Platinum travel - $200 credit experiences

[mitwg]

Hi all,

I just spoke to PTS about making a booking using the $200 credit you get with the Platinum charge card. Each time I call, I seem to be getting some conflicting answers so I thought I'd have a look here and saw some of this issue discussed in the thread that was used to discuss the fee increase of the card.

Seeing that I can't seem to find a dedicated thread for this issue however, I thought I might open a new thread to see if we can get some people's input on your experiences, just with using the $200 travel credit.

So from my previous research and what PTS has told me, I think this is pretty clear:

1. Flight must originate from Australia
2. The $200 becomes available on your card anniversary date
3. You can use the credit for someone other than yourself


However, I think even the PTS agents are confused about the following points:

4. The standard AMEX travel booking fee of $55 applies (disputed on AFF many times)
5. Additional booking fee of $22 applies if PTS has to ticket on a carrier that AMEX do not normally carry, meaning they'd have to use a third party to issue the tickets (first time I heard this. I was under the assumption that they wouldn't give the $200 credit on these bookings full stop)
6. Flight has to be on a business class ticket (which I assume includes fare classes higher than J, such as F or SQ's R)


Looking for people's experiences on points 4, 5 & 6.

Point 6 is especially important in my situation because, by policy, all of our flight expenses in J has to go on the corporate AMEX meaning that the only flights that are charged to the personal card are short economy class flights to somewhere close like NZ.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

I booked 2 x flights on Qantas from SYD to LAX in economy back in October using the $200 credit.

First agent wanted to charge me $55 x 2 = $110 in booking fees. I hit the roof, called back later in the day and spoke to another agent that was happy to wave booking fees for both tickets (so $0 in booking fees). I also fired an email to AMEX complaining about it, received a call from a senior manager at AMEX apologising profusely and confirming NO BOOKING FEES APPLY WHEN REDEEMING THE $200 CREDIT. My suggestion if the agent you are talking to insists in charging the $55 booking fee is to ask to talk to a supervisor, if the supervisor is not forthcoming get their names then call AMEX and report the issue to their complains dept.

The above should answer your Q.3 Q.4 and Q.6 - for any other questions once you are on the phone with somebody that understands how this is supposed to work I would suggest you ask all your questions and post your findings here

 

[Ricardo]

Still waiting for Ann to click over in June to use on a trip to NZ for Cricket World Cup ....

Probably in economy

 

[mitwg]

I booked 2 x flights on Qantas from SYD to LAX in economy back in October using the $200 credit.

First agent wanted to charge me $55 x 2 = $110 in booking fees. I hit the roof, called back later in the day and spoke to another agent that was happy to wave booking fees for both tickets (so $0 in booking fees). I also fired an email to AMEX complaining about it, received a call from a senior manager at AMEX apologising profusely and confirming NO BOOKING FEES APPLY WHEN REDEEMING THE $200 CREDIT. My suggestion if the agent you are talking to insists in charging the $55 booking fee is to ask to talk to a supervisor, if the supervisor is not forthcoming get their names then call AMEX and report the issue to their complains dept.

The above should answer your Q.3 Q.4 and Q.6 - for any other questions once you are on the phone with somebody that understands how this is supposed to work I would suggest you ask all your questions and post your findings here

Cheers for that. I guess whats left is to complain to see what they formally say about this.

Since I've downgraded to the Plat from the Cent last last year, I think all I did to AMEX was complain lol