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: See the 2022 airline fee options here.
Update, 12/31: In bad news for procrastinators, United TravelBank funding is down for today. I’d recommend chatting with AMEX to switch your airline to JetBlue and booking JetBlue tickets under $100 each, which are typically refunded as an airline fee. You can then cancel and convert any JetBlue tickets into TravelBank funds that are valid for anyone for 12 months.
Update, 12/28: There’s just a few days left to finish using your credit. United TravelBank is still working and is an excellent way to use up remaining credit, but post how you have or will use your credit.
Update, 3/1: Airline fee credit for United TravelBank funding started working for me again last week! Allow up to 5 days for the credit to post to your account. TravelBank funds are valid for at least 5 years.
Originally posted on 2/3:
There are 4 AMEX cards that give a credit to use for incidental fees on the airline of your choice.
- The AMEX Hilton Aspire Card offers a $250 annual airline fee credit.
- The AMEX Business Platinum Card offers a $200 annual airline fee credit.
- The AMEX Platinum Card offers a $200 annual airline fee credit.
- The AMEX Gold Card offers a $100 annual airline fee credit.
- You can register for an airline here.
- The Gold card credit is being discontinued after 12/31/21.
- You must have opened your card by 2/3/21 in order to use the 2021 credit.
While Chase Sapphire Reserve allows you to use travel credit for anything travel related (or even gas and groceries currently), 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
- Frontier
- 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. You also get back 35% of your points on all airlines in business and first class redemptions without having to register for an airline.
Unfortunately gift cards no longer count for this credit.
But there are plenty of other ways to use your credit.
Tickets under $99 have long been reported to get reimbursement, though those have always been YMMV (Your mileage may vary).
But with airlines like Alaska, JetBlue, and United offering TravelBank credit for when you don’t want to take a flight, it seemed like it was worth trying that out.
Alaska doesn’t fly to Cleveland, so I registered my AMEX Platinum consumer card for United, and my AMEX Platinum business card for JetBlue.
I bought a ticket on JetBlue from JFK to Los Angeles for $98.40 and it was reimbursed with the airline fee credit in just 2 days:
After that it was easy to cancel the ticket and refund it into JetBlue TravelBank funds thanks to the current free change policy. With JetBlue, those funds are valid for 1 year from the date of redeposit and funds can be used for anyone. That policy is currently valid through 2/28/21.
Readers also report that Southwest tickets under $99 are also reimbursed. You can use those funds for a year, though funds can only be used by the passenger.
Last year I tried a $98.10 United flight and that did not get reimbursed, though United cancelled the flight and I was able to get it refunded.
I discovered last year that their TravelBank worked for reimbursement, but unfortunately it now codes as a gift certificate purchase and no longer gets reimbursed.
These are the charges that have been reported to count for airline fee credit:
- Airline tickets of any amount purchased with partial payment on your credit card and partial payment on an airline voucher, gift card, or Travelbank are typically reimbursed.
- Airline tickets under $99 are sometimes reimbursed. JetBlue and Southwest should work best.
- American WiFi monthly plan
- Award redeposit and change fees from airline of your choice.
- Baggage fees from airline of your choice.
- Buying extra miles or mileage multiplier offered with a ticket purchase online or at a kiosk.
- Flight change fees from airline of your choice.
- Food and drinks on the plane from airline of your choice.
- Food and drinks in a club from airline of your choice.
- Lounge access and club pass fees from airline of your choice.
- Phone reservation fees from airline of your choice.
- Pet fees.
- Seat selection fees and Economy Plus fees from airline of your choice.
- Standby fees from airline of your choice.
- AA 500 mile upgrades.
- $9 Spirit Fare Club Membership.
- United Economy Plus upgrades and Economy Plus Subscriptions.
- United Farelock.
- United WiFi Subscription Purchases And Gifts.
- United WiFi on mainline planes.
- United TravelBank funding.
