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)
Oct 17, 2018, 3:02 pm
#901
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 7
I activated the card, selected the airline, and immediately went to american airlines site and purchased after i enrolled. Yeah, I'm guessing that was the issue, its probably good to wait a bit before making a purchase to make sure your enrollment in the benefit is activated
Oct 18, 2018, 1:51 pm
#902
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 27
Great observation! I'm waiting on $50 eCG purchase but saw that $50 was already deducted from my $200 credit!
Bought 1 $100 AA e Gift Card from giftcards dot aa dot com using Gold Card (PRG) on 10/12.
Reimbursed 10/16.
Original Purchase posted as below and on the dashboard in benefits was seeing the message before reimbursement
"You have used all of your $100 Airline Fee Credit for this year. It will renew again starting Jan 2019" .
So was fairly confident that the reimbursement would happen.
4333 AMON CARTER BLVD
FORT WORTH
TX
76155
UNITED STATES
800.433.7300
Additional Information: 20181013 AA.COMAMERICAN AIRLINES
Reference: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Category: Travel - Airline
Reimbursed 10/16.
Original Purchase posted as below and on the dashboard in benefits was seeing the message before reimbursement
"You have used all of your $100 Airline Fee Credit for this year. It will renew again starting Jan 2019" .
So was fairly confident that the reimbursement would happen.
4333 AMON CARTER BLVD
FORT WORTH
TX
76155
UNITED STATES
800.433.7300
Additional Information: 20181013 AA.COMAMERICAN AIRLINES
Reference: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Category: Travel - Airline
Oct 19, 2018, 9:54 am
#903
Senior Moderator; Moderator, Eco-Conscious Travel, United and Flyertalk Cares
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Fulltime travel/mostly Europe
Programs: UA 1.7 MM;; Accor & Marriott Pt; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 17,831
Purchased $100 gc 10/15. Credited 10/18.
Oct 19, 2018, 11:20 am
#904
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 2
Had $148.xx remaining travel credit. Purchased 1x $150.00 GC on 10/14. Was reimbursed $148.xx on 10/17.
Would probably purchase 3 x $50 next time though.
Would probably purchase 3 x $50 next time though.
Oct 19, 2018, 5:15 pm
#905
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
American Express Platinum
So I messed up and bought 4 x 50$ gift cards from American Airlines on one transaction.
So naturally it posted on Oct 15th for $200.00. I chalked it up as a loss and purchased a $50 gift card on my Hilton Aspire card instead.
So this morning (Oct 18th), I check my bank and nothing. After work I check and boom. Both transactions were reimbursed with the annual credit.
So I registered today to share with you all that $200.00 transaction did get reimbursed for me. Good Luck!
So naturally it posted on Oct 15th for $200.00. I chalked it up as a loss and purchased a $50 gift card on my Hilton Aspire card instead.
So this morning (Oct 18th), I check my bank and nothing. After work I check and boom. Both transactions were reimbursed with the annual credit.
So I registered today to share with you all that $200.00 transaction did get reimbursed for me. Good Luck!
Oct 19, 2018, 6:09 pm
#906
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,192
So I messed up and bought 4 x 50$ gift cards from American Airlines on one transaction.
So naturally it posted on Oct 15th for $200.00. I chalked it up as a loss and purchased a $50 gift card on my Hilton Aspire card instead.
So this morning (Oct 18th), I check my bank and nothing. After work I check and boom. Both transactions were reimbursed with the annual credit.
So I registered today to share with you all that $200.00 transaction did get reimbursed for me. Good Luck!
So naturally it posted on Oct 15th for $200.00. I chalked it up as a loss and purchased a $50 gift card on my Hilton Aspire card instead.
So this morning (Oct 18th), I check my bank and nothing. After work I check and boom. Both transactions were reimbursed with the annual credit.
So I registered today to share with you all that $200.00 transaction did get reimbursed for me. Good Luck!
When purchasing multiple gift cards with the Plat, as in 4 x $50, the initial "pending" charge generally displays as a single $200 transaction. However, when the charge(s) actually post, they post as four separate $50 transactions with four separate $50 statement credits (this is the norm when purchasing Delta gift cards.)
When the charges actually posted to your account, did they post as a single $200 purchase or as 4 x $50 purchases? Were you reimbursed with a single $200 statement credit or with 4 x $50 credits?
Oct 19, 2018, 8:08 pm
#907
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
Yeah, except it may have been 4 x $50 transactions that got reimbursed not a single $200 transaction.
When purchasing multiple gift cards with the Plat, as in 4 x $50, the initial "pending" charge generally displays as a single $200 transaction. However, when the charge(s) actually post, they post as four separate $50 transactions with four separate $50 statement credits (this is the norm when purchasing Delta gift cards.)
When the charges actually posted to your account, did they post as a single $200 purchase or as 4 x $50 purchases? Were you reimbursed with a single $200 statement credit or with 4 x $50 credits?
