Changes to how you use your $450 Travel Credit

[daft009]

i just booked SYD>MEL for the grand prix on Virgin and the return flights on Sunday night weren't even showing up on the AMEX travel website.
Had to book via virgin business flyer portal

 

[Isolar]

Disappointed to see the price differentiation now between Qantas and Amex travel for QF fares.

Last time I used the $450 credit, 12 months ago, fares were were pretty much the same, and included red-e deal and sale fares. This morning domestic J sale fares that were $459 and $599 on Qantas were $1000+ on Amex. I got onto chat and asked and was told there has been a lot of complaints with pricing and that it had been 'raised with the Qantas Sales Manager'. Even a red-e deal Y fare was $13 more on Amex.

I'll just hang on to the credit and use it some other time.

Glad to have confirmation on this. Have tried to use the $450 credit during the DSC booking period.

The business fare I'm looking at prices out almost $200 more than the fare on the QF booking engine ($800ish vs nearly $1,000).

Wonder if it is worth calling to see if they can match the QF fare or, if I book via QF if they will award the credit manually.

Anyone have experience with the above?

 

[sudoer]

Wonder if it is worth calling to see if they can match the QF fare or, if I book via QF if they will award the credit manually.

Anyone have experience with the above?

Neither will happen unfortunately.

 

[Isolar]

Advance warning for wall of text, but have an interesting outcome to report following my question in post #122 above.

Yesterday I decided to go ahead and book the more expensive fare on Amex Travel anyway and make use of the $450 card credit.

Once finished, there was a message on the screen that my booking could not be displayed and to contact Chat for details. (Which was weird as I could see the booking). Thought I should contact them anyway to be sure.

The chat person confirmed that everything was ok with the booking & probably a system bug. Asked if he could help with anything else, so I thought why not! I asked him what is the benefit of booking via Amex if the fares are so much more expensive than can be found on QF, particularly given they are the same fare basis code. I explained the only reason I made this particular booking was to use my card's travel credit.

His response was that this has been happening a lot post Covid with a number of airlines. Amex is trying to work on getting prices back in line with the airlines but no luck so far. He then said he would try to reprice the booking to see if he could get the price closer to QF's. Unfortunately he couldn't reduce the price, but here is where it got interesting. Actual chat below:


I'll admit I was sceptical but decided to go ahead so long as he sent me a copy of the chat transcript in case I had to follow up later. Of course he warned me that if I cancelled there was no guarantee that I would be able to get the same fare back on Amex or the fare I was looking at on QF.

Now imagine my surprise this morning to see that the $450 credit has already been applied on my statement!

My guess is this fare difference issue must be generating a lot of flack from card members and Amex are doing what they can to keep customers happy by having this backend process in place.

If anyone else wanted to try this, I'm assuming you still need to make the booking with Amex, then get them on the line (chat probably best) and ask why the fare is higher than QF's. I would be prepared to have proof of the fare difference and from the chat above I imagine the difference would need to be greater than $100.

YMMV and Caveat Emptor and all that, but thought I would share one data point that might be useful to others.

 

[User999]

Im late to the party with this one but I wanted to find out if this meant the $450 is no longer an offset to the annual card fee of $450 on the QF Amex ultimate card? I say this because you’re shelling out for the $450 annual fee and then paying for the flights on the Amex portal in full and in return being refunded “$450 travel credit?”

 

[Lynda2475]

In my case the $450 was credited back within 10mins of booking the flight, so it's still a 100% offset ime.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Im late to the party with this one but I wanted to find out if this meant the $450 is no longer an offset to the annual card fee of $450 on the QF Amex ultimate card? I say this because you’re shelling out for the $450 annual fee and then paying for the flights on the Amex portal in full and in return being refunded “$450 travel credit?”

Used for hotel booking. Credited almost immediately.

 

[33kft]

Nothing has changed fundamentally, you just need to pay upfront in full for the flights and then get credited with the $450 cashback, rather than the credit applying directly to the transaction.

If you were less than $450 to your card limit it might make a difference but otherwise it really doesn't change anything.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Nothing has changed fundamentally, you just need to pay upfront in full for the flights and then get credited with the $450 cashback, rather than the credit applying directly to the transaction.

If you were less than $450 to your card limit it might make a difference but otherwise it really doesn't change anything.

Actually it does. Previously one could use both credits for platinum and reserve on the same booking. Not possible now.

 

[User999]

Thanks to all who responded!!!

 

[33kft]

Actually it does. Previously one could use both credits for platinum and reserve on the same booking. Not possible now.

I mean it pretty clearly says $450 credit on QF Ultimate in the original post but yeah I'm sure there's other considerations for other cardholders

 

[JohnM]

Another follow up on this as a word of warning.

The transaction eventually posted just before my travel credit was due to expire and was backdated to the date of purchase.

