I think that transactions below a threshold are reimbursed by an automated process. Anecdotal evidence from this thread suggests the threshold is at, or just below, $100. Transactions which exceed that threshold seem to be manually reviewed. If the policy excludes award fees I expect you will have to fight for it, arguing that the policy is irrelevant because it wasn't disclosed in the published terms.
And this is the only argument that matters. An email after the fact that the charge is excluded isn't valid, period.