Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs > American Express | Membership Rewards
Reload this Page >

Amex Lists Eligible and Ineligible Airline Fee Transactions [General discussion]

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:18 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: mia
Revised terms for 2014:

Benefit is available to Consumer and Business Platinum Card® and Centurion® Members only. To receive statement credits of up to $200 a year toward incidental air travel fees, Card Member must enroll and choose a qualifying airline at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice. Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized Account Manager(s) on the Card Account can enroll and select the qualifying airline. Card Members who have not chosen a qualifying airline will be able to do so at any time. Card Members who have already selected a qualifying airline will be able to change their choice one time each year in January at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice or by calling the number on the back of the Card. For 2014 only, Card Members may update their airline selection one additional time starting on 1/15/2014 through 2/28/2014 at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice or by calling the number on the back of the Card. Card Members who do not change their airline selection will remain with their current airline. Statement Credits: Incidental air travel fees must be charged on the enrolled Card Account for the benefit to apply. Purchases made by both the Basic and Additional Card Members on the enrolled Card Account are eligible for statement credits. However, each Card Account is eligible for up to a total of $200 a year in statement credits across all Cards on the Account. Incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges. Fees not charged by the Card Member's airline of choice (e.g. wireless internet and fees incurred with airline alliance partners) do not qualify for statement credits. Incidental air travel fees charged prior to enrollment in this benefit are not eligible for statement credits. Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees. The airline must submit the incidental air travel fees under the appropriate merchant code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to be identified. Please allow 2-4 weeks after the qualifying incidental air travel fee is charged to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the Account. We rely on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions, so please call the number on the back of the Card if statement credits have not posted after 4 weeks from the date of purchase. Card Members remain responsible for timely payment of all charges. To be eligible for this benefit, Card Account(s) must be active and not in default at the time of statement credit fulfillment. If a charge for any incidental air travel fee is included in a Pay Over Time feature balance on your Card Account (for example, Sign & Travel), the statement credit associated with that charge will not be applied to that Pay Over Time feature balance. Instead, the statement credit will be applied to your Pay In Full balance. For additional information about this benefit, call the number on the back of your Card.
Print Wikipost

Amex Lists Eligible and Ineligible Airline Fee Transactions [General discussion]

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Apr 22, 2012, 1:34 pm
  #1  
mia
Moderator
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Amex Lists Eligible and Ineligible Airline Fee Transactions [General discussion]

American Express has updated the published terms of this benefit to exclude a number of expenses, including gift cards, which have been reimbursed:

http://www304.americanexpress.com/ge...num-Card/25330

Also published here:

https://rewards.americanexpress.com/...airlinechoice#

Benefit is available to Consumer and Business Platinum Card ® and Centurion ® members only. To receive statement credits of up to $200 a year toward incidental air travel fees, Card member must enroll and choose a qualifying airline at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice. Only the Basic Card member or Authorized Account Manager(s) on the Card account can enroll and select the qualifying airline. Card members who have not chosen a qualifying airline will be able to do so at any time. Card members who have already selected a qualifying airline will be able to change their choice one time each year in January at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice or by calling the number on the back of the Card. Card members who do not change their airline selection will remain with their current airline. Statement Credits: Incidental air travel fees must be charged on the enrolled Card account for the benefit to apply. Incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges. Fees not charged by the Card member's airline of choice (e.g. wireless internet and fees incurred with airline alliance partners) do not qualify for statement credits. Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees. The airline must submit the incidental air travel fees under the appropriate merchant code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to be identified. Purchases made by both the Basic and Additional Card members on the enrolled Card account are eligible for statement credits. Each Card Account is eligible for up to a total of $200 a year in statement credits, regardless of the number of Cards on the Account. Please allow 2-4 weeks after the qualifying incidental air travel fee is charged to your Card account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the account. We rely on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions, so please call the number on the back of the Card if statement credits have not posted after 4 weeks from the date of purchase. Card members remain responsible for timely payment of all charges. To be eligible for this benefit, Card account(s) must be active and not in default at the time of statement credit fulfillment. If a charge for any incidental air travel fee is included in a Pay Over Time feature balance on your Card account (for example, Sign & Travel), the statement credit associated with that charge will not be applied to that Pay Over Time feature balance. Instead, the statement credit will be applied to your Pay In Full balance. For additional information about this benefit, call the number on the back of your Card.

