JDiver

We really don’t know much about this issue, but it seems, as far as I can piece it out, and as it relates strictly to American Airlines:

AMEX Platinum members can contact AMEX PTS (Platinum Travel Service) and possibly secure both cheaper fares than AA offers and fares with waived change fees for some routings, paying the $39 PTS booking fee.

AMEX Centurion members may be able to do this as well, without paying the fee.

Also discussed a couple of years ago here: Booking AA via AMEX for less than aa.com?.

I’ve posted a new thread in AMEX / MR asking for more and newer information about this seemingly unpublished airline benefit, as an AMEX Platinum card member, here: Waived airline change fees on tickets purchased via AMEX / PTS?.

As I’m on a transatlantic cruise, I’m not in a position to call AMEX to confirm any of this.

kar don

If you book an "insider fare" on amextravel.com and pay with your points you will get free changes on AA ($39 phone fee applies per passenger)

If you want to pay in cash you have to call to get the insider/private fares... some agents know how to do it, others dont. You will have to pay $39 per passenger if you book this way. I'd only do that if you know there is high potential to changing your flight.

Also, if you apply an SWU or upg with miles on one of these fares it makes it very difficult to change. It becomes an AMEX vs AA battle and can be very frustrating as AA takes "control" of the ticket when the upgrade is applied yet they still defer to AMEX for changes and AMEX defers to AA.

I have used this perk a few times and it is nice to have.

Colin

my super-helpful AMEX Platinum Travel telephone agent today shared with me the magic code to mention to invoke the AA change-fee-waiver: F80O

said it applies to AA bookings made via both AMEX Platinum Travel telephone agents (Phoenix address on statement) and AMEXTravel.com for Plats (Chicago address on statement) bookings

golfingboy

Airstat

I used this a couple of weeks ago. I called the AMEX Platinum Travel and inquired about a ticket to BGI in business it was $200 cheaper than the AA website. She told me they normally had cheaper fares than what AA was offering. She also said it was changeable I just had to pay the $39 reissue fee.

JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Airstat!

That’s great information; thanks for taking the time to register and share. I hope you enjoy FT and hope to see more of your posts.

VFR

If you have to pay a $39 reissue fee, then the changes aren't exactly free. You paid a $39 ticketing fee in the first place, then a $39 reissue fee. It's better than AA's $200 fee, but it's still not close to free.

I wouldn't go out of my way to book AA tickets with Amex unless Amex could beat AA's price by $39, or I had a centurion card and the fees are waived.

samm

I still find the mere existence of this absolutely fascinating, and that it is so elusive makes it all the more interesting. Tweets to AA refuse to acknowledge this and refer me to Amex; calls to EP desk also have no idea what I am talking about. Frustratingly, calls to Amex end in a similar fashion. This is such. a. huge. deal. to me if it is true, I just can't actually get anyone to acknowledge it is.

And, I fear when I do actually need to cancel, I'll have just as much difficulty when I try as I am having right now.

JDiver

I’ve not tried this yet, but I’m likeky to try.

beachfan

Are the lower Amex fares primarily when the sharper discounted fares are gone? Specifically, American will match Jet Blues low fares on certain routes like LAX JFK in J for $599 OW.Is Amex the same or better in those cases.

ExpatExp

Thank you! Could I just confirm if that's "F - eight - zero - oh" as written above, or "F - eight - zero - zero" ?

JDiver

Good questions. I’m as eager to learn the answers as you are. I hope our AMEX-toting AA flyers in the know will share that knowledge.

Gig103

Amex is very opaque publicly when it comes to their Platinum travel services, both this AA deal, and the International Airline Program. It might be a term to their unpublished fares (I've seen this in retail - a minimum advertised price, but "call for best offer!"). But I don't understand why Amex over the phone would not confirm it for you - maybe because it depends on the exact ticket?

fotoflyer88

I called yesterday to look at booking LAX-JFK. $1317 RT for Biz vs $1188 + $39. Essentially the cash price quoted on the phone matched what the insider fare would be if doing pay with points online - plus $39 ticketing fee for Biz Plat. They mentioned there would not be a change fee - just non-refundable and another $39 ticketing fee and any fare difference. Books into “I” fare code stock.

One small concern of course is if this posts as a “special fare” or not - might lose out on some EQDs (about $100?). That said economy insider fares I’ve had have posted normally when I was hoping they would post as special. So who knows.

Going to look into it more - being able to change would be nice if more meetings come up.

orvando

another anecdote for the collection: called and booked a couple of tickets w/ this program (PHL-YUL and PHL-CMH, each an R/T). even with the "Magic Code", first agent had no idea what i was talking about...but the 2nd one did! she quoted prices for each R/T that were a bit less than the public prices (a few dozen bucks, in each case), and said such fares were available for all flights in the schedule on the days i had her search. there would be no fees to change or cancel the flights, other than the following (all according to the AMEX agent):

1) to book, one must pay a $39/passenger fee to Amex (double that if you construct your ticket as two one-ways); when changing or cancelling a ticket, this $39/passenger fee gets assessed again, as do any increases in fare.
2) cancelling a flight (w/o immediately rolling the funds into a new AA itin) results in a credit that must be used via Amex Travel for an AA-marketed ticket (possibly resulting in a 3rd $39/passenger charge - she wasn't sure). the flight date must be within 1 year of the purchase of the initial ticket. the credit is non-transferable (must be used by the passenger(s) for whom the original flight was booked, with no combining of values). the new ticket need not be one of these special fares, but if you book a public fare, your credit becomes non-refundable at that point.

i like the program but less than i thought i would given that to really "use" it, it costs $78 or possibly $117 per passenger (based on the above) less the savings Amex provides on the fare itself...although on a lucky day, i bet one could talk their way out of these Amex fees. they are all waived for Centurion (Black) card holders. worth noting that according to agent, you can book for others (who you're not flying with) as long as the cost is charged to your Amex Plat/Cent. you'd have to handle all changes for them.

some questions for others (thanks in advance, and I hope i've been helpful!):
a) count me into the list of those who are curious about how these will earn miles - my trips aren't for a few months.
b) please post if you receive contradictory info, since this is based on one Amex agent's opinion. e.g., can anyone verify that the credit cannot be used on a ticket that's BOOKED less than 1 year from initial purchase, but scheduled for further out? i'm skeptical of this.
c) do folks think that AA would assist with same-day confirmed flight changes, or insist that you call Amex Travel?
d) any experience with applying upgrade instruments to these tickets? standby?