[jamjamjam]

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.

[jamjamjam]

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….?

[jamjamjam]

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.”

[jamjamjam]

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 account

That 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?