American Express and Spanair launch the Spanair Plus American Express Business Gold for SMEs

THE CARD THAT LETS YOU FLY FREE FASTER

•The new product is specially designed for obtaining free flights. •It offers a higher rate of points accumulation than any other means of payment in existence in Spain, the difference being up to 83 percent with respect to other similar cards. •It allows you to trade in points for flights with any of the companies within Star Alliance, the biggest airline alliance worldwide. •Having been devised for the SME, it includes an excellent tool for controlling and tracking travel and entertainment expenses. •The holder who travels between three and five times a month obtains twice the benefits they would with other products. Having signed an agreement to issue co-branded cards, American Express and Spanair are to launch the Spanair Plus American Express Business Gold card in Spain. The new card will have all the benefits which American Express offers its holders, as well as the advantages and privileges which Spanair provides for its clients. The card’s foremost benefits are that its holders have personalized customer service and qualify for points at a high rate. For example, the Spanair Plus American Express Gold card awards its holders one point for every 2.25 euros spent, whereas, with the cards in the case of other Spanish airlines, some 15 euros have to be spent to obtain one point. The holder of the card moreover has access to the new American Express Business Travel platform specifically designed for SMEs. This features personalized customer service through a team of consultants who are travel experts, and offers them immediate and detailed electronic confirmation of their travel itinerary, a free messaging service, an on-line reservations service and the advantageous fares and rates negotiated by American Express. On the other hand, with just a single telephone call the traveller’s preferences can be logged and they benefit from American Express’s commitment as regards the time taken to arrange refunds, process complaints and deal with other procedures. The card offers the benefits of the services of the new Business Travel Unit created by American Express, which has experts who are highly trained in the needs of business travellers. The quality of service is guaranteed by a group of consultants who specialise in the business travel sector, within an organisation which has two different teams comprising, on the one hand, consultants assigned to customer service and, on the other hand, specific back office staff. According to Jorge Gil Lozano, the executive chairman of American Express in Spain: “The company has been offering specialized services to SMEs for over 10 years. This new Card provides this dynamic sector of the Spanish economy with a platform for booking trips whereby the SMEs are going to benefit from the advantages in fares and terms which American Express obtains through being the largest corporate travel specialist in the world. On top of this, the new Spanair Plus American Express Business Card is the means of payment which offers most services, including tools to analyse annual expenses in detail and a rapid rate of accumulating points to fly with any of the Star Alliance companies”. On the other hand, Enrique Meliá, Director General of Spanair, says: “in creating this new Spanair Plus American Express Business card, which is unique in the commercial aviation sector in Spain, Spanair reinforces its objective of providing the best product and the most wide-ranging services to those passengers travelling on business. This adds to the company’s policy of expanding its extensive network of domestic and European routes, offering greater and better frequencies for this segment of travellers”. Another of the significant advantages of the Spanair Plus American Express Business Gold card is that all its holders can use any one of the 795 destinations to which the airlines fly that make up the Star Alliance network, which includes such major companies as: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, United, US Airways and the VARIG Brazilian airlines. South African Airways is set to join the alliance within 12 months. Furthermore, the Spanair Plus American Express Business Gold card provides insurance for travel accidents of 750,000 euros, up to 9,000 euros in travel assistance, 600 euros for delay and loss of baggage, and access to the VIP Lounges which Spanair has in the airports at Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Arrecife, Alicante, Malaga, Valencia and Palma in Majorca for Gold and Silver holders in the Spanair Plus programme, as well as those passengers travelling in Spanair’s Business Avant Class. Spanair currently offers over 600 flights a day, operating a modern fleet on these of 54 aircraft and using codes shared with its partners, to over 150 destinations. Since April 2003 Spanair has been part of Star Alliance, the largest and most prestigious global airlines network worldwide. American Express is the biggest non-banking company specialising in the financial services and travel sectors. Founded in 1850, it is the world leader in means of payment, personal financial planning, asset management, insurance broking and international banking. With a presence in Spain since 1951, the company has three operational divisions: Financial Services (means of payment), Travel Services, and American Express Bank. Spanair María Navarro/Coro Navarro Heads of the Public Relations and Corporate Communications Department 91 343 30 32 / 971 745 170 mnavarro@spanair.es cnavarro@spanair.es American Express 91 743 75 43 Tarané Tahbaz tarane.b.tahbaz@aexp.com Estudio de Comunicación 91 576 52 50 María Reventós mreventos@estudiodecomunicacion.com