What airline fees have you been credited for on your AMEX card in 2021?
“I discovered last year that their gift registry worked for reimbursement, but unfortunately it now codes as a gift certificate purchase and no longer gets reimbursed.” This links to travel bank, is that what you meant? In that case you might want to remove it from the list of items that work.
Indeed, removed.
And here I was hoping to be wrong 😉
I already used it for my united travel bank this year and was reimbursed several days later
Nice! Seems like it died around 1/13.
Too bad, that was the deciding factor which made it worth keeping both personal and business platinum cards
No use for Jetblue funds?
Not really, I fly out of EWR
JetBlue is massively growing from EWR and will keep growing there.
Another option that I haven’t yet tried is using $1 travelbank credit together with the AMEX Plat to buy a United ticket. Try and let us know if you test it.
Gonna have to wait till next year, Used all $400 the first week of January
Just purchased ticket using $25 travelbank
If the United travel bank credit doesn’t work anymore please update this post.
Update what exactly?
In middle of the post says “But with airlines like Alaska, JetBlue, and United offering TravelBank credit for when you don’t want to take a flight, it seemed like it was worth trying that out.” As if it’s still working.
Huh? Those airlines do offer travel bank credit if you don’t take a flight.
The post clearly states that travel bank funding does not work anymore for AMEX reimbursement.
I used it for United Travel Bank on 1/15/21 and never received the credit, when chatted with Amex they asked if it was for a ticket when I responded “yes” their reply was: We can only refund can only be refunded for these charges:
Airport lounge membership fees
Airport lounge passes
Baggage fees
Change fees
In-flight food and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)
Delta $5.60 domestic tax worked for me
Does anyone have experience with BANK OF AMERICA PREMIUM REWARDS CARD $100 airline reimbursement. I have searched for answers and post without much luck…..would love to know, thank you in advance for your help.
IME it worked for taxes on mileage tickets
Worked on a regular ticket as well back in July
Worked on United travel bank 2x$50 on 12/31/20. Re-imbursed next statement.
When does their year start?
Jan 1/Dec bill/Jan bill
I used it in December for United travel bank and got refunded.
I booked a $58.40 JetBlue ticket (JFK-FLL) and then cancelled it later the same day. The debit posted to my Amex gold account and subsequently Amex credited it toward the annual airline fee credit. I also got the refund, so I am not sure if they will reverse the credit due to the refund.
Yes and you will lose the credit. Always take the airline credit and not a refund. You are wasting the airline reimbursement, it will not come back.
I’m not sure that is 100% correct.
I’m 100% sure that is NOT correct
For many people, and certainly me, all of the stated uses, combined with the fact that they have to be with 1 airline, make this credit worthless. The United travel bank was great because the funds wouldn’t expire but that was killed off a few weeks ago. The JetBlue route described in the post isn’t appealing (to me) because 1) it’s JetBlue and 2) the funds expire after a year. Too bad!
The United Travel Bank did not work on the Hilton card in late 2020.
United travel bank works
No it doesn’t. Stopped working Jan 14th.
Around October I did $90 flight on Delta.
Cancelled it within 24 hours, and still got the airline credit and the refund to the cc.
BH
Happy clawback!
I bought a $115 ticket through united. i used $100 from my travel bank(left over from last years amex credit) and the remaining $15 on my platinum card. I DID get a $15 credit on my amex statement the next day. seems that a combo of travel bank and credit card might trigger the amex credit????
First item in the list in the post 🙂
just to clarify my comment above. i got my $15 statement credit after jan 20th 2021.
According to a post I saw on a travel website, you can now buy a United basic Econ ticket & upgrade afterwards to a regular Econ ticket. I would think This upgrade should work for this credit
Purchased lounge membership in late Dec and never got reimbursed. Call AmEx last night and the agent added the credit. Used Aspire card.
