Jan 4, 2017, 6:59 am
Last edit by: mia
CAUTION: In February 2019, American Airlines changed the coding of gift card transactions. Although there are a few successful data points since, in general, Gift Card purchases are now explicitly identified, and no longer reimbursed by American Express.
Reminder: you must enroll and select your airline BEFORE making a reimbursable purchase. http://www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice -or- "Call the number on the back of your Card to select a qualifying airline."
Data Points on automatically reimbursed incidentals since 2017:
Admirals Club Memberships: Admirals Club Passes:
Wifi is provided by one of three third-party providers and is thus not eligible for the incidental credit.
* For items not automatically reimbursed but which are not excluded by Amex, you can try and request manual reimbursement from American Express; however, you may need to wait 14-28 days first.
To review AA reimbursement reports from 2011-2016 as well as information on gift cards, click HERE.
Reminder: you must enroll and select your airline BEFORE making a reimbursable purchase. http://www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice -or- "Call the number on the back of your Card to select a qualifying airline."
Data Points on automatically reimbursed incidentals since 2017:
Admirals Club Memberships: Admirals Club Passes:
- Yes - Hilton-gold, moe8555
- No - ShrinkTheGlobe, canesfan, jasmians, soy
- Yes - Dedicated, Rakibullslam, tsmith12, lotrbfme, mia, GTITAN, cdoobiest
- No - Alex_I, exmike, jb0506, fangtl, nall, javabytes, chitink
- Mixed - PatrickTM, Visconti, iahphx
- No - cubs105, prhocky2607
- No - PatrickTM, mileshound
- Yes - LuizMiranda, fotoflyer88, nk15, joshvworld, Hilton-gold, captaink, JCN, aftortoriello, nall
- No - pubsmeister
- Yes - jvel
- Yes - JDiver
- No - AUSINSIGHT
- No - mrlemm
- Yes - Segments
- Yes - wireless_999, saunders111, mosfet, Budoka, sdsearch
- Mixed - inevitability
Wifi is provided by one of three third-party providers and is thus not eligible for the incidental credit.
* For items not automatically reimbursed but which are not excluded by Amex, you can try and request manual reimbursement from American Express; however, you may need to wait 14-28 days first.
To review AA reimbursement reports from 2011-2016 as well as information on gift cards, click HERE.
Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: AA only (2017-2019)
Dec 30, 2018, 10:55 am
#1202
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Programs: Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards
Posts: 191
Dec 30, 2018, 11:08 am
#1203
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: BWI/IAD/DCA
Posts: 7
For Amex Gold
12/23 - Selected airline, received an email confirmation
12/25 - purchased 2* $50 eGC
12/27 - Reimbursed
12/23 - Selected airline, received an email confirmation
12/25 - purchased 2* $50 eGC
12/27 - Reimbursed
Dec 30, 2018, 12:21 pm
#1204
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 27
Just bought $50 cuz I have 40 bucks left on the credit, also got the ARC code when it showed up, the last time I purchased GC (in Oct) there were no ARC.
Dec 30, 2018, 12:25 pm
#1205
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,932
single $250 AA e-gift-card worked!
Amex Hilton Aspire
I bought a single $250 AA e-gift-card on Thu 12/27.
The purchase posted on Sat 12/29.
Early this morning, Sun 12/30, my progress counter went from $250 available to all used up for the year, but the credit was not showing yet.
Later this morning, Sun 12/30, $250 credit showed up! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
EDITED TO ADD:
I made my airline selection weeks earlier.
I bought a single $250 AA e-gift-card on Thu 12/27.
The purchase posted on Sat 12/29.
Early this morning, Sun 12/30, my progress counter went from $250 available to all used up for the year, but the credit was not showing yet.
Later this morning, Sun 12/30, $250 credit showed up! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
EDITED TO ADD:
I made my airline selection weeks earlier.
Last edited by sdsearch; Jan 3, 2019 at 12:03 pm Reason: clarify when airline selection was made
Dec 30, 2018, 4:36 pm
#1206
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 4
will it work?
Ok I just bought 3 gift cards with my Hilton Aspire card. Curious to see if it will post and use the 2018 credit or if it will roll to 2019. My bad for waiting until today to buy the gift cards.
Dec 30, 2018, 4:46 pm
#1207
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: BWI/IAD/DCA
Posts: 7
I made two purchases this morning $150 & $100 with my Aspire. Curious to know about it too.
Dec 30, 2018, 4:56 pm
#1208
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
So on Jan. 1, can I just buy more AA GC and expect an automatic reimbursement like in 2018, or do I need to re-register online with AA again and my Plat card? IOW, if I just want to keep the same airline from year to year, do I need to re-register or not?
Dec 30, 2018, 5:19 pm
#1209
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 4
good question, I suppose you can look at your AMEX profile on Jan 1 to make sure AA still shows up as the chosen airline.
Dec 30, 2018, 5:19 pm
#1210
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 4
I'm going to be kicking myself if it doesn't take it from 2018. Just a dumb mistake on my part
Dec 30, 2018, 6:38 pm
#1211
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 27
my previous purchase end up posting on the date i get the original pending notification, so hopefully it will be the same this time and for you. Good luck!
Dec 30, 2018, 7:39 pm
#1212
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: BWI/IAD/DCA
Posts: 7
Waited until the very last minute on AA. I purchased 2 - $100 e-giftcards from AA on a personal platinum at 9:45pm CST on Dec 31. It posted on Dec 31 and was reimbursed on January 2.
Don't wait until the last minute, I got lucky because AA was going to start site maintenance at 10:00pm on Dec 31, so if I would have waited longer it may not have processed.
Also I can confirm that I still have $200 in credit until Dec 2017. So I can do this again for 2017.
Don't wait until the last minute, I got lucky because AA was going to start site maintenance at 10:00pm on Dec 31, so if I would have waited longer it may not have processed.
Also I can confirm that I still have $200 in credit until Dec 2017. So I can do this again for 2017.
Dec 30, 2018, 7:44 pm
#1213
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Teaneck, NJ
Programs: SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Marriott Silver
Posts: 699
Gonna ask in this thread too - I upgraded to Aspire today, took a couple hours but now says Aspire online, and I was able to pick AA as my airline - should I buy $250 in GC tonight, or tomorrow morning, or need to wait 24 hours which would put me at 9:45pm EST on Dec 31?
Dec 30, 2018, 7:47 pm
#1214
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: BWI/IAD/DCA
Posts: 7
Gonna ask in this thread too - I upgraded to Aspire today, took a couple hours but now says Aspire online, and I was able to pick AA as my airline - should I buy $250 in GC tonight, or tomorrow morning, or need to wait 24 hours which would put me at 9:45pm EST on Dec 31?
Dec 30, 2018, 8:11 pm
#1215
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Teaneck, NJ
Programs: SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Marriott Silver
Posts: 699
Yes received confirmation that I picked American, and chat and phone agents both saw it and said I should be able to use it immediately. Just wish I could see more DPs of people who used it on the first day they picked it, or within 24 hours of picking it. I'm almost certain last time I picked an airline and used it the next morning (within 24 hours) and it posted fine, but not sure.
