Jan 18, 2016, 10:57 am
Last edit by: MaxVO
This thread is a continuation of: Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only [2011 - 2015]
Credit posting delays range from several business days (typical) to several weeks (seen in Oct 2015). The T&Cs state that it could take up to four weeks, so wait at least that long before worrying, and certainly don't contact Amex prematurely
Caution: effective from 22 June 2019, gift card purchases from Delta do not get reimbursed.
Read this primer first
additional collections/split tender
THIS IS A LOOPHOLE. BE DISCREET
Anything coded as an additional collection (aka add/collect or a/c), including difference in fare when changing flights, and accepting an FCM offer, also triggers the credit and will be reimbursed; this may (insufficient data) only happen if the additional amount collected is below ~$250 (regardless of card type, e.g. there have been reports of full $100 credit for Gold card on a/c over $100 and full $200 credit for Plat on a/c over $200 but less than $250)
other non Gift Card options
(DEAD) eGift Card (eCert) details
This Section is not applicable effective 2019/06/22!
Credit posting delays range from several business days (typical) to several weeks (seen in Oct 2015). The T&Cs state that it could take up to four weeks, so wait at least that long before worrying, and certainly don't contact Amex prematurely
Caution: effective from 22 June 2019, gift card purchases from Delta do not get reimbursed.
Read this primer first
- In the Amex Membership Rewards family, both the Consumer and Business versions of the Platinum and Centurion cards qualify for a $200 airline credit. The Premier Rewards Gold (PRG) card is eligible for a $100 airline credit.
- You must
click here to<--(link dead) select Delta as your enrolled airline before you make a reimbursable purchase, else the benefit won't apply. The feature is activated immediately upon airline designation. Try logging in to your AMEX account and selecting the airline. This link may work - If you've selected DL in the past and don't wish to change airlines, there's no need to select again; current selection rolls into future years until modified.
- The T&Cs state the eligible charges, but YMMV, so don't call and ask especially about the fuzzier cases below because that will probably hasten closing of any loopholes.
- The credit is per account, not per card. If the main account has authorized users with additional cards, eligible charges may still be made on those cards, but they'll count jointly towards the same account limit.
- Credits are capped per calendar year, meaning you could tap the full amount on Dec 31st and again on Jan 1st in the extreme. Transaction date, not posting date, determines the year. Note: This is not my experience. I purchased Dec 31, 2016, posted Jan 1, 2017 and went against my 2017 credit. (TheMadBrewer)
- You will get a partial credit to bring your total annual reimbursements to the limit exactly if a qualifying charge takes you past the limit.
- After four weeks, if you've read this Wiki carefully and posted here seeking assistance but the credit still has not arrived, consider chatting with Amex online. Politely mention the "Delta extras" you thought would be reimbursed within four weeks and they'll handle it.
additional collections/split tender
THIS IS A LOOPHOLE. BE DISCREET
Anything coded as an additional collection (aka add/collect or a/c), including difference in fare when changing flights, and accepting an FCM offer, also triggers the credit and will be reimbursed; this may (insufficient data) only happen if the additional amount collected is below ~$250 (regardless of card type, e.g. there have been reports of full $100 credit for Gold card on a/c over $100 and full $200 credit for Plat on a/c over $200 but less than $250)
- Relevantly, split tender where you partially pay with a gift card, existing credit, VDB voucher etc. and partly charged to your card, are processed by DL as an add/collect and trigger the credit per above.
- Thus if you anticipate actually buying, say, a $200 DL ticket, you could buy a single $50 gift card, then buy the ticket using $50 GC and $150 on your card (the $150 will be reimbursed)
- Canceling a ticket within the 24-hour risk-free period generally results in funds being returned to where they came from (GC back to GC and CC back to CC). If you have no immediate travel plans but anticipate travel in the next year, consider buying a fully refundable ticket and then changing it later once you know your future travel dates. IF a lot of people suddenly start refunding tickets after getting the credit reimbursement this may hasten the demise of this particular loophole.
- Caution when buying multiple tickets: for example if you buy two $125 tickets in one transaction (total $250) and use one $100 GC or even two $50 GCs, they will all be applied to the same ticket and you would see one additional collection for $25 on that ticket and a separate "normal" charge for $125 for the second ticket. In this scenario only $25 will be reimbursed (instead of the $150 you might be expecting)
other non Gift Card options
- baggage and other service fees (same day change/standby, change fees, etc.)
- taxes on award flights
- in-flight purchases (EXCEPT wifi)
- SkyClub access/guest fees (but NOT gift cards purchased at a SC, which are actually activated at a 3rd party web site)
- mileage boosts (post 2499)
- The $59 for Delta Skymiles Select is reimbursed (posts 2180, 2182)
- seat assignment fees (may need to call in to have processed manually)
(DEAD) eGift Card (eCert) details
This Section is not applicable effective 2019/06/22!
- Delta eGift Cards (eCerts) have been reimbursed in practice, even though technically they do not meet the criteria listed by Amex for reimbursement. The name on the eCerts doesn't matter and need not match your card, but you must purchase using an eligible Amex card and meet the other criteria detailed in this Wiki.
