So I've been using AMEX travel for the 5X points for airfare and there are definitely are some limitations from my experience I want to share. This is for mostly booking via the website- I try to avoid calling in so I’m not charged the $39 booking fee.

1) No Basic Economy Fares/Mixed Fares

• They cannot currently price out basic economy fares. There are some basic economy fares with some airlines that include carry-on baggage. So for quick trip for 1-2 hours, where you don’t care about the seat assignment etc., you can't book that fare and must pay extra to do the airlines’ standard economy fare.
• It seems not to be able to mix lower class fares. i.e. to do LAX-SEA in economy and biz from SEA-FRA. Instead of doing that AmEx will price first class for LAX-SEA, and business for SEA-FRA. It won't "downgrade" you on lower segments so you get a much more expensive ticket for international business class.

2) You won't find certain budget airlines like Frontier on their website.

3) Confirmation E-mail Doesn’t Provide Real Info about your Ticket

• The confirmation number they give you via e-mail sometimes isn’t the confirmation number for your ticket with the airline. You will need to call them to get the real confirmation number. Also if you need the e-ticket number as well- that is not included the confirmation e-mail. You will need to call to get this.

4) Poor AMEX Travel Agent Knowledge

• Any changes to your ticket has a booking free of $39. Also they will often give out incorrect/over priced quotes for changing tickets. i.e. I called to find out the cost to change the date of travel of my outbound departure for Alaska Airlines. The AmEx Agent quoted me $315.99 ($39 AmEX booking fee + $125 + fare difference $151). Once I got my real confirmation number (see #3 ), I went to Alaska’s website to change it- I got a quote for $239 including the change fee.
• When looking for a biz class ticket on Condor- the AmEx travel agent told me- business class on Condor doesn't exist. Which is false. Yes on some flights they don’t have it but on others they do.

5) Inaccurate or Missing Travel Pricing and Routes

• I use Google ITA matrix to price out routes. Sometimes those routes will not appear at all on the AmEx website. So let's say that Condor has two flights to SEA-FRA in a day, it might only pull one of those flights in the search results. While the other flight shows on the airline’s website and in ITA matrix. Why it doesn’t show in AmEx?- I have no clue.
• When pricing fares, especially international, fares sometimes they will be $200-800 higher for no good reason.
• I've also had it where it showed $100 more for a domestic economy ticket vs. ITA matrix. When I got to the final booking screen about to purchase, it said the pricing has changed and showed me that lower fare. So when doing that initial search- those prices aren't always accurate and can go up or down when you go for final purchase.

5) They push the use Insider Fares and Paying with Points

• Often Inside Fares are the exact same price as the standard fare- but they will show these Insider Fares first before the regular fare as they want you to select it. I selected it one day because I thought I would get some special benefit even though the price was the same- I didn't realize it processed paying with points instead of using my card. So I ended up using 35,000 points for a $350 ticket- which is not what I wanted to do. I only realized this 24 hours later after it appeared in my online transactions. So if you don't want to use points- never ever select the “Insider Fare”. Insider Fares can *only* be paid with points and never with your card.
• Even if you don't select an "Insider Fare"- when you go to pay, by default- “Pay with Points” is already selected. The first option is pay with points, the second is pay with points and card and the last isto pay with your card. It's almost like they want to trick you into using your points. So make sure you double check which option is selected.

6) Poor Customer Service with Agents

• ​​​​​​After the mistake I made in #5 - I called AmEx travel and they were ZERO help. I asked if it could be reversed and they stated absolutely not, I spoke with a manager and asked it could be escalated they told me no. I asked the manager respectfully if she had a supervisor I could speak with to escalate this issue and she gave me the ridiculous answer that she had no manager and no supervisor at all. Unless she was the CEO of AmEx travel- she just outright lied to me. I asked her there was anyone else I could speak to see if escalate it as it was a mistake. She stated that no one could help me and it was completely irreversible.
• I was really upset with this and had her transfer me to the department to cancel my Platinum card (she had no hesitation in doing so). I spoke to a wonderful agent and in 2 minutes to explained what happened. In one minute he gave me back the 35k points and charged my card for the original amount. I was flabbergasted how easy he made it and how he easily he corrected my problem! The AmEx agent travel supervisor basically told me to go screw myself and that there was no recourse. I think the agents who handle the credit card issues are a completely different business unit from AmEx travel. I find the credit card service agents great- the AmEx travel agents do not provide anywhere close to that level of service.

Given my experience do I still use AmEx travel for booking flights? Reluctantly yes. The 5X points are too good of a bargain for me to say no. If it weren’t for the 5x points, I absolutely would not use it. I book pretty simple domestic and sometimes international routes- I couldn't imagine booking a complex itinerary with them. I’m starting to think they did 5x points because without it- not one in their right mind would use it to book airfare- there’s far better OTAs to use.