Dn10

How do you use the $200 airline fee now that we can't do gift cards?

gooselee

Well, you could use it on airline fees.

FWIW, gift cards have always been excluded. There have just always been workarounds that certain airlines chose to ignore.

STS-134

United TravelBank credits.

Btrip

Thanks yeah I figured at most maybe the CLEAR credit would repeat like the Pre/GE does but that's wishful. On that note though the $179 credit is enough for a full membership + an additional family member so I guess that's already like a little bonus (go through United or Delta).

Also noticed a different referral bonus on my account, now it's 15k MR for every approved referral, no MS required. Used to be 20k MR with $2k spend. I have a screenshot of the 20k offer saying it doesn't end till 9/7/21, might be dead though.

Global Adventurer

As far as I know they should be, I just increased my Audible membership plan today and paid with my platinum. I'll post when it is credited.

Points Scrounger

In a nutshell, Clear is a program where if you register your fingerprints and retinas (irises?) with them, you can "jump the TSA queue" at many (larger) airports, funneling into the scanner line ahead of folks waiting to interact with a TSA agent; especially useful traveling at holidays.

Dn10

Always been excluded but I remember I was able to get AA gift cards ~2-3 years ago. What is the move now? Does that still work?

gooselee

Ok, here's the math for my personal situation.

• $240 Entertainment Credit:I pay for SiriusXM yearly and none of the other services I'd subscribe to without the credit. $20 value
• Equinox: Nope. $0 value
• $200 Airline Fee: I use this as-intended every year for the full amount. $200 value
• $200 Uber Cash: I use enough Uber/UberEats normally to maximize this every month. $200 value
• GE Credit: Used (for both me and Mrs. Lee), but also duplicative with other cards I have and of course only every 5 years. Let's call it $10 value per year
• $100 Saks: I use this, but on stuff I can usually get cheaper elsewhere. And it's a hassle b/c I otherwise would never shop at Saks. $60 value
• $200 FHR/THC credit: I've booked FHR/THC in the past, but it's one of many options so no guarantee it'd work out in any given year. Assuming I'd book the same thing without the credit, $100 value
• $179 CLEAR credit: I do pay for this every year, plus Mrs. Lee at the reduced rate. $159 value

Add it all up and I get $749 in value before the more subjective stuff like lounge access, car/hotel status, cell phone protection, Amex offers, etc. But I also have to go through the hassle of remembering to use the card at certain times for certain things, and some of the other stuff (lounges, offers, etc.) are duplicative of what I already get via CSR and DL Reserve. Also, stuff like lounge access has become less important to me lately as I'm actively trying to shift into a job that involves less travel, and when traveling for leisure I'll gladly just pay for the premium cabin/room or spend my time at an airport bar/restaurant (or browse the shops) - punching away at my laptop in a lounge and eating powdered eggs every morning has lost its appeal, I guess.

IDK, part of me is thinking it makes more sense to lose the $100/year in potential value just to have a simplified wallet. I'd just need to sort out what to do with my pile of MR as this is my only Amex MR card.

time_stamp

Last time I was at the airport I saw guys lining up to use Clear even though there was no line at all at TSA screening. I imagine them thinking I paid for this thing, by god I'm going to use it.

arshi007

It will NOT be $800. The general $200 credit that you haven't used is a ONE TIME credit only for cardholders that had the card last year. It is NOT available to new cards. For new cardholders, it will be $400.

gooselee

There are threads in this forum for how to use the credit on the various eligible airlines. Search for "Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports".

arshi007

That is actually quite true. I have clear and when I was flying out of SAT, there was only one Clear staff person at the station and there were two people in front of me. In such scenarios, the staff person has to also escort the traveler at the TSA Pre counter and wait till the TSA officer is free to verify the boarding pass. So you are left waiting until that happens. Compared to that, there was literally no one in the TSA Pre line and one could simply walk up thru there, whip out your ID and go thru. So Clear does not always equate to faster. However, there have also been times (specifically at airports like DEN) where the TSA Pre line was quite long (about 20 people) and Clear helped significantly in whipping thru in under 3 min.

JWWI

I am in exactly the same situation - I do not see anything that says this would not be allowed so I plan to do the same.

time_stamp

nevermind

ORDflyer92

I didn't do it this year because of less flying but in the past you could use it on an AA Admiral's Club membership. As a Plat Pro it brought the membership fee down to $325 annually which was quite nice.