In a Nutshell
Credit cards with trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you for prepaid, nonrefundable expenses like airfare and hotel reservations if you experience a covered event — such as getting sick or having your travel plans canceled because of severe weather. We’ve rounded up the best credit cards offering this benefit.When you’re traveling, it pays to have a credit card with trip cancellation insurance.
Trip cancellation insurance is a type of travel insurance that reimburses you for prepaid, nonrefundable reservations — like airline tickets, hotel reservations and guided tours — when your trip is canceled for a covered reason.
For example, if you get sick before your trip and the doctor says you can’t travel, or if your travel plans are canceled because of severe weather, you might be covered under your credit card’s trip cancellation policy.
Let’s take a look at our picks for the best credit cards with trip cancellation insurance.
- Platinum Card® from American Express: Great for luxury travelers
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Great for frequent travelers
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Great for occasional travelers
- Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card: Great for Preferred Rewards members
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Great for business owners
Platinum Card® from American Express: Great for luxury travelers
Here’s why: Offering perks such as complimentary access to world-class airport lounges and benefits at certain upscale hotels, the Platinum Card® from American Express is a popular choice for luxury travelers. But luxury doesn’t come cheap — the card has a $695 annual fee. If you’re planning a pricey vacation, it’s nice to know the card comes with trip cancellation insurance, just in case a covered event arises before you take off.
Coverage limits: You’ll be eligible for reimbursements of up to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per year.
What’s covered: You, along with any family members or traveling companions whose travel expenses were charged to your card, will be covered. The trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you for nonrefundable expenses that you put on your card before your trip. Eligible travel expenses may include purchases through airlines, hotels, cruise liners, tour operators or other common carriers requiring a ticket.
Covered events may include illness, injuries or being quarantined by a doctor. Your coverage may also kick in in the event of severe weather preventing travel, terrorist action, a change in your or your spouse’s military orders, or a call to jury duty or subpoena that can’t be postponed.
What’s not covered: If you’re sick before you book the trip and aren’t feeling better when it’s time to travel, that sickness might not qualify for coverage because it could be considered a preexisting medical condition. Other events that aren’t covered include a declaration of war in the place you were planning to visit, non-emergency treatments or surgeries, or if your travel supplier — such as a tour operator, cruise line, airline, resort or railroad — experiences financial insolvency.
Other travel protections: The Platinum Card® from American Express also provides baggage insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, trip interruption coverage and trip delay insurance.
Check out our review of the Platinum Card® from American Express to learn more about this card.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Great for frequent travelers
Here’s why: The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of our favorite credit cards for frequent travelers. Though it comes with a $550 annual fee, you get a travel credit of up to $300 in statement credits as reimbursement for travel purchases made with your card each anniversary year. And after you earn the travel credit, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers plenty of travel rewards, including …
- 10 points per $1 on hotel and car rental purchases through Chase Travel℠
- 5 points per $1 on flights purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3 points for every $1 spent on other eligible travel purchases
But one of the card’s most helpful perks is often overlooked: trip cancellation insurance.
Coverage limits: You’ll be eligible for reimbursements of up to $10,000 per trip for yourself — $20,000 per occurrence if you’re traveling with family — and $40,000 per year if you need to cancel more than once during a rolling 12-month period. If you paid for the trip using Chase Travel℠ points, you’ll be reimbursed an amount equal to the monetary value of the points, as it appears on your trip itinerary or redemption confirmation.
What’s covered: This card’s trip cancellation insurance covers both you and any immediate family members as long as all or part of the trip is purchased with your card.
A covered loss could include quarantine by a doctor because of illness, being deemed too sick to travel, an injury that requires hospitalization, severe weather, a storm warning, terrorism, your home or travel accommodations becoming uninhabitable, a change in military orders, a call to jury duty or subpoena, or an organized strike affecting public transportation that causes you to miss the departure of a prepaid cruise or tour.
What’s not covered: In addition to preexisting conditions, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® also limits coverage for pregnant women. If you’re in the last trimester of a pregnancy, pregnant with multiples or got pregnant through an assisted reproductive program, your trip may not be covered. And if the purpose of your trip is to get medical treatment, travel expenses won’t be covered.
Beyond medical events, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® won’t cover you if you cancel your trip because your financial circumstances have changed or if your travel supplier goes out of business. You also won’t be covered if you book travel to an area with terrorist activity.
Other travel protections: The Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with other travel benefits, including rental car insurance, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, travel accident insurance, trip delay reimbursement, trip interruption insurance, and an emergency evacuation and transportation benefit.
