There was some previous discussion of this policy clarification in this thread which is now closed:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...e-posting.html
Those posts have been merged with the thread started by
jspira now that American Express has sent a postal letter and glossy flyer.
Bear in mind that the change in policy does not necessarily mean that American Express has the systems in place to enforce today. It does mean that they are aware that the feature is being used in ways they did not intend. It also means that if you buy a giftcard, and it does not reimburse automatically, there is little chance it will be reimbursed manually.
Please use this thread only to discuss redemption strategy or to ask
general questions about this benefit.
If you wish to post a report of a reimbursement success or failure, or discuss strategy on a specific airline, please use one of these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-aa-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...orts-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-b6-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-dl-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...report-f9.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-ua-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-us-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-vx-only.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...n-fl-only.html