Credit card travel insurance is written into a certificate of insurance, not into the marketing page. The certificate is the document that decides a claim, and it is where every figure here comes from. Each row links the certificate it was read from, so any number on this page can be checked against its source.
This page then does the part most comparisons stop short of: it scores the 59 cards and puts them in order. The score is arithmetic on the certificate figures, the weights are published below, and nothing in it is an opinion about a brand.
Which credit card has the best travel insurance in Canada?
Four answers, because it is four questions, and no card here answers more than one of them. The card that wins at 45 is not the card that still covers you at 70, and the card with no ceiling on medical is not the one with the highest cancellation limit.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Privilege
Top of the table on a 14-day trip at 45. Move the sliders and it does not stay there.
National Bank World Elite Mastercard
The only card here whose age band still allows a 14-day trip at 70. Every other certificate has dropped to 10 days or fewer by then.
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege
The highest cancellation limit any certificate here states, matched by 9 other cards. 10 cards exclude cancellation entirely.
RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege
One of 4 cards whose certificate states no ceiling on emergency medical. The rest cap at $5,000,000 or below.
Winners are recalculated from the store every time this page is built, at a 14-day trip and age 45. Change either one in the tool below and the ranking changes with it.
Rank 59 Canadian credit cards by your age and trip length
Most travel insurance comparisons rank on the medical limit, which is the figure least likely to decide anything: almost every card here publishes at least $1,000,000, and almost no claim reaches it. The figure that decides whether you are covered at all is the number of days your age band allows, and it collapses at 65 on most certificates.
Coverage finder
Set the traveller and the trip. Every card is rescored and the table below reorders. Cards whose age band cannot cover the trip drop out of the list; switch them back on to see how far short they fall.
How the score is calculated
| 30 | Emergency medical limit | share of the highest limit published, which is unlimited |
| 25 | Covers your trip at your age | all or nothing: the age band either allows your trip length or it does not |
| 15 | Trip cancellation limit | share of the highest limit published |
| 15 | Trip interruption limit | share of the highest limit published |
| 8 | Baggage delay limit | share of the highest limit published |
| 7 | Rental car collision damage | full marks when the certificate pays first, partial when it pays in excess |
Each dollar component scores as a share of the highest figure any of the 59 cards publishes for that field: $5,000,000 medical (or unlimited, which takes full marks), $2,500 cancellation, $5,000 interruption, $1,000 baggage delay. The scale comes from the data, not from a ladder we invented, so a new certificate with a higher limit moves every score.
Trip length is deliberately all or nothing. A certificate that allows 10 days does not half-cover a 14-day trip, it covers none of it from day 11, and partial credit there would misdescribe how the policy behaves. A card with no age band stated scores zero on that component and is labelled rather than assumed.
The score ranks coverage on paper. It knows nothing about annual fee, earn rate, or how an issuer handles a claim, and it is not advice about which card to carry.
— the certificate states no figure we could confirm Not included the certificate affirmatively excludes it Days per trip by age longest covered trip at that age
| Card | Emergency medical | Days per trip by age | Trip cancellation | Trip interruption | Baggage delay | Rental car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards with travel insurance (49)Figures are per insured person unless the card page states otherwise. | ||||||
| American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: none |
$1,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Aeroplan CardAmerican Express · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Aeroplan Reserve CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: none |
$1,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Business Gold Rewards CardAmerican Express · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Business Platinum CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Cobalt CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Gold Rewards CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d | $1,500 | $1,500 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| American Express Platinum CardAmerican Express · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: none |
$2,500 | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Marriott Bonvoy American Express CardAmerican Express · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express CardAmerican Express · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| BMO Ascend World Elite MastercardBMO · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 21 d 65+: none |
$1,500 | $2,000 | $500 | Included 48 days max |
| BMO eclipse Visa InfiniteBMO · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: none |
— | — | — | Included 48 days max |
| BMO eclipse Visa Infinite PrivilegeBMO · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 22 d 65+: 3 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included 48 days max |
| BMO Rewards Business MastercardBMO · certificateBMO now directs applicants to the Ascend Business Mastercard. The certificate linked here is current; confirm the card is still open to new applications before applying. | — | — | $1,500 | $2,000 | $500 | Included 48 days max |