Paid for 2 separate one way Jetblue tickets @ 98.40 each from NYC to LAX on Feb 8 and still haven’t received the credit back. Does it pay to call to get the credit?
@DAN . How confident are you that it will work?I don’t want end up paying for the
Credit .Thank you in advance!
Confident?
It worked for me and for others in late February. More than that I can’t possibly say.
Net payment to Avis for rent-a-car? How is it possible that they didn’t pay you to rent?
Still haven’t worked that out yet.
But if I was playing The Price is Right, I think I’d win for the closest charge to $250 for the AMEX Offer.
Had to calculate the extra gas needed closely 😀
so just buy 200 dollars straight out for the travel bank funds or should we buy 99 for 2 trasnactions? thank you
No difference
Just another data point that this just worked for me. Purchased March 1, reimbursed March 5th.
Does United Travel Bank Funding still work for incidental Airline credit with AMEX? Today is 4/30/2021
Yes
Could anyone share success story in June 2021? thank you!
If I purchase tickets using travel bank credit do I get the free checked bag from my united credit card?
Just put $1 on the card and you will.
Travel bank still working? Anyone have recent success?
Working.
Just worked for me.
Bump.
Anyone can confirm if United Travelbank still working?
Yes. I’m wondering the same
Worked, today 10/20.
Will someone post simple instructions how to add funds?
I found it very complicated to get to screen, that you can add funds.
Skip. See link above.
can you please clarify if its still working?
Working as of 10/20.
Use link in “Update” above.
Can you change airlines once you select it with AMEX? Might want to use Southwest this year for some trips planned but typically use AA. Wasn’t sure if you were allowed to change it once selected or if you were locked in for life (or a specified period). TIA!
I have american set as my airline and i have the business platinum. what is my best option to use the credit? (open to get credit with AA of Jetblue if that works. Thanks in advance!
I need to use up $110 with AA for incidental fees before end of year. I tried using a credit and paying the rest with cc. That did not work.
Does AA 500 mile upgrade still work??
What about mileage multiplier AFTER the ticket has already been purchased? Will that work as an incidental fee for AA?
what is the best way to use up the travel credit on Delta?
I have the same question. Last year, my $200 credit went unused because I couldn’t find a way to use it on Delta. And looking the same for this year. Any ideas?
I would even change to JetBlue if possible, but not sure if that (cheap ticket into travelbank) works anymore. Are tickets fully refundable now into travelbank?
Non-basic tickets are refundable to travelbank.
With delta airlines as weel?
Ouch!
As a last resort( Or even a Lchatchilah for some) you can always donate your Balance to Kanfei Chaim. This is an organization that pays for patients and their parents that have to fly to see a doctor or medical procedure.
I have donated to them in the past multiple times.
https://milesforlife.org/donate-amex/
i donated mine for milesforlife last 2 years already
its hassle free and i dont need to stick to a specific airline next time i fly.. besides that 100% of it is going to such a important charity
Does the PGGM still work?
Ha ha ha! Not for a few years.
Can I combine travel bank credits from my account and my wife’s account? If not, any reason not to deposit into one account from both mine and her cards? We both have the platinum card.
Deposit them both into one account in the first place.
Thanks will do. Just remembered why I didn’t the first time… There was a bonus back then which only worked once per account
Used for united travel bank on 11/15/2021 got reimbursed a few days later
Just tried United Travel Bank. Got reimbursed. Still works!
Is this directly purchasing $100 in TravelBank Credit from the link provided? Thanks
if I just buy plain miles from an airline will that work for the amex credit?
Used $49 for seat upgrade, and 3x$50 went into travel bank.
Can I purchase united widow for a month that will give me from now till Jan 15 or is it calendar month?
& will amex credit me back the charge? (I think its 49 for a month)
Any ideas what to use the remainder of 51 dollars for?
