BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard insurance: what actually pays out?

Charge any part of your trip to the card and you are covered up to $2,500 per person, with a $5,000 ceiling per account. The certificate lists more than 14 covered reasons: illness, injury, a death in the family, jury duty, job loss, a government travel advisory, even a tour supplier going bankrupt. Cancel with the travel provider and call Allianz within 48 hours of the event, or your payout can shrink. The $2,500 cap is the real catch, because one prepaid international package per person can blow past it fast.

You land, something goes wrong, and the hospital wants a number. This card answers with up to $2,000,000 in emergency medical, and Allianz will guarantee payment straight to the hospital where it can, so you are not always fronting the bill. Two hard limits decide whether that figure means anything to you. Coverage runs only for the first 21 days of any trip, and only if you are under 65. Cardholders 65 to 74 get nothing built in and must buy the optional 31-Day Medical add-on, and at 75 there is no coverage at all.

Emergency evacuation is covered at actual cost, folded inside the $2,000,000 medical maximum. Air ambulance, a medical escort home, or transport to the nearest hospital that can treat you are all on the table, all arranged through Allianz. The non-negotiable rule is pre-approval. Allianz has to set up and approve the transport in advance, so the one phone call you cannot skip is to the Operations Centre before anything moves. Return of remains is covered up to $3,000.

If a covered emergency cuts your trip short or strands you past your return date, this benefit reimburses up to $2,000 per person. That covers the non-refundable parts of your trip you never got to use, plus the extra one-way economy fare to get home. Stuck waiting on a delayed return? Commercial lodging and meals are covered at $150 a day. Same drill as cancellation: notify Allianz within 48 hours or the payout can be cut.

A flight delayed more than six hours unlocks up to $500 per account per trip for meals, a hotel, and the extra travel you did not plan for. Keep every itemized receipt, because prepaid expenses do not count and you claim against what you actually spent during the delay. The trigger is the sticking point. Under six hours and you get nothing. The $500 is also per account, not per person, so a delayed family splits one pot.

Miss a connection because your incoming flight, bus, or train ran late, and the card covers a one-way economy fare to catch up to your trip. Weather, mechanical failure, an accident, or a police road closure all qualify. One condition trips people up: your connecting vehicle has to have been scheduled to arrive at least two hours before your departure. Cut the buffer too fine and the claim does not hold.

Need to fly home early because of a death, a serious illness, or a disaster back home? The card covers the extra one-way economy fare to get you there, drawn from the same $2,000 per person interruption pot. If your travel companion has to bail for a covered reason, it also picks up the single-supplement charge you get stuck with. Original receipts are mandatory, and the reason has to be a covered one, not a change of heart.

When the airline loses track of your checked bag for 12 hours or more on the way out, the card reimburses up to $200 for essential clothing and toiletries. You have to buy those items within 36 hours of landing and keep the receipts. It is a small cushion, not a wardrobe. And it only applies on the outbound leg, so a delay on the way home is not covered.

Lost, stolen, or damaged baggage is covered up to $750 per person, capped at $2,000 per account for a trip. The detail that catches people is the $500 per-item limit, and the list of things that do not count: cell phones, laptops, cash, tickets, and any jewelry or camera gear handed to the airline. Claims pay actual cash value, meaning depreciation, not what you paid. Keep the police or airline report, because you will need it.

Charge your plane, train, or bus fare to the card and every insured traveller is covered for up to $500,000 in accidental death and dismemberment while riding that common carrier. Underwritten by Chubb, it stretches to the taxi or airport limo to and from the terminal once the fare is on the card. It is grim coverage nobody plans to use, and the payout scales down for partial losses like a hand or an eye. A US-dollar version of the card carries a lower $100,000 limit.

No hotel burglary coverage. This benefit is not included with this card. Property stolen from your hotel room is the cardholder's responsibility.