This post comes from a submission by WeChat reader Leo. Submissions are welcome!

Background

When we apply for premium cards to earn welcome bonuses, it’s easy to forget about the built-in perks that come with those high annual fees. To be honest, ever since I got into the credit card game, I had been wondering when I’d finally get to use one of those benefits and really “earn back” the annual fee. But everything had been going smoothly, and I never ran into a situation where I actually needed it. Still, just because it doesn’t happen often doesn’t mean it never will. Sure enough, my 5 / 23 flight from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chongqing was suddenly canceled because of weather.

After the cancellation, my first instinct was to contact the airline and try to rebook, since once a flight is canceled, changing to another flight on the same airline should not involve any fare difference. But after searching, I found that Air China’s remaining flights to Chongqing that day all departed from Shanghai Pudong at around 9 PM. That was clearly impractical for me, since I’m based in Suzhou. Other Hongqiao-to-Chongqing flights at better times were on China Eastern, but unfortunately the phone agents did not have authority to rebook me onto another airline, so that option went nowhere.

Since rebooking wasn’t going to work, I decided to switch to a flight departing from Hongqiao at the same time the next day and make full use of the extra weekend day with trip delay insurance.

  • Card used: Chase Sapphire Reserve
  • Payment requirement: Airfare must be charged to CSR【including third-party payment platforms: PP, WeChat Pay, and Alipay】
  • Trigger condition: Delay of 6h+ or an overnight delay
  • Coverage amount: Up to $500 in reasonable expenses after the delay (food, transportation, lodging, shopping, etc.)

Key points to prepare

Before using trip delay insurance, there are a few important things to keep in mind:

First, CSR requires the delay to be at least 6 hours or overnight;
Second, the delay cannot occur near your billing address;
Finally, trip delay insurance only reimburses meals, lodging, and appropriate personal items such as toiletries and clothing【make sure to keep all receipts or order screenshots; the expenses do not have to be paid with the CSR】.
If an expense is very small (see the official guide for each card; for example, Chase’s threshold is $50), you may not even need a receipt. You can simply state the expense when uploading documents, but be sure to explain it clearly.

Note:

  • The airline ticket must be purchased with the eligible U.S. card (such as the CSR in this example; even WeChat Pay or Alipay may count if the charge ultimately goes through that card)
  • Expenses incurred because of the delay do not need to be paid with that credit card!
  • The insurance covers a fairly broad range of expenses. Even purchases paid via WeChat Pay or Alipay are generally accepted.

For my trip, I bought the ticket directly in the Air China app using my CSR. The delay ended up being a full 24 hours, and the delay location, Shanghai, was nowhere near my billing address—in fact, not even in the same country—so it met the terms.

Making eligible purchases

Since this was also my first time using trip delay insurance, I was mentally prepared for the possibility that I might not get reimbursed.

Dining

That day, my original plan was to take my parents to a Black Pearl restaurant in Suzhou—Huachi 88 at Park Hyatt Suzhou—for an upscale Suzhou-style meal. But later, since my mother preferred Cantonese food, we changed the plan and went to Jinmeihua at Suzhou Center, which is also one of the better Cantonese restaurants in Suzhou. Before going in, I asked whether they accepted American cards and got a yes. Even though the insurance doesn’t require you to pay with an American card, if I could use one, I could also earn an extra 3x UR, which still matters. In the end, the meal was cheaper than I expected and cost a little over 700.

Shopping

After dinner, we walked around the mall a bit and decided to buy some items that would at least be useful afterward. First, I picked up some facial cleanser and lotion that I had run out of earlier. I had originally planned to go to Watsons, but after checking, I found there wasn’t one in Suzhou Center, so I ended up buying similar items at Sephora. Unsurprisingly, that ended up costing even more than dinner—close to 1000 RMB—and they also accepted foreign cards.

Finally, I bought some clothes as well. After all, with a one-day delay, I might end up short on clean clothes. I went to Uniqlo, since I’m not really into trendy designer brands and just care about comfort. Still, I was surprised that two very ordinary pairs of Uniqlo pants cost 400+.

Other expenses

At the very end of the day, I had originally thought about arranging another more expensive meal for the evening, but maybe I lost my nerve—or maybe my parents just didn’t want the extra hassle—so we switched back to a more normal dinner that cost under 200. Since that place didn’t take foreign cards, I used WeChat Pay.

The next day, when I headed out to catch the high-speed train, I also kept the receipts for some KFC at the station and for the Didi ride from Chongqing Airport to the hotel. On my first night in Chongqing, I started organizing all the documentation I would need for reimbursement.

Uploading documents

The most important piece of evidence was the delay certificate. Air China was actually pretty nice on this front: from its China website, I could easily print a bilingual Chinese-English delay certificate clearly stating that the flight was canceled because of weather.

In addition, I needed either the statement showing that the ticket was purchased with the covered card or a screenshot of the charge in the app, along with receipts for all the expenses and boarding passes or itinerary records from before and after the delay. For the itinerary, I used the original Air China ticketing confirmation email, which showed the fare and route. For the post-delay boarding pass, I used the electronic boarding pass from VariFlight.

Finally, after converting all the pending charges on the CSR and the amounts paid in RMB into U.S. dollars, I got a total reimbursement amount of 373.29.

I then uploaded all the information to the card benefit service website. Chase’s claims administrator is Eclaimsline:

Then I entered the required information as prompted:

Next, for the people whose expenses are being claimed, you can select the covered travelers. It seems like almost anyone counts here (in theory, as long as you know them, their expenses may count).

When uploading documents, I recommend uploading files anywhere the system allows you to.

After the upload was complete, I received a notification:

What happened next

About a week later, there was an update: I was asked to upload the delay certificate and the statement for the items purchased using the covered card.

After calling customer service, I learned more about those two requests, and I also told them I was confused. I had already clearly labeled Air China’s delay certificate with the file name “trip delay proof,” so why did they need it again? The representative said she didn’t know either, but she helped mark the delay document so the examiner could review it again. As for the statement, they mainly wanted it in order to determine the exchange rate on the day of the purchase. So I waited one more day until the statement came out, then uploaded the statement, the delay document, and screenshots of the WeChat purchases for further review. After another 5 days, the claim was approved in full.

Once approved, there were three reimbursement options: check, debit card, and direct deposit. I chose the third option and received the money after a few business days. After Eclaimsline sends payment, it first emails you a notification. The funds then show up in your debit account the next day. I use Chase, and the deposit looked like this:

Editor’s notes

  • With U.S. credit card trip delay insurance, claims usually go through without major issues if you meet the requirements, but you should still be prepared for the possibility of denial.
  • Trip delay insurance is a protection benefit provided by the bank and an extra perk for cardholders, so please don’t abuse it. U.S. banks generally offer fairly generous reimbursement amounts【mid-tier cards $300, premium cards $500】.
  • Many of the merchants in Leo’s article can accept U.S. cards in China【note: the Air China app recently seems not to support VISA/Master credit cards】.
  • If you’re interested in using foreign credit cards in China, you can browse: related articles on “using U.S. cards in China”.