Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works?

Update 2/23/21: Added all relevant data points. Note that we have many data points on some airlines that we have consolidated with fewer recent data points.

Update 2/22/21: Via Frequent Miler Insiders, we have reports that United Travel Bank purchases are working again!

American Express Platinum cards offer up to $200 per year in airline fee reimbursements.  These reimbursements can go a long way towards easing the sting of the high annual fees charged by personal Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards.  Similarly, the Amex Gold card offers up to $100 per year in airline fee reimbursements to help offset that card’s annual fee.  And the Hilton Aspire offers up to $250 per year in airline fee reimbursements.

Amex airline fee credits are offered by calendar year.  For example, Platinum cardholders can get up to $200 in fee credits for charges made up until December of this year, and $200 more for charges made next calendar year.

Step 1 is to make sure that you’ve selected a preferred airline, here: www.americanexpress.com/airlinecreditchoice.  You can change this selection once per year in January (if you don’t change it, your previous selection remains in place).

Step 2 is to make qualifying purchases with your airline of choice in order to get reimbursed.

What purchases count… officially?

Eligible incidental fees include:

• Checked baggage fees (including overweight/oversize)
• Itinerary change fees
• Phone reservation fees
• Pet flight fees
• Seat assignment fees
• In-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows/blankets, headphones)
• In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet because it’s not charged by the airline)
• Airport lounge day passes & annual memberships

And, officially, the following purchases are not deemed to be incidental fees:

• Airline tickets
• Upgrades
• Mileage points purchases
• Mileage points transfer fees
• Gift cards
• Duty free purchases
• Award tickets

What purchases count… unofficially?

Sometimes purchases of gift cards (update: As of July 2019, gift cards appear to be mostly dead with an occasional exception when the purchase does not code as a gift card), award fees, or even low-cost airfare are reimbursed even though they shouldn’t be.  In some cases there seem to be maximum dollar limits.  The things that work or don’t work vary by airline and over time.  Something that worked in the past won’t necessarily work today.

The following table shows the unofficial stuff that works or doesn’t work with each airline that can be chosen as your preferred airline:

Please report your results!

If you try any unofficial options, please let us know via the comments whether it worked. Tell us the date of purchase, what you purchased, the dollar amount, and whether or not you were reimbursed.  Please do not report purchases that are officially reimbursed unless you do not get the credit.

What to do if you’re not reimbursed?

First, double check that you picked the airline in question as your preferred airline.  If you did not, then Amex won’t reimburse you (but they have been known to make an exception if you call and say that you forgot to set your preferred airline).

If you do not get reimbursed for things that are officially allowed (checked bags, change fees, lounge fees, etc.), then contact Amex for help.  If you do not get reimbursed for things that are not officially allowed (gift cards, award fees, airfare, etc.) do not contact Amex.  You weren’t really supposed to get reimbursed for those anyway.

Other cards that offer fee reimbursements

Quite a few other cards offer airline fee reimbursements.  We’d like to setup pages like this for each of them.  For example, see: Chase Ritz-Carlton Visa airline fee credits: What works?

If you have experience earning or not earning airline fee credits with other cards, we’d like to hear that too!  Please comment below with your experience, but please make sure to include the card name and airline in your comment. Here are some that have been reported:

CNB Crystal Visa Infinite 7/30/17 $54.86 Delta award fee reimbursed 8/3/17 (Greg)
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite 6/1/18 $56.02 Southwest fee to change from anytime to Business Select (Justice Jen)
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite 2019-Feb-14 $50 AA eGC — reimbursed 2019-Feb-20 (Jeph36)
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite 2019-Feb-20 $200 AA eGC — reimbursed 2019-Feb-27 (Jeph36)
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite (P2) 2019-Mar-03 $250 AA eGC — reimbursed 2019-Mar-13 (Jeph36)
PenFed Pathfinder 2019-Mar-04 $100 AA eGC — reimbursed 2019-Jun-06 (Jeph36)

Previous Post Updates

Update 1/18/21: Reports indicate that United Travel Bank purchases are once again dead. Click to skip to the rest of the “Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements” post.

Update 12/15/20: Recent data points added for most airlines. As a general piece of advice, don’t panic if a few days pass and you aren’t yet reimbursed. If there are positive data points in the chart, there is a good chance that it still works. Sometimes reimbursement happens in 2 or 3 days, sometimes 2 or 3 weeks. Report your data points in the comments. Thanks!

Update 7/22/19: Added many data points. eGift cards no longer consistently work with any airline, though a number of other options remain or have since been found. Added a table of contents below for convenience so you can find your chosen airline. Please add your data points in the comments (but wait a few weeks to be sure your credit posts or doesn’t post before reporting it as alive/dead).

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