Tricks to Use (& Not Lose) Your Amex Statement Credits

These days, it's not a matter of if your American Express travel card comes with a laundry list of third-party statement credits, it's how many … and how often do they expire?

From monthly Uber Cash to quarterly Resy dining credits and much more, there's a lot to keep straight. If you've got more than one Amex card in your wallet … well, you're going to need our handy benefit tracker.

But beyond making sure you don't let these credits go unused, there are a few sneaky ways to use these credits and beat Amex at its own game – think buying gift cards, stacking coupon codes, and even using them to level up your elite status.

The bank isn't afraid to tout the value these credits bring cardholders, so why not take full advantage?

In this post

Airline Fee Credits
Uber Cash
Resy Credits
Dining Credits
Delta's New Rideshare Credits
Delta Stays Credit
Lululemon Credit

Airline Fee Credits

The godfather of Amex statement credits is the up to $200 per year you get to cover airline fees, now available only on the bank's top-of-the-line *amex platinum*.

Only certain purchases on select U.S. airlines qualify and you have to pick just one airline each year … though you should be able to change your airline mid-way through the year by chatting with Amex.

Just log in to your American Express account and head for the “Benefits” tab to select your preferred airline. American Express has a handy meter which tracks how much of your Amex airline credits you've used.

This credit is designed mostly to cover ancillary fees like baggage and seat assignment, but savvy travelers have found workarounds to cover the cost of airfare. Over the years, that has gotten harder and harder.

But there are still some crafty ways to squeeze value out of this credit – including for booking flights. Some tricks are airline specific, while others like paying the taxes and fees on award tickets or buying a day pass to the lounge will work no matter the airline you choose.

Here are a few of our favorites.

Delta Air Lines

While it used to be possible to buy Delta gift cards online to trigger this credit, that trick is long gone. But that doesn't mean all is lost.

Thousands of travelers are sitting on Delta eCredits and travel vouchers after canceling trips – or taking advantage of a price drop to rebook for a credit. You can pair that eCredit with your Amex Platinum card's airline fee credit for some free(ish) airfare.

After applying an eCredit to a new flight, simply charge the remainder to an Amex Platinum and voila – up to $200 in credits should kick in automatically.

Our testing suggests that the final charge to your Amex Platinum (after using an eCredit) should be under $250 for this method to work. So if your ticket is $350, you'd need to apply at least $100 in eCredit to knock the price down. A few days later, the credit should kick in.

This same trick should work when using Delta's Pay with Miles feature. If you've also got a co-branded Delta SkyMiles card in your wallet, you can use SkyMiles to offset the cash cost of a ticket at 1 cent per SkyMile. Again, you'll need to keep the charge to your Amex Platinum below $250 but if you can apply 5,000 SkyMiles to a ticket of $300 (or less) your airline fee credit should kick in to cover the rest.

As always with all these workarounds, your mileage may vary: There's no guarantee this one will work forever. But for now, it's still going strong.

Southwest Airlines

One airline makes it easier than any other, with a big catch: Buying airfare straight from Southwest will trigger your credit … so long as the charge is under $100.

Finding airfare that cheap can be tricky. In most cases, will require buying one-way flights separately rather than a roundtrip fare.

Still, it's a pretty straightforward way to use up these credits for flights on Southwest. Once again, be sure to pick the right airline by logging into your American Express before you check out.

Cover Award Taxes & Fees

Any time you redeem frequent flyer miles, you're not exactly flying for free. These travel credits can change that.

Every award ticket gets hit with some cash fees and taxes. These vary widely, from the standard $5.60 on every one-way domestic flight in the U.S. to $1,000 or more on most business class flights departing London-Heathrow (LHR).

For example, you could automatically cover the $86 in taxes and fees on this SkyMiles award flight from New York City (JFK) to Paris (CDG) – so long as you select Delta as your preferred carrier and use your Amex Platinum to pay.

It may vary by airline, but you should be able to charge most award fees to your Amex Platinum and have the credit kick in to cover them.

Just remember to select your airline through your Amex benefits before making the purchase. And you'll have to book through a U.S. airline.

Uber Cash

American Express Platinum and Gold Cardholders get a monthly allotment of Uber Cash to use on Uber Rides and Uber Eats in the U.S. Just how much you get depends on which version of the card you carry.

