutely ridiculous that this claim took almost five months to process.

 

I don't recommend counting on coverage through your UA Chase Explorer Card.  If I counted the many hours I spent on this claim, I'm not even sure I came out ahead.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by 6rugrats

[twincheryl]

10 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

I often see people discussing travel insurance coverage they have through their credit card.  Here's how my claim went using the coverage provided by my United Chase Explorer Card.  I would note that a lot of credit cards have had changes in coverage since the time I purchased the cruise I'm discussing here....

 

I don't recommend counting on coverage through your UA Chase Explorer Card.  If I counted the many hours I spent on this claim, I'm not even sure I came out ahead.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I had much the same experience with the Chase insurance people.  They kept asking for things to be sent again and always said someone would call me.  At least they were very professional and nice on the phone, even though every one of them was lying.  My claim was for myself, husband, and sister who were traveling together.  Ours was only $100 each, which was a fee from Hawaiian Airlines for cancellation.  My sister was covered just like we were.  I also wonder if the coverage thru Chase is worth the hassle.  My guess is that they hope to wear you down and then they don't have to pay.  Can't imagine how much of a pain it would be for a $10k claim... mine was 29 pages just for one airline bill.  Yikes!

[6rugrats]

Yes, they are awful.  On the other hand, I'm really impressed with Delta Airlines.  They had no obligation to refund the tickets, yet they did.   That was a great surprise.  I'm going to make a bigger effort to choose DL when I can, from now on.

[klfrodo]

Thanks for the feedback on your experience.

 

I'm just going to add a side note:

You stated that you bought 3rd party coverage for medical and evac and that you insured the trip for $2.

You could have insured the trip for up to $500pp with no increase in premium cost.

0-500 is 1 cost

501 - 1000 is the next increase, etc, etc

 

Not that big of a deal because you are basically self insuring cancellations and such. But, for those coverages that have 100% or 150% of trip costs,,,,, why not charge max of $500 especially since it won't affect your purchase price.

 

None of this would have helped in your case,,, I'm just adding information for future planning.

Edited April 8, 2019 by klfrodo

[6rugrats]

Yes, you’re correct and good tip.  If I’d done this, I would have gotten the refund for the penalty I was charged for my mom that Chase wouldn’t pay.  

[LDVinNC]

I had a better experience with the insurance on my Citi card.  Had to cancel a trip due to illness, quite early on before we had paid anything beyond a deposit.  Had to send a bunch of information, then got an email asking for the same information.  I called and they said "oh, yes we do have all that" and I got the check (about $400) shortly thereafter.  It took 3 weeks total.

[twincheryl]

On 4/7/2019 at 11:28 AM, 6rugrats said:

Yes, they are awful.  On the other hand, I'm really impressed with Delta Airlines.  They had no obligation to refund the tickets, yet they did.   That was a great surprise.  I'm going to make a bigger effort to choose DL when I can, from now on.

Same with Hawaiian Airlines.  While they did charge $100 per person, they refunded the rest of the cost of the 3 First Class tickets.  Their policy is to give you a credit which is usable within a year, but we were not sure if we'd make it within that exact time frame so I contacted their community relations department and they made the exception, which was really nice!

[happy cruzer]

Yes,  eclaimsonline service is a pain.  Dealt with them on a rental car issue.  After jumping through their hoops to no avail.  Went to Chase resolution department and explained issues.  Chase was much more interested in getting the issue resolved (not necessarily to my benefit just getting an answer out of the travel protection service, they always are clear that it is not insurance 🙂 )  Also know who you take complaints to like your state insurance board and mention them when getting the runaround.  Just my two cents to help others.

Edited April 13, 2019 by happy cruzer

[msears101]

I have made a few claims on the  Chase Explorer Card, but never with anyone that did not live my house. I have only talked to a real person like once.  Most times the real person is only capable of saying please go to eclaimswasteryourtime.com  or eclaimsresubmityourinfo.com (a joke). I agree the process is cumbersome and it is my experience that it is typical to resend the same documentation multiple times, and some of the documents seem like it is just a hoop to jump through. It has felt to me like almost restarting each time, but in all cases they left me whole per the agreement.

 

When things go wrong, I take notes, screen shot things, make copies, etc - which makes me capable of jumping through their hoops.  I have used them for cancellations, delays, delayed bags, car rentals (which means I made claims for those issues).   It is my primary travel card. It has saved me thousands (minus the $99/year fee).  The card gets me nothing other than miles on purchases AND travel insurance - I already have status on United.

 

Not sure if you got the book yet.  I have attached and electronic copy.

BGC10733_UNITEDEXPLORERVPandVW.pdf

[Underwatr]

Ooh, those are interesting terms.

 

Sickness of an immediate family member of a traveling companion is a covered loss, even though your mother's husband is not defined as your immediate family member.

 

Immediate Family Member means your Spouse or Domestic Partner and their children, including adopted children or step-children; legal guardians or wards; siblings or siblings-in-law; parents or parents-in-law; grandparents or grandchildren; aunts or uncles; nieces or nephews.

 

Covered Loss means one of the following events that occur when you or an Immediate Family Member is insured under the policy and the event causes cancellation of the travel arrangements: 
• Accidental Bodily Injury, Loss of Life, or Sickness experienced by you, a Traveling Companion, or an Immediate Family Member of you or a Traveling Companion 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Underwatr

[6rugrats]

Msears101  - both my mom and her husband live in my house.  Underwater - I did get the booklet from Chase that explains the coverage for my specific card, and it appears to exclude this.  However, terms of  the coverage changed over the last year, and I’m wondering if he was covered when I purchased this trip.  When I feel strong, I’ll have to revisit this.

[msears101]

Again. Sorry.  I hope you feel strong soon.  I think it is worth fighting.  I have not read the document lately - but there could be an option of arbitration (very common these days) . Asking for arbitartion might get them to change their mind.

 

Best of luck.  Happy cruising.

[cherylandtk]

I just want to thank you for posting your experience in such great detail.  It is valuable for people like me who might consider credit card insurance—or not.  

[SempreMare]

On 4/7/2019 at 1:22 PM, twincheryl said:

 Can't imagine how much of a pain it would be for a $10k claim... mine was 29 pages just for one airline bill.  Yikes!

 

29 pages !?!   OMG !  Consisting of what ??