I recently booked flights for the end of April (it is now the end of February) through American Exress Travel on US Airways. I have been a card member for 21 years.
I made a mistake on my return flight reservation and did not notice until 36 hours after booking. It was an obvious mistake (one month off). I wasn't trying to change flights because of a change in plans, or rebook a flight because I found a better price, etc. It was a human error.
In order to fix the mistake the airline charged me a $150 change fee per ticket ($300 total) and American Express Charged me a $30 ($60 total) re-booking fee. American Express refused to waive their re-booking fee of $30 and refused to negotiate with the Airline on my behalf to reduce their change fee. My agent was very friendly and tried to find other solutions such as re-booking totally and using my travel points to pay (not acceptable). She put me in touch with American Airlines so I could plead my case with them personally. American Airlines was willing to drop a $25 rebooking fee. And I ended up booking my flight directly with the airline rather than with American Express (reducing my out-of-pocket to $300 additional fees rather than $360.)
I admit, it was my mistake. If I had noticed just 12 hours earlier, the airline and Amex would have made the change without any fees because they offer a 24 hour grace period. Neither was willing to extend that grace period, and chose instead to profit on my mistake.
The Amex agent said if it would have been one their agents that had made the mistake they would have made the change without charging any fees or incurring fees from the airline. The airline rep said if I had originally made the reservation on their website they would have made the change without any fees.
So I ask. What is the point of using Amex Travel? They offer no protection. They refuse to bend rules that are meant to discourage consumers from hoarding or holding flights "just in case". The rules were not put in force to punish a consumer because they made a mistake. And they refuse to go to bat for me with the airline.
I will not use Amex Travel again. There is no benefit. The agent was friendly and answered all my questions professionally, but she had absolutely no authority to do anything except abide by a policy that ended costing me hundreds of dollars.
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