Your guide to Amex Platinum’s airline fee credit in 2026

It’s no surprise that the American Express Platinum Card® is packed with premium travel benefits. One of the most generous perks of this premium lifestyle card is its annual statement credit of up to $200 for airline incidental fees. This perk can reduce the sting of the card’s $895 annual fee (see rates and fees) by offsetting common airline fees for checked bags, seat assignment and even lounge passes. Enrollment is required.

The same credit is also found on 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 for which the 35% Pay with Points bonus perk applies to Amex Travel purchases (up to 1 million points back per calendar year).

This credit operates on a calendar-year basis, meaning you have from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 to use it. On paper, you need to select your airline for the year by Jan. 31, though 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 spending $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.

First, note that enrollment is required in advance to receive credit for this benefit. Here’s everything else you need to know.

5 suggestions for how to use the airline fee credit this year

Here are some ideas for using your Amex Platinum airline incidental credits throughout 2026:

• Allow an authorized user to use the fee credit on one of their flights.
• Pay for checked bag fees and seat assignments.
• Purchase airline lounge day passes for future use. These are often valid for one year from purchase, but be sure to check the exact terms before buying any passes. You can purchase single-use passes from Alaska Airlines for $65, from American Airlines for $79 and from United Airlines for $59. Also, note that this doesn’t work across all airlines, so do some online research for recent data points.
• Splurge on food and beverages while in flight.

Enrollment is required in advance for select benefits.

Related: How to get Delta Sky Club access, including via elite status and credit cards

Choose the right airline

If you have an Amex Platinum, you can click here to select or change your airline choice each January. (You’ll need to log in to access your Amex account.) You can also access the airline selection screen by scrolling to your online account’s “Benefits” section from either the Amex website or the phone app. Either way, you’ll see that you can choose from the following airlines:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue
• Southwest Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• United Airlines

Amex has been relatively lenient in permitting airline selection changes well beyond the usual Jan. 31 deadline for those who call or use the online chat feature. There’s no guarantee that it will work for you, but it’s worth trying if you want to change your airline later in the year and haven’t used any of the credit yet.

Instinctively, you might assume that the airline you most frequently fly with is the best one to choose. However, picking your primary airline by default isn’t 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 you’ll be trying to use credits to reimburse checked bag fees or seat selections with an airline that may not charge you for those to begin with.

Instead, consider an airline with which you’re likely to incur at least $200 in fees each year.

For example, imagine you fly United frequently enough to hold elite status with that airline, but also fly American a few times each year. In this situation, you might be better served by choosing American for your airline fee credit.

You could use that credit for things like checked bag fees, extra-legroom seats or onboard food and drinks. TPG credit card writer Danyal Ahmed holds elite status with American Airlines, so the Oneworld Sapphire benefits for checked bags and seat selection also carry over to its partner airline Alaska Airlines. This is why he chose United for the incidental credit reimbursement instead, to maximize the value of this perk, as he’d have to pay for these expenses on a United flight.

Don’t forget about budget airlines, either. Selecting a low-cost carrier like Southwest or Spirit as your airline of choice could be a smart strategy, since they charge steep extra fees for amenities that are otherwise included with your fare on other airlines.

What is covered by the airline fee credit?

Generally, the following incidental fees will be reimbursed using the Amex Platinum credit, provided 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 based on how the airline codes the transactions. For example, we’ve heard that United lounge passes can be coded as airfare — and, therefore, likely wouldn’t trigger the credit. Here are some other examples that may or may not trigger the credit:

• Airport lounge day passes and annual memberships
• Change fees
• Checked baggage fees
• In-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows/blankets, etc.)
• In-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet, since the charge comes from the service provider and not the airline)
• Overweight/oversized baggage fees
• Pet flight fees
• Phone reservation fees
• Seat assignment fees

With so many potential charges that could qualify for this airline incidental fee credit, it’s not difficult for many frequent travelers to use the airline fee credit in full during a typical year.

What is not covered by the airline fee credit?

According to the terms, the Amex Platinum airline fee credit is not applicable for the following:

• Airline tickets
• Award tickets
• Charges that aren’t separate from airline ticket payments (for example, you may pay to select seats when purchasing a ticket, but that may not trigger the credit)
• Duty-free purchases
• Fees charged to other card accounts (besides authorized user accounts)
• Fees not charged by the cardmember’s airline of choice (for example, wireless internet and fees incurred with airline alliance partners)
• Gift cards
• Incidental air travel fees charged prior to the selection of a qualifying airline
• Mileage points purchases
• Mileage points transfer fees
• Upgrades

The airline must submit the charge under the appropriate merchant code and required service or product identifier for the charge to be recognized as an incidental air travel fee. The terms state that the statement credit will post to your account six to eight weeks after each charge (though in our experience, it is often much faster). If the credit hasn’t posted by then, you can call the number on the back of the card to have the credit manually approved for the valid charges.

Related: How long does it take to receive statement credits from Amex, Capital One, Chase and Citi?

It’s also worth expanding on the bullet point for “fees not charged by the cardmember’s airline of choice.” If you book a ticket through your preferred airline but will fly on a partner airline instead, you won’t be able to take advantage of your incidental credits.

Here’s an example. Say that your preferred airline is United and you book a flight through United’s website, but you will actually fly a codeshare flight on Air Canada. When you check in at the airport with Air Canada, checked bag fees would be charged by Air Canada — not United — so you wouldn’t be able to use your Amex Platinum incidental credits here.

Sometimes, other small airline ticket purchases, travel bank reloads and even the taxes and fees also trigger the credit, as have some purchases of smaller amounts (around $50) of future airline travel credit.

However, those are off-label uses that could change at any time and should not be relied on. Additionally, remember that only purchases with the airline you selected will trigger the credit.

Other Amex cards with airline fee credits

The Amex Platinum isn’t the only Amex card that offers an annual airline fee credit (up to a certain amount). The following Amex cards also offer statement credits (advance enrollment is required):

The details of the airline fee credit on these cards are similar.

Related: Amex Platinum vs. Business Platinum: Which premium Amex card is right for you?

Bottom line

The up to $200 Amex airline fee statement credit is one of those use-it-or-lose-it benefits that is only worth what you make of it.

Normally, it’s pretty easy to maximize this airline fee credit if you understand how it works and have a plan for the year ahead. At this point, you should have a good idea of what does and doesn’t work for the Amex Platinum Card’s airline incidental credits and how you can use them even if you aren’t traveling right away.

To learn more about Amex’s cards with airline fee credits, read our full reviews of the Amex Platinum, the Amex Business Platinum and the Hilton Amex Aspire Card.

Apply here: American Express Platinum Card

Apply here: The Business Platinum Card from American Express

Apply here: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum, click here.