Amex D-Day Approaching (14/4/19)!

[daft009]

Of course. This would have been the case before too, I'm sure AmEx and SQ have a commercial relationship dealing in points and transfers.
What I was talking about was the biggest ever transfer of MR to KF in history is about to occur (I can't recall any other time such a massive amount of transfers needed to take place).
Competition for the key routes is now going to turn into a bloodbath.
Either that or I'm being way too cynical and the stress is getting to my head!

yeah i fear the same.
last couple of years I've found availability in J ~3months out to Europe.
This year already have issues and its 6 months out still for my approx dates

 

[burmans]

On the other hand, the sheer amount of transfers to KF does leave an impression that SQ may not be too impressed with the sudden influx and may retaliate by hampering award availability severely. I'm only saying this from reading many a post from people asking for advice, and the default answer seems to be "KF", presumably due to a few positive factors that other FF programs lack.

Of course this is all on a hunch, I have no contacts nor internal info that can shed light on the situation, and was thinking out loud, especially with D-Day approaching (and fast, at that too)!!

Personally I think you are overestimating the importance of this forum vs the totality of the universe of people who earn SQ points. I would imagine the percentage of people who are aware of and read this forum would be unlikely to exceed say 10% of the overall owners of Amex cards (20% at the absolute max) and 1% of the global market of those earning SQ points.

 

[MathNerd]

Personally I think you are overestimating the importance of this forum vs the totality of the universe of people who earn SQ points. I would imagine the percentage of people who are aware of and read this forum would be unlikely to exceed say 10% of the overall owners of Amex cards (20% at the absolute max) and 1% of the global market of those earning SQ points.

You might well just be right there! I think with the amount of time I spend reading this forum and other things points/miles related, it's easy to get fooled that most people think/behave like us!
It would still be interesting to find out the actual numbers, purely out of curiosity

 

[MathNerd]

AU-SIN will become difficult (exacerbated by smaller F cabins)

Yep, a massive reason why reducing the F/R cabin size from 12 to 6 is bad news!

 

[JohnK]

You might well just be right there! I think with the amount of time I spend reading this forum and other things points/miles related, it's easy to get fooled that most people think/behave like us!
It would still be interesting to find out the actual numbers, purely out of curiosity

The majority of people don't care. I hardly ever hear anyone outside of AFF discussing using points to go anywhere and the ones that do usually book domestic flights as they don't earn quickly enough.

The general consensus is that it's not worth it. I tend to agree even though I'm semi-serious collecting points. Conservatively I'm spending at least 1-2 hours a day in pursuit of points, airfares and accommodation. Some nights that can be 4-5 hours easily where I'm up until 3:00am-4:00am.

Is it really worth it for a few hours of perceived comfort where you sacrifice your personal time?

 

[RB]

Personally I think you are overestimating the importance of this forum vs the totality of the universe of people who earn SQ points. I would imagine the percentage of people who are aware of and read this forum would be unlikely to exceed say 10% of the overall owners of Amex cards (20% at the absolute max) and 1% of the global market of those earning SQ points.

I think you are on the right track here and I think over the years there have been other changes discussed on AFF and it has been shown the general population is less engaged. Similarly Ozbargain is not representative of all shoppers in Aust.

Also obviously not specifically relating to booking award flights but a random figure I found was "Only 5.3 percent of travelers in the first seven months of 2017 flew in a premium-class cabin, which includes business class, but their contribution of airline revenue was 26 percent in that period, according to the International Air Transport Association, a trade group representing the world’s biggest airlines."

 

[andye]

I dont disagree with the general level of public engagement but a relatively high proportion of people with 1M+ MR points will be transferring their points somewhere.

