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Hi all.
I have the business plat, one feature that I always felt puts it above personal plat was the travel insurance. 1) because over 70’s are covered (my mu with her supplementary card) , and 2) because Rob’s articles have always said it isnt a requirement to use the card to pay for tickets yet still be covered
Looking into the most recent link from amex’s website this appears to be lo longer the case, or incorrect. in the what is not insured column it says..”Claims where travel tickets were not purchased on the Card account”
does anyone know any more?
@jimchef you don’t link to what you have seen but, to echo what our resident insurance expert @JDB always says, there is no substitute for reading the policy document:
As far as I can see, the provisions have not changed and you do NOT need to spend on your card for any cover EXCEPT purchase and refund protection (naturally). The only other exception is where you are claiming for additional hotel, F&B and personal item costs which you have paid for due to travel delay (again, naturally, Amex expect you to put these charges on your card if you then want to reclaim from them).
Still also includes cover up to the age of 80 also (well, the day before their 80th birthday).
Hi GG and thanks for responding, i appreciate the help.
Thanks for linking the document, thats the one i read too. The bit that caught my eye was page 4, last paragraph of the “whats not covered” (red column)
I read this – which i take to mean if the flight ticket wasnt bought with the card….i’m guess then that that in fact means ‘the replacement flight ticket’, is that what youre saying?
TRAVEL INCONVENIENCE
✗ Claims where travel tickets were not purchased on the
Card account.Jim
Yes, that section you mention (at the foot of the page numbered two, for avoidance of doubt) refers to part 1.6 (page 16) Travel Inconvenience, which relates only to expenses that are incurred subsequent to your original travel plans being disrupted. For instance, if a flight is delayed or cancelled then additional costs will only be covered if they are paid for on your card, which seems wholly reasonable:
“The travel, refreshment and accommodation costs, and the purchase or hire of essential items covered under this Travel Inconvenience Section 1.6 must be charged to Your Card to be eligible”.
This is clearly not referring to the original travel you have booked on and which has subsequently been delayed/cancelled, which can have been paid for by means other than your Amex Plat Bus Card.I have the same question as the original poster and I’m not so sure…
The section on cancellation – top left of page 2 says:
CANCELLING, POSTPONING AND ABANDONING YOUR TRIP (IPA)
✓ Up to £7,500 for unused travel, accommodation, excursions and leisure activities that have been paid for, or pre-booked, on the card accountThat seems to suggest to me that anything not prepaid on the card account – eg hotel/flight booking would not be covered if you had to cancel/abandon the trip?
Sadly I think maybe the terms have changed on this since Robs (excellent…!) article a couple of months back… I went on live chat and confirmed a couple of things:
“It doesn’t seem clear from the t&cs – is cancellation travel insurance only provided for travel that was paid on the american express card? I have pre-booked travel now for example that obviously will not have been paid for on the card as I haven’t applied yet – will that be covered? What about new trips if the travel agent does not take American Express – am I covered?”
They advised:
“Well, that’s a good question.
As per the card terms, you will only be covered for travel insurance for the trips or holidays that were booked using the Amex card.
If you have booked a trip now, since you did not use the Business card for payment, that trip will not be covered.
For the future bookings, if you use the Amex business card for the payment for that booking, then only you will get the travel insurance benefits.”Sadly I think maybe the terms have changed on this since Robs (excellent…!) article a couple of months back… I went on live chat and confirmed a couple of things:
“It doesn’t seem clear from the t&cs – is cancellation travel insurance only provided for travel that was paid on the american express card? I have pre-booked travel now for example that obviously will not have been paid for on the card as I haven’t applied yet – will that be covered? What about new trips if the travel agent does not take American Express – am I covered?”
They advised:
“Well, that’s a good question.
As per the card terms, you will only be covered for travel insurance for the trips or holidays that were booked using the Amex card.
If you have booked a trip now, since you did not use the Business card for payment, that trip will not be covered.
For the future bookings, if you use the Amex business card for the payment for that booking, then only you will get the travel insurance benefits.”They definitely gave you the incorrect info. I have both a personal gold card which I use for the 2x points on airlines as well as the business platinum card. I use the gold card to book all my flights and I’ve dealt with the insurance on several occasions and never had an issue paying with a different card.
It comes down to the definition of “card account” which appears to be slightly different in the ‘definitions’ section of the Business Plat vs the Personal Plat.