| BMO VIPorter MastercardBMO · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 8 d 65+: none |
— | — | $500 | Included 48 days max |
| BMO VIPorter World Elite MastercardBMO · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 21 d 65+: none |
$1,500 | $2,000 | $500 | Included 48 days max |
| CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business PlusCIBC · certificate | — | — | $1,000 | $2,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| CIBC Aeroplan Visa InfiniteCIBC · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $2,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite PrivilegeCIBC · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 31 d 65+: 10 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| CIBC Aventura Gold VisaCIBC · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: none |
— | — | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| CIBC Aventura Visa InfiniteCIBC · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $2,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite PrivilegeCIBC · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 31 d 65+: 10 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| National Bank World Elite MastercardNational Bank · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 54: 60 d to 64: 31 d to 75: 15 d 76+: none |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by NeoNeo Financial · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 59: 14 d 60+: none |
$1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard®Neo Financial · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 59: 14 d 60+: none |
$1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| RBC Avion Visa Business CardRBC · certificate | Not included | — | $1,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| RBC Avion Visa InfiniteRBC · certificate | Unlimited | to 64: 15 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| RBC Avion Visa Infinite PrivilegeRBC · certificate | Unlimited | to 64: 31 d 65+: 7 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $750 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| RBC Avion Visa PlatinumRBC · certificate | Not included | — | $1,000 | $2,500 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| WestJet RBC MastercardRBC · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| WestJet RBC World Elite MastercardRBC · certificate | Unlimited | to 64: 15 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard for BusinessRBC · certificate | Unlimited | to 64: 15 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Rogers Red World Elite MastercardRogers Bank · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 64: 10 d to 75: 3 d |
$1,000 | $1,000 | — | Included 31 days max |
| Scotia Momentum for Business VisaScotiabank · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 64: 8 d 65+: 3 d |
— | — | — | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Scotiabank Gold American ExpressScotiabank · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 64: 25 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Scotiabank Passport Visa InfiniteScotiabank · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 25 d 65+: 3 d |
$1,500 | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Business CardScotiabank · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 64: 25 d 65+: 10 d |
$2,500 | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite PrivilegeScotiabank · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 31 d 65+: 10 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Scotiabank Platinum American ExpressScotiabank · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 31 d 65+: 10 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Tangerine Rewards World Elite MastercardTangerine · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 15 d | $2,000 | $2,000 | $500 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Aeroplan Visa Business CardTD · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: 4 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Aeroplan Visa InfiniteTD · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 21 d 65+: 4 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite PrivilegeTD · certificate | $5,000,000 | to 64: 31 d 65+: 4 d |
$2,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Aeroplan Visa PlatinumTD · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Business Travel Visa CardTD · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 15 d 65+: 4 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD First Class Travel Visa InfiniteTD · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 21 d 65+: 4 d |
$1,500 | $5,000 | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| TD Platinum Travel VisaTD · certificate | — | — | — | — | $1,000 | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Wealthsimple Visa InfiniteWealthsimple · certificate | $1,000,000 | to 64: 14 d | $1,000 | $1,000 | $500 | — |
| Wealthsimple Visa Infinite PrivilegeWealthsimple · certificate | $2,000,000 | to 64: 14 d 65+: none |
$1,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | Included, primary 31 days max |
| Rental car coverage only (2)No medical, cancellation or baggage benefit. The collision damage waiver is the only travel-adjacent cover. | ||||||
| American Express Business Edge CardAmerican Express · certificate | Not included | — | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included, primary 48 days max |
| Tangerine Money-Back World MastercardTangerine · certificate | — | — | — | — | — | Included, primary 31 days max |
| No travel insurance included (8)Each row quotes the document that establishes it. These cards may still carry purchase, warranty or mobile device benefits, and travel cover may be available to buy separately. | ||||||
| BMO eclipse rise VisaBMO · certificate | No travel insurance included“Table of Contents SUMMARY OF BENEFITS 1. PURCHASE SECURITY AND EXTENDED WARRANTY INSURANCE 2. MOBILE DEVICE INSURANCE” | |||||
