Reader Arthur‘s parents were in Singapore on an award trip he helped to book using Membership Rewards points transferred to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer. Taxes were paid with his father’s American Express Platinum card.
They flew Atlanta – New York JFK on a Delta economy award and then New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore in Singapore Suites.
During the trip Arthur’s father had a heart attack. They were on a 3 day stopover before continuing to Bali but they never made that portion of the trip. While doing a food tour with friends he had a heart attack. Fortunately one of the friends was an OB/GYN who performed CPR on him within one minute. Arthur relays, “[w]ith Singapore traffic it took 15 minutes to get to the emergency room where they defibrillated him and restarted his heart.” His father’s brain was injured from lack of oxygen during the time enroute to Raffles Hospital.
It was a stressful time for Arthur’s family already with a new baby in the house just days old. But he was on top of his benefits, and medical evac coverage made a huge difference for his family.
He verified that his father’s American Express Platinum card had medical evacuation coverage that applied even on an award ticket since the taxes and fees for the award were paid with the card.
(AIG asked for confirmation that the positioning flights to and from New York were also paid for with the Platinum American Express card — $5.60 security taxes — though it’s not clear this would have been required to honor the claim.)
His father was flown from Singapore to Atlanta on a specially outfitted Gulfstream 100 which made the journey in 25 hours after 4 refuel and crew change stops. He had a doctor, paramedic, respiratory technician, and his wife on-board.
Gulfstream Business Jet, Copyright nort / 123RF Stock Photo
Arthur shares the following:
The American Express Platinum evacuation benefit was incredible. His flight home would have cost $275,000 otherwise.
He had a medically outfitted Gulfstream 100 come from Toronto with a Doctor, Paramedic, and Respiratory Technician. They had a hard time getting landing rights in Singapore so for a while it looked like they were going to take him by ambulance to Johor Bahru Malaysia to fly out. At the last minute they got the landing rights.
So they flew him home Singapore – Taipei – Sapporo – Anchorage – Calgary – Atlanta Peachtree Dekalb (PDK). The pilots changed a couple times but it was the same medical crew for the entire 25 hour flight + ambulance time.
My mom got to ride with him too although the Gulfstream G100 was at capacity so it was an uncomfortable journey. They sedated dad and gave him morphine for the trip home so he was zonked out the whole time.
I came to Atlanta for his arrival and found the Ambulance driver waiting on the lane at PDK. He allowed me to get in the back of the ambulance with my sister and drive out on the tarmac to pick him up. We had to wait for 2 drive-up customs guys to clear the plane (they didn’t use the US customs border people in Calgary I guess) and then they transferred him to the ambulance to the hospital.
It was great to see him in one piece and to see my mom after what has been a traumatic experience for her.
I notice Chase has the same benefit capped at $100k on the Sapphire Reserve. Amex Plat had no cap thankfully!!!
The benefit was provided through AIG, which has a 24/7 command center to coordinate emergency logistics. Arthur explains,
During each shift an AIG case worker had the case and was the point person until hand-off to the next person on the next shift. So we had a specific person to speak to at the contact center whenever we called which was nice.
Arthur’s Father Being Transferred from Gulfstream to Ambulance at Atlanta Peachtree-Dekalb Airport
Arthur’s father is now receiving specialized care at the Shepard Brain Injury Center in Atlanta where he receives “Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Memory Therapy, and “Hobby” Therapy each day” and anticipates being released to home recovery in a month. The prognosis over the next six months is extremely good.
I’m always torn over what card to use to pay for trips, is it better to earn 5 points per dollar on the American Express Platinum but without trip or baggage delay coverage, or earn 3 points per dollar with those benefits? But those benefits are small and over the course of a year I value the extra 2 points more.
It’s incredibly rare to need medical transport — from the other side of the world — but when you do this is huge. It’s a great benefit, and most people wouldn’t even realize they had it, especially at such a stressful time.
If something goes medically wrong on a trip, it’s a good idea to reach out to the American Express Premium Global Assist line right away to get the ball rolling, just in case.
