Travel Insurance

One of the selling points of a good travel card is the inclusion of powerful travel insurances to protect you and your loved ones while travelling. What you may not know is just how dramatically different these insurances can be and you may or may not have considered how that will interplay with your point fueled travel.

The Keeper Card series makes the case for why specific cards deserve an ongoing spot in your wallet despite any annual fees or alternative options. As always I'm writing for a Canadian market. In this article we are going to go over some of the best cards for travel insurance with a focus on the unique National Bank World Elite Mastercard. Disclaimers and referrals at the bottoms as always.

What Makes a Keeper - Insurance

Whether you hold a bank specific travel card like the TD First Class travel, RBC Avion, CIBC Aventura etc. or an airline partnered card like the TD/CIBC/Amex Aeroplan cards, Brim Flying Blue, or RBC British Airways, you likely have some degree of automatic travel insurance. This often covers emergency medical expenses, trip cancellation/interruption/delay, baggage loss/delay/theft, motel/hotel burglary, and car rentals.

Unsurprisingly the more premium cards have more extensive insurances, for example, when comparing the TD Aeroplan Platinum, TD AP Visa Infinite, and TD AP Visa Infinite Privilege:

Note that the above is an illustrative summary and is not an exhaustive list of the included insurances.

While I don't think it can reasonably be expected that anyone reads all of the terms in their credit card's insurance booklet let alone commits them to memory, there are a few things that I think are critically important for you to check as well as some rules of thumb to consider.

Most critical is to make sure you know how your card defines an eligible trip for delay/cancellation/interruption/baggage insurances. Typically cards require that 100% of the cost of the trip be covered by the card itself or points from within their ecosystem. For example the trip cancellation insurance on the RBC Avion VI:

The CIBC Aventura VI has different wording for their trip cancellation insurance:

This contrasts with TD Aeroplan VI:

The part about Aeroplan points is particularly notable as booking a flight with Aeroplan points you obtained from transfering Amex MR points would still be eligible, meanwhile if you converted Avion points to British Airway Avios points to book the trip it would not be covered by your Avion card. Keep reading and I'll introduce the perfect card to get travel insurance when you're using transfer partners for your redemptions.

The next most important thing is to have a general sense of when you might be covered so that you can pull up your terms to clarify specifics. For example, many cards cover incidental expenses incurred during a significant flight delay or due to lost baggage. Let's say you booked a trip in the winter and unfortunately due to inclimate weather your flight is dramatically delayed - once you're aware of the delay, you should look up your terms to clarify what duration of delay is necessary for the benefit (often 4+ or 6+ hours) and the amount of coverage (often up to $500 or up to $1000 for food, lodging and transport). You also should clarify if they stipulate that you must charge these expenses to the same card before you use your Amex Cobalt for food and your Amex Bonvoy for your hotel stay. Below is example wording from a credit card specifying that for their insurances the expense must be charged to the account.

Another important limitation that I think you should be aware of is the maximum MSRP of a car that can be covered by the card for car rental insurance. The ability to have worry free car rentals without an added fee from the rental agency is a great perk, but many of the mid and lower tier cards have maximum vehicle MSRPs of ~$65k for coverage. This is typically more than enough, but if you are offered a free upgrade to something nicer, it could potentially invalidate this insurance so it might be worth a quick check. Some of the higher end cards like the TD AP VIP cover up to $85k MSRPs.

Having trouble picking the right cards for your wallet? Reach out for a consult and we can go over your needs together.

National Bank World Elite Mastercard

I've laid the groundwork as to the insurance basics to consider when selecting a card, but I want to highlight a card with what I consider to be a unique feature in this area that makes it a potential Keeper Card for people looking to transfer their points to redeem elsewhere (for example transferring Avion to Avios to redeem for Qatar's Q-Suites).

