It is not surprising that the American Express Platinum® Card is full of premium travel benefits. One of the most generous perks of this premium lifestyle card is its annual statement credit of up to $200 toward airline incidentals. This benefit can reduce the effect of the card. $895 annual fee (see rates and fees) by offsetting regular airfares for checked baggage, seat assignments, and even lounge passes. Registration is required.
The same credit is also found in The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. As an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, the airline you select for the incidental credit will be the Only airline to offer the additional benefit of paying with points of 35% applies to Amex Travel purchases (up to 1 million points per calendar year).
This credit operates on a calendar year basis, meaning you have from January 1 to December 31 to use it. On paper, you need to select your airline for the year by January 31, although we’ve heard anecdotally that Amex has been flexible on this if you call or chat with a representative and request a change.
Amex Business Platinum Card: Earn 200,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.
First, please note that advance registration is required to receive credit for this benefit. Here you will find everything you need to know.
5 Tips on How to Use Airfare Credit This Year
Here are some ideas for using your Amex Platinum Incidental airline credits throughout 2026:
- Allow a authorized user use the fare credit on one of your flights.
- Pay checked baggage fees and seat assignments.
- Buys airline lounge day passes for future use. These are typically valid for one year from purchase, but be sure to check the exact terms before purchasing any pass. You can purchase single-use passes on Alaska Airlines for $65, American Airlines for $79, and United Airlines for $59. Also, keep in mind that this doesn’t work on all airlines, so do some research online for recent data.
- Splurge on food and drinks during the flight.
Advance registration required for select benefits.
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Related: How to get access to Delta Sky Club, including through Elite status and credit cards
Choose the right airline
If you have a Amex Platinumyou can click here to select or change your airline choice each January. (You will need to log in to access your Amex account.) You can also access the airline selection screen by navigating to the “Benefits” section of your online account from the Amex website or phone app. Either way, you will see that you can choose between the following airlines:
- Alaska Airlines
- american airlines
- Delta Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue
- Southwest Airlines
- Spiritual airlines
- united airlines
Amex has been relatively lenient in allowing changes to airline selection well beyond the usual Jan. 31 deadline for callers or users of the online chat feature. There’s no guarantee it will work for you, but it’s worth a try if you want to change airlines later in the year and haven’t used any of the credit yet.
Instinctively, you might assume that the airline you fly with most frequently is the best one to choose. However, choosing your main airline by default is not always the best option. This is because many fees do not apply if you have elite status or a co-branded credit card with that airline – so you’ll try to use credits to reimburse checked baggage fees or seat selections with an airline that may not charge you for it to begin with.
Instead, consider an airline with which you are likely to incur fees of at least $200 each year.
For example, imagine you fly United frequently enough to have elite status on that airline, but you also fly American several times a year. In this situation, you would be better off choosing American for your airfare credit.
You can use that credit for things like checked baggage fees, seats with extra legroom, or onboard food and beverages. TPG Credit Card Writer danyal ahmed has elite status with American Airlines, so Oneworld Sapphire benefits for checked baggage and seat selection also carry over to its partner airline Alaska Airlines. That’s why you chose United for the incidental credit refund, to maximize the value of this benefit, since you would have to pay these expenses on a United flight.
Don’t forget about budget airlines either. Selecting a low-cost airline like Southwest or Spirit as your airline of choice could be a smart strategy, as they charge high additional fees for services that would otherwise be included in your fare on other airlines.
What does the airfare credit cover?
Generally, the following incidental charges will be refunded using the Amex Platinum credit, as long as you make these purchases separately from the airline ticket (so they will appear as separate transactions).
However, anything not expressly classified as an incidental fee is not guaranteed to work and may change depending on how the airline codes transactions. For example, we’ve heard that United lounge passes can be coded as airline tickets and therefore probably wouldn’t trigger the credit. Here are some other examples that may or may not activate credit:
- Airport lounge day passes and annual memberships
- Exchange fees
- Checked baggage fees
- Rates for onboard services (drinks, food, pillows/blankets, etc.)
- Inflight entertainment rates (excluding wireless Internet, as the charge comes from the service provider and not the airline)
- Charges for oversized or oversized baggage
- Pet flight rates
- Telephone reservation rates
- Seat Assignment Fees
With so many potential charges that could qualify for this incidental airfare credit, it is not difficult for many frequent travelers to use the airfare credit in full during a typical year.
What does the airfare credit not cover?
According to the terms, the Amex Platinum airfare credit is No applicable for the following:
- Airline tickets
- prize tickets
- Charges that are not separate from airfare payments (for example, you can pay to select seats when purchasing a ticket, but that may not activate the credit)
- Tax free shopping
- Fees charged to other card accounts (in addition to authorized user accounts)
- Fees not charged by the cardholder’s chosen airline (for example, wireless Internet and fees incurred with partner airlines)
- Gift cards
- Incidental air travel fees collected prior to selection of a qualified airline
- Mileage Point Purchases
- Mileage Point Transfer Fees
- Updates
The airline must submit the charge with the appropriate merchant code and required service or product identifier for the charge to be recognized as an air travel incidental fee. The terms state that the statement credit will post to your account six to eight weeks after each charge (although, in our experience, it’s usually much quicker). If the credit has not posted by then, you can call the number on the back of the card to have the credit manually approved for valid charges.
Related: How long does it take to receive statement credits from Amex, Capital One, Chase and Citi?
The point about “fees not charged by the cardholder’s chosen airline” is also worth expanding on. If you book a ticket through your preferred airline but will be flying on a partner airline, you won’t be able to take advantage of your bonus credits.
Here is an example. Let’s say your preferred airline is United and you book a flight through the United website, but you’ll actually be flying a codeshare flight with Air Canada. When you check in at the airport with Air Canada, Air Canada (not United) will charge checked baggage fees, so you won’t be able to use your Amex Platinum incidental credits here.
Sometimes other small purchases of airline tickets, travel bank top-ups, and even taxes and fees also trigger the credit, as do some purchases of smaller amounts (around $50) of credit toward future airline travel.
However, these are unauthorized uses that could change at any time and should not be relied upon. Also, remember that only purchases with the airline you selected will activate the credit.
Other Amex Cards with Airfare Credits
He Amex Platinum It’s not the only Amex card that offers an annual airfare credit (up to a certain amount). The following Amex cards also offer statement credits (pre-registration required):
The airfare credit details on these cards are similar.
Related: Amex Platinum vs Business Platinum: Which premium Amex card is right for you?
In a nutshell
The Amex Airline Fare Statement Credit of up to $200 is one of those use-it-or-lose-it benefits that’s only worth what you earn from it.
Typically, it’s pretty easy to maximize this airline fee credit if you understand how it works and have a plan for next year. At this point, you should have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work for the Amex Platinum CardAirline incidental credits and how you can use them even if you’re not traveling right away.
To learn more about Amex cards with airfare credits, read our full reviews of the Amex Platinumhe Amex Business Platinum and the Hilton Amex Aspire Card.
Apply here: American Express Platinum Card
Apply here: The American Express Business Platinum Card
Apply here: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
For Amex Platinum rates and fees, click here.
