I really do enjoy when someone else benefits from one of my Travel Hacks, and this morning I had the chance to donate to Susan Komen for the Cure – the famous womens charity fighting for an end to breast cancer – for free!
I carry the American Express Platinum Card in my wallet only when travelling as it has great perks, but my wallet is a little full. Here is a partial list of benefits you get for the hefty $450 a year membership fee:
- Airport Lounge Access (when flying Coach on AA, Delta, US Air and also Priory Club Lounges)
- $200 Incidental Airline Fee Reimbursed per year
- Starwoods SPG Gold Status
- Fine Hotels of the Wold Program
- Car Rental Status with Avis, Hertz
- Global Entry – $100 value for fast tracking through airports
There are bunch more benefits, but i’ll keep it to these for now since these are the ones I treasure the most, and more than pay for the $450 in my opinion.
The Travel Hack here is for the $200 incidental fee, it is supposed to be for things like Bag Fees or Meals and Drinks on Domestic, but I don’t pay these silly fees anyway and didn’t want to leave $200 on the table. At the start of the year you pick your one Airline that this will work on and they will reimburse any line items from your bill.
Enter – AA Giftcards! These are available in Hard, Creditcard like cards (but come with a postage fee) and virtual cards that come through email. You can send them to yourself or to others. When I was purchasing a card this morning I noticed if I wanted to pick one for a cause I could and AA would donate $5 for every $50 that I purchase.
I signed up for $200 right away, paid with my American Express Platinum and now have a $200 Giftcard to use for future travel, and Komen for the Cure gets $20 from AA! Winning all round.
It is a simple 3 step process and they email the card to you right away (it doesn’t expire and you can use it for part payment, and use up to 8 cards per transaction).
Good deed done for the day, thanks Amex and AA!
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