Using the Hilton Aspire Flight Credit
In today's coupon-filled points and miles world, it's easy to overthink a card perk that is actually really simple. That's exactly what you get with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. This premium hotel card comes with one of the easiest perks to use these days. But it also gives you some creative options to build up credits and stack them for later use. Here are some tips for using the Hilton Aspire flight credit.
What Is the Hilton Aspire Flight Credit?
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card comes with a quarterly $50 airline credit. When thinking about using the Hilton Aspire flight credit, let's start by looking at the official terms and conditions:
- $200 Flight Credit: Basic Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card Members can receive up to a total of $50 in statement credits each calendar quarter (January through March, April through June, July through September, and October through December), for up to $200 annually for eligible purchases of airfare made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com or the Amex Travel App™. Eligible purchases are airfare purchases for a scheduled flight on a passenger carrier and purchased directly from the airline or through amextravel.com or the Amex Travel App™.
- Eligible purchases do not include purchases of: charter flights, private jet flights, or flights that are part of vacation packages. Purchases made with a third-party may not be eligible for this benefit. Eligible purchases can be made by both the Basic and any Additional Card Members on the Card Account. However, the total amount of statement credits for eligible purchases will not exceed $200 per Card Account per calendar year. Please allow 8-12 weeks after the eligible purchase is charged to your Card Account for a statement credit to be posted to the Account.
Uses for the Hilton Aspire Flight Credit
The simplest way to use the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card‘s flight credit is to just make a purchase directly with an airline of up to $50. You'll get that $50 as a statement credit. It is that simple. Book a $100 flight? You'll get $50 back. You can use the credit up until you have spent the full $50 in a quarter. So yes, multiple purchases would work if you're making smaller purchases. You will notice I skipped the Amex Travel option here. We don't want to deal with third-party portal bookings if we can avoid it.
More Creative Uses for the Hilton Aspire Flight Credit
My goal when using the Hilton Aspire flight credit is turning it into a future flight credit. In this case, you are not trying to find some workaround like those other Amex airline incidental credits. But plenty of airlines these days allow you to cancel flights and simply receive a credit or funds in a wallet. This allows me to use the credits quickly in a quarter without procrastinating.
As always, you'll want to know the airline's policy for cash flight cancellations, which will be different from award booking cancellation policies. Ideally, you'd book a flight that would offer a flight credit after the initial 24-hour booking window has passed. You would not want to book a refundable fare or anything that creates a direct refund to your card. For example, I'd usually buy something like a low-cost $79 Alaska flight, get the $50 credit, and then cancel. That $79 credit ends up costing me just $29 out of pocket. Here are some of the airlines that work for this:
- Alaska Airlines: It uses a wallet system, where funds on eligible canceled cash bookings go into your wallet.
- American Airlines: Book an eligible flight that you can cancel for a flight credit.
- Delta Air Lines: Delta uses eCredits. If you have multiple eCredits, they can be stacked toward a cash flight purchase. They are valid for one year.
- JetBlue: Book Blue or above and you can get a flight credit.
- Southwest Airlines: Things are a bit trickier here with the new rules. Make sure you buy the right fare.
- Basically, check your favorite airline and see what its policy is for cash flights. You can see some data points and useful ideas here.
Using Your Hilton Aspire Flight Credit: ToP Thoughts
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is a favorite over-5/24 card for many award travelers. It not only gives you hotel status and valuable credits but also an easy-to-use quarterly $50 airline credit. You can simply use it to save on a cheap flight, or you can turn it into a future flight credit. What are your tips for using the Hilton Aspire flight credit? Come over to our Facebook group and share your thoughts.
