Saved my $100 from Gold Amex just for this moment! Not intended but wow, it worked out... although the usefulness before the credit expires is another concern.

Reading the travelbank terms.....very, very vague what the funds can be used for and if they can be used in combo with other forms of payment. My best assumption based on the reading...you can only use Travelbank funds for ticketing type transactions. Whether you can use the Travelbank funds in combo with credit cards, etc is anyone's guess. I'm going to steer clear until someone chimes in.

There is also a long-running TravelBank thread in the UA forum. The Wikipost mentions that the credits cannot be used to ticket flight purchased through United, but operated by other airlines. No mention of using them for award ticket taxes or upgrades, but a question asked there might be seen by more UA flyers:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...pr-2019-a.html

Does there still seem to be some kind of waiting period between TravelBank purchases? In August it was just showing the receipt from the previous purchase for several days when trying to make another purchase.

I just don't see how UA won't allow the Travel Bank funds to be combined with credit cards for at least ticket purchases. Did you ever buy tickets with the total all even? If people can't pay the balance of a $458.32 ticket after using $200 in Travel Bank credit, there are going to be lots of angry UA flyers.

LAX

Searched through thread but couldn’t find answer - with AMEX Platinum (not Aspire), if I charge $250 with travelbank, will I get reimbursed for the $200?
I know charging $100 x 2 will get reimbursed, or combinations leading up to that, but having hard time finding if they will reimburse for the $200 out of a $250 charge. My hunch is yes, but curious if anyone knows.

.

Amex Platinum
 

11/30 night: Chose UA on Amex
11/30 about 2 minutes later: Bought $250 Travelbank
12/03 Morning: Meter changed, stating "you have used all your $200 airline fee credit this year"
12/04 Morning: "Amex airline fee reimbursement" for $200

Edit: this is amex platinum personal

yes you get reimbursed 200/250! mine just posted

Just adding another duplicative data point...

11/30 Changed Selection to UA on the Amex Website through chat on my Platinum, CS Platinum, and Gold cards
11/30 (also about 2 minutes later) bought TravelBank credits in the amount of $100 x 2 on my Platinum cards and $100 on my Gold Card
12/3 Meter moved on all three cards to display that I had used all of my credit
12/4 Credit posted on all three cards

Would the expiration dates on TravelBank funds reset if you booked a flight, cancelled it, and had it refunded to the TravelBank? I think it's so weird to have all these different expiration dates to keep track of, so I don't mind gaming the expiration dates if there's a way to do it.

Datapoint:

Previously had UA already selected on personal platinum.

11/30: $100 travelbank purchase on web
12/03: $100 credit posted (must have been later though, I checked early in the day and it hadn't. forgot to check the meter)

Another date point.

My second $100 credit has just been posted.

Purchase date: Nov. 30
Credit date: Dec. 4

michaelmorio

Another Travel Bank success: purchased $100 on Nov. 30; posted Dec. 2, meter moved Dec. 3 and reimbursed Dec. 4.
Will purchase another $100 this weekend. Will do again in January. We never know when this will change.

Or if they will claw back based on transaction data :/

I used to use the Travel Bank for AMEX fee reimbursements on an ongoing basis. There wasn't an 18-month rule at that time. My last deposit was in 2017 and I haven't had any activity in the Travel Bank in the meantime. I just checked today, and my expiration date is April 2022. It seems they must have added the 18-month stipulation and reset the start date for that to when they reopened the Travel Bank.