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Back in 2010, American Express launched an innovative first for premium rewards cards: a $200 airline fee travel credit on The Platinum Card® from American Express to cover the costs of checked bags, in-flight food, airfare change fees, lounge passes, and more (enrollment required).
While groundbreaking at the time of its release, the up-to-$200 Amex airline fee credit on the Amex Platinum has been a staple for over a decade. In addition, Amex has also added an airline credit to other cards. However, these have been overshadowed by more lucrative offers from rival cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and Citi Prestige® Card. In short, these all offer higher annual credits and a broader range of eligible purchases. And they come with lower annual fees (Rates & Fees).
- Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card®, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu.
- Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
- $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
- $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
- $155 Walmart+ Credit: Cover the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) with a statement credit after you pay for Walmart+ each month with your Platinum Card®. Cost includes $12.95 plus applicable local sales tax. Plus Up Benefits are excluded.
- $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Platinum Card®.
- $200 Uber Cash: Enjoy Uber VIP status and up to $200 in Uber savings on rides or eats orders in the US annually. Uber Cash and Uber VIP status is available to Basic Card Member only.
- $300 Equinox Credit: Get up to $300 back in statement credits per calendar year on an Equinox membership, or an Equinox club membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you pay with your Platinum Card®. Enrollment required. Visit https://platinum.equinox.com/ to enroll.
- $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Breeze through security with CLEAR Plus at 100+ airports, stadiums, and entertainment venues nationwide and get up to $189 back per calendar year on your Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Platinum Card®. Learn more.
- $100 Global Entry Credit: Receive either a $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck® (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Platinum Card®. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
- Shop Saks with Platinum: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card®. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
- $300 SoulCycle At-Home Bike Credit: Get a $300 statement credit for the purchase of a SoulCycle at-home bike with your Platinum Card®. An Equinox+ subscription is required to purchase a SoulCycle at-home bike and access SoulCycle content. Must charge full price of bike in one transaction. Shipping available in the contiguous U.S. only. Enrollment Required.
- Unlock access to exclusive reservations and special dining experiences with Global Dining Access by Resy when you add your Platinum Card® to your Resy profile.
- $695 annual fee.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
We've covered the Sapphire Reserve $300 annual travel credit in detail, along with the $250 Prestige Card annual travel credit. In this post, we’ll explain the Amex Platinum Airline Fee Credit. We'll discuss what it covers and which cards provide it as a benefit. In addition, this post will cover how to ensure cardholders are extracting maximum value from the travel credit to offset the higher cost of holding a premium travel rewards card.
Which Amex Cards Offer the Airline Fee Credit?
Amex offers an annual airline credit (issued as a statement credit) across three different rewards' cards.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: Up to $200
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Up to $200
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Up to $250
While the credit amount differs between the Hilton Aspire card and the two Platinum cards, the airline credits do share common definitions and cover the same types of incidental charges, and you need to enroll with your chosen airline to receive the credit on all three cards. Our current number one in the Amex stable of rewards cards is the Business Platinum Card.
- Welcome Offer: Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
- 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases.
- Earn 1.5X points (that's an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year.
- Unlock over $1,000 in annual statement credits on a curation of business purchases, including select purchases made with Dell Technologies, Indeed, Adobe, and U.S. wireless service providers.
- $200 Airline Fee Credit: Get up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for incidental fees charged by your one selected, qualifying airline to your Card.
- $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Use your card and get up to $189 in statement credits per calendar year on your CLEAR® Plus Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Business Platinum Card®.
- The American Express Global Lounge Collection® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market as of 03/2023.
- $695 Annual Fee.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. shipping providers.
- 1.5X earning rates are subject to a cap of $2 million in purchases per calendar year.
What Will Amex Credit as a Travel Purchase?
Firstly, you should note that the Amex airline fee credit will only credit purchases from your nominated airline. You must pre-select one airline from the Airline Choice page on Amex's website. Select the airline with which you're most likely to fully utilize the airline credit. You can generally only change your Amex airline credit selection in January, so it pays to think about your decision when making your initial selection. Selecting an airline is one of several things we suggest that you do right after receiving a new card.
