Tulane41
Oct 12, 08, 9:25 am
Just as I commented in the forum on cancellation of the domestic companion program that I thought the international program was virtually useless, an opportunity has come up where I may actually be able to use it. I'm hoping someone here has used the program before so I can get some logistical details.
I know essentially how the program works - that if you buy one full fare business ticket you can get a second for free, and that usually much lower fares are available in business, and two seats at discounted business is often cheaper than one full fare business seat.
However, my wife is being sent to southeast Asia for a work trip for 2+ weeks. Her company is purchasing fully-refundable business class seats for each employee going on the trip. When she mentioned something about booking the ticket herself to get Amex benefits, the company said that it was fine, as long as the fare was the same paid by the other employees. So, as you can imagine, I'm trying to find a way to tag along on part of the trip.
The catch is that I can't take off the 2+ weeks from work, so I'm hoping to only go for a part of the trip. That's where the logistical question comes in. In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to book my wife's ticket on our Amex in fully-refundable business, and get the companion ticket for the same itinerary. Then, once the tickets are issued, I would want to split the reservation, so that my ticket would be separate, and then I could pay any change fees associated with moving the return to an earlier date.
Some questions that I'm hoping someone may have dealt with before:
1) Once the tickets are issued, are they treated as two unique tickets, such that the reservations can be split? (I have done this with tickets purchased in the domestic companion program)
2) If the original ticket was full-fare business (fully refundable, no change fees), would the associated companion ticket have the same fare rules, i.e. no change fees?
For anyone who may have done this, any other hints you may have would be greatly appreciated. I'm happy to call Amex and ask some questions as well, but considering the tickets will be about $15,000 I didn't want to put all my faith in a phone rep.
Thanks in advance!
I know essentially how the program works - that if you buy one full fare business ticket you can get a second for free, and that usually much lower fares are available in business, and two seats at discounted business is often cheaper than one full fare business seat.
However, my wife is being sent to southeast Asia for a work trip for 2+ weeks. Her company is purchasing fully-refundable business class seats for each employee going on the trip. When she mentioned something about booking the ticket herself to get Amex benefits, the company said that it was fine, as long as the fare was the same paid by the other employees. So, as you can imagine, I'm trying to find a way to tag along on part of the trip.
The catch is that I can't take off the 2+ weeks from work, so I'm hoping to only go for a part of the trip. That's where the logistical question comes in. In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to book my wife's ticket on our Amex in fully-refundable business, and get the companion ticket for the same itinerary. Then, once the tickets are issued, I would want to split the reservation, so that my ticket would be separate, and then I could pay any change fees associated with moving the return to an earlier date.
Some questions that I'm hoping someone may have dealt with before:
1) Once the tickets are issued, are they treated as two unique tickets, such that the reservations can be split? (I have done this with tickets purchased in the domestic companion program)
2) If the original ticket was full-fare business (fully refundable, no change fees), would the associated companion ticket have the same fare rules, i.e. no change fees?
For anyone who may have done this, any other hints you may have would be greatly appreciated. I'm happy to call Amex and ask some questions as well, but considering the tickets will be about $15,000 I didn't want to put all my faith in a phone rep.
Thanks in advance!