Here's a data point regarding cheap AS tickets and the airline fee credit. I still had my full $200 airline fee credit, and needed to book two round-trip tickets on AS where the one-way price each way was $48.40. To maximize the chance that the airline fee credit would kick in, I decided to make two one-way reservations instead of a single round-trip reservation. So I made the first reservation for the outbound flight only and it had two tickets for $48.40 each, and then I made the second reservation for the return flight only and it had two tickets for $48.40 each. I booked it on alaskaair.com on August 2nd and charged it to my Amex Plat. Four charges for $48.40 posted to my Amex account on August 4th. Today (August 6th), four credits for $48.40 posted.