The Amex airline fee credit is not as wide-ranging as its Citi and Chase counterparts. However, it still covers a wide variety of airline incidentals and amenities. The Terms & Conditions explicitly state that “Incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges,” and the following charges are not eligible for the airline credit:
- Airline tickets
- Upgrades
- Mileage points purchases
- Mileage points transfer fees
- Gift cards
- Duty-free purchases
- Award tickets
In theory, that should cover any other purchase made directly with a cardholder's nominated airline. However, any charges from a third-party provider — such as Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi — aren't eligible for a statement credit as they aren't provided by the airline.
The benefit terms state:
“The airline must submit the charge under the appropriate merchant code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to be recognized as an incidental air travel fee.”
Airline incidentals that credit towards the Amex airline fee credit include:
- Airline change fees
- Airport lounge day passes & annual memberships
- Booking fees
- Checked baggage fees
- In-flight fees and entertainment
- Seat assignment fees
Charges made by the primary cardholder and additional card members both qualify for the Amex airline fee credit.
Will Airline Purchases on Amex Cards Credit Automatically?
Yes, as long as the transaction credits correctly from the merchant. As per the Amex website:
“Please allow 6-8 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 8 weeks from the date of purchase.”
Historically, purchases on your Amex card that are eligible for a statement credit still count towards minimum spend and earn points. However, this is not clearly stated in the cards' benefits guides. If you're unsure about meeting your minimum spending or promotional spending requirements, contact Amex to clarify.
Which Airlines Can You Choose?
You can choose from eight airlines, all based in the U.S.:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- United Airlines
You can choose your preferred airline when you open your card. Then, you can change it in January each year if you want to select a new airline. We've also seen Amex allow people to change their airline later in the year (assuming they haven't used any of the credit yet), but this isn't guaranteed.
Claim the Amex Airline Fee Credit Twice in the First Year
One of the big benefits of the Amex airline fee credit is that it can be claimed twice in the first cardholder year. This is due to the credit resetting at the start of every calendar year (January 1) rather than the cardholder year.
If you time your application right, the airline credit can be claimed once during the first calendar year as a card member. Then, you can claim it again before the annual fee is due on your account anniversary. For the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card card, this puts your first year as a cardholder in net positive territory as far as ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses go.
Final Thoughts
The annual Amex airline fee credit may look a little dated when compared directly with credits from the Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X, or the Prestige Card. However, it still offers a fantastic way of claiming incidental fees and costs back via statement credits. In addition, if fully used, it can significantly reduce the out-of-pocket expense of holding a premium rewards card.
If you have any interesting data points on purchases Amex has credited via the Airline credit, let us know in the comments below.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Buying United TravelBank will trigger AMEX Airline Fee. There are occasional bonus from United also.
AMEX would change the airline designation for you, providing no credit has been redeemed.
I recently received part of my airline credit unexpectedly, because I actually received it just for purchasing airline tickets. I purchased a $240 round trip ticket on Delta (my Amex Platinum preferred airline) and used a $100 Delta voucher for part of the payment. When the remaining $140 charge posted to my Amex card, I received a $140 Airline Fee Reimbursement the following day. I would assume using the voucher somehow caused the remaining amount to be coded differently, or perhaps it was just a mistake – either way I’m not complaining…
interesting data point. Thanks for sharing!
It’s awesome that it will credit automatically! That makes everything so much easier!
I did not know that you could claim the travel credit twice in the first 12 months, thanks for the information.
I was considering the gold card last night with a 50K bonus then this morning it became 25K. Bummer.
I use this to reimburse me for travel fees for associated with award ticketsfrom AA. Anything remaining I buy a gift card with AA
Any sense of whether United gift registry / TravelBank will trigger the credit?
Nope.
if only amex made it easy there wouldn’t be a need to read up on how to use it.
agreed!
lots of nice perks here to dream about
Amex also has the offers you can add to your card. While they vary for different cardholders, I find useful things that has given me hundreds of dollars in statement credits. You just have to check the bottom of the page when checking your account online and activate them. Occasionally they are things like cashback on any mobile phone carrier, cable carrier or supermarkets.
