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$200 statement credit for Amex Platinum - No need to buy Airline GC's

$200 statement credit for Amex Platinum - No need to buy Airline GC's

Old Feb 28, 2013, 7:14 am
  #31  
mia
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Originally Posted by Ritz
You've purchased something that explicitly violates what Amex says is reimbursable. So with your gift card, you've committed theft, basically?
In my view, if I buy a giftcard with an American Express Platinum card, and American Express chooses to credit my account I have not done anything wrong. However, if I contact American Express and prompt them to reimburse an expense that is explicitly excluded the character of the transaction does change.
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Old Mar 2, 2013, 8:13 am
  #32  
 
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Amex wouldn't give us the money if they didn't want to. These "loopholes" have been open for years. You don't think there's Amex employees reading FT? If they didn't want us to use them they would have closed them years ago.
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Old Mar 3, 2013, 6:49 pm
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by mia
Originally Posted by Ritz
You've purchased something that explicitly violates what Amex says is reimbursable. So with your gift card, you've committed theft, basically?
In my view, if I buy a giftcard with an American Express Platinum card, and American Express chooses to credit my account I have not done anything wrong. However, if I contact American Express and prompt them to reimburse an expense that is explicitly excluded the character of the transaction does change.
It's a good thing that's just your view and not everyone else's. This is similar to willful blindness, which is still wrong.
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Old Mar 25, 2013, 10:24 am
  #34  
 
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I currently have an international flight booked on delta for May '13.

What if I move myself and my friend into Economy comfort seats, and then pay for them with my Plat card. THEN a few days later, move us out of the seats in order to get a refund from Delta...will I also get the amex credit?

Not sure if you all have tried this...each EC upgrade is $74.25...so for us two, that will cover most of the $200.
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Old Mar 31, 2013, 10:25 pm
  #35  
 
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UPDATE: I purchsed the EC seats...i got the credit from amex 4 days later. Now I plan to move out of EC to get the refund from Delta.

Will amex then reverse their credit? hmmmm.
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Old Mar 31, 2013, 11:05 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Ritz
You've purchased something that explicitly violates what Amex says is reimbursable. So with your gift card, you've committed theft, basically?
No, not basically. What many of us are doing re gift cards and other approaches is make certain airline charges and hope that we get the $200 credit. AmEx has set forth a list of reimbursable airline charges that is so arbitrary that CSRs can barely keep track of what is reimbursable and what is not.

Cry me a river if AmEx reimburses me for something that "explicitly violates what Amex says is reimbursable." AmEx can reimburse us for items on this list or not on the list. It can do so deliberately or cluelessly. That's all on AmEx. We aren't lying to AmEx -- we make charges and see what happens.
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Old Apr 1, 2013, 4:49 pm
  #37  
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a pattern of refunding (action) AND receiving credit could be legally arguable as fraud could it not?

whereas gift card is non-enforcement of published policy (and no action)
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Old Apr 1, 2013, 6:41 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
a pattern of refunding (action) AND receiving credit could be legally arguable as fraud could it not?

whereas gift card is non-enforcement of published policy (and no action)
Not sure about fraud re #1, but I would consider that unethical. That's like keeping excess change a merchant gives you in error. With #2, however, it's up to AmEx to decide how rigidly it wants to enforce those contractual terms. Businesses waive such contractual restrictions all the time.
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Old Sep 2, 2014, 4:40 am
  #39  
 
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Thumbs up

Originally Posted by MileRunn3r
The way it works:

-register for DL

-buy a non-refundable (int'l) DL
ticket (even on another card) that has at least 3 segments or 3 passengers

-purchase 3X $79 in EC (divided in 3 transactions) on your plat card

-after 4 min to 24 hours, call Delta to cancel the ticket sbd ask for a refund. Make sure to mention EC refund. (you can do this online, but its sometime a PITA to have everything credited correctly)

-the ticket itself will remain a pending charge and will disappear in a few days

-the EC charge will post in a day or two, as will the EC refund 'from Delta'

-within 3 days (or 2-3 weeks) you'll see a reimbursement by Amex
As a more recent data point for those who care, I can confirm that this technique still works -- just did this in August 2014. And the timing noted by the OP is still valid.

Thanks OP!
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Old May 5, 2016, 4:59 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by Sam_AE
As a more recent data point for those who care, I can confirm that this technique still works -- just did this in August 2014. And the timing noted by the OP is still valid.

Thanks OP!
Originally Posted by MileRunn3r
This thread is for those who don't know about this method, you can get a statement credit for the Platinum airline fee posted and used towards your normal spending instead of having to acquire a GC for an airline... If used correctly, one can get a credit for $400 offsetting the majority of the $450 fee for the Platinum fee.

The way it works:

-register for DL

-buy a non-refundable (int'l) DL
ticket (even on another card) that has at least 3 segments or 3 passengers

-purchase 3X $79 in EC (divided in 3 transactions) on your plat card

-after 4 min to 24 hours, call Delta to cancel the ticket sbd ask for a refund. Make sure to mention EC refund. (you can do this online, but its sometime a PITA to have everything credited correctly)

-the ticket itself will remain a pending charge and will disappear in a few days

-the EC charge will post in a day or two, as will the EC refund 'from Delta'

-within 3 days (or 2-3 weeks) you'll see a reimbursement by Amex
Does this method still work in 2016? Also, is there any reason why this works specifically with Delta - can the same be done for United?
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Old May 6, 2016, 2:11 pm
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by shan23
Does this method still work in 2016? Also, is there any reason why this works specifically with Delta - can the same be done for United?
Amex may reverse credit, confiscate points, and shut down account for doing this. Do what you want.
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Old May 6, 2016, 3:08 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by maygarish
Amex may reverse credit, confiscate points, and shut down account for doing this. Do what you want.
Was about to say the same, I'd say this method is way not worth it with the risk. Going through the airline and buying gc/ United mpx is definitely safer, since you are actually buying stuff and not trying to defraud amex in a sense.
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Old May 6, 2016, 4:11 pm
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by maygarish
Amex may reverse credit, confiscate points, and shut down account for doing this. Do what you want.
Can you point me to any reports of Amex shutdowns for use of this method? I've seen worse being done on FT with Amex (such as the Christmas glitch in which people got random amounts of MR being deposited in their accounts, and then used it all up - no repercussion from Amex at all!)

Originally Posted by hiima
Was about to say the same, I'd say this method is way not worth it with the risk. Going through the airline and buying gc/ United mpx is definitely safer, since you are actually buying stuff and not trying to defraud amex in a sense.
Also, AFAIK, serve online loads are not supposed to count for min. spend, but they did for most of us. Is this a similar grey area?
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Old May 6, 2016, 4:48 pm
  #44  
 
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Like the other guy said, do what you want. We're not gonna tell you what to do, just give you warning. I really don't care if you are able to use this method.
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Old May 6, 2016, 4:51 pm
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by hiima
Like the other guy said, do what you want. We're not gonna tell you what to do, just give you warning. I really don't care if you are able to use this method.
Thanks for the warning - I really am having second thoughts now. Would you say using the MPX app for airline reimbursements has lesser risk compared to this method, since that is also not using the credits for its intended purpose? I've already used the MPx method for my PRG, and that has worked like a charm.
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