In this post, I wanted to talk about the $200 annual airline credit offered on American Express Platinum Card, which I consider to be one of the most valuable benefits of the card.
Continue reading: Amex Platinum Card Benefits: $200 Annual Airline Fee Credit
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
having a platinum card I thought great tried to book flight with Amex travel and fee got refused. found out that as don't spend 2000 pound a month could not authorise . is the card really worth having .
We flew with our dog on Alaska last month. This covered the $100 pet fee each way.
Hey lucky, I know this series will take a while since the AMEX platinum has A LOT of benefits, but once you are done, can you do one of these series for the Chase Sapphire reserve as well?
Is the $15 uber credit one ride up to $15 a month or is it like a $15 gift card ?
Thanks
@Mike - It's a $15 credit. You can use it across multiple rides until it's gone.
It's true that a renewal after the first year still gets you an extra $200 credit, towards the end of that second year. But the only year for which you get 2 credits is the first year. After that, it's just one credit for each year's renewal. So there is an argument for cancelling the card just before renewal having enjoyed two credits, and then getting a different card for another 2-4-1 credit deal.
If course, it's not really very
Jetblue doesn't offer gift cards so that could have been an article written on how to use the $200
During the flight on jetblue it asks you to buy Amazon prime on the WiFi. Does this count for the $200 incidental? Bought a plane ticket then bought insurance. Insurance doesn't get credit back. Another article that seemed to not be written. These clickbate articles are becoming useless. Nothing here that's not written on the company website.
Recently I purchased a SWA award ticket, which came with the typical $11 or so in fees. I had not yet bought the annual gift cards (just lazy) and to my surprise the $11 was credited back....
Good post, Lucky. One small but important detail that should be mentioned is that, while incidental purchases made between January 1 and December 31 are eligible for the $200 credit, card holders must specify/change their airline at the start of each year in January. So anyone who plans to fly in Q1 should have no problem designating his/her airline, but for someone not flying until later in the year, it can be tricky. That's one of the reasons why I consider the Amex Platinum to be inferior to the CSR (not to mention the CSR's more generous $300 travel credit and lower $450 annual fee).
I bought Southwest gift cards last year and this year with this credit. I bought different amounts up to $155. All were reimbursed. (As a side note, when using the SW gift cards for flights, you can only use up to 4 gift cards and/or credits you may have for one flight. So buying smaller increments may not get you where you need to go. I bought smaller increments based on data points given by others, but next time I'll try for the full $200.)
This looks great. Where would one go to purchase an American Airlines gift card?
"the only opportunity cost is the 5x points I’m giving up by not paying airfare with Amex Platinum Card. I value those points at 1.7 cents each, so I guess the $200 airline gift card is worth ~$183 to me."
As brosh mentions above, your analysis here is incorrect as Amex gives 5X points on the giftcard purchases.
@ T.R. -- If only works if you buy it directly from the airline, since the purchase is processed directly by the airline that way.
I can only speak for Delta, but people should be aware that anything over $50 won't trigger the reimbursement. If Delta just buy $50 x 4.
can i purchase up to 200 dollars worth of gift cards from Delta and use them for booking airline credit and have amex reimbursed me the 200 dollars?
Seems very secretive about the airline credit since the Amex disclosure clearly states no reimbursement for gift cards.
Jet Blue doesn't have gift cards so if you picked Jet Blue you screwed yourself. Lesson learn. Do research so that websites like this don't mislead and tell you pick your airline and buy a gift card to later find out no gift card you You have to buy 4x50....
Just a bunch of clickbate website
Alaska airlines no longer works. It's coded as Alaska air gift card so they won't do it. Lame!
As of July 2017, this no longer works. You will just be stuck with paying for a gift card for the airline.
@Muffin - SW still works, I just purchased 2 in small amounts July 29th and the credit showed up August 1st.
Does anyone have experience on using the $200 annual credit on United Airlines for gift card purchase? Trying to figure out how to use my credit on United.
Is there a way to check the balance used for this benefit? I think I've used $150 of $200 this year but I'm' not 100% sure and don't know where to go to check. Thanks!
If you are getting the card for the airline credit it seems to be a non starter considering the process you go through to use the credit. Just another Amex non prrks
I have the Delta skymiles Platinum card and bought 4 x $50 ecards from Delta on January 1. I have not seen a credit on my account yet. Does this not work on the Delta skymiles cards even though it is a Platinum card?
I bought one Alaska Air gift card for $50 on 18 Feb - no credit this year 🙁
It worked in previous years but I suspect Amex may have clamped down on the gift card purchases. Anyone had any success with airline gift card credits in 2018?