American Express Membership Rewards - Free Companion Ticket for Travel & Leisure signup, what's the catch?

I got a mailer saying if I signed up of Travel and Leisure magazine (not that expensive from what I remember), I get a free companion airline ticket. Anyone else got that from AMEX? It's too good to be true, so was wondering what's the catch? The value of the ticket is $450 max I believe.

I got a mailer saying if I signed up of Travel and Leisure magazine (not that expensive from what I remember), I get a free companion airline ticket. Anyone else got that from AMEX? It's too good to be true, so was wondering what's the catch? The value of the ticket is $450 max I believe.

I am not sure about this particular promo. However, similar promos have included a minimum about to be paid for the original ticket. This minimum was often twice or more than a discounted ticket would be for the same route. This results in no savings at all.

A quick search should turn up some previous threads. Generally they aren't worth much at all, if you can find a way to use it. I wouldn't go out of my way to get one of those certs, though if you want T&L anyways (and this month's issue is pretty good) then also getting a cert that you probably will get no value from isn't a terrible thing.

I would also make sure they don't auto-renew your subscription each year - as they are likely to charge you a higher rate.

I just used a companion cert from amex/delta the other day. The sales pitch was just pay $99 for companion to travel with you. long story short, you pay

$99 to use certificate
$20 to make phone rezzy with airline
$48 taxes (based on original full fare ticket price $160)

total $168 to use $99 companion cert. :td: