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)
Jan 13, 2019, 7:43 pm
#1396
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
It could well be that the time you have to wait between when you select the airline and when you make the purchase varies based on who knows what. For example, if Amex only updates some internal thing once a day, if you make the selection before that (undocumented) time and make the purchase after that (undocumented) time, maybe then it generally work, but if you make the selection and the purchase either both before that (undocumented) time or both after that (undocumented) time, maybe then it never works.
As a related example of something else "internal timing" Amex, an Amex agent told me that when I upgraded my account from Ascend to Aspire, I had to wait until the online site showed "Aspire" before I could count on my purchases counting toward the upgrade bonus. If the Aspire showed later that day, later that day would count, but if the Aspire didn't show until the next day, later that day wouldn't count. So apparently Amex does until internal events to determine whether some things "should' or "shouldn't" work "yet". In my upgrade example, there was a display associated with the internal event, but in the airline choice, there doesn't seem to be.
Thus you can't extrapolate from one vague datapoint that you did it "on thee same day" (no specifics about how many minutes or hours you waited, no specifics about what exact time of day in what timezone you did each of those two actions) to assuming that it would work for everyone "on the same day" no matter the timing details.
The thing is, there are plenty of datapoints of it not working "on the same day", so just "on the same day" is definitely not reliably enough. It may or it may not work, but if you want to be sure that it'll work, isn't it better to wait longer (to a point where there no datapoints about it ever having been "too soon")?
Last edited by sdsearch; Jan 13, 2019 at 7:48 pm
Jan 13, 2019, 8:41 pm
#1397
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,016
Understood. So I have a digital gift card. Would it behoove me to click on it and "claim" it now (to collect gift card # and PIN or can I just do that in a few months when I'm ready to use it? Is there any difference at all between the two timeframes?
Jan 13, 2019, 9:33 pm
#1398
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,192
I don't know the answer to that. I usually save the link to a folder within my email account after opening it and saving as PDF to my desktop .
Jan 14, 2019, 2:24 am
#1399
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
no. there is totally no difference. there is no start or end date on the certs so technically, you can pull those certs at any time and never expire. however, you should already know how this game works. nothing works when you want it to. and everything can break at any moment. so you should retrieve your certs ASAP. this is due to risk in system glitches and crap that can always happen if you wait to pull the cards at a critical time.
Jan 14, 2019, 7:29 am
#1400
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 6
Aspire $250 x1 GC & Platinum $200 x 1 GC
Chose AA last year. Did not change designation this year.
Jan 11 (Friday @ 9p): Purchased one $250 GC with Aspire and one $200 GC with Platinum.
Jan 13 (Sunday, checked around 8pm): Transaction went from pending to posted and benefit meter showed benefit used for the year for both.
Jan 14th (Mon checked at 6am): Credit posted for both.
Jan 11 (Friday @ 9p): Purchased one $250 GC with Aspire and one $200 GC with Platinum.
Jan 13 (Sunday, checked around 8pm): Transaction went from pending to posted and benefit meter showed benefit used for the year for both.
Jan 14th (Mon checked at 6am): Credit posted for both.
Jan 14, 2019, 7:44 am
#1401
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 493
I changed my airline on 1/1/19 from United to AA. Waited until 1/10, then purchased $100 AA gift card. Just got the credit today. So will get the other one.
I always print the actual gift card with the numbers. I have a file folder for these. I try and print them right away so I don't forget about them (and then don't use them). I always use the older ones first. Most of mine are on American. I fly United more, but they the credits are difficult for me to use up these days (since the travel bank has been closed).
I always print the actual gift card with the numbers. I have a file folder for these. I try and print them right away so I don't forget about them (and then don't use them). I always use the older ones first. Most of mine are on American. I fly United more, but they the credits are difficult for me to use up these days (since the travel bank has been closed).
Jan 14, 2019, 8:23 am
#1402
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: UA Silver (woohoo), Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 24
Did a test purchase of a $50 AA GC on 1/3 - received Amex Credit on 1/8. On 1/8 purchased 3 x $50 GCs (but accidentally made the purchase together so they coded as one $150 purchase). Regardless, still received a $150 travel credit today (1/14).
Success!
Success!
Jan 14, 2019, 10:20 am
#1403
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 4
1/10 purchased a singular $200 AA Gift card for personal Platinum card credit
1/14 credit posted
Success!
1/14 credit posted
Success!
Jan 14, 2019, 3:26 pm
#1404
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Plat Pro, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 124
As a DP, I recently upfared a ticket from economy to first that was originally purchased through a corporate travel agency. AA has now become pretty stringent on charging a $50 External Reservation Handling Service Fee in addition to the difference in fare. However, on my AMEX statement they posted as separate charges and AMEX has now credited the $50 Service Fee.
Jan 14, 2019, 4:02 pm
#1405
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 88
As a DP, I recently upfared a ticket from economy to first that was originally purchased through a corporate travel agency. AA has now become pretty stringent on charging a $50 External Reservation Handling Service Fee in addition to the difference in fare. However, on my AMEX statement they posted as separate charges and AMEX has now credited the $50 Service Fee.
Jan 14, 2019, 4:13 pm
#1406
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 4
Purchased $250 AA GC with Hilton Aspire on 1/11 and reimbursed on 1/13.
Jan 14, 2019, 4:50 pm
#1407
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Charlotte,NC
Posts: 44
Credited on 11th. Ordering another let's see how quick it gets done.
Jan 14, 2019, 4:53 pm
#1408
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,227
I said you don't necessarily need to wait a day or two. I did not need to wait. Q.E.D.It was within an hour. The website does show your selected airline. Mine said "American Airlines and US Airways" (in 2018 it was Delta). Then I bought the MCE seats. Then I got reimbursed. End of story.
If you want to wait 48 hours, be my guest, I'm not stopping you.
Jan 15, 2019, 5:02 am
#1409
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 74
DP
Purchased 2x 100 GC
Posted on Jan 11
Credit received for both on Jan 13
Purchased 2x 100 GC
Posted on Jan 11
Credit received for both on Jan 13