DansDeals will receive compensation if you are approved for a credit card via a link in this post. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers, visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
Update, 12/24: My United Travel Bank purchase made on 12/12 just credited to my account, don’t forget to finish your spending in the next week!
Update, 12/12: There are less than 3 weeks left to finish your 2023 airline fee credit spending! You can lock in future travel funds that can be used by anyone on airlines like Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, or United!
Originally posted on 1/11/23:
There are 3 AMEX cards that give a credit to use for incidental fees on the airline of your choice.
- The AMEX Business Platinum Card offers a $200 annual airline fee credit. Read more about the card here.
- The AMEX Platinum Card offers a $200 annual airline fee credit. Read more about the card here.
- The AMEX Hilton Aspire Card offers a $250 annual airline fee credit. This credit ends 12/31/23. Read more about the card here.
- The AMEX Hilton Aspire Card offers a $50 quarterly airfare credit. This credit can be used for airfare, or the fees below. There is no need to register for this credit. Note that purchases like United TravelBank will be credited by both the $250 airline fee credit (which ends 12/31/23) and the $50 quarterly airfare credit (which began 10/19/23), leaving a $50 profit on the purchase. AMEX often claws back the profit on deals like this, so you might want to buy more TravelBank credit so there’s no profit from the transaction. Read more about the card here.
While Chase Sapphire Reserve® allows you to use travel credit for anything travel related, AMEX is far more restrictive.
You need to register with a specific airline before spending. After you register for an airline you can officially only change your airline in January. However, I have had success changing the airline by chatting with AMEX online.
You can choose to register for the following airlines:
- Alaska
- American
- Delta
- Hawaiian
- JetBlue
- Southwest
- Spirit
- United
Note that if you have a Business Platinum card, the airline you choose will also be the airline that will give you 35% of your points back when redeeming for coach travel. You may want to hold off on spending the $200 until the end of the year if you want to be able to change the airline more easily during the year, though I have never been denied an airline change by chatting with AMEX online. You also get back 35% of your points on all airlines in business and first class redemptions without having to register for an airline.
Testing out charges in 2023:
- The United TravelBank is a great option for these credits. TravelBank funds are valid to book United flights for anyone for 5 years from the date of purchase. I made a $100 purchase in 2023 and was reimbursed for the purchase.
- With this option you’ll have to weigh whether to do this earlier in the year, when you know it’s available and working or whether to wait to see if you’ll have actual airline fees to pay this year. It can also be worth waiting for a TravelBank funding promotion or to get a longer expiration date on the funds. Then again the option isn’t officially covered as an airline fee, so it can stop working at any time. In 2021 it stopped working for a couple of months, before becoming eligible again.
- TravelBank funds can be used to book travel on United.com for anyone.
- JetBlue paid tickets that are under around $129 have long worked for credit.
- These can be converted into JetBlue Travel Bank funds. With JetBlue, those funds are valid for 1 year from the date of original purchase and funds can be used for anyone. In basic economy you’ll have to cancel within 24 hours of the purchase and you’ll need to have purchased the flight for more than 7 days from now. You’ll have to contact JetBlue to do this conversion. For non-basic tickets, you can cancel and convert into Travel Bank funds online more than 24 hours after the ticket purchase.
- Southwest paid tickets that are under around $109 have long worked for credit.
These are other charges that have been reported to count for airline fee credit:
- Delta tickets purchased with partial payment on your credit card and partial payment on an airline voucher or gift card are typically reimbursed. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but should work anyway.
- Taxes on award tickets are typically reimbursed. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- Award redeposit and change fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Baggage fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Buying extra miles or mileage multiplier offered with a ticket purchase online or at a kiosk. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- Flight change fees and same day change fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Food and drinks on the plane from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Food and drinks in a club from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Lounge access, memberships, and club pass fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Phone reservation fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Pet fees. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Seat selection fees and Economy Plus/Main Cabin Extra fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- Standby fees from airline of your choice. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- AA 500 mile upgrades. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- AA Five Star Service. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- AA WiFi monthly plan. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- $9 Spirit Fare Club Membership. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- United Economy Plus upgrades and Economy Plus Subscriptions. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- United Farelock. This is officially covered as an airline fee.