Learn more about this card in our review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Great for occasional travelers
Here’s why: With a $95 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is more affordable for less-frequent travelers, but it offers a similar level of trip cancellation insurance as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Coverage limits: Just as with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you’ll be eligible for up to $10,000 per trip for yourself and $20,000 per occurrence if you’re traveling with family, up to $40,000 per year.
What’s covered: This card’s trip cancellation insurance covers you and immediate family members if expenses for part or all of the trip are put on the card. Similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, covered losses may include an injury, sickness or quarantine that prevents you or your travel companion from traveling, severe weather, an organized strike, or an event that renders your home or hotel uninhabitable.
What’s not covered: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes with the same coverage limitations as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, including preexisting conditions, travel for pregnant women or travel to get medical treatment. Other non-covered scenarios include if you cancel your trip because you lost your job and can’t afford to travel anymore, or if you don’t want to travel because of civil unrest.
Other travel protections: Similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes with travel benefits such as rental car insurance, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, travel and emergency assistance, travel accident insurance and trip delay reimbursement, though the coverage terms and amount may be different from that of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
See our review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to learn more about this card.
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card: Great for Preferred Rewards members
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card
Here’s why: The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is a relatively affordable travel credit card. It has a $95 annual fee and offers two points for every $1 you spend on travel and dining. If you’re a Preferred Rewards member (i.e., you have at least a $20,000 three-month average combined balance in your Bank of America banking or Merrill investment accounts), you could earn 25% to 75% more points on every purchase, meaning you could earn up to 3.5 points for every $1 you spend on travel and dining. The card also comes with trip cancellation insurance. Unfortunately, Bank of America limits the information available about this policy until after you apply for the card. But here’s what we know.
Coverage limits: You’ll be eligible for up to $2,500 for fares if your trip is canceled or cut short. But it’s unclear if Bank of America places any limits on coverage if you’re traveling with other people, or whether you’re covered if you need to cancel a trip more than once in a year.
What’s covered: The trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you for unused, prepaid travel expenses that are nonrefundable — such as airfare, hotel reservations and guided tours — if you cancel for a covered reason, like sickness. But Bank of America doesn’t specify in its trip cancellation policy what other expenses it will cover.
Other travel protections: In addition to trip cancellation and interruption insurance, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card also comes with trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay and lost luggage reimbursement, travel and emergency assistance, and emergency evacuation and transportation coverage.
Take a look at our review of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card to learn more.
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Great for business owners
Here’s why: The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card could be ideal for business owners who frequently travel. You can earn three points per $1 spent on the first $150,000 you spend in combined purchases each account anniversary year across four categories, including travel. And if you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after you open your account, you’ll earn 90,000 bonus points, which are worth $1,125 when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel℠. The card can also come in handy if you need to cancel your business trip.
Coverage limits: For business owners, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card essentially offers up to $5,000 on eligible reimbursements per trip.
What’s covered: The trip cancellation insurance reimburses you for prepaid, nonrefundable expenses — including flights, hotel reservations and guided tours — that are put on your card. Covered events are similar to those of the other Chase cards featured in this article and include severe weather, as well as illness or injury that prevent travel.
What’s not covered: If your travel plans change because a meeting got rescheduled or your business has fallen on hard times, the trip cancellation insurance won’t cover your expenses. You also won’t be covered if you’re traveling for more than 60 days. Other reasons your trip may not be covered include if you cancel because of a preexisting condition.
Other travel protections: The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card also comes with trip interruption insurance, travel and emergency assistance, and car rental coverage.
You can learn more about this card in our review of the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
How we picked the best credit cards with trip cancellation insurance
To find the best credit cards with trip cancellation insurance, we started by looking at popular travel cards. From there, we considered the trip cancellation insurance coverage limits, events that may — or may not — be covered, and any additional types of travel insurance coverage that come with the card.
How to make the most of cards with trip cancellation insurance
As with other card features, be sure to familiarize yourself with the trip cancellation insurance policy of the card you’re considering. Read the fine print to see what is and isn’t covered, coverage limits and whether the policy might reimburse anyone else’s travel expenses that you paid for with your card. Check out our article on trip cancellation insurance to learn more about this type of coverage.
*Approval Odds are not a guarantee of approval. Credit Karma determines Approval Odds by comparing your credit profile to other Credit Karma members who were approved for the card shown, or whether you meet certain criteria determined by the lender. Of course, there’s no such thing as a sure thing, but knowing your Approval Odds may help you narrow down your choices. For example, you may not be approved because you don’t meet the lender’s “ability to pay standard” after they verify your income and employment; or, you already have the maximum number of accounts with that specific lender.