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 10, 2019, 8:28 am
#1366
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 16
AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire - $250 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Platinum - $200 AA Gift card purchased Jan 2. Reimbursed Jan 6.
AMEX Schwab Platinum - $200 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Ameriprise Platinum - $200 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Gold Card - $100 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Platinum - $200 AA Gift card purchased Jan 2. Reimbursed Jan 6.
AMEX Schwab Platinum - $200 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Ameriprise Platinum - $200 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
AMEX Gold Card - $100 AA gift card purchased Jan 4. Reimbursed Jan 8.
Jan 10, 2019, 9:32 am
#1367
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: NJ (EWR) - USA
Programs: UA Silver - IHG Spire AMB - Hilton Gold - Choice Hotels Platinum - Hertz Gold FiveStar
Posts: 396
Another 2019 DP here...
AMEX Gold Card: $100 AA e-Gift Card Purchased 1/4/19 (Friday Late PM) - Reimbursed 1/8/19 (Wednesday) ^
AMEX Gold Card: $100 AA e-Gift Card Purchased 1/4/19 (Friday Late PM) - Reimbursed 1/8/19 (Wednesday) ^
Jan 10, 2019, 2:01 pm
#1368
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 448
Hilton Aspire: chose AA as my airline on 12/30. Thirty minutes later purchased 2x $100 & 1X $50 AA Giftcards on 12/30. No reimbursement yet. My plan was to sell these cards.
Did I not give it enough time between choosing AA and actually buying the giftcards? Did I screw up by buying 3 AA GCs back to back? If I don't get reimbursed, do I have any recourse?
Did I not give it enough time between choosing AA and actually buying the giftcards? Did I screw up by buying 3 AA GCs back to back? If I don't get reimbursed, do I have any recourse?
Jan 10, 2019, 2:06 pm
#1369
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Hilton Aspire: chose AA as my airline on 12/30. Thirty minutes later purchased 2x $100 & 1X $50 AA Giftcards on 12/30. No reimbursement yet. My plan was to sell these cards.
Did I not give it enough time between choosing AA and actually buying the giftcards? Did I screw up by buying 3 AA GCs back to back? If I don't get reimbursed, do I have any recourse?
Did I not give it enough time between choosing AA and actually buying the giftcards? Did I screw up by buying 3 AA GCs back to back? If I don't get reimbursed, do I have any recourse?
Jan 10, 2019, 2:34 pm
#1370
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 448
Ok, that really sucks. I figured since choosing the airline was an immediate thing and that the actual GC purchases didn't post until 2-3 days later, that I would be OK (i.e. 2-3 days after choosing AA, the GC purchases posted). I guess I'll just eat this as a loss...but it's compounded by having done the exact same thing on 2 Aspire cards (mine and my wife's). Guess I'm getting a little sloppy in my gaming.
Hopefully I timed my application correctly and I'll be able to get the credit in 2019 and also in Jan 2020 (would've been able to get 3 reimbursements per card if the above reimbursement had gone through). Overall, this card will be plenty valuable but now I'll have to have a larger cash outlay, for a longer period of time, before recouping all my value.
Hopefully I timed my application correctly and I'll be able to get the credit in 2019 and also in Jan 2020 (would've been able to get 3 reimbursements per card if the above reimbursement had gone through). Overall, this card will be plenty valuable but now I'll have to have a larger cash outlay, for a longer period of time, before recouping all my value.
Jan 11, 2019, 9:27 am
#1371
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
Ugh. Looks like no soup for me! My $100 gc I bought yesterday is now pending, but it say AA ARC, not the usual notation.
Jan 11, 2019, 1:19 pm
#1373
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,227
There are oodles of datapoints of people not getting a credit even for $50 e-gift-cards if they buy them "too soon" after making the airline selection. (In my case, I waited weeks; I just edited my original datapoint post to clarify that. You probably don't need to wait weeks, but you certainly seem to need to wait at least a day or two.)
Of course then my travel companion gets given free Platinum status (I'm only Gold) two days ago on a marketing promotion, so if I was just able to predict the future, I wouldn't have had to use the credit on this, as MCE is free for Plat. Ugh.
Jan 11, 2019, 2:51 pm
#1374
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,953
When this benefit was introduced ~2010 American Express stipulated a waiting period after airline selection. I think it was 48 hours. That was removed from the terms. We do have reports of reimbursements with very short intervals between selection and expenditure. We also have failure reports. This inconsistency means there is no way for an individual to know if their selection has been published to all the relevant databases on American Express' network.
I think the prudent course is to wait 48 hours. This does not mean shorter intervals guarantee failure, but the probability of failure is greater. The consequences of failure are usually trivial, except at the end of the calendar year.
I think the prudent course is to wait 48 hours. This does not mean shorter intervals guarantee failure, but the probability of failure is greater. The consequences of failure are usually trivial, except at the end of the calendar year.
Jan 11, 2019, 3:20 pm
#1375
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 123
Got the Business Platinum last month and managed to get both 2018 and 2019 credits in before my first statement closed.
1/7 Purchased 2 x $100 ecerts (single transaction)
1/8 Purchase posted to account
1/10 $200 statement credit received
1/7 Purchased 2 x $100 ecerts (single transaction)
1/8 Purchase posted to account
1/10 $200 statement credit received
Jan 11, 2019, 5:00 pm
#1376
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Japan
Posts: 5,577
All my purchases over four cards were credited after 4 days. On one account I bought AA cards and immediately afterwards I remembered that SW was the
airline of my choice. So about 10 minuted after purchase I changed my airline on line. Was holding my breath on that one, but in the end it worked out. Thanks!
airline of my choice. So about 10 minuted after purchase I changed my airline on line. Was holding my breath on that one, but in the end it worked out. Thanks!
Jan 11, 2019, 6:22 pm
#1377
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Radisson Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 3,622
Schwab Platinum AMEX.
Bought two $100 AA gift cards in a single transaction on January 8.
Got $200 statement credit on January 10.
Bought two $100 AA gift cards in a single transaction on January 8.
Got $200 statement credit on January 10.
Jan 11, 2019, 7:44 pm
#1378
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,508
Purchased $100 Gift card on aa.com on my laptop through the link in the wiki on Jan 7th with my AMEX GOLD CARD.
$100 credit posted Jan 10th as AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement.
Yay!
$100 credit posted Jan 10th as AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement.
Yay!
Jan 11, 2019, 9:10 pm
#1379
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 1
I just realized Aspire had the $250 incidental credit and am trying to get $250 worth of AA gift cards. Question though, I click the link to enroll in AA, but the link gives me a "None of your benefits require the selection of a qualifying airline." Why is this???? Have I missed some deadline to pick the airline? Also, then can I not get the gift cards? I have had a Gold for some time now and that's enrolled in Delta...so does that mean then that I can use my Aspire credit on Delta instead? Was really trying to stock up on AA.... Please advise someone 
Jan 12, 2019, 7:51 am
#1380
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: BAEC Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 406
Pretty much the same data points as above. Purchased them all on the same day and got reimbursed 4 days later.
AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire - $250 AA gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.
AMEX Platinum - $200 AA Gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.
AMEX Gold Card - $100 AA Gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.
AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire - $250 AA gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.
AMEX Platinum - $200 AA Gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.
AMEX Gold Card - $100 AA Gift card purchased Jan 5. Reimbursed Jan 9.