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
How I use the Hilton Aspire Card $200 flight credit
The Amex airline fee credit (Enrollment required) 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?
I've been able to successfully use this to purchase airline gift cards and get the credit back.
I can guarantee that it works and I believe I did share it before. The way I spend most of my airline credits, both for the AMEX Plat and the Aspire, is by paying for WIFI, especially...
I can guarantee that it works and I believe I did share it before. The way I spend most of my airline credits, both for the AMEX Plat and the Aspire, is by paying for WIFI, especially on long TPAC, TATL or TCON flights, but pretty much on every UA flight I take and use WIFI.
My wife and I both have the card. I think this might be our last year. I can use the credit, but I still have to remember to use it. The resort credit twice a year is a hassle vs once a year was easy to plan around.
I am not going to cancel but will downgrade to the $95 a year card instead.
The credits are all a hassle to use and the best perk is the free breakfast which you get with Gold anyway.
It’s still great. Its offers such insane value. I’ve used the free night at the Conrad Tokyo and Osaka and think its still the most underrated card on the market
Absolutely. In fact, it's only those that do not play the game with a "full deck" that underrate the card. Savvy players of the game fully appreciate its value,which is second to none. Really.
Just this week, I redeemed my free night certificate for a...
Absolutely. In fact, it's only those that do not play the game with a "full deck" that underrate the card. Savvy players of the game fully appreciate its value,which is second to none. Really.
Just this week, I redeemed my free night certificate for a one-night stay at Waldorf Astoria Chicago during Thanksgiving that would have cost me, taxes and fees included, $772.49 if paid cash.
With just that one free night, the card's already paid for itself...and that's before I've redeemed the second half of its $400 resort credit or all of its $200 flight credit, or even used it much to earn industry-leading 14x on revenue stays and incidentals.
The card remains too good to be true.
Meh only if you would have otherwise stayed there on cash. I’ve always hated this logic of “value” when it comes to points/miles/fnc’s. I’d even argue that you could have purchased points and paid $475 for the night. You wouldn’t pay $772 to stay there, and maybe not even the $475. “The card paid for itself” is a wild claim.
You got that exactly backwards and, in fact, are mindlessly regurgitating self-anointed "travel gurus'" utterly stupid "axiom" that a redemption should not be valued at more than what one would be willing to pay for it in cash.
FYI: The WA Chicago redemption is exceedingly sweet precisely because I would never have paid $772/night to stay there, so it feel like a real...
You got that exactly backwards and, in fact, are mindlessly regurgitating self-anointed "travel gurus'" utterly stupid "axiom" that a redemption should not be valued at more than what one would be willing to pay for it in cash.
FYI: The WA Chicago redemption is exceedingly sweet precisely because I would never have paid $772/night to stay there, so it feel like a real steal, which it is!
If you win a $10M lottery jackpot, the fact that you paid $1 for the winning lottery ticket does not reduced the value of the $10M. Think about that and spare us the illogical nonsense.
$10M is a salable/transferable asset though - irrelevant. Try again. Only comparable is mileage brokering which is against the rules.
Nah. Ain't gonna waste my time educating you if you cannot see real value when it's staring you in the face.
Go on believing whatever garbage you wish
Good luck.
That is correct. A point redemption is only worth what you otherwise would have actually paid in cash.
I might like high thread count sheets but I would never pay $300 a night more for them.
I think some folks become obsessed with high prices for their own sake, as if a high priced means higher quality.
Such nonsensical and sophomoric thinking. Of course, anyone who is obsessed with high prices for their own sake is stupid. By the same token, just because high price does not always mean higher quality does not mean that higher price never corresponds to higher quality. In fact, more often than not you...
Such nonsensical and sophomoric thinking. Of course, anyone who is obsessed with high prices for their own sake is stupid. By the same token, just because high price does not always mean higher quality does not mean that higher price never corresponds to higher quality. In fact, more often than not you will get higher quality by paying more, whereas if you are too cheap you will usually end up with lower quality.
That's also nonsensical. The redemption value of the $770 room at WA Chicago does not magically decrease simply because I would be unwilling to pay my own money for it. In fact, the redemption value goes up, at least subjectively, precisely because I'd be sleeping in a room I would otherwise not have been able to sleep in. Isn't that the very rationale for playing the miles/points game!
I suggest you read the discussion by a Devil's Advocate who laid that nonsensical claim to rest: https://www.travelcodex.com/devils-advocate-valuing-award-redemptions-at-full-price/
No, I would never pay $770 for a room in any event, so a free room is only worth what I would have spent, and not what a greater fool might have paid for an over-priced room.
Choosing a points redemption purely for the highest cash price room is amateur hour for a true points expert. In fact the whole marketing premise for this card is to get you to spend more than you otherwise...
No, I would never pay $770 for a room in any event, so a free room is only worth what I would have spent, and not what a greater fool might have paid for an over-priced room.
Choosing a points redemption purely for the highest cash price room is amateur hour for a true points expert. In fact the whole marketing premise for this card is to get you to spend more than you otherwise would do, like these credits where you spend hundreds to get a lousy $50 credit.
Sounds like some fall for that.
What one is willing to pay is irrelevant and does not change the "value" of a commodity. I would never pay $770 for a room either, and, yet, I just booked and will be sleeping in one during...
What one is willing to pay is irrelevant and does not change the "value" of a commodity. I would never pay $770 for a room either, and, yet, I just booked and will be sleeping in one during Thanksgiving. Imagine that ! In fact, I may even end up in a room that is costs more than $770 after I get an expected complimentary upgrade to a suite as an esteemed Lifetime Diamond member. That, my dense friend, is the very rationale for playing the miles/points game: it allows one to sleep in rooms that one would never pay the cash price for !
Spoken like one who either does not have the card or is clueless about how to make the most of it. But, hey, everyone is entitled to their opinions, no matter how misguided ;-)
Good luck to you. I really mean that,
Dude, we are all Diamond here! That is not the point.
Again, picking a "free" room on the basis of which room costs the most in cash terms is a rookie error. And everyone in these comments but you understands that.
Besides, Hilton is only my third favorite hotel company. It's not all that.
That is plainly stupid and yet you keep repeating it. The reason that room at W Chicago costs $770 is due to "market forces" that make it worth that much. Its cost and quality...
That is plainly stupid and yet you keep repeating it. The reason that room at W Chicago costs $770 is due to "market forces" that make it worth that much. Its cost and quality go hand-in-hand.
The notion that a room that has a high price cannot be worth it in value is utterly stupid, and makes you clueless about how and why the game is played and should hang it up.
BTW, you are a Diamond and I am a Lifetime Diamond, which are clearly differentiated in Hilton Honors, with the latter being the program's "above Diamond" and top elite status.
With that, I have entertained your ridiculous views for way too long.
G'day.
Just correcting your misperceptions, that's all. If you use points then the cash price is immaterial.
And I have status with several hotel chains. Including two that are better than your Hilton Diamond, which anyone can get with this card which in turn massively dilutes its value proposition versus top tier status elsewhere. Frankly there are far too many Hilton Diamonds, because it is so easy to get.
This card used to be so great. Now after all these changes I cancelled it.
Here's hoping there are more cancellations like this one...