- United WiFi Subscription Purchases And Gifts. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- United WiFi on mainline planes only or any other WiFi billed by the airline and not a 3rd party. This is not officially covered as an airline fee, but often works anyway.
- United WiFi day pass on any United flight.
It’s worth noting that upgrades to another cabin is not officially covered as an airline fee. However you can chatting with AMEX 14 days after a charge to request reimbursement for it or any other charge. YMMV on the rep crediting your account for it, but that has worked for me in the past.
What airline fees have you been credited for on your AMEX card in 2023?
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114 Comments On "[Last Chance To Finish Spending!] Testing Out Using 2023 AMEX Airline Fee Credit Uses, How Will You Use Yours?"
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Any tricks to get the hotel credit?
Hi, Dan.
Could you please tell more about Amex Hotel credit usage?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/hotel-deals/stacking-mgm-status-benefits-via-hyatt-amex-platinum-fhr-hotel-credit-makes-incredible-value-las-vegas/
@DAN can you share where you got the Amex hotel credit to book 1 night for just $202?
Thanks!!
In many countries tires out of the US you can find. Many options in China and alike.
Are you looking for $98 flights that are refundable?
No
Definitely not. If you book refundable and later cancel, they will just refund the ticket to your AMEX card and AMEX will then claw back the credit.
I’m not sure whether you mention somewhere else but $100 Bank of America premium rewards airfare credit is reimbursed if you charge it to United Travel Bank, among so many other options.
I will advise in a few days hopefully, if the united travel bank in $100 increments worked
Last two years it worked fine
Already tested as per the screenshot in the post, it still works.
worked for me on $100 UTB charges a bunch of times this year bh
takes 4-5 days in my exp for credit to show
were did you use your amex fine hotel and resort?
So weird. My last united travel bank end of December didn’t work. On other cards it did earlier in the year but it didn’t work for the last one.
ok, looks like we need a list amex FHR’s that are below $300…
@Dan, how do you plan to recoup the $32.42 and $2.96 “overages” from FHR?
Zol zein a kapara 😀
If I made a purchase on jetblue a few days ago and change my swlected airline now to jetblue, will it trip the credit?
No.
what did u charge for amex fine hotels and resorts? on the Business play
See comments above.
what options do we have for those on the East coast?
This is why I cancelled all my Amex cards. Way too difficult to benefit, plus their points have plummeted in value. Lucky if you can get 1:1
They’re worth 1.54 via Business Platinum.
@DAN how do you get such value besides business flights for the 35% rebate???
Why only business flights?
international is only biz/1st class domestic is only with selected airline which is UA due to UTB for the credit, but fir UA i have Miles so any other way to maximize the value of them?
can you make a post about BP biz and reg redemptions? i just figured out can cash them out for 1cpp into amex biz acct
Thanks!!
Dan what’s preferable to use the $200 credit for united tb or jb tb? Previously you wrote about jb tb..
Whichever airline you want to fly, though United lasts for 5 years versus 1 for JetBlue versus forever for Southwest.
Do you find this weird:
Me and my wife have Business Platinum. We chose United for the airline.
On Dec 20 I swiped for myself and my wife 100 x4 in the United travel bank. My wife’s got credited back but I did not.
Are you sure you didn’t use the credit earlier in the year?
Yes, I opened it the same day as my wife, just few days before I did the swipe.
Odd. Try chatting with AMEX?
I did not, you always say to avoid that kind of thing, when it’s only a loophole. I wull though if you say so. Wonder if it’s possible that its just delayed?
Should I do a charge for 2023 or wait till I find out what’s up with 2022?
You probably didn’t choose your airline for yourself only your wife
I chose it for both. I just chatted with them. They manually reimbursed it on the spot.
