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Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: UA only (2017-2019)

Old Jan 4, 2017, 7:25 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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
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 Fees
As 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 Accelerator
I 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
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Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: UA only (2017-2019)

Old Feb 17, 2018, 1:55 pm
  #481  
formerly sahiljain22
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BOS;NYC;YVR;YYZ;DEL;BOM
Programs: Amex Plat; HH Diamond; SPG Plat; Hyatt Diamond; United 1K; National EE; HSBC Premier
Posts: 532
Ok guys, the pet thing worked for me. Here is what happened.
- Ticket booked and charged to another card and cancelled refunded there 8 hours later.
- Pet booked and charged to Amex. Amex applied credits.
- When I cancelled ticket, only ticket part got cancelled, not pet charges, even though United.com said pet charges are being refunded.
- Called UA 1 week later, and refund for pet charges issued without any trouble.
- Amex has not clawed back credits after 1 week. I suspect they will not since the refund and booking information is not the same for the pet charges. There is no ticket number or passenger name, origin, destination and even the reference numbers are not the same. So no way to link refund from UA to the original charge.


For example: when booked it shows up as
Additional Information: AAAA WWW.UNITED.COMUNITED AIRLINES
Reference: 32018031081ZZZZZZZ
Category: Travel - Airline
Flight Details
DENVER INTL APT
HOUSTON INTERCONTI
Passenger Name: XXXX /INCABIN PET
Date of Departure: 06/06
Ticket Number: 016292051XXXXXXX
Document Type: ANIMAL TRANSPORTATION CHARGE

Refund looks like
Additional Information: YYYYYYY WWW.UNITED.COMUNITED AIRLINES
Reference: 32018043XXXXXX
Category: Travel - Airline
sj22 is offline  
Old Feb 23, 2018, 3:19 am
  #482  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Originally Posted by Flying Machine
For those of us with Lifetime UA Status and High PQM balances, I can see the risk with type of transaction outweighing the benefit..
Why don't you make a dummy MP account if you are that worried about it. IIRC Ax just refunds any united purchase fee, it isn't attached to your MP#. No harm in buying a ticket for someone else, then adding their pet, then cancelling it as they don't need it anymore. If anyone would be upset about this it's AX, not UA, and even then, the fee is a part of the perk, if you decide you don't need the flight/pet anymore, they can claw back the bonus due to the refund, not our fault they don't do that automatically. Will test this out this week.
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Old Mar 1, 2018, 1:12 pm
  #483  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 953
My annual fee for the PRG posted Feb 15. Gotta cancel the card but haven't used the $100 travel credit yet. So I have until March 15 to use my $100 airline credit and get the AF refunded. But UA doesn't seem to want to re-open the TravelBank. May need to go the pet fees route.

Last edited by wiivile; Mar 1, 2018 at 1:33 pm
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Old Mar 1, 2018, 6:40 pm
  #484  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,299
Originally Posted by moops380
Why don't you make a dummy MP account if you are that worried about it.
That's a flagrant violation of MP rules and an awesome way to have everything cancelled and forfeited.

Some of us are not willing to expressly violate program rules just to save a few bucks. It's kind of depressing that this needs to be explained repeatedly (and just seems not to be understood).
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Old Mar 1, 2018, 7:36 pm
  #485  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,186
Originally Posted by wiivile
My annual fee for the PRG posted Feb 15. Gotta cancel the card but haven't used the $100 travel credit yet. So I have until March 15 to use my $100 airline credit and get the AF refunded. But UA doesn't seem to want to re-open the TravelBank. May need to go the pet fees route.
Call and switch airlines. Yes, you can do that after 31 January.
Diplomatico is offline  
Old Mar 2, 2018, 12:02 am
  #486  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Originally Posted by Kacee
That's a flagrant violation of MP rules and an awesome way to have everything cancelled and forfeited.

Some of us are not willing to expressly violate program rules just to save a few bucks. It's kind of depressing that this needs to be explained repeatedly (and just seems not to be understood).
Why even book it under any MP account? UA does not require you to have an account in order to make a purchase, they seem to gladly not give miles to paying customers without MP accounts... Not sure how it would violate any rules if you are not a part of the program.
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Old Mar 2, 2018, 12:47 am
  #487  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Originally Posted by Kacee
That's a flagrant violation of MP rules and an awesome way to have everything cancelled and forfeited.

Some of us are not willing to expressly violate program rules just to save a few bucks. It's kind of depressing that this needs to be explained repeatedly (and just seems not to be understood).
The whole point of the thread is to find interesting ways to utilize the credit. It seems that is not in your interests; by "dummy account" I didn't mean a fake account, for example, my 88 year old grandma might need to fly UA one day, and god-forbid, her 4-legged friend too, she generally buys insurance to cancel flights too (they sell it, so they must like selling it?), if she buys the ticket, and I offer to pay for frodo's place on the plane, then she can't make it, and its all cancelled, is that a violation of flying United? If that is so, I'm just never going to use united airlines ever again, as that would be total BS. Either offer things or don't, its not on the consumer to decide these things, stop offering them if you don't want them to be offered, it is that simple. I have 24 hours to cancel a ticket but Air new zealand has 2 weeks to classify $500 ticket as a mistake and not honor it and leave someone stranded? What side are you on here?
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 8:07 am
  #488  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 113
Originally Posted by sahiljain22
Ok guys, the pet thing worked for me. Here is what happened.
- Ticket booked and charged to another card and cancelled refunded there 8 hours later.
- Pet booked and charged to Amex. Amex applied credits.
- When I cancelled ticket, only ticket part got cancelled, not pet charges, even though United.com said pet charges are being refunded.
- Called UA 1 week later, and refund for pet charges issued without any trouble.
- Amex has not clawed back credits after 1 week. I suspect they will not since the refund and booking information is not the same for the pet charges. There is no ticket number or passenger name, origin, destination and even the reference numbers are not the same. So no way to link refund from UA to the original charge.


