The American Express Platinum cards all offer a $200 credit for airline incidentals, in addition the Premier Rewards Gold card also offers a $100 credit for airline incidentals. These credits are supposed to apply to airline incidentals only (e.g baggage fees) but other things have worked in the past.
The other day we posted that United MPX purchases are no longer triggering these credits and unfortunately that hasn’t changed. At this stage it looks like this is intentional, as other purchases have been triggering these credits.
The American Express travel credits are based on a calendar year (unlike the Chase Sapphire Reserve, that is based on a calendar statement cycle year). So as long as your purchase posts before December 31st, 2016 it will count towards your 2016 limit. That being said, don’t leave things to the last minute and try to use your credit ASAP.
Flyertalk has dedicated threads detailing what people have been refunded for. Keep in mind you need to select one airline to receive the credits for:
If you’re purchasing gift cards and the like, remember that the fine print states these aren’t eligible for reimbursement but people do have success getting them reimbursed. It’s best to purchase lower value gift cards (e.g under $200) in my experience.
If people have any questions, please ask them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
You can view other posts in this series:
View Comments (75)
The linke for American Airlines: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1812734-airline-fee-250-200-100-reimbursement-reports-aa-only.html
Not sure when this took effect, but flights on Alaska above $100 don't work anymore.
New AA link is: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1812734-airline-fee-250-200-100-reimbursement-reports-aa-only.html
I know I am very late on this, but $100 Southwest GC's still count for PRG annual credit, as of Jan 2018. Takes less that a week to see the refund show up on the statement. SW GC's do not expire, however, clearly state are not for resale. I have no clue if that is enforced - I don't care because I will use them myself, eventually.
Alaska doesn't work anymore I've tried twice this month 1 gift card for $99 and the other for $50 and didn't get reimbursed.
Not sure if it's a big deal, but I successfully changed my airline for credit (after missing the January change) via chat
My husband and I, we each have a PRG card. We both selected Southwest Airlines and purchased two $50 gift cards directly from SW online. The airline reimbursement came two days after transaction had posted.
Do you know if the $200 credit works for economy plus seat upgrades on United? I'm between that and a gift card, but I'm taking a trip on United this December and want to pay my checked luggage fees - so I'll have $150 left over. I rarely fly United so I'm not sure how useful a gift card will be, and I assume you can't split the $200 among airlines?
Had a quick chat with Amex and changed the Airline preference from United to SW.
Bought a $100 Southwest GC on Friday(12/9) and got the travel credit on Monday(12/12).
When the charge was pending, saw an 'ATTN SUPR CD BILLING..' in description but gone once the charge was posted.
You can only change once per year, so this worked out nicely for you ;)
This is rather specific, but here's my situation. I booked a British Airways flight with Avios, and unfortunately I can only upgrade my class with Avios. Does anyone have any datapoints on purchasing Avios (from BA) and having it credited back by Amex?