It is not surprising Platinum Card® from American Express Packed with premium benefits. One of the most generous perks of the premium card is an annual statement credit of up to $200 in airline incidental fees. When fully maximized, this benefit can reduce the sting of the card’s $695 annual fee (see Rates and Fees). Registration is required.
This credit works on a calendar year basis, which means you have January 1 to December 31 to use the credit. Additionally, you usually need to choose your airline for the year by January 31st, although anecdotally, we’ve heard that Amex is a bit more flexible on this if you call or chat with a representative.
Generally, it is very easy for a traveler to fully max out the annual airline fee credit of up to $200 over 12 months.
First things first: Note that registration is required in advance before you receive credit for this benefit in 2025. Here’s what else you need to know.
5 tips on using airline fee credits this year
Here are some ideas for your use Amex Platinum Airline Contingency Credits throughout 2025:
- Pay for seat assignment and checked bag fees
- Use it to sprinkle on food and drinks during flight
- Buy an airline lounge day pass for future use. These are often valid for one year of purchase, but be sure to check the specific terms before purchasing any pass. You can buy a single-use pass from United for $59, American for $79, and Alaska for $60. Also, know that this doesn’t work 100% with all airlines, so do some online searching for the latest data points.
- Allow an authorized user (see Rates and Fees) to use a fee credit on one of their flights
- Buy Southwest Earlybird boarding for future Southwest flights
Advance registration is required for select benefits.
RELATED: Delta Sky Club Access: How to Visit Lounges with Credit Cards, Elite Status and More
Choose the right airline
If you have n Amex PlatinumYou can click here To select or change your airline preference each January (you’ll need to log in to access your Amex account). You can also access the airline selection screen by scrolling to the “Benefits” section of your online account. Either way, you’ll find that you can choose from the following airlines:
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- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- United Airlines
Amex is very generous about allowing airline preference changes well beyond the usual January 31st deadline for those who call to ask or use the online chat feature. There’s no guarantee it will work for you, but it’s worth a try if you want to change your airline later in the year and haven’t used the credit yet.
Generally speaking, you can assume that the airline you fly with most often is the one to choose. However, automatically selecting your primary airline is not always the best choice. That’s because many fees are waived if you have elite status or a cobranded credit card with that airline, so giving a credit to reimburse you for a checked bag fee or seat preference with that airline may not be useful.
Instead, consider an airline with which you are likely to pay at least a $200 fee per year.
For example, imagine you fly United most often and also have elite status with that airline, but you also fly American a few times each year. In this case, you would be better served by choosing American for your airline fee credit.
You can use those credits for things like seat assignment, extra-legroom seats, bag fees, onboard drinks or food. Remember that prior registration is required to avail this benefit Through this direct registration link.
Don’t forget about budget airlines either.
Designating a low-cost carrier as your airline of choice can be a smart strategy because they charge extra fees for features that come automatically with some other airlines.
This includes checked and carry-on bags, seat assignment and onboard snacks and drinks. Maximizing Amex Platinum Airline fee credit should be really easy if you choose and fly with a carrier that charges a large number of add-on fees.
What is covered by the Airline Fee Credit?
Generally, reimbursement will be made using the applicable fees below Amex Platinum credit, as long as you separate these purchases from airline tickets (so the purchase appears as a separate transaction).
However, anything that isn’t clearly a contingency fee isn’t guaranteed to work and can vary depending on how the airline codes transactions. For example, we recently heard that United lounge passes can be coded as airfare and therefore unlikely to trigger a credit. Here are some other examples that may not trigger the credit:
- Checked Baggage Fee
- Overweight/oversized baggage fee
- Change Fees
- Phone reservation fee
- Pet flight fee
- Airport Lounge Day Passes and Annual Memberships
- Seat Assignment Fee
- Inflight facility fee (beverages, food, pillows/blankets etc.)
- Inflight entertainment fee (excluding wireless internet)
As you can imagine, it’s not difficult for many frequent travelers to use airline fee credits in a typical year.
If American Airlines is your airline of choice, check out this post on which American Airlines expenses trigger the Amex Airline Fee Credit. And here’s a real-world look at what triggers fee credits at more airlines.
What is not covered by the airline fee credit
According to the terms, the Amex Platinum Airline fees are creditable not Applicable to the following:
- Fees charged to other card accounts (other than authorized user accounts)
- Charges that are not separate from airline ticket payments (for example, you may pay to select seats when purchasing a ticket, but that may not trigger a credit)
- Fees not charged by the Cardmember’s preferred airline (for example, wireless internet and fees with airline alliance partners)
- Contingent air travel fees are charged prior to selecting an eligible airline
- Airline tickets
- upgrade
- Purchase of Mileage Points
- Mileage Point Transfer Fee
- Gift card
- Duty free shopping
- Award tickets
The airline must submit the charge under the appropriate merchant code and required service or product identifier to identify the charge as a incidental air travel fee. The terms state that statement credits allow six to eight weeks after each charge to post to your account (although, in our experience, that’s often faster). If the credit hasn’t posted after that time, you can call the number on the back of the card to manually approve the credit for valid charges.
Related: How long does it take to get a statement credit from Amex, Capital One, Chase and Citi?
It’s also worth highlighting the bullet point for “fees are not charged by the Cardmember’s preferred airline”. If you book a ticket through the airline of your choice but fly on a partner airline, expect that you won’t be able to use your contingency credit.
Here is an example. Say your airline of choice is United, you book a flight through United’s website, but you actually fly on Air Canada. When you check in at an airport with Air Canada, the checked bag fee will be charged by Air Canada — not United — so you won’t be able to use your Amex Platinum Contingency Credit here.
As with most things, there are clear cases when credit does and does not work reliably while there are also some gray areas. For example, we’ve heard reports that an airfare credit kicks in when you pay for part of a Delta ticket with a gift card and then charge the rest to your Amex Platinum. This happens because the remaining air fare becomes “excess collection” and triggers the reimbursement credit.
Sometimes, other small airline ticket purchases, travel bank reloads and taxes/fees also trigger the credit, as do some purchases of small ($50-ish) amounts of future airline travel credit.
However, those are off-label uses that can change at any time. Additionally, remember that only purchases with your chosen airline will trigger the credit.
Other Amex Cards with Airline Fee Credit
This Amex Platinum Not the only Amex card that offers an annual airline fee credit (up to a certain amount). The following Amex cards also offer credit (advance registration required):
Information for the Hilton Aspire Amex Card has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Details of airline fee credit on these cards and Amex Platinum is the same. But there is an important wrinkle Business Platinum Card. Business Platinum cardholders receive a 35% bonus on any points redeemed for business- or first-class travel on qualifying airlines when booked. Amex Travel (1 million points back per calendar year) or when using Pay with Points to book travel on the airline of their choice – the same airline associated with $200 in annual airline contingency credit.
Related: Why I Love Amex Business Platinum’s Pay With Points Perk
Because of that, Business Platinum cardholders may want to choose an airline for which they use points to purchase economy tickets for their annual airline credit, where they will charge a fee that offsets the credit.
The bottom line
An Amex airline fee credit of up to $200 is one of those use-it-or-lose-it perks that’s worth what you get.
In general, maximizing this airline fee credit is pretty easy if you understand how it works and have a plan for the coming year. At this point, you should have a good sense of what works for you and what doesn’t Amex Platinum The card’s airline contingency credits and how you can use these credits, even if you’re not traveling immediately.
Apply here: Amex Platinum
Apply here: Amex Business Platinum
For Amex Platinum rates and fees, click here.
For Amex Business Platinum rates and fees, click here.