Amex Platinum insurance – MASTER THREAD

[PT]

FFoxSake wrote:

JDB wrote:

There is a separate document that lists allowable health pre-existing conditions plus the sports covered, the second part of which references allowed winter sports. I don’t have a link to it I’m afraid.

The page for allowed Sports is here:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/insurance/benefit-centre/search?sports=sports

but the link to the full pdf document is not currently visible there. It can be seen by right-clicking the text “To view the full list of all Sports and Activities covered by your American Express card please” and using Inspect.

Here’s the link that’s embedded in there:
https://icm.aexp-static.com/Internet/insurance/pdf/en-GB/UK_Platinum_Sports_and_Winter_Sports_Activities_list.pdf

This clears it all up…you have to type in the exact wording (from the document you link to) for it to show it is in fact covered (e.g. ‘on piste skiing’ not ‘skiing’). Phew.

Thank you so much!

[shaya]

Anyone had any experience with this.

Im really seething with AMEX. I bought tickets to Ukraine long before the war. The war broke out and my flight were cancelled. The airline is refusing to refund me and Amex have a WAR clause.
See below
We have looked at the special circumstances and additional points you have raised but are unable to help towards your costs as your claim falls outside
the cover provided by your policy. The relevant part of your policy is on page 20, Paragraph 1.9 of your policy wording:
19) Declared or undeclared war or hostilities
We understand that although this decision may be disappointing, we hope that you will understand why we cannot consider settlement of your claim
on this occasion.

[Carlos]

MKB wrote:

Trying to claim under Travel Inconvenience with AXA is proving to be a nightmare.

They direct you to an online portal that is not fit for purpose. It asks the wrong questions, then auto-rejects you based on false assumptions.

I’ve managed to get an agent, who appeared to be using a very flaky computer connection from home, to log the claim manually. But she said she had to fiddle the data to make the system accept it. I now apparently have to write an email explaining the circumstances in full to override the details the agent entered.

It’s only taken four hours so far.

Yes, same happened to OH. The online form is confusing to say the least.
Had to go via email and once a caseworker picked it up they were pretty quick with responses. Had a few calls and they paid expenses following a cancelled flight (food, hotel and taxis) It would have been easier if they were paid by amex but took slightly longer to conclude as I used a curve card to avoid fees, they said they would have covered the FX fees anyway but it was OH first claim experience. Original flight was purchased via another amex and was accepted even though not with the platinum itself.

[shaya]

I was under the impression that on Amex Plat small business you dont have to have purchased the tickets with you card. However I have just seen this below.

YOUR BENEFITS
The travel, refreshment and accommodation costs, and the purchase or hire of essential items covered
under this Travel Inconvenience Section 1.6 must be charged to Your Card to be eligible. If You are not a
Cardmember and not travelling with a Cardmember, another payment method may be used. Itemised
receipts must be kept as proof of purchase.

Does this mean the new tickets (my others were cancelled by wizz) need to be bought on the card? But the original ones dont have to be.

[Froggee]

shaya wrote:

Anyone had any experience with this.

Im really seething with AMEX. I bought tickets to Ukraine long before the war. The war broke out and my flight were cancelled. The airline is refusing to refund me and Amex have a WAR clause.
See below
We have looked at the special circumstances and additional points you have raised but are unable to help towards your costs as your claim falls outside
the cover provided by your policy. The relevant part of your policy is on page 20, Paragraph 1.9 of your policy wording:
19) Declared or undeclared war or hostilities
We understand that although this decision may be disappointing, we hope that you will understand why we cannot consider settlement of your claim
on this occasion.

If you bought the tickets direct from the airline on a credit card then it should be an easy s75 claim.

If you bought it on your Amex platinum charge card then forget about “insurance” and do a chargeback:

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/customer-service/dispute-charge.html

[shaya]

Thanks. I went ahead and bought new tickets. Wizz had no availbilties till the next week. I was trying to claim for these new tickets from AMEX

[HornetBrad]

I have Platinum Card travel insurance AND Curve Metal insurance, but neither include any cover for quad biking.

Does anyone know if it’s possible to add quad biking as an endorsment to one of these policies?

If not, I presume i’ll have to take out a third travel insurance policy to cover it – I’ve had a quick look and seems like it can’t be purchased standalone, but rather needs to be an extra for a full policy?

Does anyone have any recommendations – as it’s just qud biking coverage, the rest of the policy can be very basic (as I’ll have cover under Amex/Curve) – just need medical/repatriation expenses in case I do myself a nasty injury.

For info, the quad biking is for 2 separate activities during 1 trip (Qatar/Asia), in Thailand and Cambodia.

Thanks as always for any help.

[Carlos]

shaya wrote:

I was under the impression that on Amex Plat small business you dont have to have purchased the tickets with you card. However I have just seen this below.

YOUR BENEFITS
The travel, refreshment and accommodation costs, and the purchase or hire of essential items covered
under this Travel Inconvenience Section 1.6 must be charged to Your Card to be eligible. If You are not a
Cardmember and not travelling with a Cardmember, another payment method may be used. Itemised
receipts must be kept as proof of purchase.

