The New Benefit
If your an American Express Platinum cardholder and log into AmexTravel.com you should see the following message:
As a Platinum Card Member, you will no longer be charged an American Express booking fee when you book on AmexTravel.com
When using AmexTravel.com you were previously charged the following fees:
- $6.99 for domestic itineraries
- $10.99 for international itineraries
If you’re an American Express Platinum cardholder you should also receive an e-mail about this new change (subject line New benefit: No online booking fees with your Platinum Card):
Taking a trip is about to cost a little less. As a Platinum Card® Member, you will no longer be charged an American Express® booking fee when you log into your Platinum Card account and book on AmexTravel.com.
You can continue to use Membership Rewards® Pay with Points for all or part of your flight, hotel booked and paid in advance, vacation package or cruise booking. Plus, when you search for hotels backed by our “Lowest Hotel Rate Guaranteed” policy, we’re so confident they’ll be the lowest online, we’ll even put money on it. We know you’ll enjoy our wide selection of hotels at the lowest nightly rate, guaranteed.
On your next trip, take full advantage of all the benefits your Platinum Card offers.
Why Use AmexTravel.com?
When you make a booking using AmexTravel.com, you’ll earn 2x membership rewards points per $1 spent. According to DW you don’t actually need to use your American Express platinum card to book to receive this benefit, you just need to hold the card. This means you might be able to earn 4x membership rewards points per $1 spent by using the Premier Rewards Gold card.
My Thoughts
American Express really shouldn’t have been charging these fees in the first place if they wanted card members to use their booking portal. It’s nice that they’ve added a new benefit to the American Express Platinum card, but it doesn’t exactly have me jumping for joy.
That being said, it’s always a good day when a credit card has a benefit added rather than one taken away, so I’m not going to complain too much. Also keep in mind it’s currently possible to get 25,000 points and the annual fee waived on this card.
[Read: Different Flavors Of The American Express Platinum Card]
I’d personally like to see them add some spending bonus categories to this card, maybe 3x at restaurants like they’ve offered to some cardholders in the past.
Hat tip to JeffMIA for the full e-mail and DW for noticing this change.
