I’ve been using the American Express airline incidental credit on my eligible Amex cards for years. And like many other points and miles people, I relied on United TravelBank to do it.

It was simple. Every January, I’d just select United as my airline, load amounts into my TravelBank, and the charge would trigger the annual airline fee reimbursement. Those credits added up and even helped fund my daughter’s birthday trip to New York.

Now, that easy workaround may be coming to an end.

Multiple recent data points suggest that new United TravelBank purchases no longer trigger the Amex airline incidental credits.

 

TravelBank Purchases May Be Coding Differently

Recent reports indicate that newer TravelBank charges are not being reimbursed the way they have in the past. Some cardholders are seeing no statement credit at all, even after the typical posting window.

Older transactions may still be crediting, but newer purchases appear to be coding in a way that Amex isn’t recognizing as an eligible incidental fee.

Importantly, American Express has never officially confirmed TravelBank as a qualifying expense. The airline incidental credit is intended to cover charges like:

• Checked bag fees
• Seat assignment fees
• In-flight food and beverage
• Other incidental airline charges

Stored travel funds were always a gray-area strategy.

 

The Risk of Using Workarounds

For many, TravelBank was the easiest “set it and forget it” way to use the benefit — especially for those who rarely pay baggage or seat fees.

If this no longer works, you may need to pivot back to traditional incidental charges.

Because TravelBank was never officially approved for the credit, there was always some risk.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from covering credit cards, it’s this: if you find a workaround that works, use it sooner rather than later. It’s rarely a question of if a loophole closes — it’s when.

 

Sometimes Workarounds Have Nine Lives

Unlike other workarounds that die forever, we’ve seen the TravelBank play disappear before. Reimbursements stopped… and then they started again.

Right now, the data points are still limited. That makes it hard to know whether this is a permanent shutdown or just a temporary shift in how these purchases are being categorized.

For now, a little patience probably makes sense. If you haven’t used your airline’s incidental credit yet, you might want to wait for clearer confirmation before loading up TravelBank.

In the points and miles world, workarounds rarely last forever — but once in a while, you get a unique one that has a funny way of coming back.