smith80678

It comes through as a charge with amex . For hotels, it will occur after the trip.

adlibitum

I am seeing double points for airfare booked through amex travel. Is this in addition to the 3x you get for using the org1Double Points:
Eligible purchases are travel purchases, excluding car reservations, non-prepaid hotels, and Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection bookings, booked through amextravel.com on your Membership Rewards program-enrolled American Express® Card. To earn 2X points on each dollar of eligible purchases, you must charge air, prepaid hotel, vacation packages (flight + hotel packages), American Express Vacations packages or cruise reservations through amextravel.com to your eligible, Membership Rewards program-enrolled American Express Card. Any portion of a charge that you elect to pay through redemption of Membership Rewards points is not eligible to earn points. Bonus ID A2EM (Air, Hotel, and vacation packages); Bonus ID 5432 (Cruise); Bonus ID 6955 (American Express Vacations Packages). Extra points will be credited to the Membership Rewards account 10-12 weeks after final payment is made.
See membershiprewards.com/terms for the Membership Rewards program terms and conditions.

mia

Your post is truncated, but I guess you are asking about stacking the Amex travel bonus with the Premier Rewards Gold airfare bonus. If the card transaction is billed by the airline, rather than by the agency, you will receive four points per dollar:

1 base point for spending a dollar
1 bonus point for booking through Amex Travel
2 bonus points for buying airfare with a PRG (or the corresponding Business card)

adlibitum

thanks

swy

(sorry if this is an FAQ)

I have a US Amex account. If I use US Amex credit cards (that charges foreign transaction fees) to book hotels in foreign countries on the Amex travel site (https://www.amextravel.com), will I be charged foreign transaction fee?

What about flights on foreign airlines, or itineraries that include both US domestic and foreign airlines?

Thank you.

mia

Dealing with American Express travel is the same as using any other online travel agency or consolidator. If you have a USA-issued Centurion or Platinum charge card, or a SkyMiles credit card there is no foreign transaction fee. Otherwise, American Express (USA) charges a fee only if the transaction is billed in a foreign currency. If the charge is submitted in US Dollars there will be no fee.

(This does not necessarily mean that the travel agency has converted the transaction to dollars at a favorable rate.)

swy

Thanks... In general, how's their exchange rate compared to the market rate?

FTR 787

is it possible to call and/or worth it to try and get it waived? esp as a one time deal. site billed me in GBP and charged me ~2.7% FTF. not a big deal but just goes against my principles, esp cause I booked it here in the US and was expecting the site to bill me in USD.

eddie1973

I booked a roundtrip domestic ticket on AMEX travel site and was charged an additional $6.95 fee, is this normal?

jft3

Yep.

The extra 1x in MR points is usually only worth it on long haul flights b/c of the fee.

PHLFlyerDL

I have been trying to figure out the pro/cons of using AMEX for booking air travel reservations to get the double AMEX points or to book using the airlines site?
Can anyone help with the pro/cons of each?

Thanks!

lobo411

You just pay a bunch of extra fees and you lose a lot of conveniences like the ability to put a flight on hold. Not worth it IMO, unless you're spending thousands on every ticket you book.

ffflllyyyeeerrr

It's only 1 extra point per dollar, so in most cases it is double. However, you'd be better off getting a card with travel rewards and not paying the additional fees per booking to Amex Travel. If you want to stay with Amex, get the Premier Rewards Gold card for 3x points on airfare booked with airlines. However, there are other options out there like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Citi Prestige which earn 2x-3x points on various travel purchases.

If you don't want to get another card, then the Amex portal is most likely not worth it. They charge a booking fee that would usually outweigh the additional points.

mia

A bunch? A recently as December 20, 2014 there is a $6.95 booking fee. What else?

stimpy

As posted above, there is no fee when using CTS to book. Plus there is now the extra benefit of a Centurion escort through certain airports that have this service.

I recently took advantage of the BA £1000 business class anywhere deal and the price was the same if I booked at BA.com or through CTS. It was a no-brainer and I got the VIP escort at LHR.