- Denominations over $50 will not generate the credit. Multiple $50 eCerts will. The smallest denomination available is $50.
- To order, use this direct link to the eGift cert order page, or navigate via Delta.com>Shop>eGift Certificate.
- No need to place separate orders using multiple carts/checkouts. By adding multiple certs to one order (e.g., 4 x $50), even though they are in the same cart, the certs will post as separate transactions and still generate a credit for each.
- eCert purchases may initially authorize (show pending) as ticket purchases before posting to (finalize on) your statement. Multiple-eCert orders may authorize the combined value as a single pending ticket purchase. Don't worry; they'll post later as separate eCert charges in the qualifying amounts.
- eCerts are generated instantly, but the codes are not valid for use until 72 hours after purchase, so don't order expecting to use them in a pinch.
- A maximum of three eCerts may be redeemed per online transaction. Splitting a round-trip into two one-ways will allow you to use additional eCerts, but in some cases two one-ways may cost more than a single roundtrip so compare carefully to decide whether using more than 3 certs on a single trip is worthwhile.
- If purchasing a ticket for more than 1 person, splitting the purchase into a separate transaction for each person would also allow the use of more than 3 certs on a single trip at (usually) no additional cost. However this could have an adverse effect on ability to upgrade, upgrade priority, and other elite benefits, and on the likelihood of being reaccommodated on the same flight in the event of a flight cancellation.
- There is one recent REPORT of a telephone agent allowing more than three eCerts to be used when purchasing one ticket.
- eCerts do not expire. Their T&Cs are listed here.
Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only (2015-2019)
Jan 9, 2017, 1:06 pm
#256
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4
PGGM
PGGM working with Mileage booster, as far as I can tell.
Jan 9, 2017, 2:02 pm
#257
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Ahh...and my distaste for that approach to exploiting the credit is now renewed.
I have yet to understand why people are so eager to pay $450/yr for a travel-oriented credit/charge card when they apparently do not travel enough to make even marginally legitimate uses of the related benefits.
There are several additional issues with livestrongforever's understanding of DL's Comfort+ and "Premium Select" offerings that I won't even go into.
I have yet to understand why people are so eager to pay $450/yr for a travel-oriented credit/charge card when they apparently do not travel enough to make even marginally legitimate uses of the related benefits.
There are several additional issues with livestrongforever's understanding of DL's Comfort+ and "Premium Select" offerings that I won't even go into.
I can't speak for others, but personally I have also gone for GCs because I almost never used my Plat card for spending in the past, so when I did need to pay an airline fee it wouldn't occur to me to use the Platinum card. But now that the Platinum card is the best card for airline spend, it will be easier to remember to get the credit for that reason, at least.
Jan 9, 2017, 4:02 pm
#258
Moderator
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Jan 9, 2017, 9:26 pm
#260
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
For those who have high-level elite status with an airline, a lot of the fees which this credit could be used for (baggage fees, award booking/change/cancel fees, same day change fees, lounge access fees) are waived, and those people are frequently upgraded and so don't need to buy food/drink onboard. For such people there really aren't many "legitimate" uses of the credit. Perhaps a change fee on a revenue ticket but that's about it.
I can't speak for others, but personally I have also gone for GCs because I almost never used my Plat card for spending in the past, so when I did need to pay an airline fee it wouldn't occur to me to use the Platinum card. But now that the Platinum card is the best card for airline spend, it will be easier to remember to get the credit for that reason, at least.
I can't speak for others, but personally I have also gone for GCs because I almost never used my Plat card for spending in the past, so when I did need to pay an airline fee it wouldn't occur to me to use the Platinum card. But now that the Platinum card is the best card for airline spend, it will be easier to remember to get the credit for that reason, at least.
But the method described in the other thread, which is what I was responding to, involved fraudulently buying a ticket you had no intent of using for the sole purpose of incurring fees that would trigger the credit, all of which you would then request refunds for. Zero actual travel involved.
So people doing that are paying net $250 for something like the Amex Plat which is very heavy on travel-related benefits, but they don't even book $200 worth of airfare in a year?
Jan 9, 2017, 11:56 pm
#261
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1
I just made my annual one-time airline change for the benefit to Delta.
Do I need to wait any amount of time before I make the eGC purchases to make sure it works? If so, how long? Or is it active immediately (i.e. i can make the eGC purchases literally minutes after changing the airline to Delta)?
Do I need to wait any amount of time before I make the eGC purchases to make sure it works? If so, how long? Or is it active immediately (i.e. i can make the eGC purchases literally minutes after changing the airline to Delta)?
Jan 10, 2017, 10:11 pm
#262
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,940
I just made my annual one-time airline change for the benefit to Delta.
Do I need to wait any amount of time before I make the eGC purchases to make sure it works? If so, how long? Or is it active immediately (i.e. i can make the eGC purchases literally minutes after changing the airline to Delta)?
Do I need to wait any amount of time before I make the eGC purchases to make sure it works? If so, how long? Or is it active immediately (i.e. i can make the eGC purchases literally minutes after changing the airline to Delta)?
Jan 11, 2017, 9:25 am
#263
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: HPN
Programs: not anymore! I'm FREE!
Posts: 3,459
I understand the gift card route, regardless of whether or not I agree with it. It's basically a way to get $200 of airfare credit on either your primary or secondary airline. For frequent travelers, that makes sense, status or no.
But the method described in the other thread, which is what I was responding to, involved fraudulently buying a ticket you had no intent of using for the sole purpose of incurring fees that would trigger the credit, all of which you would then request refunds for. Zero actual travel involved.
So people doing that are paying net $250 for something like the Amex Plat which is very heavy on travel-related benefits, but they don't even book $200 worth of airfare in a year?
But the method described in the other thread, which is what I was responding to, involved fraudulently buying a ticket you had no intent of using for the sole purpose of incurring fees that would trigger the credit, all of which you would then request refunds for. Zero actual travel involved.
So people doing that are paying net $250 for something like the Amex Plat which is very heavy on travel-related benefits, but they don't even book $200 worth of airfare in a year?
Jan 11, 2017, 11:34 am
#264
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
I understand the gift card route, regardless of whether or not I agree with it. It's basically a way to get $200 of airfare credit on either your primary or secondary airline. For frequent travelers, that makes sense, status or no.
But the method described in the other thread, which is what I was responding to, involved fraudulently buying a ticket you had no intent of using for the sole purpose of incurring fees that would trigger the credit, all of which you would then request refunds for. Zero actual travel involved.
So people doing that are paying net $250 for something like the Amex Plat which is very heavy on travel-related benefits, but they don't even book $200 worth of airfare in a year?
But the method described in the other thread, which is what I was responding to, involved fraudulently buying a ticket you had no intent of using for the sole purpose of incurring fees that would trigger the credit, all of which you would then request refunds for. Zero actual travel involved.
So people doing that are paying net $250 for something like the Amex Plat which is very heavy on travel-related benefits, but they don't even book $200 worth of airfare in a year?
It's entirely possible that they do travel a lot, but for one reason or another just want to be sure they get the $200 credit, without the one extra step of the GC route. (One reason or another could be: high elite status so don't pay fees; worried they'll forget to use Plat card when fees do come up; fly mostly on foreign airlines which are not eligible for the credit; don't fly the same airline more than once or twice per year so worried they'll select the wrong airline; etc etc etc)
The net effect on Amex is basically the same as the GC route, and the net effect on Delta would be just about the same as well, so I guess maybe it isn't really any more dishonest. Up to each person to decide for themselves.
(And, if they don't travel at all, then they are costing Amex pretty much zero in exchange for the revenue of the remaining $250 annual fee, so they may well be more profitable customers than some people who pay $450, don't use the credit, but use lounges and other benefits constantly. So maybe Amex would be perfectly happy with that.)
Jan 11, 2017, 8:56 pm
#265
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: Most of 'em
Posts: 128
Bought 4x50 in one transaction. Posted on 1/6, reimbursed on 1/7.
Jan 12, 2017, 7:04 am
#266
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: HPN
Programs: not anymore! I'm FREE!
Posts: 3,459
Not quite. Delta incurs costs when someone books a ticket, and costs when someone cancels. On the other hand, when someone buys a GC (which is nonrefundable), the costs (to Delta) of the transaction are outweighed by the net benefit (a zero interest cash loan to Delta, which results in either a future ticket purchase or a gift to Delta if the recipient forgets about the GC).
Jan 12, 2017, 7:42 am
#267
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
A reimbursement data point:
Tried buying a $100 GC as a test, since it has worked for AA people. Alas, has not been reimbursed ~10 days later.
4x $50 GCs were reimbursed the day after they posted.
So just to reemphasize that $50 remains the way to go.
Tried buying a $100 GC as a test, since it has worked for AA people. Alas, has not been reimbursed ~10 days later.
4x $50 GCs were reimbursed the day after they posted.
So just to reemphasize that $50 remains the way to go.
Jan 14, 2017, 2:17 am
#268
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LON, PDX
Programs: DL PM, AS MVP 75K, HH/SPG/MR Gold, Amex Plat, PRG, CSR
Posts: 2,064
Does anybody know the MR earning situation with these reimbursements? Do we get nothing, 1 MR point per dollar, or could they possibly trigger the new 5x on the Platinum?
Jan 14, 2017, 11:39 am
#269
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Most likely they will be valid for the 5x. They have earned the 3x on the PRG for me in the past (with no counter-balancing removal of bonus points due to the credit). So, free 1,000 points on the Platinum and 300 on the PRG.
Jan 15, 2017, 9:05 pm
#270
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 5
Bought 4x $50 gift cards in one transaction which posted as 4 separate expenses on my statement. It was immediately covered by the Delta fee reimbursement. But 10 days later, it was reversed and now I'm stuck with a $200 balance on my card. Has anyone else experienced the same?