Amex airline credits are difficult to use and people are looking for ways to maximize their American Express airline credit, including an Amex airline credit hack. Unfortunately, Amex is clawing back those airline credits.
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33 comments
The good thing is that it is a legitimate clawback. If anyone is trying to game the system, then it makes sense to me.
I’m glad I didn’t play that game. Basically because I didn’t know about it. This is like the light grey zone to me. Like some people could have organically done this and had the credit happen. Some people don’t even know the rules.
This time I have to side with Amex. I'm still team Amex over Chase since CSR changes.
How do people even get Amex cards? I've been in pop-up hell for the past 8 months
Anything that doesn't feel right…don't do it. Even more so with Amex. I think you have to assume that these premium benefits/credit are supposed to be used as intended. Ultimately it's their game and their rules. Remember that they prefer high spenders who are profitable, not average joes gaming the system and trying to get a piece of the high life.
I honestly will never recommend the AmEx Gold or Platinum cards on my channel to anyone as long as these airline incidental fees exist. These credits are terrible. AmEx knows this is where all their profit comes from in off setting credits vs the annual fees.
Its fair. People shouldn't be able to double dip. I side with Amex on this one since this was done to people with wrong intentions to begin with.
So much for counting on miles boosters, which is how I topped off last year.
This really has to sting for all of the Platinum card holders who can only justify having the card through the credits they receive.
Next they’ll probably want to claw back those who use the Saks credit for gift cards. Teasing here but honestly, I wouldn’t put anything past Amex and their RAT 🐀 squad these days.
[attempting my best Hans Gruber impersonation] "Try to game the system with AMEX and they will find you" 🙃
I’m gonna sit back with nice cup of coffee ☕️ and watch YouTubers go crazy over this. All while tossing a sweetheart glance at my Citi Prestige and CSR that doesn’t care what I use my credit on as long as it’s travel. 😂🤣
I used the southwest method for my incidental credit but I didn’t get a merchant refund made sure to just cancel it and get a flight credit idk how u could even find a refundable ticket from sw to get a merchant refund
Amex makes majority of it's money from merchant on swipe fees. By making any credit so difficult to use Amex hopes that people actually spend a lot more over trying to use airline, Uber or GrubHub credit. So if someone is gaming the system and Amex is losing out on potential swipe fees then definitely they are going to hunt you down. 😀
I’m not surprised at Amex’s clawback. I’m glad Amex has a team to combat fraudulent transactions. With that said, trying to use the airline credit is a pain in the ass!
People got what they deserved. People that play with fire will get burned! Bravo for Amex. This is called stealing! People that do this make it bad for the people that follow the rules.
These methods are blatant gaming. Amex doesn't cater to those hacking their rewards.
My favorite line: "American Express is not a bank you want to screw around with" 😂
I called AMEX and told them I was going to cancel my gold card cuz the 100$ airline credit is useless they offer me 15000 points with a 1k spend
I wouldn’t know. Im not in the AMEX club 🙁
At least not yet. Lol.
#FlexGameStrong in the vid <3
I would probably have a platinum or gold amex right now if it weren't for their restrictive airline and dining credits. The credits are simply too much of a pain in the a$$ to use. It's like dating a woman who already has kids…why bother? There's plenty of other options available out there. When amex actually cares about their customers I'll give them another look, until then, these credits are a joke.
I don't have a problem with AMEX shutting down people that abuse the system with these games. We all know the rules and if you don't play fair, be prepared to get your hand smacked. I suppose I've found value in the credits for various reasons and don't really mind it the way it is set up now.
It’s ridiculous due to the fact that you pay that up front
The end of last year, I had just over $1,000 in grocery store spend "left" on my Amex BCP card to count towards the 6% back (up to $6,000) with a few days left in the year. Went to the grocery store and bought 2 x $500 Visa gift cards and a few groceries. It all looked good, then about 4 weeks later, they revised my cash back so that the $1,000 in gift cards only earned the standard 1% back and not the 6%. Strangely, the few bucks in actual groceries from the SAME PURCHASE they did apply the 6% to. Clearly someone was looking at the underlying purchase data and decided I didn't deserve the 6% cash back on that.
Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered!
Thanks for the info 🤓👍🎥
I know a guy who uses his Square to meet the minimum spend. So basically the money goes back to his bank account & he pays the bill with the same money.
I have to say that AMEX is at fault for it at times. I recently purchased some tickets and had to pay taxes and fees and they were the ones that reimbursed me back for that. How am I supposed to avoid that. I used the platinum because well it earns 5x so isn't it their fault that their system is setup that way?
As long as they don’t take my points that means I’m good
This is a great thing by Amex. The airline credits are not hard to use if you travel on any regular basis. The rules are clear but a gray area can always be found. As a career in fraud investigations, understand, Amex is a business and when people steal or attempt fraud, you will be caught. I earn A LOT of points and rewards from my AMEX cards the right way and I highly value my long term relationship with them since 2005. Great video, Dustin.
You are too generous. AmEx should permanently blacklist people who scam the system. Common sense tells you a credit for a $0 charge is wrong.
"Don't become emotionally attached to your credit card." This is so true. Everyone probably knows I am an American Express fan but there really are so many different cards out there that could benefit you more. All I know is that I use the airline credit for the intended purpose. So, hopefully I don't get caught up in this mess. Great vid Dustin! Take care and happy travels!
I do think it's fair to claw back the credit if it's refunded but they should do it immediately after refund (or increase current year's total credits if it was credited the year before). How Amex is doing it now is essentially punishing those who aren't gaming the system and simply get their seat assignments, baggage etc. fee refunded after canceling their plane tickets for legit reasons.
At the end of the day, account holder isn’t requesting the credit for specific charges wether it’s legit or not. This will eventually be a class action lawsuit. Like you said, people can’t even use the credit they were blocked from using. If I have credits available, that may make a difference on what airline I choose. Obviously, some of the blatant scams people pull are worth the clawback, but to someone who gets a credit for something they didn’t expect to get credit for and then can’t use the credit for the remainder of the year and then getting charged after the fact for Amex’s error… yea… that’s shady on Amex’s end.