After Citi's September overhaul and Barclay's November overhaul of their credit card protection benefits, Amex will also have some major changes coming on January 1, 2020. Here are the breakdowns of the upcoming changes.
Overall, the changes are mixed - some gain and some loss - but not as bad as Citi's drastic devaluation. The cards that benefit from the changes are probably limited to those with an annual fee at least $450 - Platinum Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant; the rest of the cards are generally considered to receive reduced coverage. We think most cardholders will be unhappy about the changes. We will update our Protection page once these changes kick in.
- Trip Cancellation & Interruption: added to Platinum Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. This covers trips cancelled or interrupted due to weather, terrorism, sudden illness or injury, jury duty, up to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per year. In addition to tickets paid entirely with an Amex card, awards tickets and Pay with Points tickets are covered as well.
- Trip Delay: added to Platinum Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, for flight delays more than 6 hours, up to $500 per ticket. Also added to Gold Card (personal and business), Green Card, and Delta Platinum (personal and business), for flight delays more than 12 hours, up to $300 per ticket. In addition to tickets paid entirely with an Amex card, awards tickets and Pay with Points tickets are covered as well.
- Travel Accident Insurance: removed from all cards!
- Roadside Assistance: removed from all cards! For most cards it is not big deal, as the benefit only dispatches a service provider and you still have to pay for the service. However, certain premium Amex cards such as Platinum Card (personal and business), Gold Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant currently offer Premium Roadside Assistance which covers towing up to 10 miles and other incidentals for free, for up to 4 times per year, and this benefit will be gone as well! Many cardholders including myself, actually use the Premium Roadside Assistance in lieu of AAA's basic plan, and in 2020 they have to look into alternatives such as Chase Sapphire Reserve (which unfortunately only covers up to $50 per use) or start paying AAA once again.
- Return Protection: removed from all cards except for Platinum Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Blue Cash Preferred, EveryDay Preferred, and Plum Card (business).
- Extended Warranty: coverage will be reduced from two years of extended warranty down to one year. Remember Amex actually just increased the coverage from one year to two years back in August 2018, and in 2020 the only card issuer that continue to offer two years of extended warranty is Citi (and only for certain cards). What is more, this benefit will be removed entirely for EveryDay Card, Blue Card, Blue Cash Card, and Cash Magnet.
- Purchase Protection: coverage will be reduced from 120 days back to 90 days. The same story here - Amex just increased the coverage from 90 days to 120 days in August 2018. The coverage usually covers only theft or damage, up to $1,000 per item and $50,000 per year, but Amex will add accidental loss and increase the per item limit to $10,000 for Platinum Card (personal and business), Gold Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant.
Overall, the changes are mixed - some gain and some loss - but not as bad as Citi's drastic devaluation. The cards that benefit from the changes are probably limited to those with an annual fee at least $450 - Platinum Card (personal and business), Delta Reserve (personal and business), Hilton Aspire, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant; the rest of the cards are generally considered to receive reduced coverage. We think most cardholders will be unhappy about the changes. We will update our Protection page once these changes kick in.
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