In the IPID, it does clearly say under the cancellation, postponing etc. section cited above that you must use the card account (in the ‘what is insured’ green column) and in the red ‘what is not insured column’ under ‘travel inconvenience’ it says “claims where travel tickets were not purchased on the card” (ie such claims are excluded) which is different to the comments above re 1.6.
I used to have (a couple of years ago) a business platinum and successfully used the insurance for travel that I had booked on a different Amex card – that worked fine – back then at least.
What threw me is Rob’s article suggesting that the business card differs from the personal in that you didn’t need to use an Amex at all – which is very handy to have as some travel agents don’t take it.
Only reason I’m hunting for travel insurance again is Curve cancelling theirs… Any other good options for travel insurance? A quick comparison site shows annual policies are coming up ~£300 which seems a lot….?
@JDB hits the nail on the head here – there is a difference between the cover provided by the personal platinum card and the business one. You need to be very careful which policy document you are looking at as they can look very similar and Google results may not be clear if you aren’t careful. @jamjamjam I think the chat operative is misleading you. This would not be the first time!
Bottom line is, as of time of writing, if you want cover for trips not paid for on your card then Business Plat it is, not Personal. As a business card holder I must say that this is one of the few times that the benefits with that card are superior to the personal one!
@jamjamjam – yes, £300 sounds quite a lot. One of the packaged policies with a bank account may work out better, depending on your needs. If you qualify for HSBC Premier that travel policy is free with the bank account and covers some mainstream pre-existing conditions that Amex doesn’t. It doesn’t include car hire excess.
We moved to the Nationwide Flex Plus account during Covid as they allowed travel most other policies didn’t. It’s £13/month and allows ‘buy out’ for many pre-existing conditions, over 70s etc at modest cost. It also includes full AA cover including Europe) although you need a joint account to cover a couple on AA which is quite valuable for many of us. It also includes mobile cover but again no car hire excess cover although good policies can be bought for under under £100. Beware of cheap excess policies; be very clear as to what they exclude vs more expensive ones!
Quite a few people here have also mentioned the NatWest Premier travel policy as being good.
One thing to note on these packaged policies is that the terms can be changed on 60 days notice whereas if you buy a standalone annual policy, the terms don’t vary (unless in your favour) during the 12 months. It probably only matters if you need cover for something rather specific that might get enhanced away but it’s a low risk.
Bottom line is, as of time of writing, if you want cover for trips not paid for on your card then Business Plat it is, not Personal. As a business card holder I must say that this is one of the few times that the benefits with that card are superior to the personal one!
It really needs to be! I’m unlikely to be booking my personal holidays on my business Amex, and right now I don’t hold another Amex. The policy would be largely useless if it covered only business travel.
Bottom line is, as of time of writing, if you want cover for trips not paid for on your card then Business Plat it is, not Personal. As a business card holder I must say that this is one of the few times that the benefits with that card are superior to the personal one!
It really needs to be! I’m unlikely to be booking my personal holidays on my business Amex, and right now I don’t hold another Amex. The policy would be largely useless if it covered only business travel.
I think there is some misunderstanding here. The Business Plat appears to cover most sections irrespective of payment method with the exception of Cancellation/Postponement etc. and Travel Inconvenience. The way this is shown in the IPID is odd in that the former is in the green column and the latter in the red column but they come to the same thing.
The definition of ‘card account’ for the Business Plat appears to limit it to that card whereas the personal Plat definition allows any Amex card.
I don’t have a Business Plat card and I may be totally wrong, but that’s how I read it having considered the card.
I think the confusion here (and it’s my fault) is that I’m specifically mostly concerned about cancellation insurance. It looks like business plat covers medical expenses etc regardless of how the trip was paid for, but will only cover cancellation if it was paid for on the card (possibly any amex card – though not by the letter of their T&Cs)
That means that a trip paid personally on a visa for example wouldn’t be covered for cancellation.
I think the confusion here (and it’s my fault) is that I’m specifically mostly concerned about cancellation insurance. It looks like business plat covers medical expenses etc regardless of how the trip was paid for, but will only cover cancellation if it was paid for on the card (possibly any amex card – though not by the letter of their T&Cs)
That means that a trip paid personally on a visa for example wouldn’t be covered for cancellation.
Yes, I think your interpretation is correct. The definition of “card account” on the Business Plat is explicitly that actual card, not any Amex so a different definition than on Personal Plat. As such the cancellation section and travel inconvenience section are only covered if the tickets are bought on the Business Plat card per the terms posted upthread.
Long time lurker first time posting . Just wanted to share my recent experience that you need to have paid for the trip on your Amex business Platinum card for cancellation cover to be provided. Due to travel with friends and I was not the lead booker so had transferred my share of prepaid accommodation costs to the lead booker bank to bank . Europ Assist very nice but there was nothing they could do . At least the flights were on points and Virgin Atlantic sorted those last night . Just wanted to let people know about this . And my appendix flared up in UK not USA !
Long time lurker first time posting . Just wanted to share my recent experience that you need to have paid for the trip on your Amex business Platinum card for cancellation cover to be provided. Due to travel with friends and I was not the lead booker so had transferred my share of prepaid accommodation costs to the lead booker bank to bank . Europ Assist very nice but there was nothing they could do . At least the flights were on points and Virgin Atlantic sorted those last night . Just wanted to let people know about this . And my appendix flared up in UK not USA !
Just to add to this : there are certain categories of spend that need to be on the card to get complete coverage – flights and car rental are the main ones. Its in the fine print of the agreement. But some aspects are not linked to purchase on an AMEX and are fine for coverage regardless.
Also note Ive had it confirmed with AMEX themselves that the insurance coverage you get(and which extends to your family etc) is that of the HIGHEST coverage on ANY AMEX CARD you hold. So if you have bought flights on your BACC to get the avios, but also hold a Platinum card for other things, you get the PLATINUM policy coverage regardless. This applies also to Corporate Cards you hold in your name.
Suggest if anyone is relying on this they phone check themselves, but this is what my AMEX account manager and the pass-thru-to-insurer-call-center told me.
Long time lurker first time posting . Just wanted to share my recent experience that you need to have paid for the trip on your Amex business Platinum card for cancellation cover to be provided. Due to travel with friends and I was not the lead booker so had transferred my share of prepaid accommodation costs to the lead booker bank to bank . Europ Assist very nice but there was nothing they could do . At least the flights were on points and Virgin Atlantic sorted those last night . Just wanted to let people know about this . And my appendix flared up in UK not USA !
Just to add to this : there are certain categories of spend that need to be on the card to get complete coverage – flights and car rental are the main ones. Its in the fine print of the agreement. But some aspects are not linked to purchase on an AMEX and are fine for coverage regardless.
Also note Ive had it confirmed with AMEX themselves that the insurance coverage you get(and which extends to your family etc) is that of the HIGHEST coverage on ANY AMEX CARD you hold. So if you have bought flights on your BACC to get the avios, but also hold a Platinum card for other things, you get the PLATINUM policy coverage regardless. This applies also to Corporate Cards you hold in your name.
Suggest if anyone is relying on this they phone check themselves, but this is what my AMEX account manager and the pass-thru-to-insurer-call-center told me.
Interesting.
That would make perfect sense.
However as always it might come down to whoever is processing the claim as to whether they do.
I always pay for travel with BA on Amex Premier, but rely upon the Amex Business for over 70s cover.
As the trip isn’t always business, I can’t pay on that card anyway.
I spent ages looking at this before finding this thread (I’m a newbie and now know to come here first!). The tick and cross guide in the T&Cs (those applying from 1 January 2025) breaks down as follows:
1. Medical cover, personal belongings, personal accident and legal cover applies however you pay (subject obviously to their own T&Cs)
2. Other cover requires payment on the Charge Card account (i.e. not the general Amex account or a credit card account). I would therefore be cautious about any suggestion that you get any element of the Business Platinum cover if you pay by a personal Amex card – might be ok if you have more than one type of business charge card. What they may mean, desh36000 is that you get the highest of the cover that actually applies (not that the cover is upgraded to something that you would not qualify for). Eg you get Plat Business medical cover if that is higher than on the card you paid on. Remember that it is not Amex that processes the claim but Europassistance and they will go on the policy wording.
3. Travel inconvenience is weirdly drafted as it looks like it is included if you pay with a different card, but is then excluded if the Charge Card is not used.
4. Car hire also requires an insured person (cardmember, cardmember’s family member or supplementary cardmember (but not their family)) is named on the car hire agreement. It does not say that they have to be the hirer so it would seem reasonable for them to be a named driver (but this may be arguable).
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