The Informed Traveler
The Informed Traveler
Unique Winter Experiences in Canada & Credit Card Travel Insurance
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From dogsledding to ice skating, there's still a lot of places to go and things to do this winter in Canada so on this week's show Travel Expert Onanta Forbes will join me to share some unique winter experiences across Canada. And Patrick Sojka from Rewards Canada will be joining us for his monthly visit this week to talk about travel insurance coverage offered through your credit card.
Unique Winter Experiences in Canada
SPEAKER_01Well, hello and welcome to the Informed Traveler Podcast, a weekly travel podcast where our goal is to help you become a more informed traveler. I'm your host, Randy Sharman. From dog sledding to ice skating, there's still a lot of places to go and things to do this winter in Canada. So in a few seconds, travel expert Onanta Forbes will join me to share some unique winter experiences across the country. And we often talk about travel insurance on the podcast, but usually don't discuss the various travel insurance coverage offered by credit cards. So Patrick Soika from Rewards Canada will be joining us for his monthly visit this week to talk about travel insurance offered through your credit card. But first, let's kick things off chatting with travel expert Onanta Forbes, who joins us each week to discuss some of the travel news and travel trends. You can follow her adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and X at Onanta Forbes. OnantaForbes.com is her website. Hello, Onanta. How are you? I'm well, thank you. Now, if you believe the groundhogs, some say that there's six more weeks of winter. Some say we're gonna get it early spring. I guess it depends on where you are and how much you believe in groundhogs, but we still, either way, by the calendar, have a few more weeks of winter. So there's still some time to do some winter activities. So I thought it'd be fun to go through uh some of the wintertime activities that are still available if you've been housebound all winter.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, and you know, it it's interesting because um for us, you know, sometimes winter in Canada is something that we endure. Like we talk about, oh, minus 15 isn't doesn't sound that bad, does it? And you know, the snowfall totals and all that. Yeah. But um, you know, people from all over the world come here for our winter. And it's not just one place, it's many places throughout our great land. And it can start um, you know, right now, like in Alberta, you can go here, you could go to Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec City, up, you know, into the the Yukon or the Northwest Territories. So there's lots of opportunities and different experiences you can enjoy. And what I like about this, and and this is coming from um where I'm spending my winter in Europe, I'm I'm um paying everything in Euros. There's a big exchange rate when I look at my my credit card bill. So there's that opportunity as well. So with um, and you can see this in many places in Canada. Um, and they're they seem to be really prevalent this past year. It was it's the Northern Light. And, you know, there's something about heading to maybe uh White Horse in the Yukon or the Northwest Terra territories and making a trip out of it. Long, dark skies, you know, the air is nice and fresh. And then you get to see this green and violet ribbons that are, you know, start moving overhead. And I think it would be quite surreal if you've never seen that before. Um and a full Arctic immersion, like you can actually stay in um, because some places offer it, heated glass cabins or eggloos are style stays. So you can watch the aurora from your bed, which I think would be kind of fun.
SPEAKER_01I think it'd be really fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, really fun. Like you don't have to move too far. In Inovik, you can actually um have another northern experience, and this is where you can witness a herd of roughly 3,000 reindeer moving across the tundra. And I think that would be neat. Yeah, it's it's remote. It reminds you of really how vast our country is. It kind of reminds me when I read that it's like the migration in Kenya and Tanzania, where everybody goes to see the wildebeest move. Well, here you can see our reindeer move. Um so it it's it's interesting the opportunity to see things in nature as well. But another thing we Canadians do better than anyone else is we do ice better. So, like in Quebec City, um, you can spend a night at the Hotel de Glace. It's North America's only ice hotel. The walls, the sculptures, the bar, even the beds are carved from ice, but you're bundled in serious sleeping bags, and um now and then you can say I slept in a frozen palace last night, kind of, which is neat. And I've seen this, but I have never done it. Um, but uh it's quite popular, and I think you would have to book early to um make sure you are able to do that. Um, and then as well in Manitoba, just outside of Winnipeg, you're gonna find the world's largest snow maze. And it's built from over 500,000 pounds of snow, and it's pretty impressive, and um it would be kind of fun to do. Um, you know, where this is, you know, you're definitely gonna be experiencing a prairie winter if you're if we have 500 pounds of snow handy to make this maze. Um, but it it's cool to do. Um, another thing that you can do is, and this is very popular in Ottawa, you can actually skate on the Rideau Canal, which turns into the world's largest natural um skating rink. It's almost eight kilometers long, and then you, you know, you could have a fun experience like um skating past parliament with, you know, definitely a hot chocolate in hand. So it's a good uh, you know, the parliament buildings are quite impressive. So I think it would be fun to do that. But if you want to try something quieter, you can try ice fishing in a heated hut in um Alberta. It's maybe you you enjoy sitting on a frozen lake just fishing for type or and just being warm and cozy inside. Um, or you could try fat biking anywhere across the country, like it's oversized tires and it powers you through the um like the snow-covered trails, whether it's in a uh forest or whatever. But uh it's it's it's it's it's quite neat. Not everything's about snow. Um on the west coast in Tefino in winter, you can stormwatch, and it's like you're seeing these massive waves come in, um, but you're all entrenched in a very cozy lodge with fireplaces. It's just crashing surf instead of snowbanks, which I think would be kind of fun. It's very famous for it.
