Ultra-premium credit cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum, have annual fees that commonly exceed $500/year. Despite those hefty costs of ownership, these types of cards can be very popular in the points and miles community due to extensive lists of benefits and credits that can mitigate or completely offset those fees.
Travel protections are one of the perks provided by these cards. In some cases, these benefits can meet or even exceed those offered by paid-for travel insurance, resulting in significant savings for those who would usually purchase it.
Below, you’ll find a summary of credit card travel protections provided by various ultra-premium travel cards, including Amex Platinum, BOA Atmos Rewards Summit, BOA Premium Rewards Elite, Capital One Venture X, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi AA Executive, Citi Strata Elite, and US Bank Altitude Reserve.
Credit card travel insurance overview
As you’ll see below, Chase continues to lead the field with the best automatic travel protections. Chase’s Sapphire Reserve and Ritz-Carlton cards offer the same excellent travel protections. They’re the only cards in the roundup that provide emergency medical and dental coverage, and no-fee roadside assistance. Additionally, Chase and Citi stand out in offering worldwide rental car coverage (they don’t exclude select countries).
Meanwhile, Amex’s ultra-premium cards (Platinum, Bonvoy Brilliant, Delta Reserve, Hilton Aspire) offer a killer feature: uncapped Emergency Evacuation and Transportation, even if you don’t pay for your travel with your Amex card. Unfortunately, Amex lacks several travel protections that other banks commonly offer. If cost were no object, the ideal combination would be to pay for travel with your Chase Sapphire Reserve or Ritz card, but also to have a qualifying Amex card in case you need more than $100,000 worth of emergency evacuation and transportation ($100K is Chase’s cap to that benefit).
Bank of America’s ultra-premium travel protections are probably second to Chase’s. Like Chase, BOA offers 6-hour baggage delay coverage and $100K Emergency Evacuation. Unfortunately, BOA’s Trip Cancellation and Interruption coverage is limited to only $2,500.
The following chart summarizes travel protections provided by each ultra-premium card:
| Card | Primary Auto CDW | Road-side Assist | Trip Cancel | Trip Delay | Lost Bags | Bag Delay | Travel Acc. Ins. | Emerg Evac | Emerg Med & Dental |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | ❌ No (3) |
❌ N/A |
✅ $10K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
❌ N/A |
✅ No Limit |
❌ N/A |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||||||||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||||||||
| Hilton Aspire | |||||||||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
✅ $2.5K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
✅ $100K |
❌ N/A |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
|||||||||
| Capital One Venture X1 | ✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
✅ $2K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
❌ N/A |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | ✅ Yes (2) |
✅ 4X / Year |
✅ $10K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
✅ $100K |
✅ $2.5K |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||||||||
| Citi AA Executive | ❌ No (4) |
❌ N/A |
✅ $5K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
❌ N/A |
❌ N/A |
❌ N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||||||||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | ✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
✅ $2K |
✅ 6 Hour |
✅ Yes |
❌ N/A |
✅ Yes |
✅ $10K |
❌ N/A |
- The business versions of these cards offer similar protections
- Rental car coverage on Chase cards is secondary when renting within the United States for residents of New York state who also have a personal car insurance policy.
- Amex does offer primary coverage, but you must pay an additional fee for it. Details here.
- Coverage is primary only outside of your country of residence
Benefit Guides
For detailed information about the protections available with each card, it’s necessary to consult each card’s Guide to Benefits:
- American Express:
- Amex Benefit Directory
- Premium Global Assist (this is where Emergency Medical Evacutation coverage is detailed)
- BOA Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite
- BOA Premier Rewards Elite (note: this link was provided by a reader — I can’t vouch for its accuracy)
- Bank of America provides high-level information here.
- Capital One Venture X
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase Ritz-Carlton
- Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard
- Citi Strata Elite
- US Bank Altitude Reserve
Summary by insurance coverage type
Each of the tables shown below summarizes the benefits available with each card. For each type of coverage, I’ve listed whether you must pay for travel with the card to receive coverage. In most cases, it is acceptable to pay with points rather than directly with the credit card (e.g., you can pay with Ultimate Rewards points for Sapphire Reserve coverage, Membership Rewards points for Amex Platinum coverage, or AA miles for Citi AA Executive coverage).
Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
The following chart summarizes rental car protections provided by each ultra-premium card:
| Card | Primary? | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) | Where coverage is not available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | No3 | 100% | Australia, Italy, New Zealand |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||
| Hilton Aspire | |||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit | Yes | 100% | Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite | |||
| Capital One Venture X1 | Yes | 100% | Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | Yes2 | 100% | Coverage is available worldwide |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||
| Citi AA Executive | Only outside your country of residence | 100% | Coverage is available worldwide |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | Yes | 100% | Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland |
- The business versions of these cards offer similar protections. With the Sapphire Reserve for Business card, coverage in the U.S. is primary only if the rental vehicle is for commercial/business purposes.
- Rental car coverage on Chase cards is secondary when renting within the United States for residents of New York state who also have a personal car insurance policy.
- Amex does offer primary coverage, but you must pay an additional fee for it. Details here.
Roadside Assistance
The following chart summarizes roadside assistance (Towing, jump-start, tire change, lockout service, fuel delivery) offered by each ultra-premium card. We didn’t include cases where cards offer a roadside assistance dispatch service, but without providing any reduction in the fee for the actual roadside service.
| Card | Limits | Amount required to pay w/ card | Amount charged per use if within limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||
| Hilton Aspire | |||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
|||
| Capital One Venture X1 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $50 per service; max 2 gallon fill-up, 4X per year; | None | $0 |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||
| Citi AA Executive | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | N/A | N/A | N/A |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Trip Cancellation and Interruption
| Card | Limit per person, per trip | Max per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | $10K | $10K | Amex covers round-trip travel paid “in full” with their card, but “in full” includes where you pay full award taxes and fees or when you pay with Amex points for travel. |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||
| Hilton Aspire | |||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
$2,500 | $2,500 | Entire fare less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
|||
| Capital One Venture X1 | $2K | $2K per Person | Entire fare less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $10K | $20K | Any part, but will only reimburse up to the amount paid |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||
| Citi AA Executive | $5K | $5K | Any part, but will only reimburse up to the amount paid |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | $2K | $2K | Entire fare less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Trip Delay Reimbursement
| Card | # hours delay required | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | 6 | $500 | Amex covers round-trip travel paid “in full” with their card, but “in full” includes where you pay full award taxes and fees or when you pay with Amex points for travel. |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||
| Hilton Aspire | |||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
6 | $500 | A portion of the Common Carrier fare |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
|||
| Capital One Venture X1 | 6 | $500 | A portion of the Common Carrier fare |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | 6 | $500 | Any part of common carrier transportation |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||
| Citi AA Executive | 6 | $500 | A portion of the Common Carrier fare |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | 6 | $500 | A portion of the Common Carrier fare |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Lost Luggage Reimbursement
| Card | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | $3K ($2K for checked bags) |
Full cost of transportation |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | ||
| Delta Reserve1 | ||
| Hilton Aspire | ||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
$3K3 | Purchase a portion of the Covered Trip |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
||
| Capital One Venture X1 | $3K | Purchase a portion of the Covered Trip |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $3K | Any part of common carrier transportation |
| Ritz-Carlton | ||
| Citi AA Executive | $3K3 | A portion of the Common Carrier fare |
| Citi Strata Elite | ||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | $3K2 | Purchase a portion of the Covered Trip |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
- Lesser of the following three amounts: the original purchase price of the item(s), the actual cash value of the item(s) at the time of theft or misdirection (with appropriate deduction for depreciation), and the cost to replace the item(s).