Does this mean the new tickets (my others were cancelled by wizz) need to be bought on the card? But the original ones dont have to be.

It makes it much easier for them to check Amex statements, they did question why I used another card and I said it was due to no FX fees as opposed to Amex’s 2.99% to which they replied they would have covered that fee too.

[avythos]

Is there a difference between business and personal platinum card with respect to the insurance for example its been noted on here that you don’t have to use the card to be covered yet specifically excludes it for travel inconvenience we already have pre booked flights in the future not paid for with AMEX for example,
TRAVEL INCONVENIENCE
KEY EXCLUSIONS & LIMITATIONS 1.6
• Claims where travel tickets were not purchased on the
Card account

Personal lists the same but differently
https://icm.aexp-static.com/Internet/internationalcardshop/en_gb/pdf/platinum-card/UK_Platinum_Charge_Insurance_Documentation_v1_0.pdf

Business
https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/uk/staticassets/pdf/card-products/platinum-charge-card/UK_Platinum_Charge_Insurance_Documentation_v1_0.pdf

Also anyone know if there are specific differences in the policies and around car hire excesses etc?

[alexm]

Sorry I posted a new thread but hadn’t seen I should of put it in this master thread (admins feel free to delete my new topic)

A question if anyone could help please,
Got an amex platinum so for the insurance side, flying back into heathrow from madrid on march 16th and the rail strikes mean I won’t make it back home to the North and will need to stay in London (was all booked before the strikes got announced)
Could I claim a hotel / meal on the night of the 16th in London via insurance?
Last train is late afternoon now instead of 2100 as normal
Thank you

[StanTheMan]

alexm wrote:

Sorry I posted a new thread but hadn’t seen I should of put it in this master thread (admins feel free to delete my new topic)

A question if anyone could help please,
Got an amex platinum so for the insurance side, flying back into heathrow from madrid on march 16th and the rail strikes mean I won’t make it back home to the North and will need to stay in London (was all booked before the strikes got announced)
Could I claim a hotel / meal on the night of the 16th in London via insurance?
Last train is late afternoon now instead of 2100 as normal
Thank you

No.

[avythos]

Just for Clarity,

Am I right to say that as long as some part of the holiday (not the flight) is pre booked with the Amex card for example a hotel night stay within the period of the holiday would trigger the insurance cover aspect for the whole family?
Thanks

[avythos]

Managed to answer my own Question and it’s an affirmative.

[MCO]

Does anyone know if the car rental insurance on the platinum card covers loaner cars while your car is in the garage.

[magyar]

Hi there, bit of a newbie to Amex Platinum etc. I have both Amex Platinum and a BAPP. I travel both on business, for which air fares are paid centrally via an agency but everything else (hotels, meals, taxis etc.) are paid myself and expensed, and personally which I usually charge to the BAPP until I get to the voucher threshold.

Having read this thread, I think I’m right in that it doesn’t matter whether I pay for personal travel etc. on the BAPP or the Plat, I would still get the Plat benefits?

For business travel, would I get *any* cover? (assuming hotels etc. paid for using BAPP or Plat). My company has travel insurance as well, but it’s a bit more limited than the Amex one.

Also, what happens if someone else pays for travel? I’m going on a road trip with some friends to Croatia later this year and we are splitting the costs fairly loosely, i.e. one person has paid for the le Shuttle tickets, I am paying one of the hotels, we’ll take turns paying for petrol on the way.

Sorry if these are noddy questions….

[KJC]

Does anyone know if the car rental insurance covers car clubs like Zipcar?

[magyar]

magyar wrote:

Hi there, bit of a newbie to Amex Platinum etc. I have both Amex Platinum and a BAPP. I travel both on business, for which air fares are paid centrally via an agency but everything else (hotels, meals, taxis etc.) are paid myself and expensed, and personally which I usually charge to the BAPP until I get to the voucher threshold.

Having read this thread, I think I’m right in that it doesn’t matter whether I pay for personal travel etc. on the BAPP or the Plat, I would still get the Plat benefits?

For business travel, would I get *any* cover? (assuming hotels etc. paid for using BAPP or Plat). My company has travel insurance as well, but it’s a bit more limited than the Amex one.

Also, what happens if someone else pays for travel? I’m going on a road trip with some friends to Croatia later this year and we are splitting the costs fairly loosely, i.e. one person has paid for the le Shuttle tickets, I am paying one of the hotels, we’ll take turns paying for petrol on the way.

Sorry if these are noddy questions….

To answer my own questions, I spoke to Amex today

1) I was right, you can pay with any Amex card and as long as you hold a Platinum card, you can claim Platinum benefits

2) They confirmed that I would be covered in both my other examples, i.e. if someone else pays for part of the travel then that counts as you ‘not being able to pay with Amex’. Seems a bit weird, but they were absolutely clear on the point. It seems the golden rule is: anything you *do* pay for, you should *try* to pay for with Amex.

