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The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?

Interesting, so it seems like they will apply the credit towards a DeltaAir Ticket purchase?

Guess that's one way to redeem, though they aren't on my top 5 choices for travel.

Message 31 of 91
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@iced wrote:

@budugu wrote:

Amex should simply follow Citi / chase make it travel credit. Infact even if they remove the airline restriction that would be a great thing. That and making points 1c for cash redemption are the two biggest pet peeves I have with them (also forex fee on 95$ cards!)


You mean like this?

 

Screen Shot 2019-02-14 at 2.33.34 PM.png

 

I bought two tickets and saw this in my statement. I actually paid for part of one ticket with $150 in gift cards (hence the price diff) and lo and behold...credit.


This happened to me in 2017 as well.  Bought four one-way Comfort+ tickets BOS-ORD for $146 each and used three $50 GCs.  One ticket was paid in full by the GC so I had two charges of $146 and one for $142 (since $4 was paid with the remaining amount on the last GC).  The $142 ticket triggered the credit, yet there was no partial credit of $58 applied for one of the other two tickets.  I would never count on a ticket purchase triggering the credit, but it's nice when it does.  Not a big fan of buying Delta GCs in $50 increments since you can only use three at a time. 

 

Assuming the credit for Southwest also still works with GCs?

Message 32 of 91
Shadowfactor
Valued Contributor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@K-in-Boston wrote:


This happened to me in 2017 as well.  Bought four one-way Comfort+ tickets BOS-ORD for $146 each and used three $50 GCs.  One ticket was paid in full by the GC so I had two charges of $146 and one for $142 (since $4 was paid with the remaining amount on the last GC).  The $142 ticket triggered the credit, yet there was no partial credit of $58 applied for one of the other two tickets.  I would never count on a ticket purchase triggering the credit, but it's nice when it does.  Not a big fan of buying Delta GCs in $50 increments since you can only use three at a time. 

 

Assuming the credit for Southwest also still works with GCs?


This has recently changed. It now states on Delta GC FAQ that you can redeem more then 3 in a transaction over the phone.

Screen Shot 2019-02-14 at 9.44.45 PM.png





Total Revolving Limits $254,800

Message 33 of 91
Shadowfactor
Valued Contributor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?

I've also had tickets on Delta and Jetblue be reimbursed when the amounts were under $125.

 

Delta GC's are still working on desktop for $50 increments.





Total Revolving Limits $254,800

Message 34 of 91
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@Shadowfactor wrote:

This has recently changed. It now states on Delta GC FAQ that you can redeem more then 3 in a transaction over the phone.

Screen Shot 2019-02-14 at 9.44.45 PM.png


Wow, that's a huge development.  I'm sitting on around $900 of Delta gift cards right now (zero from Amex charge cards; I'm actually able to use those fairly organically) in denominations from $50 to $300 so that's quite helpful.  That is a very recent change, and previously the only way to do so was not only time-consuming but unethical.

Message 35 of 91
Shadowfactor
Valued Contributor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@K-in-Boston wrote:

@Shadowfactor wrote:

This has recently changed. It now states on Delta GC FAQ that you can redeem more then 3 in a transaction over the phone.

 


Wow, that's a huge development.  I'm sitting on around $900 of Delta gift cards right now (zero from Amex charge cards; I'm actually able to use those fairly organically) in denominations from $50 to $300 so that's quite helpful.  That is a very recent change, and previously the only way to do so was not only time-consuming but unethical.


Sorry about the part you had to cut out of my previous post. I thought now that FT was allowed to be linked too we had gotten a little more liberal with the rules.I should have known better.

 

I'm well aware of the unethical version of redeeming giftcards. It may have contributed to the recent change as it had the ability to mess with Delta's flight reservations. I did see one recent post on FT that they had tried to redeem more then 3 GC's and had to have a manager do it but it was possible.

 

I know the pain! I have $127 in AA giftcards left out of $2250. Luckily this was a big travel year for me so they came in quite handy.





Total Revolving Limits $254,800

Message 36 of 91
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?

No sweat. Smiley Wink

99% of FlyerTalk fits right in with our TOS here. As with other allowed sites, links to that 99% and discussions about them are perfectly fine. But the other 1% is still off-limits. Thanks again for that awesome bit of news.
Message 37 of 91
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?

Anyone know how this impacts Amex network cards with other banks. I have the PenFed Pathfinder and have used their $100 credit to buy AA gift cards in the past. Is the way something codes network specific or bank specific?

Message 38 of 91
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@Anonymous wrote:

Anyone know how this impacts Amex network cards with other banks. I have the PenFed Pathfinder and have used their $100 credit to buy AA gift cards in the past. Is the way something codes network specific or bank specific?


The way that a merchant themselves would code is going to be network specific; an example of that would be that DAL codes as an airline when you buy a $50 gift card on a desktop from delta.com and CashStar codes as business services when you buy a $50 gift card on mobile from delta.com - but that's the merchant type, which doesn't contain information about the transaction itself.  The airlines are sending Level III Transactional Data along with your purchase that shows exactly what you bought.  If getting a credit is based on the transaction itself, then reimbursement will depend on what the card issuer has allowed.  If getting a credit is simply based on the merchant classification, it would always trigger the credit.  (Think "Travel Credit" on cards like CSR, USB Altitude Reserve, etc.)

 

TL;DR American Express is not going to determine whether a purchase on a 3rd party card on their network triggers a credit; that would be based on whether it's based upon the merchant code (4511 - Airlines and Air Carriers, same for all Amex network cards) or the transactional data (i.e. only baggage fees, lounge access and on-board purchases excluding WiFi) sent by the airline to the card issuer.

Message 39 of 91
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The end to Amex Airline GC workaround ?


@K-in-Boston wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Anyone know how this impacts Amex network cards with other banks. I have the PenFed Pathfinder and have used their $100 credit to buy AA gift cards in the past. Is the way something codes network specific or bank specific?


The way that a merchant themselves would code is going to be network specific; an example of that would be that DAL codes as an airline when you buy a $50 gift card on a desktop from delta.com and CashStar codes as business services when you buy a $50 gift card on mobile from delta.com - but that's the merchant type, which doesn't contain information about the transaction itself.  The airlines are sending Level III Transactional Data along with your purchase that shows exactly what you bought.  If getting a credit is based on the transaction itself, then reimbursement will depend on what the card issuer has allowed.  If getting a credit is simply based on the merchant classification, it would always trigger the credit.  (Think "Travel Credit" on cards like CSR, USB Altitude Reserve, etc.)

 

TL;DR American Express is not going to determine whether a purchase on a 3rd party card on their network triggers a credit; that would be based on whether it's based upon the merchant code (4511 - Airlines and Air Carriers, same for all Amex network cards) or the transactional data (i.e. only baggage fees, lounge access and on-board purchases excluding WiFi) sent by the airline to the card issuer.


Thanks for the detailed response. Based on that, I don't think I'm going to be getting the credit lol

Message 40 of 91
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