AMEX PLAT – Travel Insurance for Supplementary Card Holder Question

[danstravel]

Question on how the Travel Insurance works for supplementary card holders…

Context: I have the AMEX Platinum and have added my Mum as the supplementary card holder (she is 65). I live in one household and she lives in another household with my Dad (also 65).

I would like to know if she and my Dad will be covered under the following scenarios:

1. Holiday booked for all three of us but paid for using my AMEX. PLAT If something were to happen, would she and my Dad be covered by the Platinum Insurance and be able to make a claim – since she didn’t pay for any part of the holiday using the SUPP card? If not, could I make a claim on their behalf or would living in different households invalidate the claim?

2. My brother has booked a cruise holiday for my Mum and Dad using his own card. I am assuming that neither my Mum or Dad will be covered by the Platinum Insurance as they didn’t pay for any part of the trip..is this correct?

If the answer too the two scenarios is both NOT COVERED. It makes me wonder how I should proceed in the future. Should I split the payment to ensure that part of the trip is paid for using my AMEX PLAT and my Mum paying part using her SUPP card?

Just trying to be good son and all and take the folks on holiday and making sure there is insurance coverage in place. Any advice would be appreciated 🙂

[JDB]

@danstravel – there are two connected but different issues here – who has cover by virtue of being a cardholder and who pays are not the same.

Your (main) card covers you, your spouse and children but not your parents. You still need to use an Amex card for cover certain sections even though as main cardholder some sections are covered anyway.

Your mother’s (supplementary) card covers her and your father (but not you because you aren’t any longer a dependant) for those sections including important ones like medical that don’t require use of the card and that applies if you or your brother pay. However, if your mother didn’t pay herself with an Amex, your parents aren’t covered for:-

Cancelling, Postponing and Abandoning your Trip;
•
Cutting Short your Trip;
•
Travel Inconvenience;
•
Personal Belongings, Money and Travel Documents;

It is worth checking the pre-existing conditions exclusions/inclusions as a many very common conditions are excluded and likely to impact older people more. It’s worth checking re cruise cover on the Plat being included and being acceptable to the cruise company.

[danstravel]

JDB wrote:

@danstravel – there are two connected but different issues here – who has cover by virtue of being a cardholder and who pays are not the same.

Your (main) card covers you, your spouse and children but not your parents. You still need to use an Amex card for cover certain sections even though as main cardholder some sections are covered anyway.

Your mother’s (supplementary) card covers her and your father (but not you because you aren’t any longer a dependant) for those sections including important ones like medical that don’t require use of the card and that applies if you or your brother pay. However, if your mother didn’t pay herself with an Amex, your parents aren’t covered for:-

Cancelling, Postponing and Abandoning your Trip;
•
Cutting Short your Trip;
•
Travel Inconvenience;
•
Personal Belongings, Money and Travel Documents;

It is worth checking the pre-existing conditions exclusions/inclusions as a many very common conditions are excluded and likely to impact older people more. It’s worth checking re cruise cover on the Plat being included and being acceptable to the cruise company.

Thanks for taking the time out to reply. So my interpretation is that under both scenarios my Mum and Dad will only be covered for Medical Assistance, Personal Accident and Legal Assistance? This is quite limiting for my use case so it seems like I need to buy a separate travel insurance policy for them to cover the others.

In the future, how is the usage of card determined when there are various components of this trip? For example, would I be able be able to use two separate cards (main and support) for the flights to ensure that my Mum gets covered for all the other parts of the insurance too – including cancelling, travel inconvenience etc. ?

[JDB]

@danstravel – yes, in effect because the insurance policy for your parents is entirely separate to that of yours, your spouse/children, for all sections to be covered, you need to pay individually on your respective cards.

In terms of another policy to cover the missing parts, as cover for older people is expensive on a standalone basis, it’s worth looking at packaged bank accounts with insurance cover. One example is the Nationwide Flex Plus bank account which is £18/month but does include travel insurance, full AA membership (sole or for two if a joint account) and a few other benefits. In the last two/three years, members have received a £100 annual ‘dividend’ but it’s not guaranteed. You can ‘buy out’ many pre-existing conditions and I think there’s a supplement for over 80’s and cruises. Virgin, (actually now part of Nationwide) Lloyds and NatWest have similar products.

[Dragonlady]

@danstravel Not sure if you’re planning to keep the plat card long term but it’s also worth remembering the insurance offered with Amex plat won’t cover anyone over 70 years old.