SPEAKER_01I would love to do that. I'd love to go to Tecino for the storm watching.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it would be in neat. And so, you know, whether you're in Bamford, Jasper, you've got ice climbing, skating, um, the frozen waterfalls and hot springs, you know. So just summarizing like in the white horse, you got the northern lights and sled dogs, whistler, you've got skiing, snowmobiling, and fun night walks as well as in in in Tefino, as we just said, pretty wild, windswept, coastal drama. So, you know, no matter where, um, a good escape from shoveling your driveway or layering up or pretending it's not coal and just enjoying our country um in a different way.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Well, yes, uh exactly. That's just uh probably the tip of the iceberg of all the activities um uh you can find across the country. I think you can in any community at some point uh in winter and and still what's left of winter, you can find activities going on. And sometimes because they're weather dependent, uh you may not have enough snow or the ice hasn't frozen hard enough for you to skate on a lake or something like that. So it depends on that too. But still, and and you're right about um uh the dollar factor for Canadians, obviously, we're using our own dollar, but for international visitors, uh many, many of them get a really good bargain for uh the Canadian dollar versus the euro or versus the US dollar, so they can come and visit and uh get some good bargains. Uh have you done that? Like there's a few things on this list. Uh dog sledding is one that I've done. It's a lot of fun. Uh you can do that in Canmmore, just about well, just about any probably just about any province, I think, probably offers that. And I've also done uh the ice walks in Jasper uh through the the canyon, the Malene Canyon there. That is really cool. Um so there's a few things. Some things I probably wouldn't want to like I don't want to really stay at an ice hotel, you know. I like to be cozy and warm, it's all good. But each to their own. Uh and then uh skating, like uh there's a lot of opportunities in skate. I think uh Lake Louise comes to mind. If you're visiting Lake Louise, uh usually the lake is frozen enough you can uh skate on there. They do their ice sculptures uh in the wintertime. So there's there's really again, I go back to my point of no matter where you are in Canada, you can probably find uh a winter activity to enjoy that maybe for the first time if you're visiting Canada and enjoying the winter.
SPEAKER_00Right. And and to uh speak to your point, I have been fortunate in Camor to go dog sledding, and then they actually let you lead the, I don't know if that's the right word, let you be the musher or the person to say mush or whatever the word you're supposed to say. Um and they just and they and they're very lovely. Um and they're they're treated very respectfully, the dogs, so we we know we're not um hurting them at all. Um they are the stars of the show, and um, and especially if you give them a treat, I think they'll love you forever. But uh yeah, so there is there's lots of things to do. I've done um, I've gone up to Lake Louise and saw those ice sculptures, and they're pretty impressive, as well as gone on the, you know, right in front of the uh Chateau the Fairmont Hotel, yes, um, gone out and snowshoot on the lake, which is really fun as well. So um wonderful opportunities to explore our own country. And again, um, you know, you can we can all grumble about winter, but we can also embrace it and make it go faster by doing something.
Credit Card Travel Insurance
SPEAKER_01Exactly, exactly. Good point. And there's still a little bit of winter left. So Onanta Forbes is a travel expert. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and ex at Onanta Forbes. Onantaforbes.com is her website. Uh, always great to chat, Onanta. This is the Informed Traveler Podcast. I'm Randy Sharman. Just want to remind you of our website, theinformedraveler.org. That's where you can find our contact page if you have any questions or comments about the podcast. You can also email me too with any questions you might have or any show segment ideas. My email address is randy at theinformtraveler.org. And you can check out our social media pages too at facebook.com slash informed traveler, Instagram at informed traveler, or on X at Informed Traveler. That's where you'll find a number of videos and reels from our adventures throughout the year and audio clips from our past shows. Plus, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter too. It's released at the beginning of every month. Our February issue is available now. Just go to our website, theinformedraveler.org, click on the newsletter button, and it'll take you right there. Or better yet, you can subscribe to it and have it arrive in your inbox each month. Well, we often talk about travel insurance on our podcast, but usually don't discuss the various travel insurance coverage offered by credit cards. So Patrick Soyka from Rewards Canada joins us now to talk about the various travel insurance coverage offered by credit cards. His website is rewardscanada.ca. Hi, Patrick.
