American Express Platinum makes a big change to its travel insurance – but hasn’t told us (or you)

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• christian kemp says:

  7 Apr7 April 09:02

  For the hire car insurance to apply, does this need to be paid for with the Platinum, any Amex or any card? I have read what it says on the website and find it quite confusing!

  • NFH says:

    7 Apr7 April 10:30

    No, there’s no requirement to pay for car hire by Amex in order to get the insurance benefit. But it’s a good idea to use your Platinum card for the security deposit (which never turns into a transaction unless you suffer a loss).

• Russ says:

  7 Apr7 April 10:53

  That’s the policy summary not the policy. It’s standard practice to give people the summary before they pay and then send the actual policy out after one’s paid. Of course that’s where a lot of people fall foul when they put in a claim and find it isn’t allowed because satisfying the policy actual rather than the policy summary is what makes your claim payable.

  • NFH says:

    7 Apr7 April 11:23

    The link I posted above is the full policy terms and conditions, not the policy summary.

    • NFH says:

      7 Apr7 April 11:32

      But I was wrong that it’s still underwritten by AXA. It is the previous policy wording, now underwritten by Chubb.

    • Russ says:

      7 Apr7 April 12:40

      First paragraph from that link:

      (i) POLICY SUMMARY
      IMPORTANT INFORMATION
      This Policy Summary contains some important facts about
      the insurance provided with The Platinum® Card from
      American Express (the “Card”). It does not contain the full
      Policy Terms and Conditions and it is important that these
      are read to ensure full understanding of the cover provided.

    • NFH says:

      8 Apr8 April 10:07

      Russ, you’re looking only at the first couple of pages. Scroll down to page 9, where the “policy terms and conditions” start and continue to page 23.

• Rob says:

  7 Apr7 April 10:56

  Amex has to write to you with 30 days notice before you can be switched.

• NFH says:

  7 Apr7 April 11:29

  I wonder whether Amex’s switching of the underwriter from AXA to Chubb is caused by appalling customer service by AXA. I’ve had cause to make three complaints in the last 12 months regarding AXA. The third one was the most significant, for which they compensated me with £150 on top of the claim of over £1000, which they had paid in full.

  My recent claim was totally under the medical section, so there was no requirement to have paid for any of the travel with an Amex card. But does AXA enforce the requirement to have paid for travel with Amex before paying out on benefits that require this?

• Graeme says:

  7 Apr7 April 11:40

  I took out plat in February. Just checked my summary document which came with the card and it states on page 3,

  The following benefits are dependent on use of the Card.
  Cancelling, Postponing and Abandoning your Trip
  Cutting Short your Trip
  Travel Inconvenience
  Personal Belongings, Money and Travel Documents
  Purchase Protection
  Refund Protection

  This must have started before March. The policy is underwritten by Chubb.

  • Grant says:

    7 Apr7 April 12:09

    Its the definition of ‘Card’ and “Account’ that are important here though. As discussed upthread, if the definition of ‘Card’ is the following then its the same as the ‘old policy’ wording, i.e. using any Amex is good enough.

    “your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express in the UK, excluding corporate cards and any American Express cards issued by bank partners”

    • Graeme says:

      7 Apr7 April 13:41

      Fair point. on page 9 it states “Card” means any card or other account access device issued to a Cardmember (or a Supplementary Cardmember) for the purpose of accessing the Account.

      “Account” or “Card Account” means your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express in the UK, excluding corporate cards and any American Express Cards issued by bank partners.

      So my take on that is my Pre March terms is as Rob suggests. Any Amex card.

• Martin C says:

  7 Apr7 April 11:42

  Last time I had an Amex Platinum I enquired on insurance for an upcoming holiday which had already been prepaid prior to me having the card (or paid on a non amex) and was told I was covered by the policy. I assume this has stopped also?

  • Jon says:

    7 Apr7 April 13:01

    Indeed
    Clarity on this specific would be useful

    Rob do you have contacts in Amex?

• Gin and Tonic Please says:

  7 Apr7 April 12:57

  Interesting. I just logged into my Amex account to have a look. The T&Cs on the Amex site itself (under Platinum benefits > Insurance & Protection > Worldwide Travel Insurance) are the ones that someone linked above with the old wording on card definition. However, if I click on the ‘Make a claim’ link (in the same section) to get to the Amex Insurance Centre (still hosted by AXA, weirdly), then the doc there is the new one that Rob has linked. I’m guessing letters will be coming out shortly.

  • Fred W says:

    7 Apr7 April 13:03

    It’s a shambles

    And very concerning for anyone ever needing to make a claim

    • Joeb says:

      7 Apr7 April 16:46

      Not really. Just use your amex plat if concerned.

  • GeorgeJ says:

    8 Apr8 April 02:16

    The reason it goes to Axa is that the travel policy continues to be underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance in Dublin which is an Axa company. Amex dont do insurance.

• Ian says:

  7 Apr7 April 13:21

  Clicking through from my Platinum site to read the ins doc, it has changed to Chubb. The T&Cs have changed too. Online chat with Amex Neil who says they won’t have changed the T&Cs without notifying me. They have not done so.

  Now looking at a prices of a separate travel insurance policy as I don’t like the idea of completely untraceable changes to policies that result in me being uncovered when I believed I was. No point in arguing the toss after the event as Amex can afford a better lawyer than me.

  If nobody else has done so already, perhaps worth totting up the cost of the individual elements of the Amex Plat benefits we all use? CDW/Liability car hire stuff, medical insurance, Priority Pass….

  • Aceman says:

    7 Apr7 April 15:43

    Exactly what I’m doing, priority pass is the killer in that exercise, and one I use a lot at £339 for an unlimited use card with zero guests…

  • Paul says:

    7 Apr7 April 16:53

    A car excess policy is about £50 per year, travel insurance £110 for one I’m happy with, number of times I fly when lounge not included would be maybe 4 or 6 visits a year, mostly on connecting internal flights so I could live without that, but at the moment I’m happy to keep the Platinum as long as the offers add up. So far this year I’ve had around £500 back without varying my spending too much, so for now I’ll certainly look at a stand alone insurance policy but keep the card.

    • Shoestring says:

      7 Apr7 April 21:15

      neat

      like you, I also charge my wife £225 if she wishes to be my supp & get a Priority Pass – it’s only fair

      she doesn’t complain

      on the other hand, she doesn’t know

      • Alan says:

        7 Apr7 April 21:17

        Hahaha love it Harry – hope you’re having a good time at your place in the sun!

    • Shoestring says:

      7 Apr7 April 21:28

      quite a good idea to have your friend get the supp (for £225 fee to the friend!) as they get the Priority Pass & insurance benefits half price, you as well

      as long as you can trust your good friend with your £20K credit limit, all’s good

  • Bentoni says:

    7 Apr7 April 21:10

    I opened the Plat account about four weeks ago, but my insurance document still stating the old terms “your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express in the UK.”

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