Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Yesterday, I booked an American Airlines flight from New York (LGA) to Dallas (DFW) to Orange County (SNA) for Laura and myself (we plan to check out the Centurion Lounges in LGA and DFW during our trip).  With my American Express Gold Card, I get a $100 airline fee credit to use each year to cover seat assignments, checked bags, in-flight drinks/snacks, etc.  I decided to use my $100 airline fee credit to purchase preferred seats for our American Airlines flights.

Unfortunately, American Express has a weird system that will automatically enroll you in last year’s airline choice if you do not make a change by January 31.  Since I selected Southwest Airlines in 2019 (when buying Southwest Airlines eGift Cards triggered the credits), that was who my airline choice was for 2020.  Thankfully, you can change your airline choice if you do not use any of the credit in the current year.  Instead of calling American Express, I clicked the Chat button in the lower right corner of the screen.

I typed in my comment and the automated system asked me a few questions.  After going through the prompts to change to American Airlines, I thought the Chat box was going to make the change for me, but unfortunately, I had to be connected to human.  After confirming my airline choice, the agent processed my change.  I’m not sure why the Chat box could not do it by itself, but the whole process only took a few minutes.

After finishing the chat, I refreshed my American Express benefits page and the airline choice changed from Southwest Airlines to American Airlines.

I then proceeded to buy ~$100 of American Airlines preferred seats and pay with my American Express Gold Card.

The airline seat charge hasn’t posted yet, but it should post to my account in the next 1-2 days.  Then a few days after that, I expect to the see the $100 airline fee credit post to my account.  I’ve heard success stories of people changing their airlines in late December and still being able to use the airline fee credit, as long as they didn’t use any of the airline fee credit earlier in the year.  If you have any questions about the airline fee credit or about the American Express chat feature, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend everyone!