Questions and Answers

In light of Air Berlin filing for solvency, I had a ticket booked for mid/late September to fly to Germany. I booked using my then Chase Sapphire Reserve card, that covers through the insurance, insolvency of the airline. But, I cancelled my card a few weeks ago, and want to know, would I still have this travel insurance from the card, since I bought the ticket with it? Or would I best buy third party insurance if I still can.

Are you trying to cancel the trip? Or are you just concerned about having a valid ticket?

It seems the German government has stepped in to help out Air Berlin so I’d think your ticket should be fine: [URL]http://www.politico.eu/article/german-government-steps-in-to-keep-air-berlin-flying/[/URL]

If you have canceled the card you wouldn’t be able to receive any of the purchase protection benefits, unfortunately.

I’d add that if you are flying in September, I’d hardly be worried. If your trip was scheduled for 2018, you may need to think of other options, but for now there is very little to worry about.

It would be almost impossible for Airberlin to completely cease to exist before mid-September 🙂

Also, just some advice that I’d share based on personal experiences. If you know you are going to cancel a card before taking a big international trip, don’t purchase the trip with that card. As Tiffany said, all the travel insurance becomes void once you cancel the card. To me, trip insurance is worth way more than the $95 annual fee that I was trying to avoid on my Sapphire Preferred.

I know there are folks who have lost real money when an airline has gone into receivership but speaking from personal expierence
I’ve held tickets with the former US Airways, Continental, Delta and AlItalia in the midst of their respective bankruptcies and never lost a penny. I’m currently holding a LAX-FCO ticket on AlItalia for next month and am not worried. I haven’t had to resort to insurance in any of these cases – all tickets were honored by the respective airlines.