- $2K per bag for NY residents
Baggage Delay Reimbursement
| Card | # hours delay required | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | |||
| Delta Reserve1 | |||
| Hilton Aspire | |||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
6 | $500 ($100 per day) | Any portion of the cost of the Trip |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
|||
| Capital One Venture X1 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | 6 | $500 ($100 per day) | Any part of common carrier transportation |
| Ritz-Carlton | |||
| Citi AA Executive | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | |||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | N/A | N/A | N/A |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Travel Accident Insurance
| Card | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | N/A | N/A |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | ||
| Delta Reserve1 | ||
| Hilton Aspire | ||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
$1M | Entire cost of the passenger fare, less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
||
| Capital One Venture X1 | $1M | Entire common carrier fare |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $1M | Any part of common carrier transportation |
| Ritz-Carlton | ||
| Citi AA Executive | N/A | N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | ||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | $500K | Entire common carrier fare |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Emergency Evacuation and Transportation
| Card | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | No Limit | None |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | ||
| Delta Reserve1 | ||
| Hilton Aspire | ||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
$100K | Portion |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite | ||
| Capital One Venture X1 | N/A | N/A |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $100K | Any part of trip |
| Ritz-Carlton | ||
| Citi AA Executive | N/A | N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | ||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | $10K | Purchase either a portion or the entire cost of the Covered Trip |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
Emergency Medical and Dental
| Card | Max coverage per person per trip | Amount required to pay w/ card (or associated points) |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Platinum1 | N/A | N/A |
| Bonvoy Brilliant | ||
| Delta Reserve1 | ||
| Hilton Aspire | ||
| BOA Atmos Rewards Summit |
N/A | N/A |
| BOA Premium Rewards Elite |
||
| Capital One Venture X1 | N/A | N/A |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve1 | $2,500 | Any part of common carrier transportation |
| Ritz-Carlton | ||
| Citi AA Executive | N/A | N/A |
| Citi Strata Elite | ||
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | N/A | N/A |
- The business versions of these cards offer the same protections
American Express Platinum Emergency Evacuation and Transportation Coverage
It’s important to note that this coverage is part of the Amex “PREMIUM GLOBAL ASSIST HOTLINE” which is available with Amex’s ultra-premium Amex cards, including Platinum cards, Hilton Aspire, Delta Reserve, Delta Reserve for Business, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant.
Detailed information about the hotline’s benefits can be found by clicking here.
There is no requirement to pay for any part of your trip with your Amex card to use this benefit.
Here are some of the relevant terms from the above-linked document:
In the event the Card Member or another Covered Family Member becomes injured or ill while traveling and is seeking medical treatment as a result, the Premium Global Assist Hotline medical department can assess the adequacy of local facilities and the medical need for emergency medical transportation/evacuation. Such emergency medical transportation/evacuation may be provided at no cost if the Premium Global Assist Hotline medical department, after review of the medical information and in consultation with the local medical service provider or facility, determines there is a medical need at
the time of the incident for such transport and such transport is advisable due to the inadequacy of local facilities. To be eligible for emergency medical transportation/evacuation to a more appropriate medical facility, the covered Card Member or Covered Family Member identified above must:• be under the care of a local medical service provider or facility
• authorize the Premium Global Assist Hotline to obtain medical records and
recommendations to determine the medical need and fitness for travel
• complete and return all required documentation for the review of Premium Global
Assist Hotline
• not be traveling against a physician’s advice
• not be traveling with a pre-existing condition*
• not be traveling to seek medical treatment*A pre-existing condition is any sickness, illness, or injury that has manifested itself, become acute, or was being treated in the 60-day period immediately prior to the start of a trip.
If all above criteria are met, Premium Global Assist Hotline will provide the timing and means of emergency medical transportation/evacuation, including medical equipment and supplies and medical personnel to be used in connection with these services. The selection of the Card Member’s (or Covered Family Member’s) final destination for the emergency medical transportation/evacuation from an inadequate medical facility to an adequate medical facility will be made by the Premium Global Assist Hotline.
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Can this be added to the How-Tos (or made more obvious if its already there)
Would the Chase United Club / Business Club qualify in this group?
For the summit card, since we don’t pay taxes and fees, are we covered on alaska award flights?
Taxes and fees still have to be paid; it’s only the award booking fee that’s waived.
great work FM! this is awesome! two follow up questions: do i need to be part of the trip for the insurance to take effect (i.e. booking on behalf of family/friends)? do i have to pay the expenses with the card i book travel with to make the claim or are just receipts good enough?
This article is very helpful but if possible I think it would be good to add who the insurance coverage extends to in each case. For example, for the trip cancellation insurance, the Atmos Summit card covers “you, your Spouse or domestic partner and your Dependent Children”, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve cards covers “Spouse, and parents thereof; sons and daughters, including adopted
children and stepchildren; parents, including stepparents; brothers and sisters; grandparents and grandchildren; aunts or uncles; nieces or nephews; and Domestic Partner and parents”. So Chase’s insurance covers a larger number of family members, which would be relevant if you booked travel for them on your card.
