Amex travel agency flight change fees
Jan 9, 2018, 3:14 am
#16
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,076
Not directly related, but another thing that has caught me out was that if something goes wrong with your flight and you want to process a chargeback, Amex will not process a chargeback against Amex Travel. Another reason to book directly with the airline.
Jan 9, 2018, 4:02 am
#17
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Netherlands
Programs: BA Gold; Flying Blue Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 481
We use Global Business Travel, which was formerly AMEX business travel. So far they’ve always honoured the 24 hour window if we need to cancel but it will be at the discretion of GBT and the relationship they have both with your company and the individual airline.
Having previously worked at a global OTA for a few years, agencies don’t always have the same flexibility of cancelling tickets without an associated fee as the airlines do. A lot of this is to do with the price of a ticket being purchased via a GDS, like Amadeus. Airlines will often give a ticketing deadline for the price to be honoured and whilst it isn’t always the case, 23.59.59 of the day of purchase is usually the deadline.
Where it gets more complicated is around the consolidator and the GDS license. So you might purchase an LAX-LHR ticket with a UK agency and their ticketing deadline might be 23.59.59 UK time. However had you purchase the same ticket with a US agency or an agency with a US GDS license, their ticketing deadline would be 23.59.59 Eastern Time.
Whilst irrelevant to BA, a number of Asian carriers have 2-3 day ticketing deadlines but agencies prefer to simplify their Ts&Cs.
As it happens, an agency can try and cancel a ticket after the same day window and it’s not always picked up by the airline but if airline does notice then they can charge agency a fee or it can lead to fines/penalties if continuous offenders.
However, as has already been noted, check the agency’s Ts&Cs as this is the contract you’re agreeing to when you purchase an airline ticket with them.
Having previously worked at a global OTA for a few years, agencies don’t always have the same flexibility of cancelling tickets without an associated fee as the airlines do. A lot of this is to do with the price of a ticket being purchased via a GDS, like Amadeus. Airlines will often give a ticketing deadline for the price to be honoured and whilst it isn’t always the case, 23.59.59 of the day of purchase is usually the deadline.
Where it gets more complicated is around the consolidator and the GDS license. So you might purchase an LAX-LHR ticket with a UK agency and their ticketing deadline might be 23.59.59 UK time. However had you purchase the same ticket with a US agency or an agency with a US GDS license, their ticketing deadline would be 23.59.59 Eastern Time.
Whilst irrelevant to BA, a number of Asian carriers have 2-3 day ticketing deadlines but agencies prefer to simplify their Ts&Cs.
As it happens, an agency can try and cancel a ticket after the same day window and it’s not always picked up by the airline but if airline does notice then they can charge agency a fee or it can lead to fines/penalties if continuous offenders.
However, as has already been noted, check the agency’s Ts&Cs as this is the contract you’re agreeing to when you purchase an airline ticket with them.
Jan 9, 2018, 8:28 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: somewhere north of London, UK
Programs: HH Gold, BA Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 15,245
So having run the maths, I bit the bullet. Called AMEX back and whilst it was no freebie, the fare had come down £30 during the day.
Ho hum...
Ho hum...
Jan 9, 2018, 12:46 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: somewhere north of London, UK
Programs: HH Gold, BA Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 15,245