Amex Platinum insurance – MASTER THREAD

[Ori]

So reading through the thread and my understanding of the insurance policy it works like this.

So long as you pay for your trip on any Amex card on your account you are fully covered?
Children who don’t have a card as they are too young or not additional card holders are covered no matter how you paid so long as you can provide receipts.

Additional card holders need to book on the card to get the full benefits of the insurance. Medical is always covered.

I tend to book on my BA premium card which also has the travel inconvenience cover, but regardless the platinum travel should cover everything anyway.

[walace]

So, here’s a pretty unique scenario for your thoughts on…

I had a small number of American Airlines miles so decided to use them for a car hire in Mallorca later this year through Avis. I had enough for the rental to be free so I have a full booking confirmation through from Rocketmiles (who run the hotel/car hire booking redemptions for American Airlines) but have no charges on any type of card.

Secondly, as it is technically booked from the USA I have the usual situation where all insurance is currently declined. Additionally the booking is visible on the US Avis website but the UK Avis site where I currently have an account does not recognise the booking, although I’m not too surprised by this.

Checking the Amex Platinum insurance documents I can see no issues with relying on their cover, but wanted to check thoughts around the fact I’ve not actually paid for this rental (although I will use the Platinum Amex for the security deposit) and whether Amex will or will not cover due to the booking technically being made outside of the UK.

[Noodles34]

I am in Portugal and someone has hit my rental car, just a small dent and scratch but clearly visible and no doubt it will be picked up. Had a similar experience last year but that was my fault, of sorts. A small chip on the rear bumper when loading rubbish. Charged 200 E’s but got it all back with Eversure with receipts etc. Anyone know the procedure on Amex Platinum Insurance, what do I need to do when I return the car?

[Scroop]

Hi all,

Some very useful insight in this thread; thanks for providing your own use-cases.

Wondering if anyone could provide some thoughts on coverage with the following travel plans:
– Going abroad (UK -> USA) with an immediate family member next year, trip will entail flights, hotels, transfers and a cruise.
– So far the only thing booked is the cruise. Although not totally paid off, all the payments so far have been made by supplementary cardholders (2 payments from Platinum cards, 1 from a Gold: Thank you £150 off Celebrity Cruise per Card, not account holder ;)).
– If we can grab them, flights will be paid via points, with the taxes being paid with a card.
– Hotels etc. will be booked directly with the hotel and paid with platinum card.

My questions are:
– Is the insurance in general enough for this sort of holiday? I’ve never booked a DIY holiday before, always through ATOL-protected agents so have had relative peace of mind in-case something goes wrong; are the same sort of protections included in this policy? (e.g. if we’re stranded, we’ll have support to get home…)
– Will the family member travelling with me also be covered? They’re a supplementary cardholder, have made a payment towards the cruise BUT they only have a gold card.
– Ideally we’d like to pay the taxes with a different, non-AMEX card to take advantage of a points bonus, however assuming this will mean our air travel won’t be covered by the policy? If so, I’ll pay with the Platinum to play it safe.

Thanks all for your input.
– Scroop

[Reney]

@scroop

Last year when I went on a cruise I recall searching the whole insurance doc and the word cruise does not appear. That is not to say you weren’t cover but if the ship doesn’t let you on without proof of insurance then it might be a problem.

Since the word cruise isn’t on the insurance doc not clear if you have to pay with the card…

You can pay your flight with another amex as long as it is one in your card account, which I think of as in my amex log in. But not an non amex if you want cancellation insurance, unless there was no option to pay with amex.

As I understand it, all 5 supplementary card from the old charge card version gets the insurance benefits.

[Reney]

Help pls. I paid for my flights for year end using my BAPP on my card account. If I want to downgrade or cancel my BAPP before the trip does it affect my insurance?

[Scroop]

Reney wrote:

@scroop

Last year when I went on a cruise I recall searching the whole insurance doc and the word cruise does not appear. That is not to say you weren’t cover but if the ship doesn’t let you on without proof of insurance then it might be a problem.

