$200 airline fee reimbursement reports: UA only. [2010 - 2016]
 

I am a pretty loyal Amex Plat user, but I'm thinking of making the switch since Continental will no longer be a part of the point transfer or lounge programs. I was wondering though that if I stayed, could we use the $200 credit towards yearly lounge membership? I read all the material and it keeps saying "daily". Is that on purpose?

According to the Amex Platinum/Centurion travel benefit website, it says that the $200 credit can apply to baggage fees, flight-change fees, in-flight food & beverages, and airport lounge day passes.

http://transformtravel.americanexpre...efits/Details/

So, I'm guessing it could be used, which is a great deal.^

$200 airline fee reimbursement reports: UA/CO only.
 

Would it work on United to buy up a segment to E+, or to buy the Award Accelerator offers? i.e. all these "Travel Options" they seem to push?

That's a good question. I guess it depends if it posts as a separate charge from the ticket. I don't know since I've always declined UA's sales pitches (seems like at least 5 per ticket transaction!). If it gets rolled into one ticket charge, the system would have no way to distinguish the upsell portion.

Recent United Experiences
 

I just flew cross country on United and upgraded to first for miles and cash. As the tickets were dirt cheap I used 15K miles each way and there was a 50.00 charge as well. Both $ 50.00 dollar charges were creditted back by AMEX within 24 hours of checkin (when the charges were incurred). Hope this helps with any decisions people may have.

I upgraded for cash on UA on the day of flight. No $200 credit and the agent I called said that upgrades weren't eligible for reimbursement. I thought they were, and the above poster got it -- so how come I didn't?

What did the posted terms and conditions of the $200 offer say at the time you made the purchase?

THAT's what you hold them to, not some anecdotal reference on a message board. The terms are binding on BOTH parties, and disclosure is required (even if only by reference) if they want to change the terms.

what about for a RCC membership?

I did get reimbursed for a PC spousal membership.

I bought an award ticket with United and it costed me 25.40. This amount was refunded in 2 days.

UA upgrade co-pay covered!
 

In the past month I did 2 Z -> NF mileage upgrades on UA that had copays of exactly $100 each.

Both times they were automatically reimbursed!

FYI, I checked-in online for one segment and at the airport counter for another to test both methods.

$200 airline fee reimbursement reports: UA/CO only.
 

Anybody tried geting reimbursed for Continental.com gift certificates?

I'm not sure if this was already discussed, but figured I'd post anyway. It looks like the $200 airline fee credit is good for the fee they charge to use points for a specific airline. I recently used 100k points for CO and was charged $75 fee and $5 taxes. The $75 fee was reimbursed a few days later. I chose CO when I enrolled for the yearly credit.

Isn't that what the Platinum credit is normally for (along with other charges of course...)? Change fee's, baggage, airline fees, etc.

I bought miles from UA and got credit from Amex. Anyway to get more then $200? ;)

I think I got the most ridiculous credit...

I bought 6 one-way tickets (SFO-LAS) from Continental in one single locator (for a Bachelor's trip). I got reimbursed for the entire $200 all at once (from the ticket purchase).

Any luck using this for continental miles + $ upgrades to business elite?

Has anyone gotten the $200 credit to work toward a United Red carpet lounge membership? I'd like to do this to supplement my lack of *A lounges provided for free by the card.

Anyone try buying CO Gift certs in small amounts like $25 and get refunded?

CO gift certificates worked at the $25 level.

Just purchased extra leg room seats on a CO flight for myself and fiancé. We'll see if I get credited for both, though the total was over $200...

As I previously posted, $25 CO gift card works. The subsequent $175 one didn't. The breakpoint must be somewhere in between.

Bought some extra legroom seating for wife and I on CO (as I have no status with them). 2 charges of $109 each, total of $218. Got the credit for $109 and $91. Thanks amex!

Recap on CO gift cards.

$25 worked
$99 worked
$175 didn't work.

Needed to change a ticket on CO, and at the time I wasn't enrolled with an airline, so I figured I'd give it a shot and went ahead and signed myself up for CO/UA. I called in and managed to change my ticket an hour later (hold times :rolleyes: athough at least they called me back). The change fee of $142 (100 euros) posted separately from the increased fare, and it was completely credited back within 2 days ^.

Another data point, I used my credit to buy extra legroom seating for my parents on CO. Ended up cancelling that award trip and the fee was refunded by CO. However, Amex didn't take back the credit they gave me.

