Consumer complaint received 2022-06-15
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
I was an American Express Delta Reserve cardholder for XXXX years. When COVID hit, I chose to cancel the card prior to XXXX renewal, due to its high annual {$550.00} fee and a decline in personal travel. A key benefit associated with this card is the issuance of a " Companion Certificate '' each year, which is supposed to be able to be used to cover the cost of one fare when traveling with a companion. There is a key caveat to one 's eligibility to use the certificate, in the XXXX XXXX  XXXX : " Tickets are only available in I and Z classes of service for First Class travel, and only available in L, U, T, X, and V classes of service for Main Cabin travel. For XXXX XXXX XXXX, tickets are available in W and S classes of service, but only when L, U, T, X, or V classes of service are available in the Main Cabin. '' I recently tried to book a W class ( Comfort + ) ticket using my Certificate for a flight from XXXX  to XXXX in approx. XXXX  months, but was unable to, as there apparently were no Main Cabin fare in the right fare classes available. I contacted XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and was told that the system will not even let them use Companion Certificates if the fare classes are not available. Only tickets that cost + $ XXXX in XXXX XXXX were available. In fact, availability was so scarce on XXXX  to XXXX flights that the agent was only able to find one flight, midday on XX/XX/XXXX, where I could use my Certificate. Out of curiosity, I then tried to use my Certificates for flights XXXX XXXX XXXX in one month, and there was no availability. I tried to find flights in four months to XXXX, and five months to XXXX, and similarly found no availability. 

I was transferred to a supervisor, who informed me that there was nothing XXXX could do to remedy the situation. She also said that there were " always '' fares eligible at some point in time for the Companion Certificate but she did not know how many. According to this agent, American Express, not XXXX, was responsible for these terms, so my only remedy was to contact them. In fact, she noted that people have been forced to book " almost a year in advance '' using these Certificates in order to find any availability, and flight availability is such a problem that American Express had been contacted, and the reason that the expiration of these Certificates had been extended to XXXX XXXX because of the restrictions on eligible fares, rather than the extension being a COVID-related concession ( as was indicated by AMEXXXXX XXXX materials XXXX XXXX 

I was told there was no one at XXXX I could speak to who would be able to help me. I am no longer an American Express Reserve cardholder, so I have no clear path to remedy the situation with them. 

For all intents and purposes, it seems as I paid for an expensive credit card with a benefit that I can not use, and American ExpressXXXXXXXX  is going to pocket the money. It would be one thing if there was little availability to leverage this benefit on the most popular flights on a given day, or soon before the flight date, but instead it seems that unless you are booking travel from unpopular cities nearly a year in advance ( and XXXX only lets you book travel 331 days in advance ), you can not leverage this benefit. No one expected COVID which led to a decline and then rapid uptick in travel, meaning the terms of the benefit have not caught up to the demand of those wanting to leverage it. At the very least though, failing to remedy the situation while knowing that consumers can not leverage the benefit which they paid for seems like an unfair and/or deceptive trade practice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation