TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite benefits: which travel insurance protections actually hold up?

Trip cancellation pays up to $1,500 per insured person, to $5,000 per trip combined, for the covered causes in the certificate. The full trip cost has to be charged to the card or paid with TD Rewards Points. Notify Global Excel as soon as the cause comes up. Pre-existing conditions that are not stable are excluded.

Emergency medical pays up to $2,000,000 per person for a sudden medical emergency abroad, covering hospital, physicians, diagnostics, ambulance and emergency return home. The catch is duration: the first 21 consecutive days of a trip if you are 64 or under, and only the first 4 days at 65 and over. It pays in excess of your provincial health plan, so you call before treatment and often front the bill.

Getting you home is part of the emergency medical benefit, listed as emergency return home and drawn from the same $2,000,000 pool. A separate repatriation benefit of up to $10,000 also sits under the travel accident coverage. It runs on the medical rails: the 21-day window, 4 days at 65 and over, and you must call Global Excel before any transport is arranged.

Trip interruption pays up to $5,000 per person, to $25,000 per trip combined, when a covered cause cuts your trip short after departure. That per-person limit is well above the Canadian norm. The full trip cost has to be on the card or TD Rewards Points, and the same covered-causes list and pre-existing rules apply.

Flight and trip delay covers up to $500 for meals, accommodation and reasonable ground transportation when an eligible delay runs 4 hours or more. The 4-hour trigger is generous. The catch is the eligible-cause list: weather and equipment failure count, but strikes, labour disputes and anything made public before you booked do not. At least 75% of the trip has to be on the card.

No missed connection benefit. The certificate handles delays under flight and trip delay, not a separate missed-connection line. Costs to rebook a missed connection are the cardholder's responsibility.

No standalone early return benefit. A covered early return is handled inside trip interruption and the medical emergency-return-home benefit, not as its own coverage. There is no separate pool beyond those limits.

Baggage delay reimburses essential purchases up to $1,000 per person when your checked bag is more than 6 hours late at your final destination. That limit is per person, better than many cards, but it is shared with the lost-baggage benefit. Buy essentials within 96 hours and keep receipts. The ticket has to be paid with the card.

Lost baggage reimburses the replacement cost of personal property the airline does not cover, up to $1,000 per person, sharing that limit with baggage delay. It pays in excess of the common carrier, so the airline's liability comes first. Money, securities, tickets and documents are excluded, and only checked baggage qualifies.

Common carrier travel accident pays a principal sum of up to $500,000 for death or serious injury on a plane, train, bus or boat, with set amounts for loss of a limb, sight, speech or hearing. It adds family transportation up to $5,000 and rehabilitation up to $10,000. The fare has to be on the card, and only the single largest applicable benefit is paid per accident.

Hotel and motel burglary covers up to $2,500 per occurrence for belongings stolen from your room, for all insured persons combined. You need evidence of forced entry, and at least 75% of the room cost has to be on the card or TD Rewards Points. It pays in excess of other insurance and any hotel reimbursement. Cash, tickets and documents are excluded.