This was recently sent by me to American Express to express my disgust for what is going on with the scam that has become airline "taxes and fees" as it applies to redeeming AMEX reward miles for anything of value:


The round-trip offer from Chicago to Europe (in my case, Zurich) on Swiss Airlines (for 60,000 miles) is a complete and utter scam.

The so called "taxes" I was required pay in addition to my 60,000 miles as quoted to me by a Swiss representitive was $567.62. If one were to simply book the flight online one would pay only $783.67.

It is obvious that whatever was quoted to me as "taxes" by Swiss Airlines are not that at all, but merely revenue recovery. It is a absurd for them to claim that 72% of their quoted fare is "tax."

This is a complete scam and makes American Express look bad and cheap.
It is brand dilution. It is also big lie.

If you want to be honest about what the 60,000 point reward is then put it up front and say you must pay over $550 in cash to redeem this so called "reward."

Or drop Swiss off your "rewards" list completely. The "reward" one receives for 60,000 miles in this case is practically worthless.