Amex Travel - difficulty booking flights not available on their site?

[dylarr]

Hi all,

I had an "interesting" experience booking flights through Amex Travel recently.

I wanted to book some Qantas flights using the travel credit on my card the day they were released by Qantas, but Amex Travel website only allows you to book flights up to 11 months in advanced.

Historically, I've had no issues calling up and getting an agent to process bookings directly in Sabre for options that weren't showing on their website. However, this time, despite them acknowledging they could see the flights I wanted in Sabre, their policy doesn't allow them to book flights that aren't showing up on their website.

I thought this was strange, ended the call and thought about it a bit more — Amex Travel is a travel agent and this website rule sounds stupid so I decided to call back and ask for a supervisor. The next agent asked why, and I explained the situation and that I couldn't wait for 11 months in advanced as this is a fast selling route (LDH) so wanted to book as soon as possible. She reiterated the policy, but agreed to get a supervisor to call me back.

Got a call back a couple of hours later from the same agent saying they had got approval to process the booking, payment was made and I received tickets shortly after. It seemed like a lot of hassle for what I thought would have been a routine request for a travel agent to handle.

Anyone experienced anything similar?

 

[Catweazle]

Yes, same here. Wanting to book CBR – AVV (QF connecting in SYD on to a JQ flight) which is bookable on the QF website. No luck on the Amex Travel website.

Yes, not sure why they do this. Thanks for your post, though. I might try phoning them. You're an inspiration!

 

[bullerdude]

Learnt the hard way not to bother with online Amex flight booking for domestic flights… had to cancel virgin flights and the terms are shocking despite virgin themselves providing much greater flexibility.

Also had Amex put an authorisation in the booking to allow Virgin to manage them. Virgin confirmed the authorisation was there but wouldn’t touch the flights regardless.

The wait time for Amex plat for travel has been approx 45 mins to 1.5 hours.

Compared to virgin direct booking which can be easily cancelled and 2-3 minute wait to get through the call centre as platinum.

It seems the online Amex booking are treated differently to those booked via Amex platinum but don’t have much more details.