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Many of us saw images this past week of weary, frustrated travelers whose trips were wrecked because of Spirit Airline’s assorted problems. Some people spent nights in airports because Spirit wouldn’t pony up for a hotel — or travelers couldn’t afford the rates hotels were charging.
More than a few customers had to arrange other transportation to their destinations — and paid out of pocket. And most probably had to pony up a bunch of money to eat multiple meals at the airport.
No airline (or airport) is immune from bad weather, staffing issues, or tech problems that can wreak havoc on travel. Spirit got smacked with all three — and in grand fashion.
But there are a couple of items travelers should consider to make life a little easier when these issues arise. And these are practices I regularly employ.
Use the Right Credit Card to Purchase Your Trip
You may already have a credit card with trip coverage and you don’t even know it!
Check your credit cards’ benefits to see if any have trip/travel protection. Not sure where to find out? Perform an online search for something like “(Credit Card X) trip delay coverage.” Or call the customer service number on the back of your card.
Need to get a great card that has some trip coverage?
Chase has a couple of great cards that come to mind. Cardholders need to purchase only a portion of their airfare or vacation with their eligible card. (Or you can pay with the whole tab with your card, too 🙂 )
Delay-wise, they reimburse cardholders’ “reasonable additional expenses incurred during a Covered Trip delay, including meals, lodging, toiletries and medication.” Their covered incidents include “equipment failure, inclement weather, strike and hijacking/skyjacking.” In other words, folks who used an eligible card to pay for their delayed Spirit trips should submit their meal receipts and hotel costs.
The first is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which carries a $95 annual fee.
- The benefit takes effect after a delay reaches 12 hours or requires an overnight stay.
- A maximum of $500 worth of expenses may be claimed for each ticket purchase on the card.
- See the benefits guide here.
The next is the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which carries a $550 annual fee. But its trip delay coverage kicks in after just six hours.
- The benefit takes effect after a delay reaches 6 hours or requires an overnight stay.
- A maximum of $500 worth of expenses may be claimed for each ticket purchase on the card.
- See the benefits guide here.
Plus, they both have trip cancellation and interruption benefits providing reimbursement for eligible travel expenses charged to the Cardholder’s Account up to $10,000 per person and up to $20,000 per trip if a loss results in cancellation or interruption of the travel arrangements.
American Express rolled out trip protection for some of its premium cards. But your entire trip/fare must be charged to the eligible card.
I personally use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® for nearly all of my airfare purchases — especially those involving gift cards, travel vouchers, mileage redemptions, etc.
Get Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is like pretty much every other insurance: you don’t necessarily want to buy it and you don’t know if you’ll ever need it.
But when a situation strikes, insurance can be a life-saver (sometimes literally).
I tripped over a suitcase (yes, really) in a hotel room — and ended up with fractured bone in my hand.
That was a few years ago when I didn’t have travel insurance — which would’ve covered most (if not all) of my medical insurance copayments.
We now keep an annual, blanket policy for travel.
My wife, daughter, and I are listed on the policy — and protected for every trip we take. Our Allianz AllTrips Premier Plan costs $475 total each year. If we were caught up in the Spirit Airlines situation or something similar, we’d be covered for alternate transportation (i.e. taking a different airline), any prepaid hotel costs our original destination, hotel accommodations during the delay, etc.
If you travel regularly, then I highly recommend getting a travel insurance plan. It’s a great backup in case our credit card doesn’t cover something.
Final Approach
Travel insurance — or even just using the right credit card to purchase a trip — can come in very handy during trip cancellations and delays. The Spirit Airlines meltdown is a good reminder for us to be prepared.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Sometimes trip interruptions can’t be avoided but I find that it’s always a good idea to have alternative plans. For example, we are leaving for a cruise next week. We are flying to the port on Southwest (which is also doing weird schedule things lately), staying in a hotel for the night before and night after. We have alternative flights written down with other carriers, hotel options mapped out, and even plans if we have to make a long drive instead. We are even formulating a plan if the cruise can go so we don’t lose our vacation completely. Credit car insurance can really come in handy but most of the time it is reimbursements. If your flights get jacked up you should ask for a “military excuse form” from the gate agents or CSR. You’ll need this to file a claim. If it’s weather-related, get online and screenprint weather information. You’ll need this to file a claim. Chase and others play hardball with lots of information requests so be prepared. Document, document, document. I’ll add that when renting a car, use a timestamp camera app and take photos of all damage and condition when you receive and leave the vehicle at the agency. Get photos of mileage, gas level, etc.
Great tips, thanks!!
If the delays were not weather related, Spirit ought to pay.
They should.
The easiest and cheapest solution: never book 3rd rate airlines like Spirit. You get what you pay for.
Yes, but this can happen with world class airlines too.
but there aren’t any world class airlines flying domestically in the USA !!!
I consider Delta to be World Class most of the time,.
hardly. No U.S. airline would be in the top 20 world class airlines around the world. U.S. airlines fail on so many levels. Most of the top world class airlines are Asian.