As far as I can tell, Chase consistently has the best protections across categories. Note though that for Trip Delay insurance, Chase now only covers You, “Your spouse/domestic partner and Your legally dependent children under the age of twenty-six (26)”m which is similar to the Atmos Summit card, though the age limit for “dependent children” does seem to differ slightly.
If you read the detailed agreements for each card there is some weirdness to be found. For example, with rental car coverage Citi does not cover pickup trucks or unpaved roads while Chase does (I think). And with Citi you have to have at least one full day of rental charged to the card even if you are using credits. It definitely pays to read the details.
When purchasing award tickets, and paying the taxes/fees with the card, are these terms basically the same : “Entire cost of the passenger fare, less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons” and
“Entire common carrier fare”?
Thanks. This is a bookmarked article.
I think you should be clearer on the limitations of Trip Cancellation and Interruption Coverage when paying by transferrable points. For those cards that require the entire fare to be paid, that means not using points transferred to an airline program. It may be acceptable to use the bank’s currency to book on their portal, but that is not how Frequent Milers get outside value.
I recommend that you adjust the intro paragraph to read “Except for Trip Cancellation and Interruption Coverage, [i]n most cases, it is acceptable to pay with points rather than directly with the credit card.”
how do they know if you used transferable points vs points earned in the program?
Perhaps I should have said “paying by airline miles”. My experience was with Capital One. I paid the taxes and fees using my C1Vx for an Avios redemption. The claims agent said there is no Cancellation and Interruption Coverage because I didn’t pay for the flight completely with my C1Vx. Booking with Avios and paying the taxes/fees with C1Vx didn’t count as booking “the entire cost of the Trip using Your Account, less redeemable certificates, vouchers, or coupons, or rewards program”.
The agent said the source of those Avios didn’t matter.
Any coverage possible for the following common risk:
You have a hotel booked, but you are inside the cancellation deadline and your plane does not take off. Yes, many hotels are lenient if you call and explain, but if you are stuck inside a plane and can’t call as the time ticks away, or the plane doesn’t cancel until the wee hours, this creates added stress; you can’t be sure that the hotel will respond positively; and with most hotel chains, points reservations for no-shows are converted into onerous cash charges.
Not just asking for a friend … This has happened more than once, most recently with a very expensive room on first night. I have always been curious whether there is any mechanism for getting coverage from card (or other) insurance.
Had similar experiences – that said we tend to try to try to book an inexpensive property for 1st night when ever an multi-night expensive property booking is on the line – just to build a buffer – I have even broken up bookings the first night on a solo reservation ( then the following nights on a separate reservation (esp during peak season of high occupancy – as many hotels will cancel the remainder of your booking if you no-show the first night – then finding alternative accommodations at the last minute can be punitively expensive.
Excellent advice. Normally I do something similar but last time I gambled and was caught (I’m looking at you AA). Fortunately the hotel was super-super nice (like > 4 figures nice) and we escaped unscathed, but for the next blow-out trip we’re definitely staging hotels in ascending order of cost. Just wish there were a way to insure against this (other than staging, hoping, and begging).
I was thinking I would miss the CSR coverage for rental cars when I cancel, but looking at this I see that with other cards I have I won’t be missing a lot. In particular the combination of Venture X for domestic car rentals and Citi Strata Elite (or Citi Strata Premier) for international rentals provides good primary coverage with no excluded countries. The only downside is that Venture X only covers 15 day rentals domestically.
Greg, thank you for the analysis. Does the newly released CSR for Business have the same travel protection as the CSR consumer version, aside from the business car rental you indicated in one of the comments?
Yes exactly the same other than that detail
The United club card has the same travel protections as the other Chase cards correct?
I don’t know — I’ll check
I know that the UA Quest has decent mid-level card protections (including 4 x $50 Roadside per year) I say this as at one-point it wasd the best card with Bag delay, trip delay, etc (at the time I USB AR and VenX were the only Ultra-Prem cards had Amex Plat but we had multiple trips on points from various issuers) know we are over covered LoL.
Anyone have the benefits guide for the Atmos Summit card? best would be a link to a digital copy. Otherwise, I’d need info about each of the travel protections in order to add that card here.
Nevermind — I found it
BOOM! New link… https://www.myvisacardportal.com/content/dam/vpp/bofa/gtb/PremiumRewardsElite_GTB.pdf
Just noting this will need updating with the Citi Strata Elite.