A great deal if you can get it: FNBO TravElite Amex Card

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a close-up of a card

I recently received this offer in the mail for the First National Bank of Omaha’s TravElite Card.  The $250 signup bonus is nice, but not remarkable.  And its point earnings are fine: 3X for travel and 1.5X everywhere else (points are worth 1 cent each, so this translates to 3% and 1.5%).  Global Entry reimbursement is good too, but I have that from so many other cards that it really doesn’t matter to me.  No, the remarkable thing about this no-annual fee card is that it offers $100 in airline incidental fee reimbursements every year.

If you pay the annual fee for an airline credit card each year just to get free checked bags, you might want to consider this card instead… if you can get it.

Targeted Only

The offer shown above was available publicly earlier this year (see: Free $100 annual travel credit with new FNBO TravElite card), but since then the offer had disappeared.  I figured that the card had been sunset altogether.  Obviously, given the targeted offer I just received, I was wrong.  But, it does seem that you can only get the card if you receive the offer.  The TravElite website doesn’t have an Apply Now button, but it does have a Reply Now button.  And that takes you to a screen where you must enter an access code and reservation number from your mailer to continue.

Using the Airline Incidental Fee Reimbursement

If you do get the card, you can get up to $100 reimbursed each year.  Officially, this is just for airline fees that are separate from airline ticket charges.  Doctor of Credit has a post where he tracks reader reports of what works and what doesn’t.  It is likely, but not certain, that anything that works for Amex Platinum card or Premier Rewards Gold reimbursements will work with this card too.  For details, see: Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works?  Anyway, it looks like you can get reimbursed for certain airline gift card purchases, award fees, and more.

Airline Incidental Fee Reimbursement Terms:

To qualify, incidental air travel fees must be separate charges from airline ticket charges. Incidental air travel fees charged prior to enrollment in this benefit are not eligible for statement credits. Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees. The airline must submit the incidental air travel fees under the appropriate merchant code, industry code, or required service or product identifier for the charge to qualify. Cardmembers should allow 2-4 weeks after the qualifying incidental air travel fee is charged to the Card account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the account. We rely on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions, so Cardmembers should call the number on the back of the Card if a statement credit has not posted within 4 weeks from the date of purchase.

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