New Year Means New American Express Platinum $200 Travel Credits
While the new year comes with the zero-ing out of all your elite qualifying activity, it also means that the American Express Platinum credit card $200 travel credits are once again available to all cardholders. It doesn’t matter when your card anniversary was since the credits are available every calendar year.
In order to set your account up, start by following this link which will take you to a screen to log-in online. As another option, you can enroll by calling the phone number on the back of your card.
Next, you’ll need to select the airline that you’ll be receiving the $200 travel credit with. It’s important to note that once this selection is made, it can’t be changed until the following year. So make sure you’re 100% certain before making your choice. If you are keeping the same airline as last year, no action is required.
As of this morning the sign-up process is working, and I was able to confirm my elections for 2015.
The credit is designed to reimburse “incidental” fees which include things like baggage fees, award ticket taxes, and booking fees. While the terms and conditions give a 2-4 week turnaround time for statement credits to be received, most cardholders have been receiving reimbursements within days.
As another note, it’s widely reported that you can get reimbursements for gift certificates, even though these are not defined as “incidentals”. In order to maximize your chances of being reimbursed for these, I’d recommend purchasing gift certificates in separate transactions at least 1 day apart, and buying them in denominations of $100 or less.
For reference, here are the full terms and conditions:
Terms & Conditions:
Benefit is available to Consumer and Business Platinum Card® and Centurion® Members only. To receive statement credits of up to $200 a year toward incidental air travel fees, Card Member must enroll and choose a qualifying airline at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice. Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized Account Manager(s) on the Card Account can enroll and select the qualifying airline. Card Members who have not chosen a qualifying airline will be able to do so at any time. Card Members who have already selected a qualifying airline will be able to change their choice one time each year in January at www.americanexpress.com/airlinechoice or by calling the number on the back of the Card. Card Members who do not change their airline selection will remain with their current airline. Statement Credits: Incidental air travel fees must be charged on the enrolled Card Account for the benefit to apply. Purchases made by both the Basic and Additional Card Members on the enrolled Card Account are eligible for statement credits. However, each Card Account is eligible for up to a total of $200 a year in statement credits across all Cards on the Account. Incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges. Fees not charged by the Card Member’s airline of choice (e.g. wireless internet and fees incurred with airline alliance partners) do not qualify for statement credits. Incidental air travel fees charged prior to enrollment in this benefit are not eligible for statement credits. Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees. The airline must submit the incidental air travel fees under the appropriate merchant code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to be identified. Please allow 2-4 weeks after the qualifying incidental air travel fee is charged to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the Account. We rely on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions, so please call the number on the back of the Card if statement credits have not posted after 4 weeks from the date of purchase. Card Members remain responsible for timely payment of all charges. To be eligible for this benefit, Card Account(s) must be active and not in default at the time of statement credit fulfillment. If a charge for any incidental air travel fee is included in a Pay Over Time feature balance on your Card Account (for example, Sign & Travel), the statement credit associated with that charge will not be applied to that Pay Over Time feature balance. Instead, the statement credit will be applied to your Pay In Full balance. For additional information about this benefit, call the number on the back of your Card.