Tried to Use Citi / AA Free Companion Ticket...
 

My wife and I need to be up in Westchester for an evening function this fall. The AA fare (via web site) from IAH to HPN is $310 each person, all taxes included (still much cheaper than CO but that is a different story). $620 total.

I have a free companion ticket good until the end of the year - got it the end of last year when I applied for a Citi / AA credit card. Fare they quoted me was $617 plus the taxes and fees on the 2nd ticket.

So much for a "free" companion fare.


PS: I'm not saying that it is not legal - buried in the fine print it tells you which fare classes are eligible. But it is unethical and does not endear me to their product (which I probably will cancel after my free year)

I got luckier with mine I guess, a couple of months ago.
The price from BOS was roughly $240 a passenger online, for a single stopover but $310 using the companion ticket, which worked out fine there was no stopover plus it was slighly above the $300 fare which is the min. required to use the travel companion certificate.
Luckily, my wife also got miles for her trip too even though citi told me she would not.

If you search there are many discussions of this. You can save a lot or nothing. Best time to use seems to be for a special event or holiday when the cheap fares are gone. Some receive miles and EQM despite what the T&C read. YMMV.

The fares have to be greater than 299 before taxes... companion fares can be a pain sometimes.

Curious how the ticket was billed. Reason.. we've got 2 certificates and DH needs to go on b-trip... so we "might" be able to use the certificate and have the office "pick up" the tab if each ticket isn't billed for 1/2 fare (know I"m not being clear). Any answers?
Thanks

I'm pretty sure they are billed 1 full fare and one free fare(put there's taxes and fees on the free fare still). But just call the companion ticketing number and they can tell you for sure. However, the fare for the 1 paid ticket using the companion certificate is sometimes double what you could get buying a ticket if that matters to the company. Also, sometimes you have to go through a particular travel agency or special redemption number to use the companion certificate, which some business travel depts won't do.

In my experience, they are usually a PITA.

What about booking less than 2 weeks ahead of the flight? I bet they'll say they don't have anymore tickets.

Anyone else got a free companion ticket and care to share what they did?

Citi Free Companion Ticket is impossible to get or very expensive to get. First the fare must be over $299. Then, they decides which fight and route you will take. The two times I tried to use it, they try to route through multiple stops instead of non-stop and total cost for one+one free is only $20.00 less then total cost of two non-stop rt tickets.

I think to use this benefit, you have to be flying to/or from small airports with few options and high air travel costs.