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One great perk American Express offers on its most premium cards — including the American Express Platinum Card® — is the Amex airline fee credit. Each year, card members can automatically get up to $200 in statement credits to offset qualifying airline fees.
The catch? This airline fee credit can only be applied to fees on the one airline you select before making an eligible purchase. That makes your airline choice quite consequential. Whether you're just enrolling in this benefit or switching your airline allegiance, here's how to change your preferred airline for the Amex airline fee credit.
How the Amex Airline Fee Credit Works
The Amex airline fee credit is a $200 calendar year credit for cardholders of both The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express Platinum Card® (including all varieties of it). Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
Before this benefit can apply, you must select an eligible airline. Here's the list of airlines you can choose from:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- United Airlines
You used to be able to select Hawaiian Airlines and Spirit Airlines, but after Hawaiian's merger with Alaska and Spirit's bankruptcy, those options are no longer available. Hopefully, American Express will add additional airlines to give travelers more options for using their credit. If not, odds are you fly one of the major airlines at least once or twice per year to utilize your credit.
You can then use your airline incidentals for the following types of expenses:
- Airport lounge day passes and annual memberships
- Booking fees
- Checked baggage fees
- In-flight fees and entertainment
- Seat assignment fees
- Ticket change and cancellation fees
If you're happy with your airline choice, you don't need to do anything to stick with that airline for another year. The credit will automatically stay with your initial airline selection. There's no need to enroll in this benefit each year.
Related: How to Use the Platinum Card® Airline Fee Credit
How to Change Your Amex Airline Fee Credit Choice
If you want to change your airline preference, it's easiest to do so in January. That's because the card benefit terms allow card members to change their airline choice only once per year, in January. However, card members may be able to change their airline selection outside of January — here's how.
Changing your airline preference in January
To select or change your airline choice in January, start by logging in to your Amex account. Then, browse to this dedicated benefits page. There, Amex will display your current airline choice and give you the option to “change selected airline.” Then, you'll have the option to select a different airline:
Once you complete the process, American Express will email you a confirmation that it successfully processed the change.
Changing your airline preference mid-year
Say you initially selected United as your airline shortly after opening your Platinum Card®. But for whatever reason, you no longer fly United as much, and you'd be able to use this benefit on American Airlines. However, you find yourself outside of January, when you can change your airline selection online.
Fortunately, you don't have to wait for another year to roll around. To change your designated airline for the incidental credit outside of Amex's window, you'll need to contact American Express and ask a representative to make the change for you. The easiest way to do so is via chat.
To chat with American Express, log in to your Amex account and navigate to the account's home page. Then, you should see a “Chat” button in the bottom right corner.
At this point, you will be connected to the automated system. Let the system know you want to change the airline for your annual incidental fee credit. You used to have to go through several prompts with the automated system before reaching a representative, but when I typed “change airline for the airline incidental fee credit,” an agent joined immediately to ask which airline I want to change to. The entire process should take just a few minutes.
Note that you generally can't change your preferred airline during the year if you've used any of your Amex airline fee credits for the year. If you've used part of the credit, you'll need to wait until it resets in January of the following year.
And if the chat option isn't working — or you'd prefer to talk to someone on the phone — simply call the number on the back of your card.
Final Thoughts
The American Express airline fee credit is a great perk that can help offset the hefty annual fee of Amex's premium cards. Being able to change your preferred airline, especially in an era when travel plans are bound to change, makes the deal just a little sweeter.
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 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®.
- Earn 5X points on Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings.
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. shipping providers.
- 2X earning rates are subject to a cap of $2 million in purchases per calendar year.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees), and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
