I doubt AMEX has higher standards for those it promotes to its black card lines. As a former journalist I have to agree – AMEX IS journalist paranoid and controlling.

However, any moron knows, or should, that as travel professionals, we do not fly the plane, rent you the car, check you into the hotel, clean your rooms, re-fill the mini bar,and so on and so on. Some people are out strictly for whatever they can get. What sort of idiot attempts to wear shorts to dinner at the Ritz Carlton. Come on, pull your head out. I am so tired of getting complaints over things which I have no control and that are so trivial and amount to nothing more than the traveler looking to get something for nothing. Some of the very people that complain about things we cannot control (late flight, toilet won’t flush, had to wait in line to check-in) are high level executives at major companies. Being in those positions, one would expect a certain level of common sense. Instead, they expect everyone to treat them like royalty even when they reveal themselves to be a horse’s ass they are impersonating..

Enough is enough. A certain level of compenation for hiccups in travel are expected but when someone asks/expects you to refund an around-the-world ticket, refund their hotel, and reimburse their clothing expenses simply because they were denied entry into a restaurant because they lack common sense, it’s gone WAY too far!

I will buy 100 shares of Amex stock and attend their next shareholder meeting so I can ask Mr. chenault personally in front of 500 people why a respnse to my letter was not given. We’ll see how he responds at that time!

Have a little chat with the local credit officer abut getting a nice high limit card and putting some money in his bank. S/he’d be a lot more willing to give you a big credit line and when you need customer service, well, you know who to call.

We just canned both of our affinity cards with airlines because we never use the miles – we can’t STAND flying the airlines any more. I did the above and now have a nice mastercard with essentially no limit, a local banker who cares about me keeping my personal business with their bank, and who believes me instead of a merchant in a dispute and does the charge back with out any hassle. The best part of it is that they send people to my house or office with cash when I need it so I do not have make an extra stop at a bank, I get a great rate on foreign currency, and they say hello when I see them. Its a small town, but any decent local bank can give you the same service,

Service IS out there. Its just not with the big companies since they’ve all cost cut service to Bangla Desh.

AS to you travel agents out there? Where are you? I’ll pay $1000 a year to spend my $75k on travel. Everyone of your profession I have ever dealt with generally ask the same question 12 times – after I’ve answered it 11, 12, counting what I told them before they were really paying attention. “How are going, and what type of hotel” Answer: “I’d like to pay a decent rate and receive an upgrade to the concierge / business floor, there will be three of us – we will be arriving at insert name airport, NOT the main airport for the city, and we’d like to hotel to send a car to pick us up.”

Two days I get a call “What airport are you going into again? There is no listing in my computer for that airport”

Three days later: “Mr. Farrell, I cannot the name of the airport in my system.”

guess what, its not in your system, it is a non-airline field. Do you have the information I typed up -

“Why yes, its here somewhere”

“Did you look at it?”

“”well, I’ve never had anyone fly private before”

Me: “Ah – can you handle the request?”

“Well, I’ve never really dealt with the hotels directly – its usually over he computer”

Me: “Thank you, I’ll handle it from here”

This is usually after they tell me in the interview that they’ve been in the business 20 years, have personal contacts etc etc etc. So yeah, I keep hearing about travel agents – what would do for a customer who paid you a $500 annual retainer, let you keep your comissions – all I want is someone getting me the best room and best service and I’m even willing to pay for it – to guarantee you $500 or $1000 a year plus commissions?

Any takers? resumes to comanchepilot@gmail.com

Mr. Kenneth Chenault
CEO/Chairman
The American Express Company
World Financial Center
200 Vesey Street
New York, NY 10285

American Express could care less about consumer loyalty, customer service, and value. I have had numerous experiences with their “travel counselors”, “concierge service” and all I can say is that the old adage… “if you want it done right, do it yourself” consistently applies to anything that Amex puts their fingers on. I have horror stories that make what this young lady went through seem like a walk in the proverbial park.