[ML11]

Hi,
I am deciding between Amex Platinum and HSBC World Elite cards for lounge access. Can someone more knowledgable help me compare the insurance offered by Amex Platinum and HSBC Premier account (required to hold the card)? From my very brief research:
-HSBC covers the account holder and their family, Amex covers the card and supplementary card holders and their families (so potentially more people)
-Amex offers rental car insurance
-Amex offers better flight delay insurance but requires the payments made with an Amex card – annoying abroad

Can some point out anything else?
Thanks!

[Carlos]

ML11 wrote:

-Amex offers better flight delay insurance but requires the payments made with an Amex card – annoying abroad

Shouldnt be annoying if you book in the UK or online before travelling? Do you mean any payments whilst abroad and delayed? They do not strictly require this but rather prefer it as they can access the statements easily.

[JDB]

ML11 wrote:

Hi,
I am deciding between Amex Platinum and HSBC World Elite cards for lounge access. Can someone more knowledgable help me compare the insurance offered by Amex Platinum and HSBC Premier account (required to hold the card)? From my very brief research:
-HSBC covers the account holder and their family, Amex covers the card and supplementary card holders and their families (so potentially more people)
-Amex offers rental car insurance
-Amex offers better flight delay insurance but requires the payments made with an Amex card – annoying abroad

Can some point out anything else?
Thanks!

I’m not sure you are correct about the flight delay cover – the Amex Plat policy is very poor re Travel Inconvenience (as they call it). Amex has a very limited range of allowed pre-existing medical conditions vs HSBC. There are quite a lot of other differences, so you need to look at the two policies side by side, although you main concern seems to be lounge access.

There is of course the overriding consideration that the HSBC policy is both good and free; you don’t have to pay for an expensive card.

[ML11]

Carlos wrote:

ML11 wrote:

-Amex offers better flight delay insurance but requires the payments made with an Amex card – annoying abroad

Shouldnt be annoying if you book in the UK or online before travelling? Do you mean any payments whilst abroad and delayed? They do not strictly require this but rather prefer it as they can access the statements easily.

For example 1.2 Cancelling, postponing and abandoning your trip exclusions state in 6) that „Travel and/or accommodation costs not purchased on the card account” are not eligible. This means that I have to suffer Amex FX rates and fees if I book anything in local currency or I do not get the coverage.
I find it hard to believe any insurer is not going to try to waive their liability in case I do not pay with the card which is strictly required for the coverage in T&Cs.

@JDB of course HSBC insurance is free but requires setting up the premier account which I am not going to do just to get the insurance. So for me it is really a choice of HSBC account with insurance + card or Amex.

[bprakoso]

Hi all

I’m interested to upgrade my gold card to a platinum card, and I’m wondering whether any upcoming trip (for a period starting after I activate my platinum card) that is booked with my gold or BAPP card prior to the activation date of the platinum card will be covered by the platinum card travel insurance?

My initial guess is that it will be covered because it is similar to a situation when you purchase a travel insurance after making travel booking but before the start date of the trip.

Please let me know if you have any thought or experience on this.

Many thanks!

[GJS]

Had to abandon a trip last week because one of the kids was unwell, and Axa has told me I can’t claim for any of the unusued accommodation because I paid using my Curve card. I knew the terms and was expecting this (it was just a cheapy apartment in Porto thankfully) but it’s the first time I’ve stopped to think about the significant additional premium (3% foreign transaction fee x annual accommodation spend) I’ll pay just to have accommodation covered – which I presume would be standard on any other policy? Unless I’m missing something, it will make me rethink Platinum vfm.

[rs132]

Hi all,

I have a pre-existing medical condition that is not covered by the plat insurance. My wife and I have a nationwide flexplus current account which also provides travel insurance- who will cover my condition with a small extra premium.

I am aware that double insurance can cause problems with insurers only paying out a share of any potential claim and leaving me liable to pay two excess payments.

At the end of the day, I would not wish to rely solely on the plat insurance due to my medical condition that they won’t cover.

If I would have to claim for a non medical reason (loss of luggage, missed departure etc) – is there any way around the issue other than deliberately not disclosing the second policy??

Can I “turn off” the plat insurance?

Thanks

[Carlos]

rs132 wrote:

Hi all,

I have a pre-existing medical condition that is not covered by the plat insurance. My wife and I have a nationwide flexplus current account which also provides travel insurance- who will cover my condition with a small extra premium.

I am aware that double insurance can cause problems with insurers only paying out a share of any potential claim and leaving me liable to pay two excess payments.

At the end of the day, I would not wish to rely solely on the plat insurance due to my medical condition that they won’t cover.

If I would have to claim for a non medical reason (loss of luggage, missed departure etc) – is there any way around the issue other than deliberately not disclosing the second policy??

Can I “turn off” the plat insurance?

Thanks

I recall a checkbox when signing up to turn off insurance. Most people would tick it though