Changes to how you use your $450 Travel Credit

[sudoer]

Seems AMEX isn't seeing I inventory?

ExpertFlyer isn't seeing any I fares loaded for ADLSYD 03JUN25.

It might be an NDC only fare

https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/au/en/agency-news/agency-news-november-24/new-distribution-model-for-travel-agents-to-access-qantas-content.html

 

[ChrisFlyer]

And yeah, it's annoying it's hard/impossible to get a decent price on QF fares via Amex. But you know what I do? I move on with my day and don't let it upset me. I also use my travel credit on accommodation, which has the same net outcome.

How do you propose using an Amex Qantas Travel Credit, which can literally only be redeemed on Qantas flights, for accommodation? That's the whole point that's been made - the credit in question cannot be used for anything else. It's not like the other generic Amex Travel Credits which can be redeemed on whatever you can see and pre-pay on the Amex site.

 

[andyrb]

How do you propose using an Amex Qantas Travel Credit

I was talking about MY travel credit.

If the other dude/dudette isn't happy with the benefits their card provides, they can close the card and move to one that is more suitable.

 

[33kft]

How do you propose using an Amex Qantas Travel Credit, which can literally only be redeemed on Qantas flights

To be fair, this seems very specific to the scenario presented. I've never seen this behaviour before personally, and the way this maps to fare classes is only relevant to J on Domestic, specifically. J Int, Y Dom and Y Int would all be potentially not showing saver or sale fares, but the fare offered would be almost dollar for dollar identical to one of the options available through the QF booking engine, just that the option might be for a flex or saver fare, but not a sale fare for example (which would earn less SCs, have more restrictive cancellation, upgrade and change conditions)

Eg:


In these cases I find it harder to accept the argument that what AMEX is doing is fundamentally wrong, because you can miss out on that Sale fare simply through being late to the party - it doesn't make the Saver option invalid in any way, I'd just keep the credit in my back pocket until I was making a booking where a cheaper fare bucket didn't have any remaining inventory, which is how I've historically used my credits - I've been getting $450 off the only option available for booking.

In this case though, I agree it's troubling - it will certainly make me think twice about using my AMEX credit on domestic J fares. I've certainly learned something new in this thread.

 

[Daver6]

Like someone else said, Amex probably don't have access to all pricing tiers offered by Qantas.

The question is why don't Amex have access to pricing tiers that pretty much every other OTA has access too?

 

[RealtimeY]

My guess is that it's a tech issue (NDC) that needs to be addressed on their travel site globally, not just the AU travel site.

Also, domestic fares, at least, barely pay any commission to begin with so they probably wouldn't stand to gain much anyway by deliberately restricting cheaper fares from sale.

 

[Mattg]

Is it possible that Amex Travel doesn’t have access to NDC-only fares?

This isn’t unique to Amex Travel, but any travel agent that hasn’t signed up to QF NDC.

 

[Daver6]

Courtney (male) from Amex Platinum Travel called me this morning to discuss my concerns.

On not having AA basic economy. The reason is they're a premium travel service and for the same reason they don't show Jetstar and other LCC flights. That's a fail IMHO. As a consumer, give me the option!

On the Qantas pricing discrepancy, I can't say I got an answer that either satisfied me or made sense. I showed him examples where QF and trip.com had the cheaper price by Amex didnt. Even a simple QF Y flight would be $9 dearer on Amex. He did say all this is being fed back to HQ.

While I had him I also expressed my frustration that the only way to deal with them is a phone call. No email/chat. He said their focus is a premium experience. I explained a premium experience is providing all options and letting me decide what's best for me at a particular point in time.

Courtney is the only American working at the Sydney platinum travel call centre and did say I can ask for him at any time. @VPS perhaps call and ask to speak to him if he feel you need to vent further.

Would encourage all to provide feedback on this.