This April I received my Amex statement, only to see that my annual membership fee for the Centurion Card was arbitrarily increased from $1000 to $2500. My Centurion membership was as a “Charter Member” and as such, my membership fee was to be grandfathered from the inception at the original $1000 rate.

I guess that they arbitrarily decided to change their agreement with the charter members, and without any notice… I mean, this is a company that for its “Centurion” members sends out lavish annual renewal packages… thumb drives, exquisite Lucite boxes, tony magazines trumping the “benefits” of the black card… but they couldn’t take the time to send me a letter announcing the abrogation of a 20 year old agreement!

When I called the Centurion customer service desk, I was given the usual runaround… first.. they gave me a wrong phone number to call.. then, they cannot do anything about it, then someone would get back to me later… Later turned out to be 5 to 7 days later!!! So much for valuing my longevity with the Amex card! What a crock of… “MERDE”…in French!

So, I decided to write their Chairman, Kenneth Chernault about this unilateral revision to the charter membership. That letter was emailed on the 13th of April, and then sent DHL to his office. As of today, 28th April there has been no response. I mean… I’ve been a card holder for 38 years… at least the courtesy of a response??? Nope… NADA… nothing… well, “screw them”… I’m voting with my feet here..and quickly too!

In short, unless you need to impress some luckless desk clerk in Bangladesh with a metal black credit card, or some unfortunate sales girl in some local retail shop… the card is worthless. Customer service is non existent, the room rates offered are little better than the rack rate, the airfares.. even the 2 for 1 deals.. you can get better pricing elsewhere.. the special events.. well if you have a black card, you’ve probably already received an invitation.. the ability to assist you when you really need it… I lost my card a few years ago, and it took hours on the phone and several arguments with “managers” to get a replacement… which took several days.. I could go on and on.

Needless to say, I am giving up this privileged card, and all of my American Express Cards. I now get much better service with the local branded Visa and Master Cards.

There no longer is any pride in carrying the American Express card. They were, in the 1970′s quite the company to beat. today, they are quite the company that is already beaten and left in the dust.

I have even spoken to a travel agent from a walk-in American Express Travel office once. She was located in New York City, Park Ave. office I think she said. I called the number on the back of my card to book a car rental and that is who I spoke to. She told me that they now assist the travel agents that are in the larger travel call centers when they have high call volumes so there is not an extended wait time. Outsourcing is not someting to take lightly. It is effecting all of us. Whether we are losing our jobs or getting bad customer service. Let’s not accuse a compay of doing such unless we know it is accurate, and in this case those of you that have claimed it, you are wrong.

Just like all MEN are NOT the same, all cars are not the same, all religions are not the same, the world travel agency or travel agent is not the same

And the commissions we make are NOT that high. The reason why AMX and Master Card and Visa have to outsource this type of work, is that no one in the USA or other large countries wants a full time career as a travel agent any more.

The pay is terrible compared to even a school teacher in Fairfax County Virginia or Montgomery County.

So in the never ending quest for the “lowest fare” or the best hotel deal, which has produced NOT much service at the airlines or many hotels, these days, try saying THANK YOU once in a while, if you are lucky to have a MATURE long time TRAVEL consultant that you deal with!

You thank your hairdresser, tip them well, and call way in advance for an appointment if you have a good hairdresser. You thank and tip your nail lady.
You thank your doctor, dentist, CPA, and they make about 10 to 30 times a year plus what a good travel agent makes.

So why not some thanks for agents. You don’t tip us, you don’t give us gifts at Christmas, you expect everything to be Perfect, even though I don’t own or run the airline, limo company, cruise line, hotel, inn, villa, and get all the grief, is there is one tiny thing on your trip you did not like.

It is a two way street folks. I treat my once a week cleaning service nicely, even though they always forget something, as well as my paper boy, mail man, lawn guy, nail lady, hairdresser, tailor,Doctor, receptionist,vet, and I pay them for their services.

