California has gotten hit by several heavy storms this year, meaning lots of delayed flights in and out of SFO.

One of my recent flights from Denver to SFO got pushed hour by hour from 4p until past midnight, so instead of spending hours hoping the flight would happen I decided to re-book on Frontier’s earliest flight the next morning.

Even though the delay wasn’t their fault, Frontier gave everyone who wanted it a $15 food voucher to use at the airport.

Denver International’s only on-site hotel, the Westin, was twice the price of all the other nearby hotels, so I skipped that and hit a Hyatt House to get some sleep.

Banking on the Citi Prestige Trip Delay Protection

I’d never used this benefit before, so it was a bit of a gamble for me, but it worked.

Here is what it covers:

Luckily I booked my flight with my Citi Prestige card, or else I would’ve been spending another long evening at the airport.

Here is the email I sent to mybenefits@cardbenefitscommunications.com the day after the delay:

“Hello,

Please consider my attached Citi Prestige trip delay protection claim.

In addition to the claim form, I’ve attached:
1. My Frontier flight purchase receipt
2. My itemized hotel receipt
3. Images verifying the length of the trip delay
4. My original boarding pass for the delayed flight

Please let me know if any other info would be helpful.

Best Regards,”

You can also submit by phone though:

Since Frontier didn’t have any excuse or delay verification forms, I just sent a few phone screenshots of my flight delay alerts and updates from Frontier.

Two weeks later:

I theoretically could have been reimbursed for up to $300 more on my hotel and meals, but Frontier had me covered on the food.

Next time I might go for the added convenience and saved time of the on-site hotel, but I still had to eat the hotel expense until the reimbursement check gets to me.

Have you ever used trip cancellation or delay protection?