Hi,

Hilton Aspire card offered airline incidental fee credit of $250 per calendar year as part of its benefits. But now, I dont see it as part of the card features/benefits while trying to apply for a new card. Was it removed ? I dont see any news/articles relating to it. Or is it hidden somewhere?

I see it under offer and benefit terms. But not as a benefit on the frontpage.

I just pulled up the website and I don't see it either. .... I'm skeptical about the $250 Hilton Resort credit and now if this goes away too, this is a $450 card that gives me no benefits.

But I do see it in the actual terms and conditions too so that's ok for now. It's a little alarming that that's not part of their marketing anymore though. Perhaps a goof? Or a sign of things to come?

I just checked. Both Hilton resort credit and airline credit are still there.

No need for concern. American Express doesn't remove benefits without notice, and they cannot make changes to co-branded cards without agreement from the sponsor (Hilton). This card to too new for any important changes.

If you use the Compare feature to see Aspire side-by-side with one of the other Hilton cards the airline fee benefit is mentioned.

Issuers experiment with different ad formats to assess how important various features are. If omitting the feature from the ad doesn't reduce the application rate they have learned something about the importance of the benefit. That wouldn't mean the benefit is unimportant, just less important than other features in the initial application decision.

If you click through to the terms, the airfare fee is still listed:

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...-0#offer-terms

Agreed. This may be a test to see if the benefit is important to new signups. They probably already have some good data on its actual utilization. It wouldn't surprise me that they would be looking to cut costs from this card. I would drop this card if the airline credit went away.

Seems Amex is having some website issues today so I'd put this more on a glitch than anything else.

Hopefully, everything stays the same. If Amex dropped the airline credit on the Aspire or Platinum, I would seriously consider canceling both cards. Both are beneficial and I like using them, but those credits are a big reason why I am able to get outsized value.

I phoned AMEX this am and questioned about upgrading to the Aspire and the rep confirmed for me that the Airline Fee Credit was still a feature of the card. It was not mentioned in the email that I received, which I think is rather odd. The Resort Credit wasn't mentioned either. I did print out the T&C's and it does contain this verbiage:

$250 Airline Fee Credit

Benefit is available to Hilton Honors Aspire Card Members only. To receive statement credits of up to

$250 per calendar year toward incidental air travel fees, Card Member must select one qualifying

airline at www.americanexpress.com/airlinecreditchoice. Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized

Account Manager(s) on the Card Account can select the qualifying airline. Card Members who have

not chosen one qualifying airline will be able to do so at any time. Card Members who have already

selected one qualifying airline will be able to change their choice one time each year in January at

www.americanexpress.com/airlinecreditchoice or by calling the number on the back of the Card. Card

Members who do not change their airline selection will remain with their current airline. Statement

Credits: Incidental air travel fees must be charged to the Card Member on the eligible Card Account

for the benefit to apply. Purchases made by both the Basic and Additional Card Members on the

eligible Card Account are eligible for statement credits. However, each Card Account is eligible for up

to a total of $250 per calendar year in statement credits across all Cards on the Card Account.

Incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges. Fees not charged by

the Card Member's airline of choice (e.g. wireless internet and fees incurred with airline alliance

partners) do not qualify for statement credits. Incidental air travel fees charged prior to selection of a

qualifying airline are not eligible for statement credits. Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points

purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not

deemed to be incidental fees. The airline must submit the charge under the appropriate merchant

code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to be recognized as an

incidental air travel fee. Please allow 2-4 weeks after the qualifying incidental air travel fee is charged

to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the Card Account. We rely on airlines to

submit the correct information on airline transactions, so please call the number on the back of the

Card if statement credits have not posted after 4 weeks from the date of purchase. Card Members

remain responsible for timely payment of all charges.

To me, it looks like they ran out of space to display all the benefits in the 3 big blocks per line format they chose. They would have had to make another line with only 1 big block on it (and a big empty space to the right of it) to show the $250 airline credit, and they chose appearance over information. :rolleyes:

But isn't "appearance rather than information" the sum of most of the website overhauls that banks have been doing the past couple years (mostly seeming to want the website to look OK on mobile devices, they "wreck" it on desktop computers)?

If they'd chosen to show the benefits in bullet point text, then they could have any number of benefits listed. But since the went "form over function" to show them in 1/3 of a line big square blocks, they didn't want to have a leftover line with only 1 square block, so they left off a benefit to make it "look nice". :rolleyes:

My thought is Hilton does not want airline credit advertised on its credit card. Everything on the main page is related to Hilton. Amex includes a link to offer and benefits term for everybody to check out what is inluded in the card. I don't understand why someone wants to apply for a credit card or sign a contract without reading its terms or agreements.

there are better things to do in life than reading pages of small print?