When purchasing multiple gift cards with the Plat, as in 4 x $50, the initial "pending" charge generally displays as a single $200 transaction. However, when the charge(s) actually post, they post as four separate $50 transactions with four separate $50 statement credits (this is the norm when purchasing Delta gift cards.)
When the charges actually posted to your account, did they post as a single $200 purchase or as 4 x $50 purchases? Were you reimbursed with a single $200 statement credit or with 4 x $50 credits?
Oct 20, 2018, 3:12 pm
#908
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
Got newly opened Gold Card last week.
Selected AA as my airline 2 days ago.
Purchased AA gift card online for $100 today.
Will post when it reimburses.
Selected AA as my airline 2 days ago.
Purchased AA gift card online for $100 today.
Will post when it reimburses.
Oct 21, 2018, 7:06 pm
#909
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 4
AMEX PLATINUM PERSONAL
10/15 Purchased $100 AA eGiftcard
10/18 Reimbursement airline credit posted - Will be doing another this week
10/15 Purchased $100 AA eGiftcard
10/18 Reimbursement airline credit posted - Will be doing another this week
Last edited by DNTravel; Oct 21, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Oct 21, 2018, 7:24 pm
#910
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: DFW (Highland Village)
Programs: AA Lifetime GLD, SPG Lifetime GLD
Posts: 384
AMEX PLT
10/17 $100 AA eGiftcard
10/20 $100 Airline Fee Reimbursement posted
10/25 Purchased a second $100 AA eGiftcard. Only $90.xx of credit remaining so I'm expecting to get that amount reimbursed.
10/29 $90.xx reimbursed
So I'm done for 2018 and will do again in January. This is a nice way to recoup $400 of the annual fee (at least in year 1 of the card)
10/17 $100 AA eGiftcard
10/20 $100 Airline Fee Reimbursement posted
10/25 Purchased a second $100 AA eGiftcard. Only $90.xx of credit remaining so I'm expecting to get that amount reimbursed.
10/29 $90.xx reimbursed
So I'm done for 2018 and will do again in January. This is a nice way to recoup $400 of the annual fee (at least in year 1 of the card)
Last edited by Illini_Fan; Oct 29, 2018 at 7:57 am Reason: added second transaction vs creating a new post
Oct 22, 2018, 11:27 pm
#911
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 451
I got the PenFed Pathfinder Rewards card. It's an American Express card, but isn't actually issued by Amex. It comes with a $100 airline fee credit, with the terms being worded much like the ones from the Platinum/Gold/Aspire, but doesn't require you to select a specific airline. So because of that I was skeptical whether gift cards would be reimbursed, but couldn't find any data points when searching. Decided to test it out myself.
10/18 $50 AA eGiftCard
10/19 $50 Airline Reimbursement posted
I know it's not as popular of a card, but for no annual fee and a $100 credit that can actually be used on GCs, definitely solid. I think I'll try the remaining $50 of credit I have left on another airline to (1) see if more than just AA works and (2) whether the credit can in fact be split between multiple airlines.
10/18 $50 AA eGiftCard
10/19 $50 Airline Reimbursement posted
I know it's not as popular of a card, but for no annual fee and a $100 credit that can actually be used on GCs, definitely solid. I think I'll try the remaining $50 of credit I have left on another airline to (1) see if more than just AA works and (2) whether the credit can in fact be split between multiple airlines.
Oct 24, 2018, 10:33 am
#912
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 512
*Hilton Aspire*
$100 GC purchased on 10/19, credit posted 10/24 (backdated to 10/23)
I enrolled card with AA and purchased GC on the same day. Had planned on waiting a couple of days but shortly after enrolled I received an email confirmation from AMEX confirming my elections so I felt comfortable buying the same day.
$100 GC purchased on 10/19, credit posted 10/24 (backdated to 10/23)
I enrolled card with AA and purchased GC on the same day. Had planned on waiting a couple of days but shortly after enrolled I received an email confirmation from AMEX confirming my elections so I felt comfortable buying the same day.
Oct 25, 2018, 1:57 pm
#913
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
Oct 26, 2018, 9:48 am
#914
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 4
AMEX PLATINUM PERSONAL
Round 2 of $100 GC for 2018:
10/21 Purchased $100 AA eGiftcard
10/23 Reimbursement airline fee posted
Got card this month and maxed out 2018 - Will try again in 2019 for full $400 airline credit with only 1 $550 AF - Not bad!
Round 2 of $100 GC for 2018:
10/21 Purchased $100 AA eGiftcard
10/23 Reimbursement airline fee posted
Got card this month and maxed out 2018 - Will try again in 2019 for full $400 airline credit with only 1 $550 AF - Not bad!
Oct 26, 2018, 11:09 am
#915
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 1
egc purchased on 10/22 and reimbursed on 10/25 on Gold and Aspire