The National Bank World Elite Mastercard is in a class of its own when it comes to travel insurance. Not only does it have top tier coverage amounts (for example: up to $5M emergency medical for up to 60d for age 54 and under), but in some circumstances the insurance applies even if only a portion of the trip was charged to the card. Lets look at the trip cancellation or delay benefit:

This is also the case for their trip interruption, baggage delay/loss/damage/theft. This collection of insurances and phrasing of their terms makes it a very powerful card for people looking to fly on points with transfer partners.

It's non travel insurances are also notable, with a warranty extension that triples the warranty on items purchased up to 2 additional years - this level of coverage is typically only available at the far more expensive premium credit card tier (think Aeroplan VIP cards) which cost almost 4x in annual fees. Similar tier cards typically only double the coverage up to 1 additional year.

While I would consider the insurance alone reason enough to consider picking up the card, it does have some other unique and valuable perks. It provides $150 in credit annually to offset more atypical travel expenses like seat selection, airport parking and more. Provided you can regularly make use of it, this credit alone offsets the $150 annual fee it comes with and is not something you can typically find with Canadian credit cards.

If you happen to have Montreal as your primary airport, it also provides unlimited access to the NBC lounge at YUL.

They also offer a slightly cheaper and easier to qualify for NB World MC with an annual fee of $115, the same insurance package, but none of the additional perks. Finally there is the $70 NB Platinum MC which has similar insurance (shorter medical coverage) and none of the extra perks, with no income requirement.

From my perspective, if you are interested in the insurance and qualify for the WE version it should be your pick. The extra annual fee should be easy to offset with the annual $150 credit, but the availability of easier to qualify for cards is still worthy of mentioning for lower household income families looking to benefit from the insurance.

The cherry on top? The annual fee is waived for certain health professionals and account holders at National Bank.

General Use

Outside of its use for travel insurance and the potential for a net ~$0 annual fee, the NB WE MC is a average all around card. It earns points in a fixed value redemption system similar to other bank programs such as RBC Avion but has no transfer partners to unlock outsized benefit. I wouldn't use it as my primary card for general use, but I also wouldn't worry about being stuck with "useless points" as it can be redeemed at 1 cpp through their travel portal, 0.83 or 0.91cpp against travel booked elsewhere (depending on how many are redeemed) or 0.4cpp as cash back on the statement.

I would personally recommend limiting the use of this card outside of paying a small portion towards rewards redemptions to secure travel insurance, and paying for misc expenses that would be eligible for the $150 credit. There are other far better cards for daily use in my opinion regardless of your travel goals.

Conclusion

Travel insurance is an important benefit worth considering when selecting your ideal card stack. Many people are well suited by the package of protections already included on their primary credit cards but may not be aware of the rules necessary to maintain the eligibility of their travel. The National Bank World Elite Mastercard is a unique card that provides incredible travel insurance even when only a portion of the cost of transportation is charged to the card while also giving a useful annual credit that offsets its annual fee. This card is worth considering if you're about to book a transfer partner redemption and might be worth holding long term for its recurring benefits that should offset its cost.

Looking for help constructing your perfect card stack? Reach out for a consult

Referral links

Interested in the National Bank WE MC? Sign up here , also check out my Keeper Cards series to see other cards worth exploring.

With its best in market 5x multiplier Amex Cobalt is a powerful point earner that can get you on flying for free 5 times faster than much of the competition - sign up here.

To see the access the best offers for different Amex card such as the Business Gold, or Platinum click here.

You're going to need somewhere to stay after all of these free flights. The Amex Bonvoy or the Business Bonvoy card will earn you free hotel stays and can be combined with the Aeroplan eStore for some incredible double dipped rewards.

If you're on the fence, or wondering about other cards reach out to me for a free consult, and if you sign up for a card through my link, let me know and I will walk you through advanced tricks and personalized advice to help you get the maximum benefit both from earning and redeeming points - getting your travel journey going faster than you ever thought possible.

Check out my Keeper Cards series to see other cards worth exploring

Disclaimer

These posts are all made in good intentions and are to the best of my ability accurate at the time of writing. That said, the official terms and conditions and current sign up bonuses should be verified and interpreted in the context of your personal financial situation.