What did you say? I have the exact same issue from the end of December.
Try chatting from your account. I got mine applied manually,
What did you ask them?
Nothing with cheap American tickets?
If you have something, feel free to share.
Dan: How did you get TWO Fine Hotels credits? I thought it is only ONE $200 credit/year
Look at the dates 🙂
Gotcha!
Where are you finding $200+/nt fine hotels?
See comments above.
Does the travel bank have to be bought and applied to a United account with the same name on the amex card?
No
“ You’ll have to contact JetBlue to do this conversion.” basically book a cash ticket and text or call them to cancel the flight and they should convert into JetBlue Travel Bank funds?
Yes
A little surprised that you only spent $119 on CLEAR & didn’t find someone else for $60 that could have used it 🙂
Who said I didn’t earlier in the year?
you rock, like always!
+1000!!!!!!!!!!!
I book refundable JetBlue and add a pet for both legs of the trip. JetBlue bills the pet charge separately, I get the credit, and I cancel the ticket for a full refund.
Just need to make sure you add the ‘Refundable’ option before booking.
AMEX has clawed back refunded charges in the past, even years later.
So YMMV on that.
Ouch. Thank you
does business platinum have FHR credit or just regular platinum ?
Just consumer.
Gold au get additional air credits ?is it per au?
Which comment u explained hotel above ?
Comment number ?
3 how long after opening will AF billed ?
1.It’s per account not per card. 2.https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/testing-using-2023-amex-airline-fee-credit-uses-will-use/#comment-1611447 3.on the first statement.
$5.60 for delta award ticket tax
Looking to buy GS status for 2023
If any one have please contact me
How can you get reimbursed for Frontier discount den when it’s not an available airline choice?
Bought 2 x $100 United Travel Bank Credit with Amex Personal Platinum on Jan 4th 2023, got reimbursed on the 10th.
United denied my TB charge for $250 (maybe it was too high)
They wrote, Eligible charges are:
~Airline fee charge transactions billed after airline selection
~Airport lounge day passes and annual memberships
~Change fees
~Checked baggage fees
~In-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows / blankets, etc.)
~In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet)
~Overweight / oversize baggage fees
~Pet flight fees
~Phone reservation fees
~Seat assignment fees
~Unaccompanied minor fee
Like the post says, these should be done in $100 increments.
Actually they credited me the $250 for the first united tb charge. And $50 for the $100 second tb charge. This is on my aspire card. Not asking too many questions as it totaled $300! That together with my $250 Hilton credit (I work in vegas a lot) I love the aspire card lol
Aspire made changes to the card Oct 19th. You get $50 Airline credit every 3 months and is active now (hence why you got an extra $50). So it’s NOT $250 airline credit lump sum anymore. No longer need to pick an airline. $250 hilton credit is now $400, $200 jan-june, $200 july-dec. Again they breaking up the credits which is annoying. Annual fee now $550!!
I have been doing $250 on travel bank on 4 different cards for long time , since the AA gift card option stopped working. It is over a week now and I think I’m not going to get it this time. I also think that even the $100 will go away at some point.
It takes 7-10 days to post
Report back: got the credit exactly on the 10th day. It just seemed it took longer this time.
United TravelBank is down for me the last few days.
When I check JetBlue flights it always says non refundable. Does this mean I can still get the travel credit or I need to find refundable fares?
Non-refundable (excluding basic) means it turns into travel credit.
Refundable means refundable to the method of payment.
Awesome! How quick do you typically see the Amex credit to confirm it worked?
Any way to use the Amex hotel credit without actually booking a hotel?
No.
Do I get it on Centurion card?
I believe it has the same $200 credit, but don’t you have a concierge for those questions? 😀
If I load $250 to UA Travel Bank using Aspire card , will I get $250 and $50 credits?
My Business Platinum card, registered with delta.
How can I use the $200 before year end?
Call in Amex and change to united
Or chat.
I gave most of my miles to Kanfei Chaim. Especially that I will loose
Has anyone ever tried buying airline gift cards for the credit?
