Yesterday I wrote about credit card travel/airline reimbursements because I honestly had forgotten about the American Express Platinum Airline of Choice program. I had forgotten to redeem my $200 credit and today I am happy to say my Airline of Choice credit has posted. First, a little background on what happened and how I forgot about the credit.
In 2015, American Express updated the Premier Rewards Gold Card to include a $100 airline reimbursement. At the time, for my spending patterns the Premier Rewards Gold card was perfect and I had no interest in upgrading to the American Express Platinum Card or opening a new card. I used my 2015 credit late in the year and very early in 2016 used the credit again. Then American Express had an offer to upgrade to the American Express Platinum Card for a 40,000 point bonus! Although it was not the best offer I have ever seen for the American Express Platinum Card it allowed me to switch to the card without opening a new line of credit.
I received the Platinum card shortly thereafter, but rarely used the card. The Citi Prestige Card was my daily driver and there was almost no point in using my Platinum Card. Just a few days ago, I was reminded that I still had a $200 Airline of Choice credit on my American Express Platinum card and I would have to use it before the end of the year.
The timing was perfect, I had a flight I needed to book with American Airlines (my Airline of Choice for 2016). I went to AA.com and purchased some gift cards. Unfortunately my first purchase was two gift cards on the same transaction ($200) and as you can see, the transaction was NOT reimbursed. I quickly purchased two more $100 gift cards separately and sure enough, two days later the charges were offset by credits.
Yes, it was a mistake purchasing the $200 worth of gift cards, but I am sure I will be able to use the gift cards soon. Also, I realize earning just 1x points on these purchases is not the best strategy, but you live and you learn. I am just happy to report that American Express continues to reimburse $100 gift cards purchased directly from American Airlines. Technically, gift cards are not included on the list of reimbursable purchases, but in general American Express does issue credits to offset gift card purchases of $100 or less.