Why not put it toward United Travel Bank?
i used a few different amex cards in october and got credit for travel bank
Do you cancel the flight within 24 hours on jet blue or you could wait
Just purchased $100 United Travel Bank with my AmEx Aspire. Will update if/when credit appears.
I am not an idiot, but what is United Travel Bank? How do I start?
https://www.united.com/offers/travelcash
Do I have to choose an airline before purchasing from United Travel Bank?
Do I have to make two purchases in the amount of $100 to use up my $200 credit?
Yes, you must choose ‘United’
Does United travel funding work?
I just charge $100 to travel funding?
Do I have to make two purchase for $100 each or can I make one purchase for $200 at United Travel Bank?
Can I purchase a United ticket and pay for it with funds in the travel bank?
They sell $100, they don’t sell $200.
Yes.
My travel bank purchase coded as UNITED ELECTRONIC TICKETING
I am concerned about my biz plat amex reimbursement. Anyone else have that? I bought $100 today.
Yes I had that as well and I got the credit a few days later….
Would it be better to do 4 times 50 travel cash on United or 2 times 100 to get the amex offer? And if travel cash even works
for JetBlue travel bank refund is it important that the name on the Amex Platinum match the JetBlue travel bank account OR can my spouse purchase the Jetblue ticket in my name so that the refund goes into my travel bank?
United Travel Bank worked with AmEx Aspire:
$100 purchase on 12/15/21
$100 stmt credit on 12/18/21
United travel bank still works 12/17/2021
Reimbursed 5 days later 2×100
+1
Can someone please help?
I just got my Amex platinum and I tried it on United travel bank lo and behold my card was flagged for fraud and I was told that travel bank isn’t part of the airline fee credit. Do you think if I try it now I won’t get a credit???
If you are registered for United it will work.
Even though customer service said clearly it won’t work? Hope I didnt mess it up for anyone else…
Rule #1: Don’t call/don’t ask.
Rule #2: Don’t rely on phone reps.
Yeah uhhh def don’t talk with phone reps about these generous back door options… I mean you could easily verify it’s not fraud without going into detail about using $200 incidental for TravelBank…
regarding expiration, where does it say united lasts for 5 years?
TravelBank Cash accrued in a Member’s TravelBank account shall be maintained in the account until they are redeemed or until they expire, whichever occurs first.
As a general rule (and unless stated otherwise by United under the terms of a particular offer or the terms of certain qualifying activity as determined by United from time to time) all accrued TravelBank Cash in an Account is subject to expiration and/or forfeiture for any Member who fails at any time to engage in Account Activity (as defined above) for a period of eighteen (18) consecutive months. United may, but shall have no obligation to, send a Member a notification of TravelBank Cash nearing or subject to expiration.
Look in your account.
On 12/21 i chatted with an Amex rep and had my airline of choice changed from AA to United, the rep was very forthcoming and changed it on both cards. After the chat, it immediately showed “United Airlines” as my airline so I went ahead and spent the 200 ($100×2) on Biz plat and 100 on consumer gold on United TravelBank. The charges have posted (no longer pending) but I did not receive the credits yet.. should I be worried?
Relax. It takes several days.
Credit still didn’t post.. could it possibly be because I should have waited a day r 2 after the airline change (which was done over chat and it immediately showed changed)?
Did your credits post?
Thanks Dan, I just got my credit for Travel Bank!
Within the past week, p1 and p2 successfully received AX Plat credit for UA travel bank. I entered 2 X $100 travel bank funds for each of us. $400 has been reimbursed.
Congrats!
Can I use a travel bank to book for passengers other then myself?
Yes
my travel bank is showing up as United Ticketing Service on amex…did others have the same thing? hoping the credit comes through
Normal.
Is there anything to do with delta? Have $140 remaining.
You can chat to change airlines.
Same here. I actually tried to call them to change to another airline. And the did not allow me…
That’s why I said to chat, not call.
Thanks for the info. I apologize, but I am unclear if this can be used for JetBlue. Please confirm, and thank you!
