Jan 18, 2016, 10:57 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: MaxVO

This thread is a continuation of: Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only [2011 - 2015]

Credit posting delays range from several business days (typical) to several weeks (seen in Oct 2015). The T&Cs state that it could take up to four weeks, so wait at least that long before worrying, and certainly don't contact Amex prematurely

Caution: effective from 22 June 2019, gift card purchases from Delta do not get reimbursed.

Read this primer first

In the Amex Membership Rewards family, both the Consumer and Business versions of the Platinum and Centurion cards qualify for a $200 airline credit. The Premier Rewards Gold (PRG) card is eligible for a $100 airline credit.
You must ~~click here to~~ <--(link dead) select Delta as your enrolled airline before you make a reimbursable purchase, else the benefit won't apply. The feature is activated immediately upon airline designation. Try logging in to your AMEX account and selecting the airline. This link may work
If you've selected DL in the past and don't wish to change airlines, there's no need to select again; current selection rolls into future years until modified.
The T&Cs state the eligible charges, but YMMV, so don't call and ask especially about the fuzzier cases below because that will probably hasten closing of any loopholes.
The credit is per account, not per card. If the main account has authorized users with additional cards, eligible charges may still be made on those cards, but they'll count jointly towards the same account limit.
Credits are capped per calendar year, meaning you could tap the full amount on Dec 31st and again on Jan 1st in the extreme. Transaction date, not posting date, determines the year. Note: This is not my experience. I purchased Dec 31, 2016, posted Jan 1, 2017 and went against my 2017 credit. (TheMadBrewer)
You will get a partial credit to bring your total annual reimbursements to the limit exactly if a qualifying charge takes you past the limit.
After four weeks, if you've read this Wiki carefully and posted here seeking assistance but the credit still has not arrived, consider chatting with Amex online. Politely mention the "Delta extras" you thought would be reimbursed within four weeks and they'll handle it.

additional collections/split tender

THIS IS A LOOPHOLE. BE DISCREET

Anything coded as an additional collection (aka add/collect or a/c), including difference in fare when changing flights, and accepting an FCM offer, also triggers the credit and will be reimbursed; this may (insufficient data) only happen if the additional amount collected is below ~$250 (regardless of card type, e.g. there have been reports of full $100 credit for Gold card on a/c over $100 and full $200 credit for Plat on a/c over $200 but less than $250)

Relevantly, split tender where you partially pay with a gift card, existing credit, VDB voucher etc. and partly charged to your card, are processed by DL as an add/collect and trigger the credit per above.
Thus if you anticipate actually buying, say, a $200 DL ticket, you could buy a single $50 gift card, then buy the ticket using $50 GC and $150 on your card (the $150 will be reimbursed)
Canceling a ticket within the 24-hour risk-free period generally results in funds being returned to where they came from (GC back to GC and CC back to CC). If you have no immediate travel plans but anticipate travel in the next year, consider buying a fully refundable ticket and then changing it later once you know your future travel dates. IF a lot of people suddenly start refunding tickets after getting the credit reimbursement this may hasten the demise of this particular loophole.
Caution when buying multiple tickets: for example if you buy two $125 tickets in one transaction (total $250) and use one $100 GC or even two $50 GCs, they will all be applied to the same ticket and you would see one additional collection for $25 on that ticket and a separate "normal" charge for $125 for the second ticket. In this scenario only $25 will be reimbursed (instead of the $150 you might be expecting)

other non Gift Card options

baggage and other service fees (same day change/standby, change fees, etc.)
taxes on award flights
in-flight purchases (EXCEPT wifi)
SkyClub access/guest fees (but NOT gift cards purchased at a SC, which are actually activated at a 3rd party web site)
mileage boosts (post 2499)
The $59 for Delta Skymiles Select is reimbursed (posts 2180, 2182)
seat assignment fees (may need to call in to have processed manually)

(DEAD) eGift Card (eCert) details
This Section is not applicable effective 2019/06/22!

