Jan 4, 2017, 7:25 am
Last edit by: presario1626
The United gift registry has been discontinued.
Reminder: you must enroll and select UA as your airline BEFORE making a reimbursable purchase. Unless you check your bags or experience change fees, United has the fewest options for reimbursement because of the codes they use for transactions.
United does not sell giftcards. As of December 2016 American Express no longer reimburses MPX transactions.
Airline Taxes on Award Tickets
Reminder: you must enroll and select UA as your airline BEFORE making a reimbursable purchase. Unless you check your bags or experience change fees, United has the fewest options for reimbursement because of the codes they use for transactions.
United does not sell giftcards. As of December 2016 American Express no longer reimburses MPX transactions.
Airline Taxes on Award Tickets
Doesn't seem to work anymore; see post 179 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25297196-post179.html and #391
Economy Plus and First Class Upgrade FeesAs of December 2016 there were conflicting posts; one stating that an upgrade to E+ coded as an "upgrade fee" and was, therefore, not reimbursed. Others said they were reimbursed as it was coded as "preferred seat upgrade." In February 2019, three separate FTer reported receiving varying amounts of reimbursement (dependent upon which card was used for the purchase) after purchasing an E+ annual subscription. The E+ subscriptions code as "preferred seat upgrade". Upgrading from E to FC will also not be reimbursed because it codes as a passenger ticket even when done after buying the original ticket. There seems to be a distinction between seat upgrades being reimbursed, while ticket upgrades are not.
Award AcceleratorI would not risk this. The last report of being reimbursed for Award Accelerator was for $68 on October 27, 2011. Every post about Award Accelerator since has reported "No reimbursement."
Eligible incidental fees include:- Checked baggage fees (including overweight/oversize)
- Itinerary change fees
- Phone reservation fees
- Pet flight fees
- Seat assignment fees (E+)
- In-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows/blankets, headphones)
- In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet because it's not charged by the airline)
- Airport lounge day passes & annual memberships
- Onboard WIFI
Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: UA only (2017-2019)
Apr 25, 2019, 8:39 pm
#811
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
Apr 25, 2019, 9:27 pm
#812
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 354
And money laundering? I doubt it. Not that it'd be impossible, but in this case not profitable for the money launderer. Think about laundering a couple mil this way, they'd be losing a ton on the liquidation, not to mention all the work put into it. Much better off using other methods.
Apr 25, 2019, 10:14 pm
#813
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 264
I utilized the gift registry a few times and thought it worked pretty well in conjunction with the $200 AMEX credits.
Checked my current balance and it’s $0.00.
UA/Chase has a United Travel Bank CC. Wonder if that played a role. Its introduction roughly coincided with the gift registry “maintenance” banner.
Apr 29, 2019, 9:50 am
#814
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 17
Datapoint for following situation:
I booked Basic Economy tickets for 2 travelers, but didn't purchase any seats at booking.
After the booking was ticketed, I used AMEX Gold to assign seats (since I wanted the 2 travelers to sit next to each other). Four transactions were posted to my card, one for each traveler, for each leg (it was a direct flight, round trip). Each of these transactions was coded "Preferred Seat Upgrade" and reimbursed 3 days later.
I booked Basic Economy tickets for 2 travelers, but didn't purchase any seats at booking.
After the booking was ticketed, I used AMEX Gold to assign seats (since I wanted the 2 travelers to sit next to each other). Four transactions were posted to my card, one for each traveler, for each leg (it was a direct flight, round trip). Each of these transactions was coded "Preferred Seat Upgrade" and reimbursed 3 days later.
Last edited by reallove; Apr 30, 2019 at 8:14 am Reason: corrected second sentence
May 2, 2019, 2:12 am
#817
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: SFO
Programs: HH Gold, CC Gold
Posts: 292
Figure I should add my DPs re: inflight food purchases since its been awhile since someone posted. I usually don't buy food inflight but since I have this airline credit to use and was in Economy (plus)...
It took a week for the charge(s) to post to AMEX and the receipt to show up in my email. I found it annoying I couldn't get a receipt right away. They seemed to get your email by cross-referencing your seat assignment and your flight info as they were checking the seat number as they never asked my name or email. So don't switch seats without letting the FA know as seat switcher could be charging all the alcohol to your seat and you won't know for at least a week or more!
I think it's established they batch process the info from their handheld machine so it can take longer or shorter depending on whatever schedule they have. I ordered two things and while I received one receipt, it came up as two line items, not backdated (listed in details as inflight snack) in AMEX. They both were credited two days later.
It took a week for the charge(s) to post to AMEX and the receipt to show up in my email. I found it annoying I couldn't get a receipt right away. They seemed to get your email by cross-referencing your seat assignment and your flight info as they were checking the seat number as they never asked my name or email. So don't switch seats without letting the FA know as seat switcher could be charging all the alcohol to your seat and you won't know for at least a week or more!
I think it's established they batch process the info from their handheld machine so it can take longer or shorter depending on whatever schedule they have. I ordered two things and while I received one receipt, it came up as two line items, not backdated (listed in details as inflight snack) in AMEX. They both were credited two days later.
May 3, 2019, 11:34 am
#818
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: Ink/Sapphire/Freedom/SPG
Posts: 338
UA Award fees work. Just booked my tickets & received the credit immediately.
May 3, 2019, 12:05 pm
#819
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,475
May 3, 2019, 12:55 pm
#820
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: KEWR
Programs: UA 1K, HH Diamond, SPG/Marriott Gold, Hyatt Plat, National Exec, GE/Nexus
Posts: 501
This may already be covered - but I don't see it in the wiki - the inflight wifi EWR-SFO was $8.99 (for an hour!), was reimbursed.
Speaking of the wiki, would be nice to add a section that has a list of things that are reimbursable - wifi, award fees (e.g. $5.60 to book an award flight), BoB food.
Speaking of the wiki, would be nice to add a section that has a list of things that are reimbursable - wifi, award fees (e.g. $5.60 to book an award flight), BoB food.
May 12, 2019, 9:27 am
#824
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: United
Posts: 1
This also worked for me. Agent said pet fees do not automatically refund so you must call if you try this. I cancelled the entire itinerary within 24 hours, and opted to put the funds toward future travel. Instead of putting them in Travel Bank, they put them in a cancelled reservation, so to use the funds you have to login, find the cancelled trip, and click a link to a new search from there. Next time I will just ask for a refund so I don't lose track of credits. I was not given an option to have the pet fees toward future travel when I called. I used Hilton Aspire $250 travel credit.
Jun 15, 2019, 8:02 pm
#825
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: IAH
Programs: HH Diamond, Bonvoy something
Posts: 126
Just got reimbursed for upgrade fees on economy to first on a domestic ticket. Completely unexpected as I had already paid my Amex balance, and was thrown off when I saw a credit. Shows Amex Airline Fee reimbursement for both legs.
Saw the recent AA data points with gift cards working so maybe some changes afoot with UA.
Saw the recent AA data points with gift cards working so maybe some changes afoot with UA.