UAAAPeter

I have never done this at check-in as it seems such a rip off, but I never really studied it - buying miles at check in is the least of my concerns. I just looked - $81 for 2500 miles on one booking. That's more than 3c a mile. So a 25000 mile RT is more than $750. I mean who would ever do this in a sane state of mind? Maybe Americans just can't do math any more. I doubt Chinese customers would be fooled into this nonsense. When they started this gig I feel it was half reasonable. No longer it seems. It's like turning $200 of Amex benefit into about $65. Crazy - assuming it even works.

pinniped

I always do the mental math and I've never seen a mileage multiplier option from any airline that remotely looked reasonable.

Occasionally US Airways used to directly *sell* miles at a reasonable rate (1.5c or so). I remember buying around $1,000 worth one time when I knew I was going to be immediately emptying my entire account for some R/T tickets to HKG in J and I was pretty sure the seats would be there when the miles hit my account. (They were.)

lbotez

well, if enough people get tired of the crappy $200 or $100 reimbursement for the Amex cards, maybe they'll cancel. I'd like to see some better changes to the Amex program. I got rid of my Plat card, which was my favorite for years (used to be able to go in most US Airline lounges). Now you can only go before you board, or if you fly Delta. Well, I hardly fly Delta (though har har, I'm flying on DL tomorrow; but honestly really don't fly them much). $100 on Amex Gold is okay if you want to pay for a coach plus seat or a crappy meal, but really? Not worth much. However, I did just upgrade my Hilton card to an Aspire to get 150,000 Hilton points, so have to deal with $250 airline credit again (though, honestly, got this card for Diamond status and the bonus for Hilton resorts).

Probably gonna get more DL gift cards; though $50 each is like buying 5 of these buggers. I already got a bunch, and hardly fly Delta anywhere. Except tomorrow. NYC here I come.

LOL!

kmandrew

Denro

Been two weeks now, like others, the purchase coded as "gift cards", and I didn't get the reimbursement.

Denver Enzo

Has anyone tried (or is it even possible) to buy a GC at an airport ticket counter or club desk? Perhaps an odd amount?

chrisny2

I've had good luck with AC drink charges being reimbursed - so far at LGA, DCA, CLT, and MCO.

nall

Do we want to start to compile a list of what (aside from GC) incidentals have successfully received reimbursement or not?

abk

I think that would be quite helpful. For instance I could use up some credit at Admiral's clubs but it appears vague as to whether this would count.

nall

I've gone through this whole thread to try and find non-GC datapoints. Please note that this data is mostly from before the recent change, which means things may have changed, and you shouldn't use this as a bible.

Here are the things that have been pretty consistently reimbursed automatically:

Elite 500-mile Stickers:

• Yes - LuizMiranda, fotoflyer88, nk15, joshvworld, Hilton-gold, captaink, JCN, aftortoriello
• No - pubsmeister

MCE/Seat Selection:

• Yes - chapmanj9, Dedicated, Hilton-gold, jb0506, limeyx

Mileage Multipler:

• Yes - mia, mia (two separate reports), TravelLawyer, QtownDave

Admirals Club Memberships:

• Yes - Majuki, Evo40

Admirals Club Passes:

• Yes - Hilton-gold, moe8555

Admirals Club Food/Drinks:

• Yes - cyncyn129, Segments, chrisny2

And the things that have been pretty consistently NOT reimbursed automatically (although many have been successful at requesting a manual reimbursement):

Baggage:

• No - mrlemm, mlin32, abk, pubsmeister, esls79

Award Cancellation Fee:

• No - ShrinkTheGlobe, canesfan, jasmians, soy

Close-In Ticket Fee:

• No - PatrickTM, mileshound

Change Fee:

• No - cubs105, prhocky2607

Items with fairly YMMV responses:

Award Taxes/Fees:

• Yes - Dedicated, Rakibullslam, tsmith12
• No - Alex_I, exmike, jb0506
• Mixed - PatrickTM

Upgrades:

• Yes - wireless_999, saunders111, mosfet, Budoka
• No - jvel
• Mixed - inevitability

Elite Challenges:

• Yes - skreemer6
• No - stheller

And finally, things with only one data point:

Pet Fee:

• No - mrlemm

External Reservation Fee:

• Yes - jvel

Same Day Flight Change:

• Yes - Segments

Five Star Service:

• Yes - JDiver

(I don't know about anyone else, but I'm actually sort of amused at the list of things that aren't automatically reimbursed.)

In any case, I'll be trying a few of these in the next few weeks and will report my datapoints.

Abidjan

nall, awesome work. Thanks very much.

yoyotogblo

Great job man! Any chance we can get this on the wiki?

nk15

I also confirm the mileage multiplier as being reimbursed. You can book a ticket on AA.com with a desired mileage multiplier, cancel the ticket within 24 hours, get the ticket refund and it only keeps the mileage multiplier purchase.

nall

I've updated the wiki. I removed a lot of the gift card information, but it's still available in the older thread (which is linked). I saved the content of the wiki beforehand if there's anything relevant people feel should be included.

jvel

Nall, great list! However, I would remove my data point from the Upgrade category, as that was an "upfare", so it was just the difference in economy vs first fare price at the time. The $50 external reservation fee was also charged since it was initially booked through a 3rd party/travel agency, which you have correctly noted as being reimbursed.