Hi,
In December I took an award flight from YYC-ORD-MUC on LH. Booked with UA miles.
The first leg was on UA, and delayed. The delay of the flight was due to weather (so they claimed, but I suspect otherwise). I arrived in ORD with no time to make the connecting flight to MUC and the flight had departed and I was stuck in ORD for the evening.
When looking for a hotel for the evening, UA claimed that I could not be reimbursed on their end for the hotel since the delay was "weather, outside their control." Knowing that I had paid the taxes on the award ticket with a prestige (one of the reasons I keep paying the AF on the card is for insurance), I understood that my missed connection and rebooking for a next possible flight the next day would entitle me to make use of the trip-delay $500 insurance policy the card offers.
Come time to submit my claim for the hotel room, uber, meals etc., and it has been rejected. I called up to find out why and it turns out that they will not cover the delay if the original leg of the trip was less than 3 hours delayed. This seems to me to be a blatant mis-use of the policy and was not in the benefits guide as i read them at the time.
Anyone have experience with this? I have seen a similar report online that went to arbitration after someone retained a lawyer, but I don't have funds to retain a lawyer, to recoup $500 no less (though that is significant money for me).