Meanwhile, Delta waived the award redeposit for the New York JFK – Atlanta return award ticket. And Aeroplan eventually refunded miles and taxes for the Asiana first class Bali – Bangkok – Seoul – New York JFK return although this took “some back and forth” emphasizing that a mere waived fee for a date change may not help if Arthur’s father had died. The Grand Hyatt Bali provided full refund for the 7 night stay they weren’t able to take despite being inside the hotel’s cancellation window as well.
The man in this story who had the heart attack is my Father.
Thank you for clarifying.
Well, this is a better story than the “Widow in debt after travel insurance cover denied ” article on Feb 3, 2009 in New Zealand. Glad they improved.
Do you really need to have used the Amex Platinum card to purchase any portion of a trip or merely be a cardholder? T&C’s don’t mention any purchase requirement.
No purchase requirement, just that you are 100 miles or more away from home and have the card with you. They ask all the numbers on the card. I think they really try to see if you actually have the card on you.
wait a sec. AMEX plat insurance is only for accidents, not illness, right?
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/travel-accident-insurance-terms.html
So has Amex changed to be capped at $100k like Chase?
https://www.americanexpress.com/lacidc/en/laccards/assistancetravel.shtml
100k for med evac for latin america, and I believe no cost or cap for NA. See PGA terms,
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/global-assist-terms.html
George the link you provided is for their “accident insurance”, which is different from the emergency evacuation benefit. If you want to read about the evacuation terms you would have to look under the “global assist” portion of the American Express website. Accident insurance is typically more of a “death and dismemberment” policy, although a good one.
totally confused. This was first by Gary in 2017 but I just got it as a new post today?
“totally confused. This was first by Gary in 2017 but I just got it as a new post today?”
April fools?
Great story! Please note that the Premium Global Assist (with medical evacuation) included with the US-issued Amex Platinum is also included with the Amex Hilton Aspire & Amex Bonvoy Brilliant cards. This is good news for those who don’t have the Platinum but have these hotel cards.
Reading the terms (which you should read before relying on it), I see no purchase requirement & no cost caps, merely that the card had active coverage at the beginning of the trip, more than 100 miles from home, not a pre-existing condition within certain number of days.
One of the conditions for coverage for family members is, they should be traveling with the card holder on the same itinerary. If their itinerary is different, I am assuming no coverage is provided for them.
Is there any way to get around this? Does getting additional platinum cards for everyone in the family provide individual coverage for everyone regardless of the itinerary ?
From the Amex website : With the Global Assist® Hotline ‡ when you travel more than 100 miles from home, we can provide you with 24/7 medical, legal, financial or other select emergency coordination and assistance services. Card ****Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers.
And then further down the page, they go on to reiterate a second time that: Card Members are responsible for costs charged by third-party service providers
So what gives? Do they simply arrange everything for you, but you have to still pay to be evacuated across the world? Because that is exactly what that says. I hope I missing something because I was really excited about this benefit due to some severe anxiety I have about traveling 🙁
Maybe somebody can help answer this.
From the Amex website : With the Global Assist® Hotline ‡ when you travel more than 100 miles from home, we can provide you with 24/7 medical, legal, financial or other select emergency coordination and assistance services. Card ****Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers.**** so another words they will evacuate you across the world no problem, but the caveat is that you have to pay for it? It seems like that is exactly what this is saying. They say it two or three times in the explanation that the member is required to pay, please tell me I am missing something because I have a lot of anxiety about traveling, and this would give me incredible peace of mind to have a benefit where they cover the full cost of a medical evacuation.
I don’t understand why everyone is saying it’s a free benefit. Here’s what the website says about how all costs are to be paid paid the member; Global Assist merely helps organize it. I’m not saying that’s not helpful, but I was really expecting them to cover the cost after everything I’ve read here, so I am extremely disappointed.
https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/pdf/GA_Benefit_Guide_Rev_09-17.pdf
@Julie You are looking at different things. Global Assist helps to organize, you pay for everything. Travel insurance covers including Medical Evacuation Coverage are different. I believe all Amex cards have Global Assist but only high end cards have the others.
Just to make it clear there is AMEX Premium Global Assist, which is a benefit of the premium AMEX cards such as the Platinum and Delta Reserve cards,. and AMEX Global Assist, which is a benefit of the non premium AMEX cards. The link provided by Julie is for Global Assist. Premium Global Assist does not have the costs to be paid by member language.