United Economy+ upsell (purchased separately from ticket), under $100. Auto-credited a day or so after it posted. ^

(I mostly did it to see if it would work. I get E+ for free anyway, this was on an award ticket for somebody else, not traveling with me.)

-David

Answering myself, also gleaning similar posts to the thread, that CO upsell fees will not be credited. :(

CO e-certificate.
 

Got reimbursed for $50 gift cards (4 of them) within 3 days. Hope that helps for anyone.


Cheers,

Signed up Continental when the program started, and didn't think much of it. Paid for 2 upgrades for both legs of the RT from EWR-TPA last week ($69 for upgrade to exit row and $89 for upgrade to business). Reconciled my credit card charges today, and saw credits for both. Good stuff!

As a CO Plat elite, seems to me the best use of the credit is to book a reward flight and pay the taxes / fees (try to keep them under $100 for the automatic processing), and have those fees refunded a month or so later after the statement closes and after the credit has been posted to the account by cancelling the reward flight (no fee redeposits of miles and refund of fees). Seems like AMEX is not taking away the credit after the refund of fees post. For example book a reward with a $25 tax/fee on June 1. AMEX then credits the $25 back to the statement on June 2. Statement closes with a $0 balance on June 30. Cancel the reward on July 5 and have refund of $25 from CO post on July 7. AMEX doesn't take away the $25 credit from June 2, effectively converting an airline credit into an everyday purchase credit of $25.

In the end it all comes out pretty even. As a frequent traveler I sometimes come across change fees or award fees or lounge fees etc. I'll need to spend money on these fees sometime this year and will probably spend $200 or more anyways. However, using the method above might free me from the stress/burden of remembering to use my amex platinum card in certain instances rather than my co pres plus or amex prem rewards etc. I'd rather have an AMEX credit to use on anything I want rather than have it be tied to travel-related expenses only.

Anyone else have a similar strategy or find anything flawed with my logic?

I used mine up within 1 month. Am UA 1k, signed up for UA, issued a bunch of international award tickets for family, all fees refunded, done.

possible to use towards annual economy plus?

if so, do you have to pick united for it before buying the annual economy plus?

its a bummer change fees can only be credited once charged. i canceled nonrefundable tickets, so UA zaps $150 per ticket out. because ill be applying the leftovers to another flight, there will never be a charge that can quality for amex credit.

For those using Continental
 

I may be mistaken, but does the Continental airline credit go through 12/31, or does it end when the partnership does in September?

I haven't seen too many responses about Continental. Are there any good strategies such as gift cards or should I just order drinks and food for everyone around me in-flight? :D

I posted about CO a bit ago. The CO airline credit should go through the calendar year, nobody has mentioned the credit partnership ending anytime soon, unlike the constant reminders of the points transfer partnership ending Oct 1.

You can get reward ticket fees refunded. I just got a ~$50 reward fee refunded about 3 days after the charge posted. I may have to change/cancel this reservation later, so I'm not sure if they will either add the $50 back to the airline credit, or if the $50 will post to my statement as a credit (effectively meaning I can use the $50 towards other things).

United
 

Any good strategies for United? I have gotten $5 here and there for award tickets, but I'm looking for an easy way to use up the rest of the $200 allowance. If nothing else, I might just pay for award accelerator or buy miles. Has anyone had success with those?

I just bought two, $75 Continental gift cards and was reimbursed almost immediately. ^

Gonna hold on to the last $50 to serve as a free PC/RCC lounge access should I need it. Otherwise it's going to one more gift card.

Good to know!

Do I understand correctly that continental gift cards can only be used via continental.com. Is it an e-gift certificate?

Thanks!

just wanted to follow up and confirm that I believe my strategy of converting the $200 credit into everyday credit has worked, but in order for it to work you have to be a CO Plat or other type of elite that redeposits reward booking taxes/fees fee-free. So I booked a reward ticket during last month's billing cycle with fees totaling $50. This month, after the billing cycle ended and the statement posted, I cancelled the reward ticket. As a CO Plat CO returns the fees for free. I just got the statement credit, essentially converting $50 in credit for continental airlines fees (charged $50 and credited $50 last month) into a $50 credit (credited $50 this month) I can use for whatever I want. ^

I wonder if this would work for DL? Buy a few INTL award tickets that have a decent amount of taxes, wait for the credits, then have DL re-deposit the miles. I'd be afraid AMEX would see the charges reversed/credited and take away their credit.