I'm all for gaming the system as much as possible. But making an airfare purchase and cancelling to get the refund back on card while retaining the AMEX credit is really pushing it as far as I'm concerned.

Do you think it’s pushing it if one actually flies on the <$100 flight that gets the Amex statement credit?

Happy news! Statement credits posted 1/5, though they are dated 1/4. Looks like nothing changed so far in 2020.

That's a legit credit as determined by the AMEX coding system. Nobody forced AMEX to code those for credits, they did that on their own.

What difference does it make then to Amex whether I fly on Southwest flight X or Y? Despite the terms of the statement credit, they are willing to give it for some flight purchases. I don’t think it’s abusive to book some flights but switch to others.

Purchased 3 tickets less than $100 totalling slightly above $200 on AMEX plat on Jan 2.

Credit posted today.

did the purchased on your amex account have your ticket details? I also purchased a $98 ticket on Jan 2 and I haven't even had my meter move yet.

~ 6 Jan AM: Both meters (Plat & Gold) show credit as fully used; all credits have posted.

Ok, yeah I'll give it a try. What do you think I should tell the chat as to what the charges were for? THanks! I'll report back.

Going for triple dip.

Bought 2 $98 tickets for Southwest on 1/2
Credit shows up this morning on my Amex account for both tickets
Going to call and cancel the card and get AF reimbursed on Friday

I myself can confirm that the system is working as I just canceled and TFs are showing up.

FYI, MDW to DTW the last week of January has $99.98 flights.

I don't believe we are talking about the same thing. I am referring to people who book a flight, cancel within 24 hours, and select refund to credit card. This allows them to basically keep the AMEX credit as a cash payment which is obviously NOT the intended use. IMO, that is pushing it too far.

Without thinking I just did one transaction totaling $250.50 (Aspire) for me, wife, and kid. The receipt shows three separate payments but AMEX is showing a pending $250.50. Will these post individually <100 or for the total amount. Previous SW changes I've done with Chase have posted individually. Want to know if I need to refund to card before the 24 hours is up.

The original purchase has been fully refunded to the AmEx account + airline credit received. Surprising that AmEx hasn't clawed back more of these.

I suspect these will be in the next round ;)

Maybe I missed it, but I thought that approach fails to get the statement credit.

We haven't had many data points on it, just several questions on if it works.

Has anyone reported success with that? Seems to me the charge would go from pending to gone, never to get a statement credit. It might work if there were refundable fares <$100, and you cancel after the charge posts. I haven’t heard of such cheap refundable fares, though. Even nonretundable fares that cheap are exceptional.

If you wait until 22-23 hours after making the charge, and then request the refund, there is a chance the charge posts before the refund is received, which could result in the credit being triggered. I'm just guessing though. I've never tried it and never will as it falls outside of what I'm comfortable doing.

It doesn’t seem like much of a chance, given all the data points above on the time between charges and posting.

once many of this is detected, it'll be axed

I was asking if I make the purchase would I get the refund from Wn which is yes (if I do it within 24hrs) but more importantly would I also get the amex airline credit.

Should I just buy a fully refundable fare to give the system more time to allow the charge to post etc than deal w the 24hr limitation.

don't believe any DP is available; test to see how it works & nicely share on here..

You can give it a shot, but I think the cheapest refundable ticket you’ll find will be way north of the highest dollar value ticket that has garnered a statement credit.

Do people book <$100 fares and cancel within 24 hours so that the flight just doesn't post but the airline credit gets triggered and therefore "free $x00"? Or do they cancel after 24 hours and receive SW travel voucher credit?

If the former, I can see why that is skirting dangerously close to AmEx RAT but if the latter, how would AmEx even know if you cancelled on the SW end?

Not a lawyer nor have I read their T&Cs.

In my experience with Amex and this credit, for whatever reason, they haven't bothered to calibrate their systems to exclude ticket purchases under certain conditions. While this may not continue, there's little risk for adverse action, in my view. If Amex were so inclined, they'll just claw back the credit, reset the meter, and that's that. Likewise, the cardmember would have no grievance to complain since it's clearly stated that ticket purchases DO NOT qualify for the credit.

Depends on how much times passes between when the credit was issued and when the claw back occurs.

Sure. Standard SOL would be a year upon discovery? Not a lawyer, but I'm sure we have plenty on FT who would could correct me if I'm wrong. Now, if it's fraud, then they could go back 3 years?

1 year sounds reasonable. Not sure how they would prove fraud here and that likely wouldn't hold up in arbitration.

YMMV & pure speculation. I’d be almost anything they wouldn’t bother.

A year ago they had not bothered to calibrate their system to exclude gift card purchases. They will close ticket purchases when they see the transaction spike. They don't need to prove anything, just establish that the transactions do not qualify for reimbursement, which is straightforward because the terms only list exclusions.

clawing back the credit isn't something you should be worried about. It's that they can potentially close ALL of your credit cards under american express and take away all of your points earned. you will then care I'm sure..

This is not speculation. I have zero concern this will ever happen to me, at least not in this lifetime.

As if Amex would do that to someone for buying some <$100 tickets. For all they know, you flew on the flights.

Its not like we're buying tickets from WN then having to call Amex and lie about the purchase in order to get the credit. AMEX is automatically applying the credit to the purchase whether we want them to or not. It's not unreasonable to buy <$100 tickets and canceling without the expectation that it will trigger the credit.

Meter still hasn't budged. Concerned a bit after seeing other people who purchased 1/1/2020 had their meter move on 1/5.

All my purchases were made on Jan 2, 3, and 4. Everything has been credited.

Do you know how to go into incognito mode in a browser? Try logging in that way. Some posters suspect that old cached data might be affecting what you see in recent charges, credits and meter positions.