Amex's annual_fees per year (see rates & fees) Platinum Card gets $15 per month in Uber Cash, with an extra $20 (for a total of $35) doled out in December. Meanwhile, the $325 annual fee (see rates & fees) *amex gold* gets a flat $10 of Uber Cash each and every month.

This monthly Uber Cash is another use-it-or-lose-it benefit, so even if you don't take an Uber every month, you should try to find some way to put it to use. Enter Uber Eats.

Let's be clear: This isn't a groundbreaking “trick.” But it might not be immediately obvious to some Amex cardholders that Uber Cash can be used for more than just rides.

While Uber Eats often shows higher prices than what you'll see at the restaurant, you can level the playing field by keeping an eye on your email inbox for an Uber Eats promo code. Or shop around a bit to find an Uber Eats restaurant with prices closer to what you'll see in store. And if you're looking to avoid those pesky delivery fees, you can always pick up your order instead of having it delivered.

Resy Credits

American Express has been on a tear lately, updating nearly all of its top travel cards, like the Amex Gold and, most recently, the Amex Platinum. The formula is nearly identical each and every time: Higher fees and new statement credits.

In the most recent “refreshes,” Amex has added a new statement credit for purchases at U.S. Resy participating restaurants.

Here's a look at which cards have this credit … and how much you get:

American Express Platinum Card®: Get up to $400 in statement credits annually (up to $100 quarterly), for purchases at U.S. Resy participating restaurants
American Express® Gold Card: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually (up to $50 semi-annually), for purchases at U.S. Resy participating restaurants
*delta skymiles platinum card*: Get up to $120 in statement credits annually (up to $10 per month), for purchases at U.S. Resy participating restaurants.
*delta reserve card*: Get up to $240 in statement credits annually (up to $20 per month), for purchases at U.S. Resy participating restaurants.

Read our full breakdown of how to use these new Resy credits!

The problem with these new credits, at least on the Delta SkyMiles Cards, is that Resy restaurants skew higher-end … and $10 or $20 per month doesn't go very far. The trick here is that you can purchase smaller-denomination gift cards at many of these restaurants and save up a few months' worth for a (sort of) free meal.

This will be hit-or-miss, as not all Resy restaurants sell gift cards – and with some, you'll physically have to go into the restaurant instead of buying them online. Still, so long as you're buying the gift card directly from the restaurant (not a third party), it should trigger your monthly or semi-annual credit.

Just be sure to enroll in this benefit beforehand and double-check that your favorite restaurant shows up on Resy's website or mobile app.

Dining Credits

Dining credits are a big perk with many Amex cards, but most come in drips and drabs each month that make them harder to use. Thankfully, there are some tricks that can help you maximize these credits without too much effort.

Let's start with one of Amex's newer credits: the up to $84 per year (or a maximum of $7 per month) that Amex Gold Cardholders get at coffee chain, Dunkin'.

I probably don't need to tell you this, but $7 doesn't go very far (even for coffee) these days. If you want to save up your credits for a bigger order there's an easy way to do it: Simply load your Dunkin' account with $7 per month in the mobile app. When you do so, it won't expire at the end of the month.

This is an especially good option for those without a Dunkin' close by.

The Amex Gold also comes with up to $120 per year (up to $10 per month) in dining credit at participating partners: Five Guys, Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory®, wine.com, and Goldbelly. While that list is fairly limited, the inclusion of Grubhub means you can use this credit at many more restaurants than are listed here.

Just like ordering Uber Eats, you may need to shop around a bit to find a restaurant with reasonable pricing. But so long as you opt for pickup instead of delivery, you can usually get pretty decent value out of this credit when ordering food through Grubhub. And if you've also got Amazon Prime, you can get Grubhub+ for free, which eliminates most delivery fees and often yields other discounts as well.

Similarly, the *biz gold* comes with an up to $240 per year (up to $20 per month) flexible business credit that can be used at Grubhub, FedEx, and office supply stores. All the same strategies listed above can be used to save on Grubhub orders with your Amex Business Gold. But there's also another option: Buying third-party gift cards at an office supply store. You might be surprised to know that stores like Office Depot and Staples sell lots of different gift cards.

