When I say “tragedy,” I am absolutely being sarcastic. It appears–though it is too early to tell–that has a well-known American Express loophole allowing cardmembers to receive credit for the purchase of United Airlines “Travel Bank” credit has been closed. My response: you weren’t entitled to it in the first place, so too bad, so sad.
United Airlines Travel Bank “Loophole” Patched By American Express? Or Did United Do It?
I love me a good loophole, just like everyone else. I’ve been at the forefront of so-called “mistake fares” (though I would not necessarily call them that) going to 2009. I’m all for taking advantage of these sorts of deals, precisely because airlines and credit card companies take advantage of us every opportunity they can get and when it comes towhees fares, it is often hard to distinguish whether it is a mistake or a fare sale.
But I’ve read so much outrage this week about how American Express has, effective around February 6, 2026, eliminated the so-called Travel Bank “loophole” in which purchasing these pseudo gift cards from United Airlines no longer triggers up to $200 in reimbursement.
Understanding The $200 American Express Platinum Travel Credit
Back up for a moment. One of the benefits of an American Express Platinum card is a $200 annual airline credit. You must choose the airline in advance and the credit is only good for “incidental” fees, not “airline tickets, mileage points purchases/transfers, gift cards, duty-free purchases, award tickets, and seat upgrades.”
- Selection Required: You must select one qualifying airline online or by calling Amex before charging fees.
- Eligible Fees (Incidental Only): Baggage fees, pet fees, flight booking fees, seat selection fees, in-flight refreshments, and airport lounge day passes.
- Ineligible Charges: Airline tickets, mileage points purchases/transfers, gift cards, duty-free purchases, award tickets, and seat upgrades.
- Separate Charges: Incidental fees must be charged separately from the ticket price.
- Timing: Credits generally appear 6-8 weeks after the charge.
But there has been a long-running loophole with United Airlines in which members could buy “Travel Bank” credit (essentially future flight credit) and it would be coded as an ancillary purchase and therefore eligible for credit.
Anecdotal reports suggest that these purchases are now coded in the same way as ticket purchases, therefore are no longer valid for reimbursement as an incidental fee. Although AMEX warns credits may take 6-8 weeks to appear, typically it occurs in 4-6 days and for “Travel Bank” purchases made on or after February 6th, the credit is not appearing.
It merits mentioning that the coding change of Travel Bank purchases may have been done by United Airlines and not be a deliberate action of AMEX at all.
Why Are You Complaining About An Obvious Loophole?
Right now we just have a loose amalgamation of data points and since 6-8 weeks have passed not since February 6th. Ultimately, this story must be marked as developing.
At the same time, my thought is, “Really?”
The rules explicitly say that gift cards are excluded and clearly buying “Travel Bank” credit is not anything close to “baggage fees, pet fees, flight booking fees, seat selection fees, in-flight refreshments, and airport lounge day passes.”
I begrudge no one for taking advantage of this loophole while available and yes, I can lament its passing too…if indeed it is passing.
But I also cannot understand the outrage I am seeing, as if it is the end of the world for American Express Platinum cardholders and their “coupon book” of deals. Unlike an ambiguous airline fare, here it seems there was nothing ambiguous: AMEX clearly said these sorts of purchases are not eligible for credit.
I actually do like American Express as a company, but I just had to laugh while flying through San Francisco (SFO) recently and seeing 50 people standing outside the “temporary” centurion Lounge in the D gates waiting to get in.
That turns “luxury” upside down. The value proposition of an AMEX card is still compelling for many travelers, but no longer a no-brainer as in years past.
CONCLUSION
It appears that American Express may no longer be counting United Travel Bank purchases as ancillary credit in terms, which means an end to an effective $200 annual rebate for United flyers that hold the AMEX Platinum card. I don’t celebrate that change at all (if indeed that is the change), but can you really blame AMEX when the T&Cs are perfectly clear that such purchases should not count toward the annual credit?
Oh, and let me be a bit ironic as well. Do you need an American Express Platinum card? Without groveling, would you sign up via my link please?