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-ha-only.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-ua-only.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ways-only.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...n-fl-only.html

Last edited by mia; Jan 1, 2014 at 11:17 pm
mia is offline  
Old Apr 23, 2012, 12:01 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 280
Originally Posted by mia
American Express has updated the published terms of this benefit to exclude a number of expenses, including gift cards, which have been reimbursed:

http://www304.americanexpress.com/ge...num-Card/25330

Also published here:

https://rewards.americanexpress.com/...airlinechoice#
Ehhhhhhhh, thought this would happen, but didn't expect it to so quickly. Knowing I would not be getting basically $200 off of my membership fee means this is a much closer call in terms of cancelling next year.
accrue450 is offline  
Old Apr 23, 2012, 12:08 pm
  #3  
mia
Moderator
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Originally Posted by accrue450
...Knowing I would not be getting basically $200 off of my membership fee means this is a much closer call in terms of cancelling next year.
Bear in mind that American Express practice frequently diverges from policy, and often in the customer's favor. Updating the published terns does not mean they have implemented the means to reliably identify upgrade or gift card purchases. It does mean that if your purchase is not automatically reimbursed you won't be able to persuade customer service to cover it.
mia is offline  
Old Apr 29, 2012, 3:15 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP, Hhonors Gold, National Executive, Identity Gold, MLife Gold
Posts: 2,687
Originally Posted by mia
Bear in mind that American Express practice frequently diverges from policy, and often in the customer's favor.
I recently made a purchase of miles + a ticket. The value up to my remaining $200 limit was fully credited by Amex. ^ This matches my experience last year.

mia - Thank you very much for the sticky mentioning the change in terms. I wouldn't have looked in this thread if it weren't for that notice.
OverThereTooMuch is offline  
Old May 12, 2012, 7:51 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,551
Well dang. Wish I had used my $200 earlier this year.

One interesting point is what purchase of an "award ticket" is. We all understand what award ticket fees are, but what is an "award ticket" that you could purchase?

I've personally had mixed results in getting award ticket fees reimbursed. But this change makes the Plat card much less valuable to me. Then again, maybe Amex doesn't care (i.e. has just made what is, for them, a sensible business decision).
redtop43 is offline  
Old May 14, 2012, 2:13 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,634
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing -- what's an "award ticket"? IIRC, under the previous terms, award ticket fees were explicitly included in the list of what's reimbursable.
crimson12 is offline  
Old May 15, 2012, 6:46 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 891
Wow, I procrastinated and didnt get AA gift cards, so are we really out of AA gc option, did anyone try recently?
troyhouse is offline  
Old May 15, 2012, 7:17 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis
Posts: 208
Haven't tried this year, since I actually ended up having to pay some change fees and got those reimbursed instead.

As long as AA is treating a gift card purchase as an MCO (miscellaneous charge order), which they definitely were as recently as last year, I would expect this to work - and to be very hard for Amex to detect.
firstglobal is offline  
Old May 15, 2012, 9:04 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: SFO
Posts: 305
Originally Posted by troyhouse
Wow, I procrastinated and didnt get AA gift cards, so are we really out of AA gc option, did anyone try recently?
Yep, no problem last week. It took about 5 days to credit, though...I was worried.
igopogo is offline  
Old May 16, 2012, 3:07 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: DC
Posts: 195
Originally Posted by igopogo
Yep, no problem last week. It took about 5 days to credit, though...I was worried.
Same, did two $100 cards last week and was credited within 4-5 days.
jimindc is offline  
Old Jun 11, 2012, 1:56 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: New York and Vienna
Programs: PA WorldPass Platinum, AA, DL, LH. GHA Black, SPG and HHonors Gold
Posts: 3,870
Amex Lists Eligible and Ineligible Airline Fee Credit Purchases

I don't believe this was posted here yet but Amex sent cardmembers a letter recently with a details on what is eligible and ineligible for the $200 airline fee credit.

American Express Updates Airline Fee Credit Program

An important benefit offered by American Express’ Platinum and Centurion cards is the $200 Airline Fee Credit, one of several worthwhile benefits. American Express will refund up to $200 per year for miscellaneous fees and purchases that cardholders pay for with a specific airline (the cardmember has to specify the airline in advance of making any purchases, however).

Until recently, it wasn’t always clear as to what fees American Express would …
Essentially, the list is as follows:

Purchases eligible for the $200 credit include checked baggage fees, overweight and oversized baggage fees, itinerary change fees, phone reservation fees, seat assignment fees, and in-flight purchases such as beverages, food, headphones, entertainment, and pillows and blankets.

Purchases which are excluded from the program include in-flight Internet charges, fees charged by partners of the enrolled airline, airline tickets, upgrades, purchases of miles, fees to transfer miles and points, gift cards, duty-free purchases, and fees related to award ticketing.
jspira is offline  
Old Jun 11, 2012, 2:12 pm
  #12  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Haven't gotten my letter yet. Wonder how they could enforce it?
TheBOSman is offline  
Old Jun 11, 2012, 2:17 pm
  #13  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
The lists don't mention lounge memberships or day passes.
MSPeconomist is offline  
Old Jun 11, 2012, 2:17 pm
  #14  
mia
Moderator
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Moderator action

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

Last edited by mia; Jun 11, 2012 at 2:51 pm
mia is offline  
Old Jun 11, 2012, 3:51 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: New York and Vienna
Programs: PA WorldPass Platinum, AA, DL, LH. GHA Black, SPG and HHonors Gold
Posts: 3,870
Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
The lists don't mention lounge memberships or day passes.
I had thrown the mailing I had received from Amex in Paul's direction and he must have missed that. Also missing were the pet fees. Thanks for mentioning it.

The list of covered and ineligible expenses has been updated - and additional info was added relating to getting credits etc.
jspira is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.