Since the word cruise isn’t on the insurance doc not clear if you have to pay with the card…

You can pay your flight with another amex as long as it is one in your card account, which I think of as in my amex log in. But not an non amex if you want cancellation insurance, unless there was no option to pay with amex.

As I understand it, all 5 supplementary card from the old charge card version gets the insurance benefits.

Thank you @Reney for your insight!

Just to save any doubt I’ll phone Amex directly and get them to come out with a direct answer; I’d like to think my insurance profile is pretty low risk, so I’m hoping they won’t say ‘no’ to the cruise protection 🙂

Glad to know about the flights too, I’ll just pay for them with my plat to again save on any issues down the line.

Appreciate the help.

[Carlos]

So I was told my CS that if you dont pay with your platinum card for the flight/accommodation you are not covered for any aspect of cancellation/curtailment/delay… (even if purchased as a supplementary amex card holder for another amex card!)

[Reney]

Carlos wrote:

So I was told my CS that if you dont pay with your platinum card for the flight/accommodation you are not covered for any aspect of cancellation/curtailment/delay… (even if purchased as a supplementary amex card holder for another amex card!)

You should call the axa number associated with Plat not the common customer service line.

[RG]

I’m waiting til my annual travel insurance to expire before I go for plat – I assume that anything I have booked now (paid for on amex but not plat obvs) won’t be covered by either my soon to expire travel insurance, or the plat insurance?

[Ingking]

Hi. I’m abroad and need some emergency dental work done. Does anyone have any experience with using this?
From what I gather from the platinum insurance documents it only covers up to £1000 and I need pre approval?
If anyone has any data points/tips that would be a big help.
Thanks

[Reney]

RG wrote:

I’m waiting til my annual travel insurance to expire before I go for plat – I assume that anything I have booked now (paid for on amex but not plat obvs) won’t be covered by either my soon to expire travel insurance, or the plat insurance?

on plat only some things need to be paid for with an amex. I suspect if you are on holiday and for sick it will be fine. It is the cancellation stuff that much be an issue

[Wiseoldman]

Used this for OH when travelling to Netherland. You can call and ask for their help if you cant find a dentist. If you have a dentist you can use then just use that and claim when you get back online. They will ask for details of work and proof of payment. It was straight forward.

Ingking wrote:

Hi. I’m abroad and need some emergency dental work done. Does anyone have any experience with using this?
From what I gather from the platinum insurance documents it only covers up to £1000 and I need pre approval?
If anyone has any data points/tips that would be a big help.
Thanks

[Skywalker]

Hi, player 2 and I will be travelling soon.

I am a recent Amex platinum credit card holder, so did not use the card to pay for the trip. We are going to the US.

A few questions:

Will we be covered for this trip, even though we did not pay with the said Amex card?

Where can I get a policy/cover document for player 2? I have generated one for myself but it very much talks about me the cardholder and says nothing about immediate family cover.

It also asks me to refer to the policy terms and conditions document – but this document was not included on the email, so is there a link to this please? .

Player 2 is not a sub on the account either so does this preclude him from being covered under the policy?

Sorry for noob questions, thanks in advance.

[Middster]

I did ring up Axa who deal with the Amex insurance and was told you are covered regardless of if you pay on your Amex card. How correct that is who knows???

[elguiri]

Trying to get my head around player 2 needing to travel alone. They are a supp on my amex plat (and BAPP). Can we buy the flights on their BAPP (to get more points than with Plat), or does it need to be with one of my cards as I’m the primary cardholder, to be covered?

[elguiri]

Noodles34 wrote:

I am in Portugal and someone has hit my rental car, just a small dent and scratch but clearly visible and no doubt it will be picked up. Had a similar experience last year but that was my fault, of sorts. A small chip on the rear bumper when loading rubbish. Charged 200 E’s but got it all back with Eversure with receipts etc. Anyone know the procedure on Amex Platinum Insurance, what do I need to do when I return the car?