Link: Learn more about American Express Platinum Card®
Thank you in advance for helping support his independent website, that looks out of you, but will not coddle you…
I think, regardless of this negative development for cardholders, it may still make sense to hold an American Express Platinum card. But I find the current rebate-style approach to card benefits annoyingly complicated.
image: United Airlines
Yet another good thing ruined by influencers on TikTok who can’t keep their yaps shut.
Good lesson for all those who missed it: use loopholes ASAP. No guarantee they’ll be here tomorrow.
Oh, 100% agree. And to all the folks who are calling AMEX this week wondering where your credit is: thanks a lot. Rule #1 is never call the airline/hotel/credit card company.
What’s is looking like from data points isn’t so much that Amex patched anything, but that United started coding Travel Bank purchases differently. Perhaps it was related to their big software upgrade recently? TB purchases used to code as “special service ticket” and are allegedly now coding as “gift certificate”
You are quite correct that this could have been United, not AMEX.
I had 2 Amex Platinums (recently got the Schwab one since I have an account with them) and recently canceled the non-Schwab one after using some credits which all worked. I tried on the 13th with the Schwab card and didn’t see any credits posting (yet) and was wondering if something happened.
If it doesn’t post I’ll have to remember I have $200 in credits I can use this year if/when I fly United. Last year I used both United and Southwest for the credits.
As to your rule #1 which for people with common sense that is true, we know too much of society is like the person who is stranded somewhere on a tv show and eats all of the food on day 1 instead of rationing it. As a kid I would think “no one is that stupid” but I now know there are tons of people who are exactly like that.
In these days I don’t understand why amex still restricts airline credits. Just give the credit for any purchases and reduce the coupon value or whatever. Might just close amex as it is becoming too much headache
It seems to me the hope on the part of AMEX is that you won’t use it!
Obviously you weren’t “supposed” to get it, and there’s not much to be done about it at this point. But if it’s long-established that they consistently turn a blind eye to it for years, then people get accustomed to it and factor it into their decision-making (whether to make the Travel Bank purchase, or whether to choose United as their designated airline for the fee, or whether to keep the Platinum card in the first place). It’d be different if someone publicly came out and say “hey everyone we’re closing this loophole as of today”. But it’s understandable for people to be disappointed if they made the decision to choose United as their designated airline and buy Travel Bank credit under the reasonable assumption that it would get reimbursed (and would not have done so otherwise), only to find out after the fact that it wouldn’t.
I have never even used this credit since I have status on the airlines I fly and/or fly premium cabins where I never have baggage fees or in-flight meal purchases. I honestly wish this credit was the same as the Citi Prestige card where you get a $250 travel credit per year on ANY travel-related expense — including airfare. Would be much more valuable.
I consider my $200 airline credit to be pretty useless. I use it to buy champagne when I’m in an Admiral’s Club and going somewhere fun. I place $0 value on Centurion Lounges. They’re a distant #3 in the US credit card game, and with improvements made to AA/UA/DL lounges, they’re no better than those. All that being said, the new card is probably still worth the AF if you can make use of the hotel credits and use the Resy credits organically.
Never cared about this credit, loophole or no loophole. I’d pay $200 not to go to Newark. Between the $600 hotel credit (FHR and Hotel Collection are light years ahead of pretenders like the Edit), $400 Resy and $300 digital, card more than pays for itself already. Enjoy the 5x points on airfare, a little lounge time (from time to time) and don’t sweat it.
No, don’t understate this, Matt. It is a tragedy as it’s just made the Platinum card $200 less valuable. Does this also apply to the Hilton Aspire, now $50/quarter airline incidental fee credit (which was basically a Travel Bank purchase, too)? I guess we’ll find out in April for Q2. If not for Travel Bank, what the hell are we gonna use these silly coupon credits for?!
The Hilton Aspire credit is a credit for airfare rather than airline incidentals. Interestingly enough, the UA Travel Bank triggered that credit for me historically, so I don’t think I would point to a change made by United in how things are coded would be the issue, though I could be mistaken.
Good distinction on the Aspire card. Phew! I’m a huge fan of that one to begin with (FNC that works for all Standard Awards, unlike Marriott’s Brilliant, which caps at 100K after 15K addition to the 85K certificate, lame).
Any updates or news on using United Travel Bank with the $50 quarterly credit with the Amex Aspire card?