Have also gone all the way to the checkout page on a booking $400+ and it's definitely not there. I've seen screenshots from others of what it's meant to look like on the checkout page (with yellow button to apply travel credit just below the costs summary), BUT I have nothing in that same place that others see it.
I called Amex Travel just now. They said to make a booking over $400 and pay full amount, call them up after it's done and they will manually apply the credit after the fact.
Just following up on my own issue from last month. In case anyone is experiencing same problem and was searching here for a solution.
I have discovered that when you have two cards under the same Amex login and then you login to Amex Travel Online, it will default to whichever rewards account has the higher points balance. You will be logged in to that rewards account and can only access travel credit and points from that account to spend in the Online Travel site. I've confirmed this by testing to over several weeks as the balances in my two rewards accounts go up, and each time I'll be logged in with the program with higher points balance.
Example only: My Ascent program has 200 points. My Explorer program has 100 points AND $400 travel credit. I will only be able to access the Ascent program to spend in online travel while it has more points, regardless of the fact $400 travel credit is more valuable and is available in the Gateway program ready to spend.
Ways to get around this if you wish to use a travel credit on one rewards account but can't get to it because your points are higher in another rewards account:
- Separate the cards into different logins
- Earn more points in the rewards account with the travel credit
- Redeem or transfer out points from the other rewards account to get it below the balance of your account with travel credit
Or, of course, you could proceed with an online travel booking and call up Amex to complain you weren't able to access the travel credit, have them process the credit manually.
There may also be differences for those with Platinum Charge and Ascent Premium which I don't have - not sure how that impacts the above.