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)
#1381
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 38
Well I guess I am victim of purchasing a $100 AA gift card too soon after selecting my airline and not getting the credit on my Gold card. I selected AA a couple min before buying the gift card on 1/5 but haven’t been credited. The thing is, my airline didn’t change from last year, so I might have messed things up for myself by selecting it again. Ergh. Oh well, guess I’ll have to get another one and hope it credits.
#1382
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,881
No, just call the number on the back of your Ascend card and tell the agent that you wish to select a carrier of the 2019 airline fee reimbursement benefit. Do not mention gift cards, they are excluded from reimbursement by the terms. No need to even mention that you tried to do this online, just ask to have it done.
#1383
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 493
I'm getting tired of all this game playing by Amex to prevent their customers from taking advantage of this benefit. Excuse me, but it seems like they are actually trying to keep their customers from actually using this benefit. Why don't they just be fair and do it like Chase does?
Chase its a much better card anyway. They allow you to not only get your Airline Credit easily, but they give you 3X points for restaurants and other things....
The Amex Business Plat card used to be my favorite card. It got me into all kinds of airline lounges, and gives me gold elite at Hilton and SPG.
Now they want $595 per year for access DL lounges (hardly fly DL), a couple of AX Centurion Lounges that I rarely get to go to, and some other new benefits which I have absolutely no use for. And mostly 1X MR's for most charges except airlines. I'm cancelling my card next month. It's not worth paying that much for. As far as I am concerned, the card has gotten way too expensive and less valuable.
Chase its a much better card anyway. They allow you to not only get your Airline Credit easily, but they give you 3X points for restaurants and other things....
The Amex Business Plat card used to be my favorite card. It got me into all kinds of airline lounges, and gives me gold elite at Hilton and SPG.
Now they want $595 per year for access DL lounges (hardly fly DL), a couple of AX Centurion Lounges that I rarely get to go to, and some other new benefits which I have absolutely no use for. And mostly 1X MR's for most charges except airlines. I'm cancelling my card next month. It's not worth paying that much for. As far as I am concerned, the card has gotten way too expensive and less valuable.
#1384
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 16,871
Do you realize that it is we who are the ones playing games by using this “benefit”, right?
Per Amex rules there should be no credit for gift cards.
Per Amex rules there should be no credit for gift cards.
#1385
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Exactly, you really got to laugh when people get angry about Amex just enforcing the policy that has been in place all along.
#1386
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 785
People have reported in the past not getting the airline credit when purchasing giftcards shortly after switching airlines. I think that is the problem you ran into. Purchasing three giftcards back to back has been done successfully by a number of people, so I'm pretty sure it was the last minute selection of an airline that caused you the problem. Gift cards are not supposed to be covered by the airline credit, so no you don't have any recourse and just need to take the loss and learn from your mistake. You should be able to do it for 2019.
#1387
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
I'm getting tired of all this game playing by Amex to prevent their customers from taking advantage of this benefit. Excuse me, but it seems like they are actually trying to keep their customers from actually using this benefit. Why don't they just be fair and do it like Chase does?
Chase its a much better card anyway. They allow you to not only get your Airline Credit easily, but they give you 3X points for restaurants and other things....
The Amex Business Plat card used to be my favorite card. It got me into all kinds of airline lounges, and gives me gold elite at Hilton and SPG.
Now they want $595 per year for access DL lounges (hardly fly DL), a couple of AX Centurion Lounges that I rarely get to go to, and some other new benefits which I have absolutely no use for. And mostly 1X MR's for most charges except airlines. I'm cancelling my card next month. It's not worth paying that much for. As far as I am concerned, the card has gotten way too expensive and less valuable.
Chase its a much better card anyway. They allow you to not only get your Airline Credit easily, but they give you 3X points for restaurants and other things....
The Amex Business Plat card used to be my favorite card. It got me into all kinds of airline lounges, and gives me gold elite at Hilton and SPG.
Now they want $595 per year for access DL lounges (hardly fly DL), a couple of AX Centurion Lounges that I rarely get to go to, and some other new benefits which I have absolutely no use for. And mostly 1X MR's for most charges except airlines. I'm cancelling my card next month. It's not worth paying that much for. As far as I am concerned, the card has gotten way too expensive and less valuable.
#1388
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
This is only an issue for buying GCs, right? If you switch airlines and then an hour later put a legit allowed charge on your card, and it doesn't get reimbursed, you can just call Amex and they'll credit you, correct? (i.e. Amex doesn't somewhere in T&C say you should wait some number of days or hours after switching)
#1389
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Boston
Posts: 249
Strange DPs to report:
Aspire Card $250 eGift ~Jan 4, ~4 days later received statement credit, spend meter says 2019 money all used up, retrieved PIN today
Platinum $200 eGift ~Jan 5, ~4 days later received statement credit, spend meter says 2019 money all used up, BUT couldn't get eGift PIN, need to call AA during the week to find out why . . . wonder what happened??
Gold $100 eGift ~Jan 5, wasn't charged thus didn't receive statement credit, spend meter says $100 for 2019, couldn't get eGift PIN . . . as expected BUT why wasn't Gold charged on Jan 5 since AA sends me email tell me I bought an eGift??
Aspire Card $250 eGift ~Jan 4, ~4 days later received statement credit, spend meter says 2019 money all used up, retrieved PIN today
Platinum $200 eGift ~Jan 5, ~4 days later received statement credit, spend meter says 2019 money all used up, BUT couldn't get eGift PIN, need to call AA during the week to find out why . . . wonder what happened??
Gold $100 eGift ~Jan 5, wasn't charged thus didn't receive statement credit, spend meter says $100 for 2019, couldn't get eGift PIN . . . as expected BUT why wasn't Gold charged on Jan 5 since AA sends me email tell me I bought an eGift??
#1390
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat Pro, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,010
Does one need to collect their PIN once available? Or can I wait a few months until I need to use the GC? Is there any downside to waiting? I feel like if I collect early - I'll lose the PIN more easily. Or perhaps I can store it in AA somewhere?
#1391
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,881
#1392
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
I just do digital gift cards. Do these require a pin or is that only the physical cards? I haven't been activating them or getting pin numbers all along I just keep the emails because I have not redeemed any cards for flights yet.
#1393
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,186
The e-certs (digital gift cards) come with the card number and the PIN together, once you click on link to retrieve them.
#1395
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 10
1/10/19 - purchased $200 AA GC with Plat and $250 AA GC with Aspire. As of 1/13 benefits meter shows used until 2020, so assume the credits hit tonight/tomorrow.