Originally Posted by DFW1972
Though most people tend to generalize and say the program is worthless, it really depends where you are flying. I just took advantage of the program for an upcoming personal trip to Taiwan. It saved me and my partner a little over $800 on this trip compared to the cheapest discounted biz tickets available. We could have save around $1100 if we took Malaysia Airlines, but they didn't have an earlier return flight that we needed on the day we needed. So, the program can be useful on some routes.
I didn't say it was worthless, but I mentioned that
mostly it is cheaper to book 2 discounted biz tickets. That does not include every one.
Sometimes the offer is better then 2 discounted biz tickets.
Sometimes you need the extras which are included in the full fare (flexibility, short stay etc.)
The example for the ticket bought by the employer was new to me, but is certainly also a good reason for taking advantage of the AmEx offer.
But when you're a bit more flexible, so you don't need the ticket to be as flexible, and you don't have an employer who is eager to pay the most expensive tickets, then
mostly you are better of buying two discounted tickets as taking the AmEx offer.