Has anyone had success buying AA four $50 AA gift cards with RC Visa and then being credited for the incidental air travel expense?
A while ago, I asked Chase's customer support Twitter people about that, and was told that it only applies to baggage fees and in-flight purchases. That's the "official" line, and I don't know if that's the way it works in practice.
Yeah, I just called them and they confirmed that it only covers in-flight purchases - food, seat upgrades, etc. Sucks.
You'd expect them to say differently? The Amex cards with "airline fee" reimbursements all say the same thing, it's for airline in-cabin charges or bag fees, or other junk like that. In practice, we know that not to be true though. Try it, and if it works, great. If not, you still have the value of the GC's of which you'd likely use anyway, so what's the harm in trying?
In the case of AmEx I didn't have to call them to get credit - it's done automatically on their back end. And they allow spend on lounge access. With RC I have to call them to get the credit. So, if I buy those GC it will not show on their back end as in-flight purchase and I can't get the credit for a lounge access, so I can't claim that.