Chase Sapphire trip delay pays up to US$500 a traveller after 6 or 12 hours

Reserve waits 6 hours, Preferred waits 12, and both cap at US$500 a traveller

Covered travellers are you and your family members, and they don't need to travel with you. The family definition is wide: spouse or domestic partner, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.1

The cap is per traveller per trip. Older guides quoted on forums said per ticket. The current guides say per Covered Traveler.

It repays meals, lodging, toiletries and medication until you can travel

“Reasonable expenses include meals, lodging, toiletries, and medication.”

Cover runs “until travel by the Covered Traveler becomes possible”. Taxis and transport to a hotel aren't named in the list. Keep the receipts and ask.

You must have put “all or a portion” of the fare on the card, or paid with Chase rewards. Cover is secondary: it pays only what the airline, another insurer or anyone else responsible hasn't paid.1

Four causes count: equipment failure, weather, a strike or hijacking

“To take advantage of this benefit, the delay must occur due to equipment failure, inclement weather, strike, or hijacking/skyjacking.”

The list is closed. Crew shortages, scheduling and air traffic control aren't on it. The trip delay section read has no exclusion for events made public before you left, unlike Amex and Capital One.1

An air traffic control delay was refused on the Sapphire Preferred in 2025

Thrifty Traveler reported in November 2025 that a Sapphire Preferred claim for a hotel after an air traffic control ground delay was denied. The listed hazards were equipment failure, weather, strikes and hijacking.3

The Reserve has the same wording. After the 2026 stop, Upgraded Points noted it doesn't mention air traffic control ground stops and that experts disagree on whether an FAA failure is an “equipment failure”.5 The guide never says whose equipment must fail.

This site rates the Preferred “no” because of the documented refusal and the Reserve “depends”. The wording is identical, so the two outcomes reflect the evidence on each card. For the 13 November stop, Duffy blamed a router that flooded the FAA's network during contractor work.6 That is equipment, but it belongs to the FAA. A claimant can argue it. The insurer decides.

Will my Sapphire card pay for this delay?

Choose the card, how long the trip was held up and the reason the airline gave. The answer comes from the card's own guide. Nothing you choose leaves this page.

The airline's written reason decides most Sapphire claims

The guide asks for a “Statement from the Common Carrier explaining the reason for the delay”, and the claim is judged on that reason. Ask the airline for it at the airport or online, with scheduled and actual times. Ask for the reason exactly as the airline gives it.

• Travel itinerary, original and rebooked
• Card statement showing the last four digits and the fare paid with the card or Chase rewards
• The airline's statement of the reason
• Itemised receipts for every expense
• Anything else the insurer asks for

Claim within 60 days at chasecardbenefits.com, documents within 100

1. Open the claim at chasecardbenefits.com or by phone within 60 days of the delay, or as soon as reasonably possible. The Reserve guide prints 1-800-350-1697 and the Preferred guide 1-800-350-1362.12
2. Answer the questions. The insurer tells you which documents it needs.
3. Send them within 100 days of the delay, or as soon as reasonably possible.

Claims go to the benefit administrator for Virginia Surety Company, an Assurant company. Chase's customer service line can't take them. The claim site needs your card details before it will start. The claim tool writes the letter for you.

It won't pay for prepaid costs, a short delay or a cause off the list

• Delays of 6 hours or less (Reserve) or 12 hours or less (Preferred) that don't force an overnight stay.
• Causes outside the four named ones.
• Anything the airline or another insurer already paid.
• Costs you paid before the trip. The benefit covers additional expenses during the delay.
• Fares paid entirely another way. At least part must be on the card or Chase rewards.

Other Chase cards with trip delay have their own guide and phone line. The Ritz-Carlton guide read says more than 6 hours with the same four causes.4 Guides for other Chase cards were not located on chasebenefits.com.

Card or standalone policy for this trip? See the trip delay insurance page.

Sapphire trip delay questions

Other cards

Compare all nine US card benefits, including Citi Strata, Bilt Palladium and U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve. Write your claim letters with the claim tool.