Goodbye Flight Delay Compensation (Hello Travel Cards?)

This is the September 7, 2025 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.

Last year, the DOT started the process to introduce new rules requiring airlines to compensate passengers for flight delays. Alas, that proposal is being abandoned, meaning you might be on your own if an airline messes up and causes a major delay.

Notably, the DOT’s airline comparison dashboard, which shows US airlines’ voluntary policies on things like controllable delays, is still up and running, though it hasn’t been updated since late 2024. Looking at that reminded me that Alaska is still crushing it on customer-friendly policies, something I completely forgot about even as I have been going all-in on Alaska for their credit cards and loyalty program. 

So, since most airlines don’t have your back, and the government isn’t going to force them to cover your losses when they can’t deliver the services they promised (albeit with their fingers crossed behind their back), how can you protect yourself against travel delays?

It’s actually pretty easy with credit card trip delay insurance. When you book with the right credit card, you can often get reimbursed for reasonable expenses related to the delay—things like meals, lodging, and toiletries. This typically does not include rebooking costs to get to your destination, so keep that in mind. Also, it usually kicks in only after whatever the airline provides as compensation—so no double dipping. And it extends beyond airlines, too. I used Amex’s trip delay insurance to cover a night in a hotel in Manhattan after an Amtrak power outage. But I also learned the hard way that if you use your card to book travel for someone else, they might not be covered. 

Protections vary by card, so be sure to know which benefits your cards provide. The difference can include the maximum that you can be compensated ($300 is typical on lower-tier cards while premium cards usually cover $500 or more in expenses), the maximum number of claims you can make or total compensation you can receive in a year, the minimum delay that can trigger eligibility (12-hour or overnight delays on lower-tier cards, while premium protections usually kick in after a 6-hour delay), whether you must pay for the entire trip or just a portion with the card to qualify, and whether you can receive protections on one-way journeys or need to book a round trip (Amex is much stingier than Visa Infinite cards as to the last two points). 

Trip protections are a great example of why having a few different cards can be a great way to ensure you have the protections that you need. And my two favorite cards shine here. You can get basic trip delay protections with the no-fee Bilt Mastercard, but adding the Capital One Venture X offers a fairly accessible path to top-of-the-line protections. 

One final note to remember: these benefits are why I avoid airline gift cards. You can often collect extra points or coffee on gift cards or buy them at a discount. This can be a nice travel hack, but if you pay for the whole flight with a gift card, you’ll lose out on these credit card protections, so I recommend only using them if there’s at least a little cash cost remaining that you can put on a credit card that will protect your trip.  

This Week in the Blog 📝

We conclude our “how to pick a credit card” series with Step 3: Bonus and Rotation cards. Once you’ve got all the best cards, you can always fuel your next trip with a massive bonus on a card that might not be a long term keeper, or boost your earn rate by adding a no-fee card that lets you earn more points on spending categories that you’re not currently maximizing. 

A possible bonus card example: this 100k offer on British Airways’ Visa card.

Quick Points of the Week ⚡

Special offers ✨ 

Transfer bonus from Capital One to Virgin. I don’t normally talk about transfer bonuses, but Bilt’s Rent Day bonuses are usually worth a mention, so last week I highlighted their 40-100% bonuses to Virgin. Foolishly, I transferred 3k precious Bilt points to take advantage of my 60% bonus, even though I have no idea when or how I’ll ever use them (at least they don’t expire). That move looks even worse now that Capital One is offering a 30% bonus when transferring their much-less-valuable points to Virgin. (OMAAT)

Earn extra Amex points at Amazon. Have an Amex card? Check your offers to see if you have a targeted bonus on Amazon purchases. My card is offering 1,200 points on $150 worth of purchases, up to a maximum of 3,600 points. That’s 8x points on a $150 purchase—on top of the normal earning from the card. 

Extra points 🪙 

Sign up for Rove, get 1,000 points. Rove is an interesting shopping portal/travel booking site that offers its own miles that can be transferred to partners like Accor, Avios, and Flying Blue. I’m not too interested in the program now, but I’ll be watching to see if they add partners, or if they have especially good shopping portal deals. If you sign up now via a referral, you can get 1,000 Rove miles, which could be a nice little bonus if you plan on redeeming with any of their partners. You can use my referral link here (I can get some bonus miles if you earn some). (AwardWallet)

Giveaways 🎟️ 

It’s giveaway season, apparently. You can enter to win points or prizes via Alaska Shopping, United MileagePlus Shopping, and Marriott Cruises. Odds: long. 

Devaluation 📉

Alaska is losing two airline partners. It’s not all sunshine and roses in Atmos-land: the ability to redeem Atmos points with Singapore and LATAM is coming to an end (not too surprising, given that LATAM is owned by rival Delta). This stings for redemptions to South America. 

Fun 👻

Alaska unveils the bar menu for Summit cardholders. I think I’ll be having a “Summit Sunset” or two to take the sting out of losing out on those LATAM flights. (OMAAT)

Sign-up bonus of the Week 🎯

We have huge welcome offers on two excellent sets of credit cards this week: Amex’s co-branded Delta cards and Chase’s co-branded IHG cards. 

Delta

Delta is once again offering big bonuses on their Amex cards: 80k Skymiles on their $150-fee Gold card (first-year fee waived), 90k on the $350-fee Platinum card, and 125k on their $650-fee Reserve card (after spending $3-6,000 in the first 6 months, depending on the card).

This is a common offer, but a good one. I’ve written about it before, so check out that analysis here. The offer on the Reserve, though, is way higher than the previous record and could easily net you 3-4 round trip tickets to Europe, though my general recommendation is to start with the Gold and work your way up to maximize your miles. 

IHG

I think the IHG Premier is one of the best credit cards out there, and the normal 140k-point welcome offer has been bumped up to 165k after spending $3,000 in the first three months. I love this card and I think 165k is the point at which it’s worth applying, but offers have gone as high as 175k or five free nights if you want to hold out for the absolute best deal. 

IHG is also offering two free nights (valued up to 50k points each) plus 40k points after spending $2,000 in the first three months on the Traveler card. This, again, isn’t the best offer ever (that was 120k points), but this combines two nights at what should be reasonably nice properties with 40k points that could net a few nights more if redeemed efficiently abroad. The Traveler isn’t good for much (even IHG stays!), but this is an excellent welcome offer for a no-fee card, so it might be worth considering if you want to sample IHG—but note that holding this card makes you ineligible for the Premier bonus.

Other great current bonuses

100k + 25k companion certificate on the Alaska Atmos Summit (our take)

125k on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (our take)

80k on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select (our take)

100k on the Citi Strata Elite (maybe in-branch) (our take)

75k miles on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (our hot take 🔥)

75k miles + $300 portal credit on the Venture Rewards (our take)

100k points on Southwest Credit Cards (our take)

$300 (kind of) on Capital One no-fee cards (our take)

Enjoy the weekend! 🦥

Hope you have a good plan for your next flight delay!