Consumer complaint received 2024-01-22
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Add-on products and services
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NY)

This complaint is for Amex Travel service that comes with the American Express XXXX credit card. 

- XX/XX/XXXX : I bought a flight ticket for XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX to XXXX from Amex XXXX website using Amex XXXX credit card. Subsequently I received an email from Amex confirming my booking. Later an agent from Amex emailed saying the seat is not assigned yet and they are working on it. The booking was never cancelled. 

- XX/XX/XXXX local time ( XX/XX/XXXX in XXXX time ) : 4 days prior to the trip. I received a trip reminder email confirming the trip is coming up soon. 

- XX/XX/XXXX local time ( XX/XX/XXXX in XXXX time ) : I had a connecting flight prior to XXXX, and at the airport I found out the booking is non-exist from the airport agents. I called Amex travel to inquire for this issue, and while I was talking to them, I received an email from Amex informing my flight is cancelled and this is less than XXXX hours prior to my flight. Not even mentioning, I have a connecting flight to get to XXXX first. The Customer Service did not offer any help, instead, telling me that this is due to some agreement issues between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ( the flight was operated by XXXX XXXX and sold by XXXX on Amex XXXX ), and I just had to book a new flight. Given the urgency of getting back to XXXX, I just booked a flight ticket at the airport with {$400.00} more than my previous booking and told Amex I will call their customer service to further discuss this issue once I'm back in XXXX. 

- XX/XX/XXXX : After I got back to XXXX, I called Amex Customer Service and been on calls with them for hours. They claimed they didn't do anything wrong and as a customer I should know that the flight is cancelled/not confirmed if the emails says ticket/seat number is not assigned and claimed they were not able to cancel the booking to inform me. Despite the fact they emailed me trip reminder 4 days prior to my flight and canceled my booking on the flight date. I've talked to XXXX staff at Amex customer service and every single time, I have to repeat the story and repeat my requests without getting any real help. 

- My ask and result : I requested Amex to compensate the overage ( which is {$400.00} ) of the cost I have to pay for the flight ticket given they didn't provide the service as a travel agency and a XXXX  XXXX  credit card ( the annual fee for this card is {$690.00} and the XXXX XXXX is their biggest marketing point, I got this card mainly for this travel service ). Amex first refused my requests and claimed they can not provide any compensation, then {$100.00} voucher and then {$250.00} voucher after I provided evidence of the emails Amex sent. I'm not satisfied with this result as Amex customer services kept calling me for this issue ( multiple times outside my preferred hours ), insisted they did nothing wrong and as a customer I should know better, and did not escalate the issues after I requested internal escalations multiple times. The fact that they did not communicate clearly as a travel agency and still not admitting their mistakes after I waster hours of times with them just really disappointed me, what they are doing is completely the opposite of the customer service they claim providing to this credit card holder who pay {$690.00} per year in fees for these services.