Cancellation/curtailment only travel insurance to compliment Amex Plat

[marks7389]

Hi All,

I received my Amex Platinum card in early December. We have a trip coming up shortly with some non-refundable hotel bookings that were bought prior to my receiving the Platinum card on my BAPP and my wife’s Gold Amex.

Having spoken to Europa Insurance it seems that those bookings would not be covered from a cancellation/curtailment perspective although, oddly, I’m told they would have been had I had the Platinum card at the time even if we’d used the other Amex cards to pay for the bookings (I was clear I wasn’t expecting cover for retrospective cancellation events).

Our annual travel insurance policy expires tomorrow so I need to make a decision as to whether to renew/replace that or self-insure the bookings for the next few weeks.

Is anyone aware of any cancellation/curtailment only insurance without the medical or accident cover that we already have with the Platinum policy?

[JDB]

I’m quite surprised by the response you have received from Europ Assistance and I would be inclined to ask them again and ask them to explain in writing why you aren’t covered.

The policy wording is very poor and I can’t see where it says that cover doesn’t commence immediately (obviously on the proviso that nothing relevant re cancellation was known to you at the time of taking out the card). The wording of paragraph 1.2.2 isn’t definitive but seems to support this.

In general, the key for insurance policies is that they need to be in place at the time of the claim and clearly an insurer would be suspicious if you booked, later took out a policy/card and claimed the next day.

Here you also met the requirement for the cancellation section of paying with an Amex card.

If you are planning on potentially making the Plat insurance your sole policy it’s worth reading through the policy wording to make sure it meets your needs. No policy is perfect, but for me the real issues of this policy is exclusion of so many common pre-existing conditions and the extraordinarily all encompassing definition thereof and the very limited nature and low quantum of cover for travel inconvenience.

[marks7389]

Thanks JDB.

I did contact them twice, the first time by chat where I got an agent who seemed unable to do anything more than search for stuff in the terms and conditions. I didn’t have the terms and conditions in front of me at the time, but I did explicitly asked her what the “Card Account” meant (i.e. whether it covered other Amex cards on the same account) and she was apparently unable to answer the question since she went off on a tangent about checking the benefits on the cards are is irrelevant here.

The second time I called and was told explicitly no, unless I also had the Platinum card at the time of purchase which seemed wrong to me also.

I will try again tomorrow with reference to the terms and conditions.

It looks to me like it should cover accommodation and flights purchased on my BAPP. What’s less clear is whether it covers accommodation bought on my wife’s Gold card since she is now the supplementary cardholder on the Platinum.

[JDB]

@marks7389 – I think that on the definitions of ‘card’ and ‘card account’ you are fine. Please don’t take my word for it, but I think there is a consensus that for the personal (but not business) Plat any Amex will cover you for those sections that require payment on ‘the card’ by the primary or supplementary cardholder.

It’s quite extraordinary that EA can’t tell you when your policy came or comes into force. If you have time, I would take it up with Amex.

It’s such a basic detail so really quite scary EA can’t give you a correct and definitive answer immediately. Axa was quite bad but EA was a cheaper administrator, probably largely because they didn’t know how this contract has worked in practice; rather different than they imagined.

[vzzbuckz]

You can be sure they will fully understand the terms and conditions should you come to make a claim.