I've always used my credit to cover award fees, some in excess of $100 in the past. But I booked an award with ~$85 in taxes/fees last week, and have yet to see the reimbursement come through.
Maybe it's just delayed, but I've never had to wait more than 2-3 business days after posting to see the credit.
FWIW, I'm relatively sure the intent of the T&C language saying "award tickets" are ineligible is to exclude the coverage of the award taxes/fees, but in theory, my
miles are buying the award "ticket" and the taxes/fees are therefore NOT excluded by that language.
To further confuse matters, last month I used an Amex companion cert and the $28.20 in taxes for the companion were reimbursed in 2 days.