SPEAKER_04Hi, Randy. Thanks for having me back on.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about travel insurance coverage through your credit card. And it's um to me, it's a very, very complicated uh sort of uh a lot of language, a lot of legalese. So hopefully we can we can kind of simple simplify this. Um let's start well well there's two types of uh travel insurance. There's your medical coverage, and then there's trip interruption cancellations. So let's start with trip interruption cancellations first. And in general, I I the narrative, anyways, that I seem to hear all the time is that the coverage that you have or you get through your credit card isn't as good as if you had separate coverage. Is that true? Or is that just sort of like the narrative uh by insurance companies so you book that I think it is kind of the narrative.
SPEAKER_04I mean it it it depends on case by case, right? And it depends which travel insurance you're buying too. Like if if you go to one of the travel insurance providers and buy one of their, you know, whatever name they use, ultimate or premium or whatever they call their top-end package, yeah, those will probably be better, but they're also the priciest, most expensive type of coverage, right? So it's it's really it comes down to what you want and what you think you need for coverage, you know, like so something like trip interruption, trip cancellation. Um, unless you get one of those travel insurance policies, like from a travel insurance company that is, you know, canceled for any reason, the trip cancellation insurance that you get from insurance companies and you get on your credit cards are quite limiting. I'll I'll throw that out there. I mean, a lot of people talk about, oh, it's so so good to have trip cancellation on your credit card. And yeah, I mean, having that coverage there is good, but when you look at the terms and conditions, they're very specific to what reasons you can cancel your trip for. And there, and there's not a lot. It's pretty much like a death or a sickness in the family. Um uh being called for jury duty. Um and perhaps I think believe I believe some of them may like if you get in an accident on the way to the airport. Um, but sometimes that comes under flight around that comes under trip uh interruption. No, that's sorry, trip interruptions after you start flying. So they they may be, you know, canceling, but they may not do cancellation. They may cover just the fees like for you changing, you know, like if you're you know just delayed type things. Um so these are all things you have to look into. Uh and that's all and a lot of the you know, whether it's credit card or just straight from a travel insurance provider, trip cancellation can be very limiting. And there's even, you know, the um, or I believe sickness is sometimes covered, but again, it can't be a pre-existing condition, it has to be stable for like 90 days or 180 days prior. So there's all these different uh caveats to it, and that and that's why unless you buy yourself like the most expensive travel insurance coverage, something like trip cancellation will kind of be the same between your credit card and you know your travel insurance.
SPEAKER_01What about trip interruption? Now we're on our our vacation, yes, and uh I don't know, flight gets delayed, flight gets cancelled, or something happens and your trip is interrupted. Well is it much different there?
SPEAKER_04I think those are very similar. You know, I haven't done a deep dive and compared them, but but from what I what I have seen, they're very similar. Basically, so if something happens during your trip, same thing. If somebody, you know, maybe you're in the middle of a trip and a family member passes away back home, um, you know, and you have to fly back, that's considered, you know, an interruption to your trip. Or you know, anything that can interrupt your trip where you need to change your originally planned return or maybe another flight, you know, if you're doing multiple flights during a trip, things like that. Um, I believe the coverage again is very similar between them. What what you have to look at here is what is um the value of coverage. And and this varies, and this is on all coverages across a lot of credit cards.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Is some will cover, you know,$1,500 per person up to$5,000 total per reservation. Some will cover$5,000 per person, up to$25,000, you know, in trip interruption for you know everybody traveling together. So it's really, you know, that's something you have to look at too. And it's and you know, having some or all is great. I mean, it's better than not having any coverage, right? True. Um, but yeah, uh, you know, ultimately you just hope that none of this ever happens. But it it's good to have that coverage. And I think, again, I think there's very uh I think for most people, your trip interruption on your credit card will cover this all. Now, what I'm gonna say about the the caveat here about a lot of these coverages on your credit card is the requirement that you need to be paying a certain percentage of the the trip on your credit card.
