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Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: AA only (2017-2019)

Old Jan 4, 2017, 6:59 am
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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: Admirals Club Food/Drinks: Award Cancellation Fee*: Award Taxes/Fees: Baggage*: Change Fee*: Close-In Ticket Fee*: Elite 500-mile Stickers: Elite Challenges: External Reservation Fee: Five Star Service: Infant Fees: MCE/Seat Selection: Mileage Multipler: Pet Fee*: Same Day Flight Change: Upfares: Upgrades:
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.
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Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: AA only (2017-2019)

Old Jan 12, 2019, 8:09 am
  #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.
PP212 is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 8:53 am
  #1382  
mia
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
Originally Posted by theleeway101
.... Have I missed some deadline to pick the airline?....
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.
mia is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 11:40 am
  #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.
lbotez is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 2:49 pm
  #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.
michael_v and coffee18 like this.
QtownDave is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 3:20 pm
  #1385  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Originally Posted by QtownDave
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.
Exactly, you really got to laugh when people get angry about Amex just enforcing the policy that has been in place all along.
coffee18 likes this.
Red259 is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 4:26 pm
  #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
Originally Posted by Red259
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.
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)
huge is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 4:39 pm
  #1387  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
Originally Posted by lbotez
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.
i see. so you want everything to be easy to abuse, low price and offer insane value. makes sense...
coffee18 likes this.
GundamWing01 is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 7:23 pm
  #1388  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Originally Posted by huge
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)
Yea if you have this issue with a legit airline charge then I would call in to Amex and I think they will put a request to investigate in.
Red259 is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2019, 8:51 pm
  #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??
Magna is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 11:25 am
  #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?
TravelinSperry is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 12:10 pm
  #1391  
mia
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
Originally Posted by Magna
....couldn't get eGift PIN,.... wasn't charged ....
AA cancels some gift card transactions based on their own fraud algorithm. AA should be able to confirm if the transactions were voided, but don't expect any substantive explanation.
mia is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 12:54 pm
  #1392  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Originally Posted by TravelinSperry
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?
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.
Red259 is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 1:12 pm
  #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
Originally Posted by Red259
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.
The e-certs (digital gift cards) come with the card number and the PIN together, once you click on link to retrieve them.
Diplomatico is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 2:37 pm
  #1394  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 3
DP

1-4-19: AA selected
1-13-19: 1x$200 eGC purchased
Pkroupa is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2019, 6:00 pm
  #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.
nashvillain is offline  

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