For example: when booked it shows up as
Additional Information: AAAA WWW.UNITED.COMUNITED AIRLINES
Reference: 32018031081ZZZZZZZ
Category: Travel - Airline
Flight Details
DENVER INTL APT
HOUSTON INTERCONTI
Passenger Name: XXXX /INCABIN PET
Date of Departure: 06/06
Ticket Number: 016292051XXXXXXX
Document Type: ANIMAL TRANSPORTATION CHARGE

Refund looks like
Additional Information: YYYYYYY WWW.UNITED.COMUNITED AIRLINES
Reference: 32018043XXXXXX
Category: Travel - Airline
This pet thing does not work for me. I purchase the ticket with another card and add the pet fee with PRG, and cancelled the ticket after around 10 hours. However, UA put back this pet fee in two days, before the credit was applied. I chatted with the rep about the credit, even if the return is not coded as pet fee, the rep recognized it and refuse to issue the credit.

Wha't worse, I am approaching the 30days after annul fee so should cancel/downgrade it in a few days. The chance gift registry will be back to work is slim. Anyone any idea about what to do now?
hermitw is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2018, 8:47 am
  #489  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,186
Originally Posted by hermitw
This pet thing does not work for me. I purchase the ticket with another card and add the pet fee with PRG, and cancelled the ticket after around 10 hours. However, UA put back this pet fee in two days, before the credit was applied. I chatted with the rep about the credit, even if the return is not coded as pet fee, the rep recognized it and refuse to issue the credit.

Wha't worse, I am approaching the 30days after annul fee so should cancel/downgrade it in a few days. The chance gift registry will be back to work is slim. Anyone any idea about what to do now?
Call AMEX and request to switch to another airline that isn't named United.

I called on 22 Feb (after the 31 January advertised "deadline" to change) and switched my Plat airline choice from UA to WN over the phone.

(Just curious, how long ago did you try the cancelled ticket tactic? Has enough time elapsed so that you are entirely positive that the airline incidental credit won't be triggered?)
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 9:26 am
  #490  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 113
Originally Posted by Diplomatico
Call AMEX and request to switch to another airline that isn't named United.

I called on 22 Feb (after the 31 January advertised "deadline" to change) and switched my Plat airline choice from UA to WN over the phone.

(Just curious, how long ago did you try the cancelled ticket tactic? Has enough time elapsed so that you are entirely positive that the airline incidental credit won't be triggered?)
Thanks! The problem is I already changed it once, not sure if second time change will be allowed.

I waited for around 12 hours. There is only 24 hours for free cancellation. Probably I should try to buy a fully refundable ticket, and wait for the credit before cancelling?
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Old Mar 7, 2018, 8:19 am
  #491  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 953
If I'm charged a $125 pet fee, but I only have $100 credit on the PRG, will it still take the $100 off?

I don't really understand how they prevent people from booking fully refundable flights, booking a qualifying incidental, then refunding the flight (potentially months later).
wiivile is offline  
Old Mar 7, 2018, 9:24 am
  #492  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Santa Fe
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 108
Originally Posted by wiivile
If I'm charged a $125 pet fee, but I only have $100 credit on the PRG, will it still take the $100 off?

I don't really understand how they prevent people from booking fully refundable flights, booking a qualifying incidental, then refunding the flight (potentially months later).
yup
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Old Mar 8, 2018, 12:50 pm
  #493  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 953
What does it mean when the meter turns green saying you've saved $100 in fees (PRG), but no credit has posted to the account?
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Old Mar 8, 2018, 12:59 pm
  #494  
mia
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,883
Originally Posted by wiivile
What does it mean when the meter turns green saying you've saved $100 in fees (PRG), but no credit has posted to the account?
It means you are impatient. The credit is coming.
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Old Mar 8, 2018, 1:03 pm
  #495  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 953
Originally Posted by mia
It means you are impatient. The credit is coming.
Sorry for my impatience, I only have a few days left to cancel the card to get my AF refunded. Once the credit has posted I am going to cancel the card.

It may ruin my relationship with AMEX, but I booked a $48 ticket using my old TravelBank funds from previous years' credits, then booked the pet fee on the PRG. Then cancelled the reservation within 24 hours. Once the credit posts I'm going to cancel the card, and once the refund posts I should have a credit balance of $100 which I hope to be able to get refunded before they claw it back.

This sort of behavior may be discouraged, but I've already milked AMEX for most if not all of their once-in-a-lifetime cards... Besides, their airline fee credit is too restrictive anyway
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