SPEAKER_01That was my next question. Do you have to use your credit card to get coverage? And I would I would assume that you do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for some of them, for sure. You know, for trip cancellation, trip interruption, depending on the card, it may be 75% uh covered or just a port or some are just a portion. So like there's a couple favorites out there where like if you're booking with points, um, that you use a card out there for the taxes and fees, and then it'll cover that points thing. You won't get your points back, but it'll cover you know fees that are charged, like if you need to change your flights, like cancellation fees or or rebooking fees, things like that, they would cover those type of things. Um, but again, a lot of credit cards also if you're booking with points of that program. So, like, say if you use an Air Canada Aeroplan credit card, when you use your aeroplan points with that credit card, you know, you're covered. Uh BMO rewards, if you redeem your BMO rewards points and you pay for the, you know, whatever remaining part of your trip is on the the B you know on your BMO card, you're covered. Um and and it also varies per uh, you know, what you're paying for. Some cards out there, very few now, said that you have to book your entire trip. Whereas, you know, if it's flights, you know, your flights are covered by one card and you put a hotel on a different card, your hotel should be covered by that by that other card. Um yeah. So uh again, it's best to read the terms and conditions, you know, with over 200 cards out there and probably 100 to 150, well, I'd say at least a hundred of them cut have travel insurance. It's really good to make note of, you know, your coverage and what what you have before you book any travel so that you know what you know what you might be in store with if something happens.
SPEAKER_01For sure. And I would assume the same sort of um idea goes for medical insurance, right? Do you have certain coverages, certain things that aren't covered, and that that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the good news with medical coverage with most cards is that those those come automatic. You don't actually have to book the trip on those cards, so you're covered. Um but they will vary in terms of age coverage, how duration of coverage. Um again, here's like um how how long your medical condition has to be stable, like if it's an existing condition that causes your emergency medical coverage. So these are some things you have to look into. It can be 90 to 180 days. Some have required a whole year of stability, especially for those who are over 65 for those pre-existing conditions. Um, you know, um, but other emergencies are typically covered. But yeah, again, it comes down to you know, some cards will cover you for 31 days up to age 64. After you're once you hit 65, they may cover you for 10 days, or they may not cover you at all. Um, there are a couple of cards out there that do better for the 65 plus crowd. Um and then you have some cards like let's let's let's do a deep dive here into a card that is often called the best insurance credit card in Canada. It's called the National Bank World Elite MasterCard.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04And it has really good coverage. It's got like 60 days, I think it's six, yeah, 60 days of out-of-province medical coverage. Wow. Uh up to age, what is it? I sorry, I have it in front of me. I think up to age 54. Um, where is it here? Yeah, up to age 54, you have 60 days of coverage. So that's great. But they have a few caveats that other cars don't have. If you try if you travel for 61 days, you are not covered at all. At all. At all. From day zero or day one of your travel, you're not covered. Whereas whereas other cards, where they may cover you who maybe not 60 days, but say another card has 48 days of coverage, you travel 49, they're going to cover you for those first 48 days, and you're taking just a risk on one day. So these are all things you have to be aware of. You know, National Bank uh you know, love them for having excellent coverage, but they also have some of the I can't say strictest, but just oddest policies in those buffers. Don't get sick, so don't get sick on day 61. Exactly, exactly. So so that's just something to be aware of. It's you know, um, so yeah, when somebody tells you that they have the best insurance coverage, make sure you read the policies to know what you know what what you're being covered for. Um mind you, like they cover you 31 days from age 60 to 64, 15 days for those 65 and over. So like the actual coverage periods are great, but you just have to be aware that if you're you know, with that card, you travel longer than that, you are not covered. You know, so you know what you're getting into.
SPEAKER_01I guess that's the that's the biggest thing, right? Is yeah um pick up the phone, ask a lot of questions, and make sure you're you know what you're covered for, and if it doesn't suit what you need, then you can get extra insurance, which leads me to my next question. Yes. Uh can you have multiple policies? Well like one doesn't cancel out the other. For example, if I have some coverage with a credit card and then I have work coverage, and then I decide, okay, well, I'm gonna just hop it up here and there. One doesn't cancel the other out.
SPEAKER_04No, they don't they don't cancel each other out, but they will some will state if you have some other primary coverage elsewhere, that is the first person you go to, and then they'll cover what is not covered by your primary coverage, if that makes sense. Hopefully, yes.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, you gotta start somewhere, right? Like who would you who would you call first?
