American Express has to be my favorite card issuer in terms of benefits. A few of the cards have a travel credit that regenerates every year, so I decided I may as well use the credit to book a flight for the upcoming the Middle East and Europe trip. I used the $400 credit attached to the new American Express Explorer card.
One of the legs I needed to do is Doha to Dubai; the flight is very short at 1-hour max, but it is expensive. Especially in business or as Qatar label it ‘first.’
Bellow is what it normally would have cost through Google flights. I could have paid for an economy ticket which was much more reasonable. However, Qatar has B/E Diamonds on their A320’s which I want to try out. Call me crazy, but yes I want to try them even though it’s a short flight.
Funnily enough, I have never used Amex travel before. I’ve used FH&R with the Platinum charge but haven’t ever booked flights through Amex.
To be begin click on the Travel tab and click ”Book Travel Online”
Here you’ll be at the landing page for American Express Travel. Fill in your details and click ”Search Flights”
This page is where you can choose the carrier you want to fly with. As I will be arriving into Doha on Qatar it’s a logical idea as I can enjoy the Al Safwa first lounge beforehand.
So you can now select the flight you would like. The route has many options I choose to leave Doha ealier than later to make sure I had enough time to connect in Dubai on Emirates. Once you’ve choosen click ”Select”
Once selected you can choose whether or not to use your travel credit.
After choosing yes or no to using the credit you select how you are going to pay for rest of the booking. I would heavily advise not using points to pay for the booking!
Once you slected how to pay you use your Amex (obviously) to pay the remainder.
After you book you’ll be sent an email with the booking reference. The email will contain the Amex travel number and PNR for the airline.
The whole booking process was very simple and easy, using the credit is a great way to have a discount on a flight or hotel and it’s a brilliant feature of the Explorer card.
