American Express Velocity Platinum Card beware, nasty scam on the free flight
Dec 11, 2015, 10:36 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: OOL
Programs: VA Plat, QF LTS, UA MM, Hilton Diamond, Rydges Black, ,Le-Club Gold
Posts: 3,659
American Express Velocity Platinum Card beware, nasty scam on the free flight
The American Express Velocity Platinum Card (Australia) has come to prominence with its splendid sign-up offer of 110,000 points. (Be sure not to accept any less, wait for the offer to come back!)
But if you're thinking of getting this card, don't rely on the free domestic flight. The card offers an "annual complementary domestic flight on Virgin Australia". This used to be any flight nationwide, but has now been "enhanced" to just shorter flights.
However, that isn't the issue here. The problem is actually getting a flight.
Now, the Amex website says you can book any flight as long as it's 21 days ahead and there's "saver" availability. But this is rubbish, as I found yesterday. Amex refused to book a flight which clearly displayed saver availability on the Virgin site.
The Amex travel agent said "the computer says no". It turns out their only available flights around that time were the ones with award availability on the Virgin site at the 6,900 points level. "Saver" availability was no good, despite what it says in the brochure.
After raising an Amex complaint, a Pythonesque answer came back saying that when American Express says "Saver class", that is not the same as when Virgin says "Saver class".
Now in the past there have been good reports on Flyertalk of people using this benefit for hard-to-book flights at Xmas and holiday times. But now I think something has been "enhanced" behind the scenes. The Amex Platinum "Complimentary Domestic Return Flight" benefit seems now to be confined to award seats, not the advertised "saver availability".
Nasty, sharp practice.
But if you're thinking of getting this card, don't rely on the free domestic flight. The card offers an "annual complementary domestic flight on Virgin Australia". This used to be any flight nationwide, but has now been "enhanced" to just shorter flights.
However, that isn't the issue here. The problem is actually getting a flight.
Now, the Amex website says you can book any flight as long as it's 21 days ahead and there's "saver" availability. But this is rubbish, as I found yesterday. Amex refused to book a flight which clearly displayed saver availability on the Virgin site.
The Amex travel agent said "the computer says no". It turns out their only available flights around that time were the ones with award availability on the Virgin site at the 6,900 points level. "Saver" availability was no good, despite what it says in the brochure.
After raising an Amex complaint, a Pythonesque answer came back saying that when American Express says "Saver class", that is not the same as when Virgin says "Saver class".
Now in the past there have been good reports on Flyertalk of people using this benefit for hard-to-book flights at Xmas and holiday times. But now I think something has been "enhanced" behind the scenes. The Amex Platinum "Complimentary Domestic Return Flight" benefit seems now to be confined to award seats, not the advertised "saver availability".
Nasty, sharp practice.
Dec 12, 2015, 1:01 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New Zealand
Programs: NZ Elite, QF Platinum (LTS), VA Platinum
Posts: 1,672
Not too surprised, even in NZ amex advertise a free domestic flight but it has to be a grab a seat type fare which are lowest midweek, ie not great for weekend getaways. But you can pay the difference in fare prices. It's all in the fine print unfortunately.
Dec 12, 2015, 4:16 am
#4
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GA
Programs: VA-PLT, QF-GLD, DL-GM, UA-ex1K, AA-exPLT, HH-DM, IHG-PLT, MR-GLD
Posts: 8,242
I would call back again. My experience is not what you've experienced, and I suspect you got a bad agent. Please let us know what you find. If this is a real change, it is most unwelcome.
Dec 14, 2015, 9:40 pm
#6
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: BNE, 73H Seat 13A
Programs: QF Silver
Posts: 297
I reported this problem while the 110k promo was on. You used to get a normal saver fare ticket on any direct flight within Australia the usual 330 days in advance. Thanks to the new 21 days rule and the great "limited destinations" the free flight has become useless to me and I have downgraded my card as the new membership year starts in January for me.
Example: you can no longer get a flight BNE-PER-BNE but you can still get PER-BNE-PER. Fine, just book it the other way around and fly the return leg in two months. *WRONG* Not possible. Okay, screw the work travel, I'll just book a holiday. *WRONG* no inventory around public holidays. Okay, just to use it up before cancelling the card, wife and I will go for a short trip to Hamilton Island during Queen's birthday. *WRONG* That's too far out. Unless you want to use the flight because you enjoy being on an aircraft and you don't care about date or destination there is no point having it. Best thing, you can't even use it for a milage run because the Amex booking confirmation says the ticket isn't valid for earn (something I'm excited to see because it is a Q fare and according to https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.co...EarnFareClass/ it is eligable for earn). Having said that the Amex booking confirm also still refers to QF flights.
On a related note, I have over 100k velocity points and whatever I try to do with them says no availability. Forget about upgrades, forget about international award seats. The only thing they're good for are US domestic flights with Delta it seems. Frustrating.
Sorry for the rant but I'm starting to get a bit annoyed with Velocity.
Example: you can no longer get a flight BNE-PER-BNE but you can still get PER-BNE-PER. Fine, just book it the other way around and fly the return leg in two months. *WRONG* Not possible. Okay, screw the work travel, I'll just book a holiday. *WRONG* no inventory around public holidays. Okay, just to use it up before cancelling the card, wife and I will go for a short trip to Hamilton Island during Queen's birthday. *WRONG* That's too far out. Unless you want to use the flight because you enjoy being on an aircraft and you don't care about date or destination there is no point having it. Best thing, you can't even use it for a milage run because the Amex booking confirmation says the ticket isn't valid for earn (something I'm excited to see because it is a Q fare and according to https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.co...EarnFareClass/ it is eligable for earn). Having said that the Amex booking confirm also still refers to QF flights.
On a related note, I have over 100k velocity points and whatever I try to do with them says no availability. Forget about upgrades, forget about international award seats. The only thing they're good for are US domestic flights with Delta it seems. Frustrating.
Sorry for the rant but I'm starting to get a bit annoyed with Velocity.