Delta eGift Cards (eCerts) have been reimbursed in practice, even though technically they do not meet the criteria listed by Amex for reimbursement. The name on the eCerts doesn't matter and need not match your card, but you must purchase using an eligible Amex card and meet the other criteria detailed in this Wiki.
Denominations over $50 will not generate the credit. Multiple $50 eCerts will. The smallest denomination available is $50.
To order, use this direct link to the eGift cert order page, or navigate via Delta.com>Shop>eGift Certificate.
No need to place separate orders using multiple carts/checkouts. By adding multiple certs to one order (e.g., 4 x $50), even though they are in the same cart, the certs will post as separate transactions and still generate a credit for each.
eCert purchases may initially authorize (show pending) as ticket purchases before posting to (finalize on) your statement. Multiple-eCert orders may authorize the combined value as a single pending ticket purchase. Don't worry; they'll post later as separate eCert charges in the qualifying amounts.
eCerts are generated instantly, but the codes are not valid for use until 72 hours after purchase, so don't order expecting to use them in a pinch.
A maximum of three eCerts may be redeemed per online transaction. Splitting a round-trip into two one-ways will allow you to use additional eCerts, but in some cases two one-ways may cost more than a single roundtrip so compare carefully to decide whether using more than 3 certs on a single trip is worthwhile.
If purchasing a ticket for more than 1 person, splitting the purchase into a separate transaction for each person would also allow the use of more than 3 certs on a single trip at (usually) no additional cost. However this could have an adverse effect on ability to upgrade, upgrade priority, and other elite benefits, and on the likelihood of being reaccommodated on the same flight in the event of a flight cancellation.
There is one recent REPORT of a telephone agent allowing more than three eCerts to be used when purchasing one ticket.
eCerts do not expire. Their T&Cs are listed here.

For other airlines:
AA Thread
AS Thread
B6 Thread
DL Thread
F9 Thread
HA Thread
NK Thread
UA Thread
WN Thread

Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only (2015-2019)

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Jan 11, 2019, 11:58 am

#1246

BirdLawyer

formerly willbbiddy

Join Date: Nov 2017

Posts: 208

Quote:

Originally Posted by JM15

Bought a Delta ticket with mix of gift cards and the rest of it ($118.60) covered with the Platinum card a few days ago. I ended up cancelling the flight and was checking my account for the refund to post. Well I got my refund AND the AMEX airline credit. First, definitely surprised to see the ticket covered by the fee reimbursement, but, second, will it be reversed because of the refund or will it stick like how Chase does it? This might be kind of an unprecedented question since everyone buys gift cards and those obviously don't get refunds...

You'll probably just to get to keep it. I had the same thing happen with a Grubhub order and just got to keep the food credit

Edit: On my gold card

Jan 11, 2019, 2:15 pm

#1247

TheFourthHorseman

Join Date: Jan 2019

Posts: 3

Gold Card
2x $50 (purchased separately)
Purchased on Jan-7
Posted on Jan-8
Credit on Jan-10

Jan 11, 2019, 4:58 pm

#1248

qofmiwok

Join Date: Mar 2012

Posts: 315

Happy to report another success. Hilton Aspire, 2x$50 Jan 8, showed up in my account Jan 11 posted as of Jan 10.

Jan 12, 2019, 8:32 am

#1249

dominick

Join Date: Jan 2001

Location: Toronto, Canada

Posts: 700

Corp Platinum here.
2 x $50 purchased on Jan 2.
Today - Jan 12 - still no credit!

Jan 12, 2019, 8:44 am

#1250

kevoh

Join Date: Jan 2015

Location: LAX, JFK

Programs: AMEX Plat, CSP, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold

Posts: 3

AMEX Platinum
01-09-2019 — Purchased eGC's (4x$50)
01-09-2019 — Charges Pending
01-10-2019 — Charges Posted
01-12-2019 — Credit Posted ($200)

Jan 12, 2019, 1:07 pm

#1251

traveler4ever

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Wellington, Florida

Programs: Delta Plat, HH Diamond, Marriott Gold

Posts: 830

That happened to me once. I had to call and they credited the account right away.

Jan 13, 2019, 4:51 am

#1252

Tatoosh

Join Date: Dec 2017

Programs: Delta, United

Posts: 38

Purchased $212 Delta ticket 1/2. Full credit posted a couple days later. Nice surprise.

Jan 13, 2019, 5:59 am

#1253

boboqui

Join Date: May 2008

Posts: 1,603

JAN 9 2019 DELTA AIR LINES - ATLANTA $50.00
JAN 9 2019 DELTA AIR LINES - ATLANTA $50.00
JAN 9 2019 DELTA AIR LINES - ATLANTA $50.00
JAN 9 2019 DELTA AIR LINES - ATLANTA $50.00
JAN 10 2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$50.00
JAN 10 2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$50.00
JAN 10 2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$50.00
JAN 10 2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$50.00