| KOHO EssentialKOHOKOHO sells travel insurance as a separate opt-in policy on its paid plans. It is not a benefit embedded in the card. | No travel insurance included“When you sign up for a paid plan (Essential, Extra, or Everything), you can enroll for Travel Insurance.” | |||||
| KOHO EverythingKOHOKOHO sells travel insurance as a separate opt-in policy on its paid plans. It is not a benefit embedded in the card. | No travel insurance included“Everything plan members already have travel perks included: no foreign transaction fees and a free international ATM withdrawal each month.” | |||||
| KOHO ExtraKOHOKOHO sells travel insurance as a separate opt-in policy on its paid plans. It is not a benefit embedded in the card. | No travel insurance included“When you sign up for a paid plan (Essential, Extra, or Everything), you can enroll for Travel Insurance.” | |||||
| More Rewards RBC VisaRBC · certificate | No travel insurance included“Credit card and debit card insurance coverage underwritten by RBC Insurance Company of Canada: Mobile Device Insurance, Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Insurance” | |||||
| More Rewards RBC Visa InfiniteRBC · certificate | No travel insurance included“Credit card and debit card insurance coverage underwritten by RBC Insurance Company of Canada: Mobile Device Insurance, Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Insurance” | |||||
| Tangerine Money-Back Credit CardTangerine · certificate | No travel insurance included“Insurance Coverages provided with the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card: Purchase Assurance, Extended Warranty” | |||||
| TD Rewards VisaTD · certificate | No travel insurance included“Credit Card Insurance Coverages Provided with TD Rewards Visa Credit Card: Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Protection” | |||||
Emergency medical, trip cancellation, trip interruption and baggage delay are shown per insured person. The full 13 coverage types read from each certificate, including flight delay, lost baggage, travel accident and hotel burglary, are on each card’s own page. The three that cover what you buy rather than where you go, purchase protection, extended warranty and mobile device, are compared separately.
Which cards fall short?
Naming winners is the easy half. The reader who is about to fly on a card that covers nothing is the one this page owes an answer, so the three shortfalls below are listed by name.
Travel cards whose certificate excludes emergency medical (8)
Each of these carries a travel benefit of some kind, so it sits in the covered group, and each is sold under an airline, hotel or travel brand. The certificate excludes emergency medical outright. This is the gap most likely to be discovered in a hospital.
- American Express Aeroplan Card
- American Express Business Gold Rewards Card
- Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card
- RBC Avion Visa Business Card
- RBC Avion Visa Platinum
- TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum
- WestJet RBC Mastercard
Cards that stop covering you at an age (12)
The certificate names an age and covers nothing beyond it. Not a reduced limit, not a shorter trip: nothing. The age itself ranges from 60 to 76, which is why a card can appear both here and among the winners above: one of these stops at 76, later than most certificates stop covering a two-week trip at all.
- American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card
- American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card
- American Express Platinum Card
- BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard
- BMO eclipse Visa Infinite
- BMO VIPorter Mastercard
- BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard
- Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo
- CIBC Aventura Gold Visa
- National Bank World Elite Mastercard
- United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard®
- Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege
Cards with no travel insurance at all (8)
No medical, no cancellation, no baggage, no rental car. Each row in the table quotes the document that establishes it.
- BMO eclipse rise Visa
- KOHO Essential
- KOHO Everything
- KOHO Extra
- More Rewards RBC Visa
- More Rewards RBC Visa Infinite
- Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
- TD Rewards Visa
Trip cancellation is the coverage most often assumed and most often missing: 10 of these cards exclude it outright. The trip cancellation comparison lists every one of them with the quote proving it, alongside the per-person and per-account caps, which are not the same number and do not scale with the size of your party.
Which cards stop covering you at an age?
This is the column most likely to surprise a reader, and the one least often published. 12 of the cards here stop covering the traveller outright at a stated age: American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card, American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card, American Express Platinum Card, BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard, BMO VIPorter Mastercard, BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard, BMO eclipse Visa Infinite, CIBC Aventura Gold Visa, Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo, National Bank World Elite Mastercard, United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard®, Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege.
On the cards that keep covering older travellers, what changes is usually the trip length rather than the dollar limit. A card that allows a 31-day trip at 64 commonly allows 3 to 10 days at 65, with the medical limit unchanged. A second shift arrives at 75 on some certificates, where the pre-existing condition stability window widens, so the covered days stay the same while what counts as covered narrows.