 

[SOPOOR]

I hate it how the banks etc these points in the marketplace are a liability when they have made merchant fees of every Point and just like gift cards they know that a certain proportion of people will never use them or let them expire or redeem them for something like a toaster

I know many will disagree with me on this but we earned them , they've made their merchant fees on them so we should be able to use them at our free will especially on rewards flights

And if they find that a particular flight is all full of redemption flights that's just how the world works

You can use flybuys for pretty much anything except giftcards and same with Woolworths points

 

[andye]

I hate it how the banks etc these points in the marketplace are a liability when they have made merchant fees of every Point and just like gift cards they know that a certain proportion of people will never use them or let them expire or redeem them for something like a toaster

I know many will disagree with me on this but we earned them , they've made their merchant fees on them so we should be able to use them at our free will especially on rewards flights

And if they find that a particular flight is all full of redemption flights that's just how the world works

You can use flybuys for pretty much anything except giftcards and same with Woolworths points

Amex (and all the airlines) are delighted and make it very easy for you to redeem their points for the value of a Flybuy.
The extra value rewards are scarce. To some extent those with knowledge (eg AFFers) reap the benefit at the expense of the less knowledgable

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

Conservatively I'm spending at least 1-2 hours a day in pursuit of points, airfares and accommodation. Some nights that can be 4-5 hours easily where I'm up until 3:00am-4:00am

Yikes! What are you doing that's so time consuming?

 

[JohnK]

Yikes! What are you doing that's so time consuming?

The past few years have been 4-6 trips to Thailand each year. Planning commuting trips back to Sydney.

Checking hotel deals and how to maximise points earn. Checking car hire rates and where to credit car hire. Looking for best deals on airfares and also checking award availability. Looking for ways to maximise SCs.

 

[JohnK]

I know many will disagree with me on this but we earned them , they've made their merchant fees on them so we should be able to use them at our free will especially on rewards flights

And if they find that a particular flight is all full of redemption flights that's just how the world works

Points should never expire.

Abolish any seat awards. Introduce saver and standard awards and make adequate seats of each available for redemption.

Abolish carrier surcharges and only charge real taxes on awards.

And yes I do realise that award rates will increase but that's a small price to pay.

 

[SOPOOR]

Points should never expire.

Abolish any seat awards. Introduce saver and standard awards and make adequate seats of each available for redemption.

Abolish carrier surcharges and only charge real taxes on awards.

And yes I do realise that award rates will increase but that's a small price to pay.

they should not expire, they should be the equivalent of cash
they already make huge profits from those that let their cards expire, forget about it , lose it, or put it away for a rainy day or redeem a toaster

And I'm sure its quite high, and they take this into consideration as part of their motivation to offer it

 

[Doctore1003]

Very surprised there aren't any bonus offers right now for transfers from MR to airlines. I was expecting the recent Velocity offer to be extended and/or something new to be announced leading up to 15/4. There's still time I suppose...

 

[Dave G]

Still have Qantas offering me travel vouchers for xferring...

 

[Kevin Chan]

To some extent those with knowledge (eg AFFers) reap the benefit at the expense of the less knowledgable

That's a good summary of how the world works in general.

 

[DC3]

Only about 2 weeks now to "D-Day".

Although the thread title "Only 1 month to go (to D-Day)!" was accurate at the time, April is almost here. Time for decisions.

Edit: The deadline is 15th April to transfer points for current value

 

[SOPOOR]

I've pretty mich prepaid every utility and service that accepts amex or PayPal for a good few months. And will continue to do so until last minute.
My earn rate for points is so much higher than my usual.

I am a happy camper

 

[albyd]

I’ve started redirecting my Explorer direct debits to my Charge. Will take some time hopefully I don’t miss any of the big ones. Ride with Explorer linked to Ascent has been good. Shame it had to end.

 

[Kevin Chan]

I've pretty mich prepaid every utility and service that accepts amex or PayPal for a good few months. And will continue to do so until last minute.
My earn rate for points is so much higher than my usual.

I am a happy camper

Good idea. I just prepaid my electricity bill. And of course health insurance cover for everyone in the family.