Link: Apply now for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) is one of the most valuable hotel credit cards out there, thanks to all the great perks the card offers.
While the card has a steep $550 annual fee, I find that to be easy to justify, thanks to benefits like Hilton Honors Diamond status, an annual free night reward, a $400 annual hotel credit, a $200 annual flight credit, and more.
In this post, I wanted to take a closer look at how the card’s $200 annual flight credit works. While this benefit (annoyingly) has to be used quarterly, I find it quite easy to use, so I wanted to go over those details.
In this post:
Details of the Hilton Aspire Card $200 flight credit
The Hilton Aspire Card offers up to $200 in flight statement credits every calendar year, in the form of a $50 quarterly credit. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:
- The $200 credit is broken down into a $50 quarterly credit, so you can use one in January through March, one in April through June, one in July through September, and one in October through December
- The credit applies toward airfare purchases made directly with an airline, or through amextravel.com
- To be eligible for the benefit, the airfare purchase must be for a scheduled flight on a passenger carrier
- The credit can’t be applied toward ticket change or cancelation fees, or flight purchases made through third parties
- It can take 8-12 weeks after an eligible purchase for the statement credit to post, though in practice they’ll typically post faster than that
- Eligible purchases can be made by either the basic card member or an authorized user, though you still only get a total of up to $200 in credits per year
- There’s no registration required to take advantage of this, as long as you make the correct eligible purchases with the card
![](https://cdn.onemileatatime.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/United-A319.jpeg)
How I use the Hilton Aspire Card $200 flight credit
The Amex airline fee credit on products like The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) can be difficult to use, given that it specifically excludes airfare, and only applies to airline fees, which many of us don’t spend much on. By comparison, the credit on the Hilton Aspire Card is awesome, as it’s specifically valid for airfare.
Now, the catch is that I try to maximize my points on airfare purchases, so I don’t just want to purchase all my airfare on the Hilton Aspire Card. So, what’s my strategy? Well, each quarter, I just book a very cheap ticket (of at least $50) with the Hilton Aspire Card, and then I receive the $50 quarterly credit.
With airlines nowadays not having change fees (at least for non-basic economy tickets, in most situations), I can also always cancel that ticket and then bank it as a credit toward another ticket that I’d book. Since I fly American most, that’s the airline with which I end up using the credit.
By the way, it wasn’t my intention, but I’ll share another way I’ve used this credit. I have my the Hilton Aspire Card attached to my American AAdvantage profile (since I book a ticket with the Hilton Aspire at least once per quarter).
I accidentally started billing my monthly Wi-Fi subscription for American to the card, and noticed that also got reimbursed under the flight credit. I can’t guarantee that will work for everyone, but that’s good to know as well.
Obviously in an ideal world, this credit wouldn’t have to be redeemed quarterly, but then again, we’re pretty used to Amex credits being broken up.
To me, this is one of the perks that helps justify the $550 annual fee on the card. The way I view it, the Hilton resort credit and flight credit helps to offset most of the annual fee, while the annual free night reward and Hilton Honors Diamond status are what truly make this card special, and what offer outsized value.
Bottom line
The Hilton Aspire Card offers many valuable benefits, and among those is a $200 annual flight credit. This is a quarterly credit, so you get up to a $50 statement credit every three months that can be applied toward an eligible flight purchase.
I just end up putting a cheap flight purchase onto this card once per quarter. Ideally it’s for a flight I actually take, though otherwise I just buy a ticket with some flexibility (which most tickets have nowadays), and then I can always bank the credit toward another flight.
What has your experience been with using the Hilton Aspire Card $200 flight credit?
Just jealous that y'all who keep this card every year end up being Lifetime Diamonds for (net) free - so many benefits from so little investment!
Thanks Ben for this post. An AMEX customer service representative told me that the flight credit only works for U.S. airlines. So, it actually works on any airline as long as it purchased directly with an airline or amextravel.
Weird, my original comment disappeared. I’ll repost because Ben’s advice on how to maximize the $400 for one stay is far too complicated imho. Here are two easier options:
1) book your stay as per usual, but make the booking in Jan-Jun. verify that you receive the $200 credit (for the first nights deposit that is typically charged), if this does not occur within 1 week contact Amex support, if it still doesn’t work just...
Weird, my original comment disappeared. I’ll repost because Ben’s advice on how to maximize the $400 for one stay is far too complicated imho. Here are two easier options:
1) book your stay as per usual, but make the booking in Jan-Jun. verify that you receive the $200 credit (for the first nights deposit that is typically charged), if this does not occur within 1 week contact Amex support, if it still doesn’t work just cancel the reservation and try another way. Then just check in, stay, check out and use the same Aspire card, you’ll get the other $200 credit.
2) if you can only stay for one night at a Resorts property, another trick is to just book the most basic room type (that’s over $200), receive the credit, then go and modify your booking July onwards. You’ll be charged the delta of the two deposits, which ideally will be over $200.
Very simple to do with no need to contact a hotel/human support.
Not disappeared. There’s another thread about hotel credit which you replied. This is about flight credit.
Thanks Hk. That’s definitely the most embarrassing post I’ve made here. Yikes.
Yes the flight credit is neat. I’ve successfully used it for early bird add-on with southwest even though technically speaking that’s against the terms. Think I’ve also used it for seat upgrades on Alaska but it’s probably safer to just use it towards actual bookings.
This thread is about the Aspire $200 flight credit and not the $400 resort credit.
In fact, the resort credit "trick" works only for bookings that require a deposit, and many do not, at least not until after the date on which a booking can no longer be canceled without a penalty, which can vary by location and/or property...
Similar to the United travel bank comment, I buy a $50 gift card from AA each quarter on the Aspire. Works fine, reimbursement just takes a few days.
For those that don't fly regularly, a useful option is to make a $50 credit to the United Airlines travel bank.