AMEX Platinum Airline Credit: $200-$400 Off an American Airlines Ticket

Maximizing the AMEX Platinum Airline Credit is one of my more popular posts, but it's been a couple years so I thought I'd provide a concrete example of taking $200-$400 off of an American Airlines ticket. How so? The AMEX Platinum airline fee credit is $200 per calendar year. So if you purchased $200 in AA gift cards last year, in 2014, and purchase another $200 in AA gift cards this year, you could take $400 off an American Airlines paid ticket.

Alternatively, if both you and your spouse or partner got the AMEX Platinum this year, you could each get $200 worth of gift cards and pool them to take $400 off of one paid ticket.

AMEX Platinum Airline Credit: Only for Airline Incidentals, But American Airlines Gift Cards (Usually) Work

While my focus with this post is on American Airlines gift cards, other gift cards can work as well: for example $50 Delta e-Gift Cards usually are reimbursed; Alaska $50 and $100 e-gift cards usually are reimbursed, but JetBlue gift cards are NOT reimbursed, even though “Even More Legroom” seat upgrade fees typically are reimbursed.

Note that since the AMEX terms restrict the airline fee credit to incidentals, you have no recourse if for any reason you don't get reimbursed for a gift card. But in my recent experience, it took just a few days to be reimbursed for both AA gift cards:

1. Select American Airlines as Your Airline BEFORE Making AA Purchases

Don't forget to select American Airlines for your airline fee credit *before* making any purchases. You can either call the number on the back of your card or select your airline on the AMEX $200 Airline Fee Credit page.

2. Buy a $100 or Less American Airlines Gift Card

There have been cases where Flyertalkers have *not* been reimbursed for American Airlines gift cards larger than $100, so I highly recommend buying just one $100 gift card per day.

3. Wait 72 Hours Until Your Gift Card is Activated

One inconvenience with the American Airlines e-gift cards is that even though they are sent to the recipient immediately after purchase (most likely yourself, in this case), they aren't able to be used for 72 hours. So plan ahead, and use these gift cards for less urgent ticket bookings.

4. Put Your AA Itinerary on Hold

American Airlines is different from most other U.S. airlines, in that instead of offering a free 24 hour change or cancellation after purchase, AA offers a free 24 hour hold before purchase (but no free cancellation after purchase). It doesn't hurt, once you're less than 24 hours from the time your last American e-gift card is to be activated, to put your desired ticket on hold, just in case the price goes up. Of course, if it goes down, you can cancel out the hold and book at the lower fare.

Just don't add any preferred seat fees to your held reservation, otherwise you won't be able to use your AA gift cards.

5. Enter in Your Gift Card Numbers and PINs One at a Time

If you've held a ticket only (no preferred seating) you'll be able to see the option to pay with an American gift card. Note that only tickets with an American Airlines number that originate in the U.S., Puerto Rico and USVI are eligible to be paid for with gift cards.

In my case, I had a $226 one way ticket, so I entered in my codes for two $100 AA gift cards to take $200 off the fare.

6. Pay the Balance with a Card that Bonuses Airfare or Your Citi AAdvantage Card

For the $26 balance, I used my Citi AAdvantage MasterCard for 2X per dollar, but if I had an AMEX Premier Rewards Gold or Business Gold card I would have used it to earn 3X per dollar.

7. Upgrade Your Seat if Desired

Once you've purchased your ticket, you can go back in and pay for a seat upgrade if you wish. You just can't do this earlier in the process, otherwise you won't be given the option to pay with AA gift cards.

Have you taken $200-$400 off an American Airlines ticket using your AMEX Platinum airline fee credits?

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Maximizing the AMEX Platinum Airline Credit