SPEAKER_04Yes, exactly. Um so this so yeah, no, they don't cancel each other out. A lot of people do buy, you know, year long travel insurance coverage. They still rely on their credit card insurance, but also have that year long travel insurance. And you know, a lot of times if you are traveling even, you know, maybe twice a year, sometimes those year long packages are great to have because they don't they're price wise, they're not too bad. Um and then and you're covered for any extra. Trips you take in between and and things like that. You know, I used to love, we used to buy one. This was a long time ago through my um, I still have the diners club MasterCard. They would offer policy. It was cheap. It was like$100 a year and you'd be covered all year or something. It was it was so good, you know. And and that card itself really had has decent insurance coverage to begin with. And then you would just do the do this top off. And some of the credit cards too. Like if you if you're only a once-a-year traveler and you don't want to buy extra travel insurance, you're traveling, say, longer than what your credit card offers. Some of them offer top-ups. You can call them beforehand and say, you know what, I know you guys cover me for however so many days. We're gonna be traveling five days past that. Can I top it off? And they will you know sell you that. They honestly, honestly, they should all be doing that. You know, insurance, insurance is a big moneymaker for all of these companies, you know. Um, so I'm surprised some credit card companies don't offer top-ups, you know, because it's you know, you're getting that peace of mind and they're getting the money, and you know, hopefully, you know it's a win-win for everybody. It is a win-win. 99 times out of a hundred, you're not gonna use it, you know.
SPEAKER_01I I used to have uh year-long insurance when I worked on the cruise ships, and uh because it was just easy to do to do, right? And it was relatively inexpensive. I guess but for a whole year of coverage, it was great. Um okay, so let's talk just briefly about car insurance. I'm sure it's the same sort of parameters, read your policy, get you know, know what you're covered for. Yes, and in general, is it uh good coverage?
SPEAKER_04In general, it is. I mean, you know, for for most Canadian credit cards, they give you primary coverage, so you don't have to go to your insurance company first. You you would find a lot of US credit cards is not primary, where you have to use your own car insurance first and then you know, use the credit card. For in Canada, majority are primary, so you don't even have to go to your own insurance, so you'll have no dings on your record if you get in an accident, things like that, your insurance won't increase. Um, the main things to be aware of with with uh you know, it's collision damage waiver. So what so one thing people need to know is not liability coverage. Um, but most uh most car rental companies, you can either buy that liability coverage or you can use your liability from your own policy as long as it's covered for rentals. Um most countries outside of North America, it's mandatory, anyways, in the rental. Like you travel to Europe and rent a car, liability insurance is always mandatory. You know, you're you're paying for it in the car rental. Um so the coverage on credit cards is typically just collision damage waiver. So you're basically all it is is covering damage to the to your rental car, basically. Um the biggest thing to be aware of is how long you're covered for. Um most cards in Canada are uh 30, what is it, 30 or 31 days or 48 days. Um, but the biggest thing that's really come up in the last few years is the amount of a car that's covered. You'll find that all all but one credit card in Canada cover only up to 65,000 Canadian dollars maximum or like the manufactured suggested retail price or 85,000. So is that replacement cost? That no, that's what that's I believe that's what the car would have been purchased for at the time of the car comp the rental car company buying it, but it's manufacturers suggested retail, not what they paid for it. You know, so if they're getting a discount or you know, but but but where where I'm going with this is car prices have just shot up a lot. You know, it doesn't take a lot to get to a$65,000 car. And especially if say you're say you're a uh national uh you know car rental Emerald Club member where you get to pick any car off the lot. You know, you go pick yourself a Mercedes, you may not be covered.
SPEAKER_0165,000 isn't gonna cover.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, you may not be covered.
SPEAKER_01I've been, you know, so many times a full-size SCV or something like that is 100 grand now.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, yeah. Like I've been uh lucky enough a few times when we travel our family, we've been upgraded to Escalades, Cadillac Escalades, you know, and that's over 100,000. No card will cover that, except for the aforementioned when I said I still have my diners club mascard, which unfortunately people can't apply for anymore, but it has no maximum MSRP. Yeah. So it'll cover any car outside of exotics, sport cars, all of them. None of them will cover Ferraris, none of them will cover Lamborghinis, you know, or you know, you rent yourself a 1908 Model T, you know, for they won't cover those type of things, but they will cover the Mercedes, the BMWs, the Range Rovers. Those will be covered, but again, you have that maximum, which is a suggested retail price. So a lot of those on pretty much all credit cards in Canada may not be covered if that value is high. Now we have seen CIBC uh take the lead here. CIBC on the majority of their credit cards that offer collision damage waiver, they bumped up their cars that were at 65,000 to 85,000, and their per their uh ultra premium cards that covered cars up to 85,000 are now bumped up bumped up to 100,000.
