【12/2016】 Starting on November 23, there have been quite a few DPs reporting that the MPX method for triggering the AMEX airline fee reimbursement has once again fallen into an abnormal state. However, after the 23rd, some normal airline charges were still reimbursed. At the moment, we do not know exactly what happened, but at least the UA Gift Registry method is still confirmed to be alive for now. We suggest readers wait and see for the time being and look for more DPs. Since mid-August 2015, the airline fee reimbursement benefit on AMEX PRG and AMEX Platinum had been in an abnormal state. Not only were gift card, GR, and MPX purchases not being reimbursed, but even normal airline charges were not seeing reimbursements post. Starting in late September, there were gradually more DPs reporting successful manual reimbursement through AMEX online chat with customer service. But since the end of September, newly purchased gift cards, GR, and MPX charges have once again been automatically reimbursed within two to three days, just like before. 
For those who jumped in at the end of August for the 100,000-point welcome bonus on the AMEX Platinum, this is obviously great news. However, note that if you bought gift cards, GR, or MPX before late September and still have not received reimbursement, it may be that the reimbursement never posted at all. In that case, based on many DPs on FT and Reddit, you may be able to get a manual reimbursement by logging into your online account and chatting with a CSR. That said, we do not recommend doing this. First, for this kind of unconventional deal, no call should always be our first rule; otherwise, if AMEX gets annoyed and shuts down this backdoor, that would be bad for everyone. Also, the transaction visible to the CSR clearly says MPX* Amazon.com. If they ask about it, it is not easy to explain. Although many DPs show that AMEX does not actually seem to care, running into a stricter CSR could still be troublesome. We would recommend simply buying again instead. However, both Freedom and Discover had Amazon 5% categories in Q4, so buying Amazon gift cards may be hard to use up. It may make more sense to prioritize other gift cards you can actually use. For example, I have been buying Regal Entertainment gift cards for movie tickets. (There are also DPs saying gift cards purchased in early September were automatically reimbursed, so if yours has not been reimbursed, you may want to wait a bit longer.)
If you have not bought yet, do not forget that before making the purchase, you need to first click this link to select the airline for your gift card purchase. If you are using GR or MPX to trigger reimbursement, choose United Airlines, and wait until you receive the confirmation email before buying. Now that MPX has been confirmed alive again, the AMEX PRG is once again a card with a waived first-year annual fee, 50,000 MR, plus a $200 reimbursement benefit, for a total value of $1,100; meanwhile, the AMEX Platinum, although it no longer has the 100,000-point welcome bonus, still has an effective first-year annual fee of only $50 and comes with 40,000 MR, for a total value of $670. Both are good cards worth applying for, so readers who are interested should not miss them. Do you have any experience with AMEX airline fee reimbursement? Feel free to comment and share with us.