Yes, Chase Will Accept Trip Delay Insurance Claims from ATL Power Outage

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

As we at TPG reported about the thousands of flight cancellations piled up at the Atlanta airport (ATL) on Sunday, we hoped that our readers booked their flights with a credit card that provides trip delay insurance. While there's no making up for missing your meeting, vacation or special event, at least getting up to $500 per ticket in expense reimbursements certainly makes a situation less painful.

That's why I was upset to hear that TPG reader and Lounge member Kyungho R. was told by Chase's Card Benefit Services team that "trip insurance through Chase does NOT include power outages" when he tried to file a claim for a Chase Sapphire Preferred purchase.

That didn't sound right, so I immediately reached out to one of our Chase contacts about the situation. While she's still looking into why Kyungho was provided incorrect information, the Chase spokesperson was able to confirm:

The outage in Atlanta would be covered under the Trip Delay Insurance for both Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve.

(I've asked for confirmation that this will also apply to other Chase credit cards with Trip Delay Insurance.)

The power outage is indeed a covered hazard. However, that doesn't necessarily mean you have the green light to file a claim. There are a few more requirements in order to qualify for a Chase Trip Delay insurance claim.

Does your trip qualify?

First, you must be on a "Covered Trip." Thankfully, the definition is pretty broad here:

A Covered Trip is a period of round-trip travel (meaning departing from and eventually returning to your primary residence) that doesn’t exceed three hundred and sixty-five (365) days away from your residence to a destination other than your city of residence.

Next, you must be affected by a qualifying delay. For the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card, the delay needs to be "more than six (6) hours or requires an overnight stay." For the Chase Sapphire Preferred and all other Chase cards with Trip Delay Insurance, a qualifying delay is "more than twelve (12) hours or requires an overnight stay."

While this is probably obvious, you must have charged "a portion or the entire cost of the Common Carrier fare" using your covered Chase credit card.

Who's Covered

The Trip Delay insurance benefits only apply to the cardholder, cardholder's spouse and the cardholder's dependent children under twenty-two (22) years of age.

What's Covered

As listed in the Guide to Benefits, Trip Delay Insurance covers:

Reasonable additional expenses, including but not limited to meals, lodging, toiletries, medication and other personal use items that you encounter due to a Covered Hazard delay.

In addition, the claims website also includes ground transportation "including taxis to or from the airport, rental cars, non-courtesy shuttles, buses or trains" as a covered expense.

Note that the insurance doesn't cover expenses "provided free of charge by the Common Carrier or any other party." So, you can't file a claim for those Chick-fil-A sandwiches or anything else that the airline or airport provided for free.

Also, Chase's Trip Delay insurance doesn't reimburse prepaid expenses (i.e. hotel, cruise) further along your trip. The Trip Delay insurance benefit focuses on the expenses you incur while waiting. If you had prepaid expense losses, you might be able to file a claim under Trip Cancellation or Trip Insurance.

How to File a Claim

If you were in ATL that fateful day, don't delay submitting your claim. You only have 60 days to initiate a claim with Card Benefit Services. The finalized claim must be submitted within 100 days of the incident.

To start the claim process, go to www.eclaimsline.com, type in your card number and name. Follow the website instructions from there.

While the webpage says that you will be notified "within 5 business days" if more information is needed, there's a warning in larger text that "processing delays with your claim may be experienced:"

Bottom Line

Chase's Trip Delay is an excellent benefit of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve and many other Chase cards. So, certainly take advantage of this benefit if you have eligible expenses.

Just remember that this is one of many benefits of the credit card where your claim could be many multiples more than the annual fee. And, Chase's insurance provider is covering these expenses despite having no responsibility for ATL airport's power failure.