However, despite spending $706 it was split into two transactions of $353.

The statement credit has not been applied, and I assume this is because Amex split it into two transactions below the $450 spend required.

Sneaky.

I now have the hassle of following up after the 30 day waiting period end. PITA.

Does this experience mean that the Amex Ultimate $450 flight credit can only be applied to the cardholder's flight, and not against the gross cost of cardholder+partner on the same booking?

In the past, I've used my credit for a booking for myself that cost >$450 or a booking for myself and PJM, where half the cost was >$450. So there was no issue in getting the full $450 value. It just showed as a credit against the total cost, with no suggestion of splitting.

In a few weeks I'll be looking at using my credit for a flight for myself and PJM where the cost for each is c.$350.

The total cost is obviously>$450, but will Amex only apply the credit to my half of the total cost, thereby causing me to forfeit c.$100?

 

[TheRealTMA]

Does this experience mean that the Amex Ultimate $450 flight credit can only be applied to the cardholder's flight, and not against the gross cost of cardholder+partner on the same booking?

In the past, I've used my credit for a booking for myself that cost >$450 or a booking for myself and PJM, where half the cost was >$450. So there was no issue in getting the full $450 value. It just showed as a credit against the total cost, with no suggestion of splitting.

In a few weeks I'll be looking at using my credit for a flight for myself and PJM where the cost for each is c.$350.

The total cost is obviously>$450, but will Amex only apply the credit to my half of the total cost, thereby causing me to forfeit c.$100?

Fairly sure the credit is just returned to the card holder's account. The number of people or bookings is not imporant. I received credit wneh booking for another person. If you have a reserve card, you can get both credits if you do seperate bookings and use different cards.

 

[JohnM]

Fairly sure the credit is just returned to the card holder's account. The number of people or bookings is not imporant.

That's what I would have expected, and it is what happened last year when I booked myself and PJM on the one booking - where the total cost was >$450 x 2.

However, @Captain Halliday's experience seems to indicate that where the total cost was <$450 x 2, the Amex credit was only applied to the individual cost of the cardholder's booking, resulting in forfeit of the difference.

 

[TheRealTMA]

That's what I would have expected, and it is what happened last year when I booked myself and PJM on the one booking - where the total cost was >$450 x 2.

However, @Captain Halliday's experience seems to indicate that where the total cost was <$450 x 2, the Amex credit was only applied to the individual cost of the cardholder's booking, resulting in forfeit of the difference.

Ah, sorry. If the charge is <$450 no idea. Just spend more!

 

[Captain Halliday]

That's what I would have expected, and it is what happened last year when I booked myself and PJM on the one booking - where the total cost was >$450 x 2.

However, @Captain Halliday's experience seems to indicate that where the total cost was <$450 x 2, the Amex credit was only applied to the individual cost of the cardholder's booking, resulting in forfeit of the difference.

This is ongoing, so I can't give a definitive answer.

But just to recap my scenario, I booked a one-way flight for two pax. I don't remember the exact fare but it was ~$370 per pax.

This was a single booking for two pax and was a single transaction on the Amex.

I received one Amex reference number and one QF PNR and a receipt for $740.

However, on my Amex statement, rather than a single charge of $740, instead I had 2x$370 listed.

Thus it never reached the $450 threshold because Amex split the transaction and so far I've received no credit at all.

 

[JohnM]

This is ongoing, so I can't give a definitive answer.

But just to recap my scenario, I booked a one-way flight for two pax. I don't remember the exact fare but it was ~$370 per pax.

This was a single booking for two pax and was a single transaction on the Amex.

I received one Amex reference number and one QF PNR and a receipt for $740.

However, on my Amex statement, rather than a single charge of $740, instead I had 2x$370 listed.

Thus it never reached the $450 threshold because Amex split the transaction and so far I've received no credit at all.

It certainly seems bizarre.

Last year, when the total cost for booking two pax on a single PNR was >$450 x 2, the cost was shown on my statement as a single sum, net after deducting $450, the detail of which was shown on the booking receipt.

On the face of it, your experience seems to indicate that the Amex system chokes with a double booking where the individual fares are <$450, but the total cost is >$450.

Most interested in what the outcome is.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Annoyed with AmEx travel and Hilton. Booked using platinum card at Hilton Brisbane last week and also spent big on dinner for four, as a Gold Rewards member, no points awarded for either despite contacting them pre arrival and lodging HR number. Hilton say it wasn't booked through Amex travel but Agoda!

Now arguing with Amex and Hilton Rewards.

 

[Cynicor]

Was it an FHR stay or normal? If not FHR then that's correct. Amex are a wholesaler for points purposes.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Was it an FHR stay or normal? If not FHR then that's correct. Amex are a wholesaler for points purposes.

what's FHR?