SPEAKER_01And that's only if you use the card to rent the car, right?
SPEAKER_04So you have to use that card for that. Yeah, it's not you're not getting that coverage automatically. You have to worry, you don't know, you have to not worry, you have to pay for paying the rental with that car.
SPEAKER_01So okay. Uh so now, without getting into too much per too much personal information, what does Patrick do when he's traveling with his family for insurance?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I mean, of course, we have our we have our credit card insurance on our on our various cards. Um, like I said, diners club, that is my go-to for my car rentals. Um, even if I know I'm booking a car underneath uh MSRP, if we get the upgrades, because a lot of times we do get upgrades, um it uh you know it covers me there. Uh look at my credit cards, but you know, of course, we have our our own work medical plan. I mean, I work for myself, but we have our own medical plan and we have travel insurance coverage through there as well. So that's what I do. Um but yeah, if you don't have coverage through work, you may want to look at, you know, look and see if you need to top up with uh additional travel insurance coverage over your credit card. You know, if it gives you peace of mind, absolutely do it, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, but just make sure you you're well aware of those conditions. And then, you know, if we have time, I should quickly mention, take advantage of those other credit card coverages, which a lot of people forget, which is like baggage delay and flight delay.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I was just looking at my American Express coverage for things like that. And and some of the stuff I didn't even know, right? So it's good just to kind of look and go, oh, okay, I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, if your flight is delayed four to six hours, depends on your card. Um, you can after that four hours or six hours, uh you know, take pictures of the screen or get a printout from the desk saying your flight's been delayed or a screenshot of like the flight status online. Um take a screenshot after that four hours, you can go start buying food and sundries if you require. You know, up to you know, some cars are$500, some are$1,000, and you can submit those and get those paid for after.
SPEAKER_01So I that's the other thing I wanted to ask too, before we go. Uh filing a claim, how easy is it in general? Have you heard?
SPEAKER_04I mean, in this yeah, it's been a long time since I filed a clean. I did one for a car rental. I did uh have a little uh I backed into a pole in Maui once with a rental van. And um, it was relatively easy. You know, it it took some time, like the whole process was was quite easy. Um, but the the the time between TD sending a check to Alamo or whatever, there were there was a period in there where Alamo sent me a letter, you can no longer rent with us if we if you don't if we don't get this covered. So um, but the actual process is it varies. You know, when you read online, some people say, Oh, the process was super easy, and others say, you know, it it can be difficult. I think it's like dealing with any insurance claim, whether it's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I I I think when it comes to the credit card companies, you are a customer of them. I think we would like to do as much as possible to to satisfy, and it's probably insurance companies, not the bash insurance companies, but if there's a delay in there, it's probably them. Because the credit card companies don't have their own insurance companies, they're going through a third party. That's right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that they're using Chubb, Alliance, who you name it, you know, and that's yeah, so so really it it seems to happen again, it comes down to the individual. Some people seem to have great experiences, others do not, you know, and I think that I think that's just part and parcel with dealing with insurance companies, right? So for sure.
SPEAKER_01Well, great advice. I guess the the biggest takeaway is if you have questions, just uh call your uh customer service on your credit card and and just ask so you know for sure, right?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. They they will help you out or they or they may pass you to the third party who can you know explain to you what you know what your coverage is like. And then yeah, I mean, you know, we try and do I have summaries on the website, but it sometimes, you know, some of these policies are changing every few months.
SPEAKER_01So I I I even say, you know, and it is so individualized too, it's hard to generalize. But you did a good job. Patrick Soit is the founder of uh Rewards Canada. Rewardscanada.ca uh is their website, and you can sign up for their newsletter too and get all kinds of tips uh and advice uh using your uh credit cards for rewards. So uh thanks again, Patrick.
SPEAKER_04Hey, thanks, Randy.
SPEAKER_01And that was our show for this week. If you have comments or questions, we'd love to hear from you. If you have a show idea, send that along as well. My email is Randy at theinformed traveler.org. If you like what you heard, tell a friend. You can check out our website too at theinformedraveler.org. In the meantime, thanks for listening. Travel safe and be an informed traveler.