Amex invite to change from Plat CC to QF Ultimate Card

[drewbles]

I received a "pre-approved" application for a QF Amex Ultimate card this week, with a blurb about 'you have been a long term customer' and 'you like things not to change'.

They then proceeded to offer me the QF Amex Ultimate card for $250pa for the life of the card. In the fine print, it says 'if you have another Amex card, your card will be shut, and balance transferred to the new card'.

My question is this. Apart from the loss of concierge service (I have used it once in 5 years) and the loss of ability to use points for anything but QF, is there any real reason not to change? They are offering the 5000+2500 bonus points (5000 on first spend and 2500 on first QF spend) which is a bit of an incentive, and the Annual fee drop from $395 on the Plat CC to $250 never hurts.

Can anyone state any reasons (other than the fact I can earn QF points on the Ultimate and can't on the Platinum) why I should or shouldn't change?

Thoughts appreciated!

 

[serfty]

I guess it depends upon your travel patterns/needs.

I recently redeemed 122K Amex MR points for AirNZ airpoints and used them for TWO WHY -> Business upgrades, LAX to AKL on AirNZ in September.

I also transferred 122K MR points via SPG to AA for 50K AAdvantage miles and used this with co-pay to upgrade two LAX-ORD-FCO in March.

These upgrades have been confirmed. (And seats selected )

I have reserved 112K QFF points for two upgrades AKL-LAX in March; most of these have been earned from flying.

The only card I have obtain QFF points from in the last three years has been my ANZ Qantas Visa.

YMMV

 

[drewbles]

I guess it depends upon your travel patterns/needs.

I recently redeemed 122K Amex MR points for AirNZ airpoints and used them for TWO WHY -> Business upgrades, LAX to AKL on AirNZ in September.

I also transferred 122K MR points via SPG to AA for 50K AAdvantage miles and used this with co-pay to upgrade two LAX-ORD-FCO in March.

These upgrades have been confirmed. (And seats selected )

I have reserved 112K QFF points for two upgrades AKL-LAX in March; most of these have been earned from flying.

The only card I have obtain QFF points from in the last three years has been my ANZ Qantas Visa.

YMMV

As my spend is significantly lower than I imagine yours would be as a work based road warrior serfty I'm going to be lucky to push more than around 20-30k a year through the card. Combined with all my OW flying and crediting to QFF exclusively (until I get LTG in 6-7 years), i'm not likely to bother crediting to another FF.

Maybe i'm best off moving to the QF card, and then when I have LTG, evaluate my options for other FF programs and credit cards.

Anyone else have any input? (And thanks too serfty )

 

[serfty]

(80% of my Amex MR points were gleaned in the productive Amex bonus promotion of nearly a year ago.)

 

[drewbles]

(80% of my Amex MR points were gleaned in the productive Amex bonus promotion of nearly a year ago.)

Yes I was one of the fortunate few who managed to stay on the 'unlimited' points gathering, but unfortunately it was for the 10 txn's not 5. Still managed to net 80k or so out of that. Alas, since the ability to xfer to QF went, I've pretty much stopped using it now. Earth Amex gets a workout. Maybe it's time to just jump to the QF Amex

 

[glass]

I've found QFF have less seats OR cost more points than other carriers.
Thus I hate my amex QFF card...

 

[Alanslegal]

I like the AX Ascent program as I am given the option to transfer to, say, SQ and a few other programs. I like SQ because it's only a measly 21K points for a one way economy redemption to SE Asia rather than the 30K required by QF.

But given that Drewbles is going to exclusively credit flying and everything to QFF, then it is probably a good idea in those circumstances just to upgrade to the QF Ultimate.

 

[drewbles]

I've found QFF have less seats OR cost more points than other carriers.
Thus I hate my amex QFF card...

If you're not SG or WP then yes, your seat options are limited. SG and WP have greater availability.

And the 'free flight' books into O class (not E, fortunately).

I may book my Free Plat CC flight, then move to the QF Amex. Two in one year's not too bad

 

[cove]

If you have not used the concierge service then Ultimate is a very good idea.A free flight covers the annual fee in most cases and the points earn is very good.
Has the concierge service improved recently as I found it useless.....How is it in 2009?

 

[kamchatsky]

It would really depend on your preference on your frequent flyer program. For me I have been focussing on SQ these days so I would stick with Platinum CC.

 

[drewbles]

Thanks for the input guys.

SQ is out for me. With my spend on CC only, I'm not going to have enough SQ points to do much any time soon.

My travel is exclusively on QF domestically (where QF fly) and internationally it's all OneWorld. I'd rather augment my points on a card than have one that's totally separate, and then try to find redemption seats as a non-elite.

The concierge was useless last time I tried it. The saving ($250 vs $395) in Annual fee and the same flight routes (I tend to book PER-MEL-PER with my free flight) means the annual fee more than pays for itself. Back when the original Platinum CC launched, MEL/SYD-PER return was a valid flight route. That got culled within 18 months.

The Platinum CC doesn't seem to be any decent value now. I'll lose my 'foundation member' status, but I don't think that counts for much. Membership Rewards 'discounted rewards' for long term members only kick in after 10 years or so.