That is why the finder ranks on days rather than dollars. Set the age slider to 70 and the order changes completely: the National Bank World Elite Mastercard moves to the top on 15 days at 70, and several cards that led at 45 drop out of contention entirely. See which cards still cover you after 65 for the full day-by-day ladder and the second change that arrives at 75.
What about the rental car?
Rental car collision and damage is the coverage on this table most likely to be used, and the one where the headline figure decides the least. 50 of these cards publish terms for it, which is why it carries only 7 points in the score. What separates them is not a dollar limit but three things the matrix has no room for: whether the coverage pays first or in excess of your other insurance, the value of vehicle it will cover, and which vehicle categories the certificate excludes outright.
That last one catches people. Most of these certificates exclude trucks and pick-ups by name, and many exclude cargo vans, campers, trailers and any vehicle that can be reconfigured into a pick-up truck. A card can cover the rental and still exclude the vehicle you booked. The rental car comparison sets out all three columns per card and quotes each exclusion clause in full.
What the score does not tell you
Three conditions decide whether any of these figures apply to a given trip, and none of them is a dollar amount, so none of them is in the score. How much of the trip cost must go on the card, whether a booking made with points still qualifies, and who counts as covered besides the cardholder. They vary by certificate and they are stated on each card page.
A fourth condition applies only once something has gone wrong, and it is a date rather than a term: how long you have to report a claim runs from 30 to 90 days, measured from the incident. It is the condition most likely to decide a claim that was otherwise payable, and a 96-point card with a missed deadline pays nothing.
Coverage is also underwritten by a small number of insurers rather than by the banks themselves: Belair Insurance Company Inc. (14) · RBC Insurance Company of Canada (9) · CUMIS General Insurance Company (8) · TD Life Insurance Company (7). Two cards from different issuers can share an underwriter and still carry different terms, because the terms come from the group policy, not the insurer.
Frequently asked questions
Which credit card has the best travel insurance in Canada?
On the score this page publishes, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Privilege ranks first for a 14-day trip at 45, at 100 / 100. That answer changes with the traveller. At 70 the ranking reorders completely and the National Bank World Elite Mastercard leads, because most certificates cut the covered trip length to 10 days or fewer at 65. Set your own age and trip length in the tool above and the table reranks.
Which Canadian credit cards include travel medical insurance?
Of the 59 cards compared here, 49 carry at least one travel insurance benefit written into a certificate. 2 carry a rental car collision damage waiver and nothing else, and 8 include no travel insurance with the card, though some of those sell it separately. Every figure in the table is taken from the issuer's own certificate of insurance, which is linked on each row.
Does credit card travel insurance still cover you after 65?
It depends on the card, and the change is usually to the number of days rather than the dollar limit. 12 of the cards compared here stop covering the traveller entirely at a stated age. On most cards that keep covering older travellers, the trip length allowed falls sharply at 65, commonly from between 15 and 31 days to between 3 and 10. Check the age column and read the certificate before booking.
Does booking a trip with points still trigger the insurance?
It varies by certificate and it is one of the most common misreadings. Some certificates extend their definition of full fare to tickets bought with the card issuer’s own reward points, and several still require the taxes and fees to be charged to the card. Others exclude travel bought with points from any other program. The condition is stated on each card page and in the certificate.
How is the score on this page calculated?
Six components, emergency medical limit 30, covers your trip at your age 25, trip cancellation limit 15, trip interruption limit 15, baggage delay limit 8, rental car collision damage 7, adding to 100. Each dollar component scores as a share of the highest figure any of the 59 cards publishes for that field, so the scale comes from the data rather than from a ladder we invented. Trip length is all or nothing: the age band either allows your trip or it does not. Change your age or trip length and every score is recalculated in the browser.
Where do these figures come from?
Each figure was read from the issuer’s certificate of insurance and confirmed against a second first-party document, usually the issuer product page or benefit guide. 55 certificates stand behind this table and each row links the one it used. Nothing here is sourced from a comparison site or a forum. Where a certificate does not state a figure, the cell is left with a dash rather than filled with an estimate.