AttorneyVin

Just used my Reserve AMEX 1st Class Companion Cert online and had no difficulty at all. I had read all of the posts about the issues with them and have never tried to use them over the past three years ... I wish I had! It was truly simple to book online, and the fare bucket came back identical to what I would have paid without the cert ... quick and easy! Thanks Delta and AMEX!

dl767captain

Ya i just used mine from my gold card for a trip this july (literally getting back the last possible day) and worked just fine. The morning flight we prefer wasn't available but hey, getting to CHS for $400 total ($200 each) works just fine for me. Looking forward to getting our first class companion ticket from my reserve card soon. The good thing is I still get the MQM miles, only bummer is not being eligible for upgrades..... oh wait i'm only silver

turkeyRIOO

since many posters have reported difficulty, if not impossibility, it might help to post more details- routing, fare class, etc. to help those that are having problems.

I have never had a problem but I only have the certificates good for Y travel.

bdschobel

The first-class companion certificate seems to work just fine for coach-class travel. I couldn't make it work for first-class travel -- and I don't seem to be alone.

Bruce

62asr

Did the terms and conditions recently change? I haven't used one in a while and if I remember correctly the expiration date was when you needed to ticket by, not travel by?

jtrue28

Maybe I'm missing something here, but the math for these companion certs seems to be very easy to see that Gold AMEX members are being taken for a ride.

So you pay $95/year to get a $99 companion certificate...whereas if you just paid $55 more/year, you get a Platinum card with more benefits and a "free" companion certificate.

$55 > $99

So Gold members are spending $44 more than they need to...

All else equal and the assumption is that you use the certificate every year. What am I missing?

mnredfox

Assuming the cost of the card is 100% for the cert.

jtrue28

Platinum card has MQM benefits that the Gold card doesn't have. So again, if you can manage to swing an extra $55/year (and end up saving $44), it's probably a good idea.

62asr

rylan

When I used mine a couple months ago the T&C said it travel must be completed by the expiration date.

jtrue28

This is correct.

seychellesbound

Can DL elites use the SDC privilege with these certs?

goodandclassy

Yes you can, just like with any award or revenue ticket (i.e. domestic, 3 hours, Y1, etc)

tthousand66

Seriously, this companion thing is the worst, most misleading promotion of all time. No restrictions or blackouts, (yet there ARE), NO flights available 6 -8 weeks out from SEA to DTW (I can't imagine there is a mid DEC to mid JAN rush on people wanting to be in beautiful resort city of DETROIT) and even with massive flexibility, "I'm sorry, there are no flights in the classes L, U, or T available for any of those dates). This happened last year when I paid $988 each for 2 tickets and NOT ABLE to use companion fare because all seats in those classes were GONE. How many are available per flight, if even all flights? 1? 2? They won't tell you that, but I CAN tell you this. Last DEC when they had "No flights in that class" we counted 13 EMPTY Seats, all in the middle from front to back of plane (certainly the worst seats) and DELTA was fine with letting those seats go unsold, rather than to provide them for companion fares. It's a huge scam and much in this string seems like Delta Sky Miles "online reputation team" is just answering as if there is no problem. It's a BIG problem and I'm ready to go to BBB and FTC with this one for a class action lawsuit. BEWARE of the Delta Sky Miles AMEX card.

nogophers

I had no issues using my companion certs in the past. Will post again after we use the current cert.