How to Cash Out $100 Bank of America Premium Rewards Airline Credit

Bank of America Premium Reward comes with an annual fee (AF) of $95 but provides an annual airline credit of $100. If there was a way to turn $100 airline credit into cash then one would practially profit a minimum of $5 every year.  If such method were to exist then there would be very little reason to downgrade/cancel this card, granted one does not intend to churn it. In this post I will detail out a trick that allows you to cash out $100 airline credit as $100 cash.

Get up to a $100 Airline Incidental Statement Credit annually for qualifying purchases such as seat upgrades, baggage fees, in-flight services, and airline lounge fees – automatically applied to your card statement

I think at this point it is a common knowledge among BoA Premium Rewards card holders that $5.60 domestic tax on Southwest airline counts as travel credit. I know some people who book Southwest reward flight because of this reason. I am sure there are a few who book and cancel domestic Southwest flight just to trigger the credit. But if you think a bit outside the box then ought to think about paying reward flight for Southwest international trip.

Remember that you can book a refundable southwest flight (anything beside “Wanna Get Away”) but those flights are often cost a lot of points. If you’re low on points try reward booking “Wanna Get Away” international flight and then cancel said flight within 24 hours. In fact you can cancel the flight few minutes after booking a Southwest flight and that will do just fine. For example, “Wanna Get Away” from many US cities (Chicago, San Antonio, etc) to Mexico City costs as low as ~3500 rapid rewards (RR) points with 33.50 in tax while return flight will have cost $67.92 in tax.

Obviously you can always use this card to pay for taxes on Southwest flights you would take anyway, but I personally prefer paying taxes with Citi Prestige because Prestige has 3 hour trip delay insurance. Oh and you can call BoA and have them send you a check of whatever negative balance you have, here -$100.