I have called my AMEX travel counselor 4 times since I received my card and each time I am more frustrated than the last. Let me start off by saying that my mom owns a travel agency and the only reason I used AMEX was because I thought it was the only way to get the benefits involved with the card - btw a good travel agent is worth its weight in gold and I encourage you all to use them (expect for just airfare, they don't even like doing air because airlines have cut commissions so badly). Aside from being incompentant (not looking for lowest fare, checking for upgradability etc.) does the service actually benefit us at all or does all the benefits come from the airlines/hotels themselves? Recently I booked 2 tickets to the Dominican Republic through continental after AMEX said the lowest price they had in their system was $700 ticket. I told amex that everyone (alll major travel sites) showed $450 a ticket but they insisted that the lowest they showed was $700. They claimed they use a "different" system when in fact all travel agents (at least my mom) have access to the same flight info. Point of story is that we both got upgraded to first through my gold status and my mom got me a great rate on a hotel. AMEX travel upsets me to no end and if there is no real benefit from using them I would rather not. Please share any similar experiences and let me know if there is any reason why I should use them. Thanks,