I don’t understand. Does United travel bank currently work or doesn’t it. Very unclear.
Business Platinum: JetBlue: confirmed: I purchased a ticket on JetBlue website from (LAX) to (FLL) for $93.40 on BasicBlue, checked out and THEN upgraded the seat for $111 and added a pet as a extra fee of $125 and checked out on that purchase and cancelled the entire flight within 24 hours with a refund to original payment and a full credit of $200 ($125 for pet and $75 for seat upgrade posted separately) posted to my account 2 days later
Sigh, that used to be a great trick, but recently AMEX has been clawing back credits where the purchase was refunded… watch out for that.
A better strategy with JetBlue is to purchase a refundable ticket for less than $100, then cancel the flight which converts it to Jetblue travel funds which are good for a year from the date of cancellation. But you’re already committed for 2021 since a purchase now won’t trigger the credit anyways. Hopefully you don’t get clawed back.
How long do I have to worry about that? I did this a while ago and the credit is still there BH
There have been reports about AMEX clawbacks over a year later. There is no time limit with them. I think they even sent bills to people whose accounts had been closed in the interim. So there’s no time after which you can say “I’m in the clear”, AMEX is nuts about late clawbacks. But there’s nothing you can do now anyways, what’s done is done. If it comes it comes.
All you can do going forward is… not do it again 🙂 Especially since there are still good ways to use the credit- e.g. with JetBlue.
Do you have any idea how to score in the 200 plat credit?
My travel bank purchase is showing up as United Airlines Houston TX, is that normal? I purchased it on Dec 18th, and it posted on the 19th. How long do I need to wait? It seems like most people got it in five or six days, and I’ve been waiting ten.
credits still didn’t post. “Chatted” with Amex on 12/21 and rep changed my airline to United on my Biz Plat and Consumer Gold. As soon as it showed in the system (like 5 min after the chat), I did the 3 $100 purchases with United travel bank. Charges posted on the 24th and I still didn’t get statement credit. What am I doing wrong?
DELTA – What can I purchase now before years end and get reimbursed by Amex for the $200 airline credit ?
Switch to United?
Just purchased $100 on united travel bank. I see it pending on my Amex account as: “UNITED ELECTRONIC TICKETING”. Does that mean ok wont get refunded? Thx
Normal.
I accidentally purchased united travel bank before choosing my airline, a few minutes later I chose united while the charges were still pending. Do I have to make an additional purchase to receive the credit?
Yes. Do another travel bank load.
Credits still didn’t post.. charges were done on 12/21 and they’re posted as “United Airlines Houston TX”. My airline of choice has been set to United via chat right before the charges have been made..
Is it worth having a “chat” with Amex about it?
I changed my airline 3 days ago and bought $100 credits right after I got email confirmation of the airline change. Got reimbursed today without any issue.
Not sure what you did wrong.
That’s exactly what I did. Got the email confirmation and did the purchases. Do you also have the charge posted as “United Airlines Houston TX”?
Is it worth to have a chat with Amex or could it make it worse?
You can chat.
Any tips for AMERICAN AIRLINES?? that’s my airline selected and i still have credit from 2021 left.
Chat to switch to United?
If i am waiting for a points rebate for AA flights should i be nervous to change the airline to united before receiving the rebate?
So just to clarify the United TravelBank works to get the $200 credit from Amex now or not?
Read the post update?
if i used my additional card at United will it work for the credit or i must charge it on the primary?
Should work.
thanks
I just chatted with Amex & they changed my airline to united but it could take 48 hours to go into effect which means that it will be too late to get the credit for 2021. I explained the above to the Amex rep which responded that I can do the purchase now & reach back out to Amex if I don’t see the credit, should I rely on that or should I rather wait a few hours to see if I can get a confirmation from Amex that it was changed?
I did Ua travel bank. I received the credit a day after the charge posted.
the travel bank website appears to be down.
