Amex UK has brought back its very generous United offer: spend £700 get £350 back.
It is a pretty big chunk of savings if you do have flight plans. If you currently don’t however, we’ll discuss a way of gaming today which could apply to similar Amex offers in other countries too. Most of the information below comes from our reader @siribuli.
If you purchase a fully refundable flight ticket on United’s website, you can cancel and instead of refund to the card, choose refund as future travel credit.
Future travel credit is the foundation of the entire hack. If you don’t see this option then it won’t work, but you’ll get full refund to the card anyway so there’s no loss.
United’s explanation on the future travel credit is here.
- Valid for one year from the original booking date
- It is a travel-by date, so to use the credit your travel has to happen within the next year
- The original passenger must be travelling
- It can be used to purchase any revenue tickets on United’s website, including those operated by partner airlines
- Multiple future travel credits can be used together in one purchase
So to summarise, the credit is not transferrable, the expiry not very generous but still a lot longer than the longevity of the Amex offer. You can also use it to book any flight, not only United flights departing from the UK.
Despite of what the FAQs and the screenshot above say, @siribuli is actually able to book a flight in the next year, so it might be implemented as a book-by date in the system, which of course could be a temporary glitch.
Last but not least, it opens up the possibility of using multiple offers on the same purchase. If you have many Amex cards with the United offer, you can accumulate the credit by repeating the process – according to United you should be able to spend them in one go.
If two offers are enough, e.g. your ticket costs £1,400, get the £700 future travel credit with your first Amex card, apply it to your booking and pay the rest with your second Amex card.
Solid post, this is fast becoming my favorite travel/points blog.
And by the way, are there any loopholes or workarounds to open a UK Amex, even if you aren’t a citizen or resident (as can be done for U.S. cards)?
Thanks! No I don’t think so, like most countries to open a credit card in the UK you need a solid proof of residency / address
UK cards are trickier to open than US ones, so likely the answer is no. You could try Amex Global Transfer to the UK, could work.
On a side note, any tips on opening a US Biz credit card as a non-US citizen residing abroad? I have an ITIN and a couple of personal cards with US Amex, but really want to get into the Biz game (especially with Chase).