Amex Travel Gouge

[Rusty776]

Churning the Amex Qantas which has been great so far. Went to use the $450 travel voucher on some flights Perth to Mel. Checked booking with Qantas direct and came up at $673 return. Figured Amex would be charging 10-15% extra but when I looked the return price was $1518. Tried some other dates and they were around this mark?

Is this normal? It looks like they were only flex economy flights.. couldn't see any red e-deal offers.

Just wondering if others had the same experience and is it any better to use the credit on hotels instead of flights.

 

[Ade]

I used my $450 credit on Intl Y QF. The price were similar. From memory, price on QF website was A$20xx, and on AMEX was A$21xx. Post the $450, the final fare was around A$17xx ..

Don't remember if there was a booking fee when using AMEX TA. Check with them and if possible as them to waive off that fee

 

[woodborer]

What dates and route are you looking at?
Can't say I've ever seen such a discrepancy.

 

[Rusty776]

Apologies AMEX.. looks like I missed the cheaper fare!! See it now for $672... rant over

 

[Tallfont]

What dates and route are you looking at?
Can't say I've ever seen such a discrepancy.

Same. recently used my two travel credits. One PER>BNE>POM and the other return POM>BNE>PER in QF Y for my wife. I don't recall the exact difference but it was only around $50-60 each way. Total spend for the round trip was about $120.

 

[Ade]

but it was only around $50-60 each way. Total spend for the round trip was about $120.

Yup. That sounds about right ... there is a small (depending on how "small" is defined) variation in the fare... I had about A$100 in total for a return trip.

 

[maia200]

Glad you got it sorted, there is normally not such a discrepancy. Have used them for flights over the last 4 years.