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Does the Chase Sapphire Reserve Require a Minimum Spend Amount for the Travel Insurance Coverage? A couple of my cruise clients, who have new AMEX cards with a high minimum spend, had the following question: “I have significant minimum spend to meet with a new AMEX Business Platinum…how much of the cruise would I need to put on the Chase Sapphire Reserve to get maximum insurance value from it, while still putting as much as possible on the AMEX Business Platinum?”
This is a great question, since travel insurance is important for everyone who isn't willing to self-insure, and luxury cruises are particularly large investments.
Recall that AMEX announced it would add travel insurance benefits as of 1/1/20 to its premium cards, such as the AMEX Platinum, AMEX Business Platinum, and $450 per year Delta, Hilton and Marriott cards. But the limit per trip will be $10,000, whereas for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the limit is $10,000 per person, up to $20,000 per trip when there's more than one covered traveler.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption terms define a Covered Trip as “any pre-paid tour, trip or vacation when some portion of the cost for such travel arrangements less any redeemable frequent flyer miles, points, coupons or certificates, or other types of redeemable Rewards has been charged to your Account:
- while the insurance is in effect
- to a destination of greater than 1 mile from your primary residence
- and is for a time period that doesn't exceed sixty days in duration”
The terms don't indicate that there's a minimum amount that you must pay for using the Chase Sapphire Reserve to enjoy the benefit of the coverage, but I called just to double check, providing a hypothetical example where the client only puts $100 on the Chase card and the remainder of the trip on a different card–I was assured that this still qualifies for coverage, but it does require greater documentation, as you'd expect.
If you put the entire amount on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can provide the monthly statement showing the amount charged to your card, along with the other required documents such as the vendor's cancellation policy. If you only charge a portion to the CSR, you'll need to fully document how the other portions of the trip were paid for, and I was told that a full itinerary of the trip would need to be provided, in addition to the other required documents such as the vendor's cancellation policy.
Also keep in mind that the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points for all travel, including cruises; the AMEX Business Platinum earns only 1 point per dollar on cruises and most other travel, apart from flights and prepaid hotels booked on amex.com.
Have you ever split a travel payment between the Chase Sapphire Reserve and another card, and had to make a trip cancellation or trip insurance claim?
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