Jan 1, 2022, 11:44 am
Last edit by: rrgg
Your question is probably answered in this Wikipost
Reminder: you must enroll and select UA as your airline, then wait a day before making a reimbursable purchase. It can take a few days or a full week to be reimbursed.
Travel Bank: There'sa separate thread at this link for general discussion of Travel Bank. Travel Bank is available again Jan. 3, 2022 and posts as a Special Service Ticket reimbursed by Amex (but unofficially). May appear as United Electronic Ticketing or United Airlines Houston. Purchase here: https://www.united.com/offers/travelcash If your transaction returns a Payment Failed error, try adding your American Express card to your United Airlines profile, and repeat the transaction using the stored card. DO NOT CALL Amex to ask about being credited for this.
On December 31, 2021 United suspended Travel Bank deposit transactions and posted a message "Offer has ended."
United does not sell gift cards.
As of December 2016 American Express no longer reimburses MPX transactions.
READ BELOW for EXPENSES WHICH MAY BE REIMBURSED
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 Subscription worked in Feb 2020, data point here. 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 AcceleratorI 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:
A general discussion of Travel Bank is in a separate thread .
(2021 discussion of UA available at this link.)
Reminder: you must enroll and select UA as your airline, then wait a day before making a reimbursable purchase. It can take a few days or a full week to be reimbursed.
Travel Bank: There'sa separate thread at this link for general discussion of Travel Bank. Travel Bank is available again Jan. 3, 2022 and posts as a Special Service Ticket reimbursed by Amex (but unofficially). May appear as United Electronic Ticketing or United Airlines Houston. Purchase here: https://www.united.com/offers/travelcash If your transaction returns a Payment Failed error, try adding your American Express card to your United Airlines profile, and repeat the transaction using the stored card. DO NOT CALL Amex to ask about being credited for this.
United does not sell gift cards.
As of December 2016 American Express no longer reimburses MPX transactions.
READ BELOW for EXPENSES WHICH MAY BE REIMBURSED
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 Subscription worked in Feb 2020, data point here. 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 AcceleratorI 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
- FareLock
- Pet flight fees
- Seat assignment fees (E+)
- In-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows/blankets, headphones)
- In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet unless it is billed by the airline.)
- Airport lounge day passes & annual memberships
- Onboard WIFI (provided it is billed by the airline.)
A general discussion of Travel Bank is in a separate thread .
(2021 discussion of UA available at this link.)
Airline fee $250/$200 reimbursement reports: UA only (2022)
Jan 1, 2022, 11:47 am
#46
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: D/FW
Programs: DL MM/Silver; UA 1K ; Hilton Gold; Marriott Titanium; Avis Pref+,Hertz PC
Posts: 585
Tried switching from UA to WN today but there was no way I could do it. Does anybody have similar exp?
Jan 1, 2022, 12:01 pm
#47
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Reloading www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice will sometimes display the [Select an Airline] button, but it doesn't work yet. If you want to change today I would use the Chat function. I would also wait until Monday to make a purchase to be sure the change has populated all of the required databases.
Jan 1, 2022, 12:16 pm
#48
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,650
The gift registry was down for a long time, and then suddenly the Travel Bank was brought back online once the pandemic hit and United desperately needed cash. With the latest surge they may see a steep drop in bookings, and I expect in a few weeks or months the TravelBank will be back online to take your (well, Amex's) cash.
I can't imagine that locking people's money up in a travel bank, making interest on it until it is spent, and forcing people to spend it on your airline and earn frequent flyer miles would ever be bad for the airline.
Jan 1, 2022, 12:22 pm
#49
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
UA doesn't sell gift cards, and there was a ~4 year gap between closing the Gift Registry and opening the TravelBank for contributions. There could be a high rate of credit card fraud on these transactions which might make it more trouble than it's worth to operate.
Jan 1, 2022, 12:45 pm
#50
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,650
That's a good point, although I'm not sure why the fraud rate would be any higher than it is for other types of transactions (like ticket purchases). The funds don't go into some anonymous instrument like a gift card, but are purchased directly for the benefit of someone. So if there's fraud, it's pretty obvious who had the motivation to make the fraudulent transaction.
Jan 1, 2022, 12:59 pm
#51
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 76
I sent a DM to United on Twitter and got a response that going forward Travel Bank had been discontinued but a new and exciting program will be launching soon to replace it. So that’s what I got but we will see what happens next
Jan 1, 2022, 1:10 pm
#52
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Sounds as if an external vendor has sold them an outsourced product. The key question, for purposes of this thread, is whether the transactions will still be run using the main United Airlines merchant account. If not, they are unlikely to be reimbursed.
Jan 1, 2022, 1:22 pm
#53
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: SEA/NYC/IAD
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 1,915
I wonder if we could say, split a UC subscription across multiple cards?
Jan 1, 2022, 1:53 pm
#54
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: LAX/SFO
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, Fortune Wings Club Gold
Posts: 356
TravelBank expiry
Homepage -> View My United -> Under the TravelBank section next to the Miles section, View details >
Jan 1, 2022, 1:59 pm
#55
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1K, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 453
Travel Bank
At the very least, they'll have to transfer over credits. I was earning $30 per month through Chase and November and December still hadn't posted. Still had a decent balance in Travel Bank.
Jan 1, 2022, 2:04 pm
#56
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 240
You can still find out expiry dates at https://www.united.com/en/us/account/travelbank
Homepage -> View My United -> Under the TravelBank section next to the Miles section, View details >
Homepage -> View My United -> Under the TravelBank section next to the Miles section, View details >
Jan 1, 2022, 2:53 pm
#57
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 23
Does anyone have any data points on purchasing United Club passes to trigger the credit? After reading the credit terms, it should trigger but I haven't seen any data points about it.
Does it matter whether I purchase it online or at the United club in person?
Does it matter whether I purchase it online or at the United club in person?
Jan 1, 2022, 3:11 pm
#58
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Purchase of a lounge membership or daypases from any of the airlines which operate them will be reimbursed. AA, AS, DL and UA have lounge networks. HA has some lounges, but if I recall correctly only one sells passes. HERE is a UA report
Jan 1, 2022, 4:24 pm
#59
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,889
Since mia closed the 2021 thread, my dp is kinda relevant for both 2021 and the 2022 threads.
December 29, 2021: 2x$100 with AMEX Business Platinum. Shows up as "United Electronic Ticketing" under pending transactions.
December 31, 2021: The transactions now changed to "United Airlines Houston TX." The meter has not moved yet.
January 1, 2022: The credits are posted as "AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement." They were backdated to December 31, 2021. The meter never moved since we're now in 2022. I'm assuming everything is good to go for me to receive the UA credit again in 2022.
December 29, 2021: 2x$100 with AMEX Business Platinum. Shows up as "United Electronic Ticketing" under pending transactions.
December 31, 2021: The transactions now changed to "United Airlines Houston TX." The meter has not moved yet.
January 1, 2022: The credits are posted as "AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement." They were backdated to December 31, 2021. The meter never moved since we're now in 2022. I'm assuming everything is good to go for me to receive the UA credit again in 2022.
Jan 1, 2022, 5:55 pm
#60
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: EWR
Programs: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,255