Amex offers are great: https://awardwallet.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-saving-with-amex-offers/
I wonder if Amex will be changing the terms to better align with others to make the card more lucrative. I know others who have the card for mostly their other benefits rather than this benefit and just chalk it up to an added on surprise.
I doubt it. Amex isn’t one to follow what others are doing (based on my experience)
I believe the travel credit for the Hilton Aspire works the same way.
Yes, exactly!
Hm – these CC’s should be available in Europe too!
We both know that isn’t going to happen! 🙁
The signup bonus is just great. Will get a return tic to Hawaii.
Competition among the banks is a good thing. So many tempting products out there and I’m of the school that says I should try as many as I can and see what I like long term.
And, the final step there is to report back here with your experiences!
Canadian AMEX Gold version needs a Travel Credit too.
I like my Amex Platinum however, it is kind of a pain to jump through the hoops. Buy the AA gift card then remember to use it for flights. I tend to do this every January so I don’t forget it!
Seems a good advantage to people who travel a lot.
I don’t travel for work and usually take only cabin luggage so this offer is not for me I think.
This is a solid perk, but AmEx needs to step up its game and offer a higher travel credit amount if it wants its card to stay competitive against Chase and Citi’s offerings.
This Travel-Bonus only comes with the us-based Card, am i right?
I can only assume yes as I don’t know the details on all the international offerings.
Used it for delta e-gift cards in $50 increments. Worked perfectly every time
can apply for 50$ gift card multiple times?
Between my wife and I we have 7 platinum cards and a gold. The extra 1500 dollars a year is incredibly lucrative.
I forgot to select my airline before buying my gift cards, but luckily i remembered to do it before the charge posted, and got credited.
nice!
In my second calendar year with PRG and will definitely be taking advantage of this before assessing whether or not to keep the card for future years.
There are some really good other benefits to this card, but the airline travel credit is very restrictive.
Agree that gold is more productive and not the mighty annual fee to contend with. Great to see other options on board now to use credit.
Well yes but with the Platinum you get Uber Credits, Soulcycle Discounts, and the $200 Travel Credit. So to me really worth it. Depends for each person i guess
i was thinking of updating my amex gold to platinum, but as far as accumulating points, i think the gold is more productive.
glad you mentioned that citi was 250, I thought it was only 200
I was able to use the credit twice on Gold in the first year via AA gift certificates bought online. I think AXP is still allowing this even though it isn’t officially in the list above. My SO just got the CSR and agree that the credit is a lot easier to use.
To me the easiest way is buying airline GC.
Yes, but according to the terms these are not eligible — it just seems to work though 🙂
I heard you can only have 4 AMEX cards at once. True?
Definitely not true based on current data. This may have been the fact previously, but not the fact right now.
Absolutely true. I have 6 Amex Platinums, the Gold Card, Green Card, Ameriprise Financial Gold Card, Business Gold Card, and 5 credit cards. Total of 15 Amex Cards.
It posts in a few days time, in my experience with the Premier Rewards Gold card. A nice perk, especially in the first card member year, when it can,(and does!), work twice, as this blog points out. Might not carry the PRG card for additional years, as the Everyday cards are less expensive.
Finally thinking about giving up my AMEX Biz Plat due to getting the CSP. The travel credit is nice but $100 is $100.
Nice to read these kind of articles to know more in the less known matters.
It looks as if the competition in our beloved points/miles credit card programs is heating up. This is good for the consumer and for the banks and airlines.
Yes, and we must all continue to play the game to our benefit!
I am continuing. This year I am concentrating on picking up bank points.
It’s not a bad perc, but definitely the others have surpassed it over time, and the other cards also offer a broader range of what the travel reimbursement will cover, which is a big key if you’re not necessarily a weekend warrior.
Hopefully they’ll step up a notch with the Travel Credit to be more flexible like its competitors
one of the reasons I haven’t applied for this card is the difficulty associated with using its credits. They need to change that otherwise they will lose to their competitions.
I mean it is pretty flexible within a particular airline. Just look on Flyertalk to get some ideas