@Dan, I purchased 2 tickets on jetblue. The first for 84 and the second for 113. I cancelled them so that i can get the credit to my travel bank as per your instruction. I however havent gotten my airline credit yet from amex. It has been two weeks. Any advice what to do here?
Southwest flights worked for me, can confirm!
My sister told me she used $160 of her Amex Plat airline credit last January for Delta expenses and was able to change her airline to United to buy a travel bank credit with the remaining $40. (a $50 credit actually). Is this possible as I thought you could not change airlines after you spend some of the credit?
You can via chat if you ask nicely or ask for a manager.
One the JetBlue website it says funds for cancellations are issued as a JetBlue travel credit, valid for 12 months from original ticketing date (not the redeposit date).
Are United Travel Bank credits still working?
I made a $100 purchase in November from United travel bank and was reimbursed on Dec 8.
However that charge showed on my statement as “UNITED AIRLINES HOUSTON TX”
yesterday I made another $100 purchase from united travel bank, but now it shows up as “UNITED ELECTRONIC TICKETNG” can anyone verify if this is still working?
The pending charge always looks different.
Same here. I made a purchase today and it was showing “UNITED ELECTRONIC TICKETNG”. I guess when pending settled, it will change.
Weird question about the $50 aspire airline credit and having a negative balance…
So I had roughly a $270 negative balance on my aspire card. Bought $50 United Travel Bank…now I have $220 negative balance…question is, would this still trigger the $50 airline credit? Or does the AMEX system prioritize using negative balance $ over the $50 airline credit? Obviously I don’t want to call AMEX about this. Like I said, weird question
Any chance to buy united travel bank today and still get creditedbefore e 12/31, also can I use multiple platinum cards for one travel bank account?
as long as the charge posts before the 31 your good
yes
I bought travel bank on 12/11/2023. Any reason to be worried? I did not get a credit yet. I see for Dan it credited in 5 business days….
I made a $50 charge last week to United Travelbank. On the Amex website it says “Special Service Ticket” from O’Hare to O’Hare, and sets forth my name as the passenger name and lists out a ticket number (I got 5x points for airfare charge). Don’t recall seeing this in prior years – has anyone had similar experience of late and had the charge reimbursed?
Curious to know before spending another $150 in the next few days. Thanks in advance.
Hello
Keep getting error on United travel bank
Enter valid credit card
The credit card you’ve entered couldn’t be processed. Make sure your information is correct or enter a new card.
Zip needs to match with cc and United travel bank account
will buying united travelbank work nor or the credit needs to be posted before jan 1?
I bought an Alaska ticket a few days ago with an ecredit and paid the balance of $40ish with the platinum card. the charge has posted to amex, and it’s showing the full itinerary details. I’ve asked the chat rep about the airline credit, saying that this was a seat selection charge. Rep said to wait 3-4 weeks for the credit to post automatically. What’s the chances of this triggering the credit? Would I be better off asking amex to change the selected airline to united to try my luck with 2x $100 top-ups to my united travel bank?
United travle bank, works!
I bought 2 $100 United travel bank on 12/19 I still haven’t been refunded. Anyone else having an issue?
actually I just saw it posted!
Hi Dan, how many times a year did you change your preferred airline with Amex Platinum? You mentioned you never had an issue changing in the online Amex chat. Thank you !
Any good use for Spirit?
I made a bunch of travel bank purchases in Friday. They are still in pending status…is it risky to do more tonight?
Is it a new thing that you cannot purchase united economy plus fare with travelbank credit and can only purchase the base fare or has it always been that way?
If the purchase shows on my credit card for December but the credit posted in January, does that mean I used my 2024 credit or will that count for 2023? When I look at my membership benefits it shows $0 usage for this year but I am concerned.
Is this working for 2024?
I read that AA gift cards work on the Aspire. Does anyone know how it appears on the statement? It used to be AA MISC. does it indicate gift card anywhere? Thanks!