When I click on “United Travel Bank” link on this page, the website says “this special offer is no longer available.” What special offer? I’m just trying to load the travelbank- did that become impossible as of yesterday?
Punishment for procrastinators?
I’ll reach out to United.
Any luck, Dan?
any luck, Dan?
It’s been a holiday weekend…
Can I still do this today? Or since the charges might post tomorrow, it won’t work for this year?
You can still use the airline credit today. The only question is if loading United TravelBank is working today, see above….
If it isn’t, best option I think is to book an under $100 ticket from JetBlue (NOT Basic Economy), and later cancelling it and getting a full travel credit to use within one year from the date you cancel. So if you book a flight far out and wait until day of departure to cancel if you don’t have a need for it, you have nearly 2 years to use it.
It looks like you can no longer add the the travel bank . When clicking on your United link it says offer no longer available
United travel bank not working
Did United remove Travel bank funding?
Thanks Dan. I assume you mean the worst procrastinators, as I procrastinated, but charged it yesterday. Maybe they noticed that there were thousands of $100 charges on the last few days of December or maybe one of your many valued readers called them to confirm that it works…..
Indeed.
Why would united care? They’re making millions
Would jetblue economy tickets under $100 from priceline trigger the credit?
Shouldn’t make a difference.
United TravelBank having issues now is there any solution ?
Post updates are your friend.
Question: I purchased at United a couple days ago and the charges showed up in my account. However, if the travel credit posts in 2022, will it count against my 2021 credit (when the purchase was made), or against 2022 (when the credit posted)?
2021.
Procrastinator here… Do I need to book two tickets under $100 on SEPARATE reservations to trigger the AMEX Platinum credit reimbursement?
Can’t hurt to be safe, though I don’t think you have to.
Thanks Dan and team! I just changed by Airline with AMEX to JetBlue – and booked a Blue Extra fare for $118.40 (couldn’t find a non-basic under 100) – based on what’s noted above, I just need to cancel the JetBlue flight after 24 hours and ask for the funds to be sent to the JetBlue Travel Bank is that correct? Thanks again and happy new years!
Hey are you sure if it is down for today? looks like website says “Offer has ended”
Still not working
Can’t cancel basic economy for travel bank??
Anyone tried united travel bank for 2022 yet?
waiting for response
I did the united on both my biz and consumer cards. Biz was credited last week Wednesday. Consumer nothing so far….
Is it a problem I bought for my wife?
Were both accounts registered for United?
Are you sure you didn’t use it earlier in the year?
Yes and yes. Both were new cards. Would you suggest I call them?
You can try chatting, but they won’t do anything for 14 days from the charge anyway, so wait for that.
OK thank you. But while chatting What is my line of defense? That my other card was credited?
I made the TravelBank charge 28 minutes after selecting United as my airline and I never got the credit for that charge, though I was able to do 2 more which did get credited before the end of the year.
Looks like United travel bank option may be over. There is no option to purchase any longer.
The real procrastinator didn’t have to call in to change the airline. Why anyone would assign an airline before December 31st dumbfounds me.
Seems like travel bank is back up
Travel Bank now up!
Booked a flight on AA using miles and paid for seats with the amex
Got the credits for seat selection fees
I plan to wait a while to cancel the flight and hope they dont claw back the credits
TravelBank seems to be back up BUT they are not coding the charges as UNITED ELECTRONIC TICKETING…in the past it used to code the charge as United Airlines Houston for me. Not sure if this means that they broke it and it likely wont trigger the AMEX airline credit. I just bought some travelbank so will let yall know if the credit triggers or not
typo, should say “they are NOW* coding the charges as United Electronic Ticketing.
I purchased UA travel bank on 1/3 and coded as United Houston. But no credit back on 3 Amex cards. Seems weird.
I purchased the United travel bank before they discontinued it with my Business Platinum and never received the credit