Had a similar incident in France a few weeks ago. Didn’t see who did it, so when took car back to Avis told them about it, and got the legal forms filled out about what happened (at least from my side of the story) and paid the avis excess for damage. Then filled in the form via the amex plat insurance website once back home and called Axa through Amex plat to clarify some answers. On the form had to upload photo of proof of journey (eurostar tickets), proof of car hire contract, proof of payment of damage fee, proof of damage description/legal forms, and I think I also uploaded proof of damage (photo taken of damage before handing car back). On the phone call they told me that it was approved there and then. 3 days later money in my account. Very slick. The car hire was booked on Amex plat, and I paid the damage also on amex plat, just to be sure. Axa paid out on the foreign transaction fee on this too.

Do note, some countries will might have rules stating you have to inform police or maybe avis insists you contact their emergency helpline before bringing car back, you should make your own enquiries for this.

[elguiri]

elguiri wrote:

Trying to get my head around player 2 needing to travel alone. They are a supp on my amex plat (and BAPP). Can we buy the flights on their BAPP (to get more points than with Plat), or does it need to be with one of my cards as I’m the primary cardholder, to be covered?

Just to add to this, I just called Axa, and they said as I (main cardholder) am not travelling, player 2 needs to use her card when paying for the tickets. I then also asked whether player 2’s BAPP could be used and still get cover, and was told yes. The main point being I couldn’t use my cards for plane ticket etc purchase if she was to be covered.

This seems a bit at odds with cover for family of main cardholder part, which if she wasn’t a supp would have had to be booked on my card…

[Budgettraveller]

Can anyone clarify whether the Platinum credit card (the one with the £575 fee) covers travel disruption and delay?

I am considering signing up for the card and the insurance would be a big benefit for me. I went on a holiday earlier this year which included 3 consecutive trains. The first was severely delayed which meant we missed our connections and had to book a hotel and flight in order to reach our destination in reasonable time (to replace the 2 missed trains), and my current insurer paid for both those costs.

I’ve checked the Amex insurance PDF and asked the team on live chat but can only see references to up to £300 for missed departure or delay (which sounds like it’s intended to cover buying extra food etc, not replacement flights/trains).

Have I missed something or does the platinum insurance not cover any delay or disruption costs?

Thank you!

[Froggee]

@Budgettraveller – that is my interpretation. If you’re lucky, @JDB will pop along and confirm.

I recently had a disruption claim and I was surprised Amex looked to offer pretty much nada so have put it into HSBC instead (of no use to you I imagine)

[JDB]

@Budgettraveller the Amex Plat insurance is quite weak in many regards and this is one of many gaps in the cover. I think your analysis that the only Plat insurance section that gets close to this is ‘travel inconvenience’ is correct and it doesn’t cover the circumstances you mention. If it was in the EU, you should have been covered under EC1371 for the accommodation, food and rebooking of trains.

[Budgettraveller]

Froggee wrote:

@Budgettraveller – that is my interpretation. If you’re lucky, @JDB will pop along and confirm.

I recently had a disruption claim and I was surprised Amex looked to offer pretty much nada so have put it into HSBC instead (of no use to you I imagine)

Thanks @Froggee & @JDB, that’s really helpful (though disappointing to hear!). It was UK > EU and the train companies did say we could travel on later trains, but they could only offer daytime trains the next day and not sleeper trains. Missing a day of holiday to spend 14+ hours in train seats didn’t sound great so we flew instead. I think I’ll stick with my current insurer in that case as I wouldn’t want to be stuck outside the EU with only £300 to spend on rebooking transport or hotels.

[Stephen]

Did anyone manage to clarify whether AMEX Platinum insurance covers cruises?

Thanks

[starquake]

We couldn’t find out either Stephen, but also the limits were too low.
A cruise we’re on at Xmas has a fare pp of £4k, which means it’s too high for amex anyhow.

Can reccomend holidayextras for cruise insurance, it was £200 (with a non-covered medical condition for wife on Amex) for an annual policy with limits more suited for all our upcomign cruises.

[chrishond]

Re the travel delay benefits, I just got the platinum this week, but had already bought December 2022 flight tickets earlier in the year with my BA Amex

The rules refer to a “card account”, – would I still be covered if necessary?

Also, with all the recent insurance changes, is it now possible to add extra cover for pre existing conditions or is an entirely separate policy (with another company) still needed? I saw a link during the sign up process about this, which I’m trying to locate.