Amex ‘Member Week’ airline fare offers are now live via Amex Travel

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The Amex Travel portal hasn’t been working properly for most of the morning, but now it looks like things are back on track and it looks like we can finally see (to an extent) the flight deals that are on offer for the next few days.

Amex Member Week fares

Note: Holders of Delta co-branded cards (all 8 remaining people! ) have their own offer(s) and will not have access to the deals below even if they also hold another American Express card.

As far as I can tell, there’s no mention of these deals on my Amex account homepage or in the Amex Offers section of any of my cards, but when I head over to Amex travel, this is one of the things that I can see.

Up until a few minutes ago, clicking on the ‘learn more’ button just led to a error page but now, the fares seem to be live and Amex’s systems appear to be behaving normally.

How to book Member Week fares

Per Amex:

Step 1: To find Member Week fares, you must be logged in to AmexTravel.com with your American Express Card account.

Step 2: Use the booking tool to search for flights on participating airlines.

Step 3: Book qualifying flights highlighted with a Member Week banner to take advantage of lower fares.

Key terms

• Member Week fares are special airfare offers valid for bookings made on select airlines through AmexTravel.com from October 9-13, 2023.
• Bookings must be made by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on October 13, 2023.
• In order to receive the Member Week fare offers, Card Members must hold a US issued American Express Card (other than the Delta SkyMiles American Express Card, which is not eligible for this offer).
• Card Members that hold both a US issued American Express Card and a Delta SkyMiles American Express Card are also not eligible for this offer.
• To book, Card Members can visit the Site, log into the American Express account, then use the booking tool to search for flights. Fare options eligible for this offer will feature a Member Week logo.
• Member Week fares must be purchased with an eligible American Express Card and such Card Member must be one of the travelers named in the booking.
• Offers, booking and travel dates available only on select routes on participating airlines.
• Offers, booking and travel dates vary by participating airline.
• Blackout dates may apply.

Please refer to the Amex Travel page for the full terms and conditions.

Important to know

Cardholders can apply Membership Rewards points to Member Week fares by going through the booking process and selecting “Use Points” or “Use Points + Card” on the AmexTravel.com checkout page.

eTicket Flight Credits cannot be used toward these special Member Week discounted fares.

As far as I can tell, only flights on Alaska Airlines and Delta are offering Member Week pricing for domestic travel. As far as international travel goes, a wide variety of airlines (including Qatar Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and ANA) appear to be participating.

Quick thoughts

It’s very hard to tell just how good or bad these fares are because you only get to see the discount on offer when you search a specific route.

Here, for example, is a roundtrip regular Economy Class fare (not Basic Economy) for travel between Los Angeles and Paris Charles de Gaulle showing the Member Week fare offering a $57 (6.2%) cash discount or a 5,700 (6.2%) points discount.

This is the best non-stop fare on offer by Amex Travel and as far as I can tell, that’s the best non-stop fare available anywhere else (for the same dates), but the discount isn’t quite as good as Amex Travel would lead you to believe.

Here, for example, is a booking that you can make through Kayak for the same date and for the same flights and with the same baggage allowance…

…and this shows that the Amex discount isn’t really $57. It’s actually no more than $24 (2.7%) and that’s not exactly “special”.

Things can be better when booking a Premium Economy fare as, taking the same route as an example again, the best Member Week roundtrip PE fare is $1,551…

…while the best fare I found on Kayak/Skyscanner/Matrix cost $1,653.

Now that’s a discount that’s probably worth having.

Be aware that First/Business Class fares are also supposed to be included in the Member Week pricing deals but my (admittedly limited) searches either resulted with no results being returned (e.g. LAX – JFK) or with Amex’s International Airline Program (access to which comes with card_name) offering me a better deal (e.g. MIA – LHR).

Finally, don’t forget that because it’s often better to book directly with an airline rather then through an intermediary like Amex travel (booking direct it makes it easier to sort things out when there are issues and some credit cards only offer bonus points/miles when the spending is made directly with an airline), cardholders should be very careful before assuming that the Member Week fare they’re being offered is the best way to go even if it the cheapest option.

For me, for example, a discount of $24 offered by Amex travel would not tempt me to to steer away from booking direct with an airline. A discount of over $100, on the other hand, may well do it.

Bottom line

For the rest of this week, Amex card holders (other than those who hold Delta co-branded cards) can book Member Week flight deals on a variety of airlines for travel through to the end of the booking window (September 2024).

For bookings in Economy Class, I have yet to find a fare that would tempt me to book with Amex Travel rather than direct with the airline. Some of the deals in Premium Economy, however, are noticeably more interesting.