And I write a small card of thanks with it. Does anyone do that with their travel agent, not all the time. They just call to complain about the airline being late, the hotel room did not have the best view, the maid did not clean well, the toilet made funny noises, the TV does not get every cable channel, the rent a car was not clean or made clunky sounds or was dirty.

I had a man once from Potomac Maryland who called from the Ritz Carlton in Maui to tell me that the gourmet dining room would not let him in for dinner in shorts and flip flops and a tank top and I should have given him a list of acceptable clothing attire in their top dining room.

Like I knew he was going to wear that in their fine dining room at 8pm at night. Even my 28 year old son would know what to wear at the Ritz versus Taco Bell.

.I told him to go to town and buy a long pair of slacks and a decent shirt, if he wanted top gourmet dining rooms for dinner or go eat at Maui Taco or a lower priced dining spot in his more casual dining attire.

He actually wrote me a letter when he got back, enclosing the receipts for his shirt and pants, and wanted me to PAY for his pants and shirt, for not giving him a clothing list on what to wear for each type of place he might go to on his trip……………

I was tempted to pay a native to drop a few coconuts on his head or throw him in a shark pool.

I have had quite a few men, including my young lawyer, who asked me to come up with a list for the “right’ type of attire on their trips and I have been glad to do it, even though it does not come under Websters definition of travel agent..

Real good LOCAL travel agents have worked over time from the day we started, and work hard for lower pay then my niece makes, one year after college.

So if you don’t want to end up with Brandi’s, Tammi’s, and the like at some outsource office, find a GOOD agent in your own town, and treat them with some respect. and call or write and thank them like a lot my clients do.

Many Clients today are arrogant and they treat their travel agents for the most part like we are serfs, peons, doing nothing but easy work and making big commissions, getting all those free trips, ha ha and not even worth a thank you. That is common courtesy.

The good agents are NOT 19 or 20 or 25 years old. They are old tough ladies like me, who know our stuff. But I will not take certain people anymore. You can almost size up a potential problem client, and believe me, it is a two way street!

There is a lot more to travel then just book an air ticket and a hotel. At least with my clients and I do get thank you’s and gifts from a lot of them. But when I read columns like this, and the way your writers talk about “travel agents” it makes my blood boil, after all these years…………………..

I like what I do and I do it well. I once worked for AMX, and it was too regimented, but new money clients are impressed by the Platinum and Black Cards.

In this case, I feel AMX was clearly in the wrong, and they should be providing their 2500 a year fee black card clients better. Everyone is trying to cut corners and keep costs down, even AMX. Then don’t charge 2500.

Travelers could get many of the same “extra’s” if they picked the time to choose the RIGHT travel agent and developed a relationship.

I have gone to the mat for many of my clients, even when they were in the wrong, because we had a relationship of respect, and I work with them.

People lump travel agents all in one pot, and we are NOT!!!! Thank you, and have a nice day.

If you really want to spend $2,500, hire a proper travel agent for your trips.

If I had to pay for it personally, its real questionable. The service I have had when dealing with Amex’s travel 3rd party supplier has been OK, but not great. As stated, the real benefit is the upgrade to elite status in the airlines and some hotel chains.

The service this customer received was ridiculous for any level of cardholder. Amex made the mistake and has to step up and make the customer completely whole.

The Amex agent in my case had screwed up and I was on the cell phone to try and clear it up. Not only did they make a mistake (not getting the ticket required) but also were unwilling to take ownership of the problem, nor do anything about it. I ended up saying goodbye to them and solving (and paying for) the problem myself. Later, when complaining, I had been told that they were having several problems with the travel agents in the office I used. That was about 9 years ago, I never used them again since.

I am always reading in Tripso and other Forums about “use a travel agent” so they can fix problems. I seem to not have much luck with travel agents, they make mistakes and never seem willing to take responsiblity for them.