Finally, the *bonvoy brilliant* comes with up to $300 per year (up to $25 per month) in dining credit. Unlike most Amex credits that require jumping through a bunch of hoops to use, this one's quite simple. All you need to do is make a purchase with your card that codes as dining and you'll automatically receive a statement credit for up to $25. But since the Bonvoy Brilliant isn't a card you typically want to use for day-to-day purchases, remembering to use this monthly credit might be harder than you think.

The trick to ensuring you use this credit is to set up an automatic reload with your favorite dining app. Not all will allow you to schedule reloads for a specific date but some, like the Starbucks app, will allow you pick a recurring date and dollar amount to make this a completely hands-off process.

Delta's New Rideshare Credits

The *delta skymiles platinum card* and the *delta reserve card* come with an annual rideshare credit: With either card, you get up to $120 in statement credits (doled out in $10 monthly installments) a year when you use your card to pay for a ride with Uber, Lyft, Curb, Revel, or Alto in the U.S.

Unlike the monthly Uber Cash that you get with the Amex Platinum and Gold Cards, this credit can't be used for Uber Eats … at least not officially – more on that in a second.

If you typically use one of these rideshare apps on a monthly basis, using this credit should be cinch – even a short ride costs $10 or more these days. But for those that don't use these rideshare services on a regular basis, you need to get creative.

Here's the trick: Purchasing Lyft Cash will also trigger the rideshare credit. There's a catch: You can only purchase Lyft Cash in amounts of either $25, $50, or $100.

If you go this route, you'll be loaning Lyft $15 of your own money each month until it comes time to use your Lyft Cash. That's not the end of the world if you use Lyft every few months … but it's certainly not a sound strategy if it's only once or twice per year.

Until recently, it didn't seem like there was any way to use this monthly credit for Uber Eats … but it appears that might not be the case. By setting up an Uber Family account and using your Delta Platinum or Reserve Card as the “family payment method,” others can charge Uber Eats orders to your card and it will code as a “shared family” purchase and trigger the rideshare credit.

We haven't yet tested this one for ourselves and, as with a lot of these workarounds, this might not work for everyone – or even every time. But for now, there are enough data points out there that suggest it's possible.

Delta Stays Credit

Depending on which SkyMiles credit card you carry, you've now got up to $250 in credits to use with Delta Stays each year. Delta Stays is similar to other online travel agencies (OTAs) in that you can easily search for hotel and vacation rentals in thousands of cities worldwide.

How much you'll get depends on which card you have:

The *delta skymiles gold* comes with an up to $100 Delta Stays credit each calendar year.
The *delta skymiles platinum card* comes with an up to $150 Delta Stays credit each calendar year.
The *delta skymiles reserve* comes with an up to $200 Delta Stays credit each calendar year.

If you've got the business version of any of these cards (yes, you can have both), you'll get an extra $50 on top of that.

To take advantage of your credit, head to the dedicated Delta Stays website to begin your search. Doing a little price-matching to ensure you're getting a fair deal is the only trick needed so far.

Lululemon Credit

Need some workout clothes or athleisure wear? Charge it to your Amex Platinum Card.

Cardholders can now get up to $75 back each quarter (up to $300 a year) on purchases at U.S. Lululemon retail stores (excluding outlets) or online at lululemon.com. Lululemon gear is pricey, so these new credits may not cover much more than a t-shirt, a few pairs of socks, or underwear. Still, it's useful to offset the cost of the shopping you might already be doing.

Thrifty Tip: While the terms and conditions say otherwise, this credit will still work to buy gift cards so long as you buy them in-store or ship a physical gift card to your house – at least for now. That means you could buy a few gift cards over time and put them towards a larger purchase.

Like many of these new benefits, enrollment is required before you can take advantage. Head to your online Amex account and enroll in this new benefit before you use it.

Bottom Line

If you've got an American Express credit card in your wallet, odds are it includes a “money-saving” statement credit that helps justify the card's annual fee. There's just one problem: Actually using some of these credits can be a frustrating, even fruitless, process.

Thankfully, with our list of tips, tricks, and workarounds, you can get more value out of these credits and stop letting them go to waste month after month.

Tricks to Use (& Not Lose) Your Amex Statement Credits