Amex Velocity Platinum

[Moopere]

This post sort of straddles the Velocity and Amex forums, seems mostly Amex related though so I'll plonk it here.

Having a serious look at this card: American Express Velocity Platinum Card | New from American Express AU

Trying to find good earning opportunities for either MR or Velocity. Also had a look at the Virgin High Flyer (Virgin Flyer Credit Card | Virgin Credit Cards | Virgin Money) but 44d interest free cards drive me bonkers so won't go there.

Several things puzzle me and I've not been able to nut them out fully, perhaps owners of this card will have a better idea:

- The 2:1 business flights have to be booked through Amex Travel apparently and can only be booked on VA or DL metal. Amex travel however doesn't seem to actually sell VA fares though ... When trying to do a dummy booking, and using their airlines drop down box, there is V Atlantic but not Virgin Australia... or DJ for that matter. So how would one avail oneself of the 2:1 offer? Also its made clear that "Availability of the offer is subject to the seat availability in the nominated class of the Business cabin" .. what classes would these be? Anyone know?

- A free DJ domestic flight every year. It seems these can't be upgraded and pull from "R" class buckets. I'd love to hear from someone who has upgraded one of these with either points or money to Business class since June 2011 when DJ went through their re-birthing. By the way, has anyone noticed that the destinations starting in PER are very dismal compared to the Amex Plat Edge "free" flight? One can fly to SYD but not to MEL (or BNE) ... for goodness sakes.


Given that there appears to me to be somewhat serious limitations placed upon the main selling features of the card, has anyone gone down the route of opting for the Gold version instead? (American Express Velocity Gold Card | New from American Express AU).

Not as good an earner, 2.5x instead of 3x on VA spend, 1.25:1 versus 1.5:1, VFF:$ accrual, but only 99$ with a discounted first year versus $349 and still has 2 DJ lounge passes which will help with the other "free" DJ ticket I need to use for something.

Or is the Plat and the 2:1 business being used to get travellers offshore to staging airports where cheaper business class can be had on other carriers???

 

[Moopere]

My mistake - I should have waited before posting. Done more serious digging now. I'd not had reason to even look at VA long or short haul business fares till now. Having done it, the long haul product is very sketchy, mainly code shares which are ineligible for the card offer. The short haul international product seems to offer no lounge access for J class except in Bali (!!???) - so not likely to take up that lovely offer either.

I don't need to go to the USA so I didn't check, but outside of possible US travel the 2:1 offer with its caveats in place doesn't look very useful.


So, this answers most of the enquiry. I don't need yet another free economy ticket to either SYD or ADL (from PER) and given the difference in price between the Plat and gold at $250, the only useful difference between the cards for my circumstances appears to be 0.25 points per dollar spend ... At my own valuing of VFF = 3c each, I'd need to spend over 33,000 to break even.

[edit: Ahh, important caveat ... to get the 99$ reduced first year fee you cannot already have any Amex products - be cautious]

 

[tinkybelle]

I dont even see any status credits offered! this one is probably better for someone not wanting the whopping $349 PY and needing Scs

www.velocityamex.com.au/50velocity gets 20k bonus and 50 SCs for $99 on first year I received a letter stating the Scs
i presume Velocity Rewards Cards | New from American Express AU gives plat and 100 scs I see 30k bonus

 

[cove]

We have about 400k points from this card as a reserve back up just in case sort of thing when my 2 main ways of points flying are giving me dust. The most important posts for travel in Australia have come from markis10 where 6,900 points plus sub $150 gets you a J ticket with Virgin Australia.
My strategy has been to gather enough points to be able to get 2 family members home from anywhere in the world or Australia in J.

 

[tinkybelle]

We have about 400k points from this card as a reserve back up just in case sort of thing when my 2 main ways of points flying are giving me dust. The most important posts for travel in Australia have come from markis10 where 6,900 points plus sub $150 gets you a J ticket with Virgin Australia.
My strategy has been to gather enough points to be able to get 2 family members home from anywhere in the world or Australia in J.

6900 plus gets ticket to where though?

 

[TonyHancock]

6900 plus gets ticket to where though?

A fair number of places. To put things into perspective a one way J MEL-PER is $176 + 6900. (I looked at a date in May.)

 

[Pumbaa]

A fair number of places. To put things into perspective a one way J MEL-PER is $176 + 6900. (I looked at a date in May.)

I booked PER - SYD - OOL - MEL - PER for my GF and I just recently. I had a conference in OOL so the GF and I spent 4 nights in SYD and MEL also. Total cost was 55,200 points + $1047.08 for 8 flights between two people.

Comparison to Qantas: The exact same itinerary would have burnt over 200 000 points!

They were lovely flights, and we managed to sit in 1A and 1C for every flight. Service was flawless, meals were excellent, and they even have us amenity packs for our West-East coast trips. All in all we were very impressed with Virgin's offer. As long as Virgin continue to offer such good value points + pay options, they'll have my business for domestic bookings.

 

[Moopere]

I dont even see any status credits offered! this one is probably better for someone not wanting the whopping $349 PY and needing Scs

I don't immediately see any gifted or free status credits on either card. However, I think you are right. The Gold is discounted to 99$ for the first year, plus 20K points + 2 free lounge passes and the earn is 1.25:1$, only just behind the plat. I think this is the one I'll go with.

Now just need a backup visa/mc. Currently got rid of all my VISA/MC's except the woolies EDR, but feeling exposed as folks have had theirs cancelled recently.

 

[Moopere]

We have about 400k points from this card as a reserve back up just in case sort of thing when my 2 main ways of points flying are giving me dust.

You'd be doing enough volume for the .25 points / dollar to matter. I'm guessing thats why you chose the Plat over the Gold? Any luck using the 2:1 business thing on the Plat? Looks next to impossible to me unless travelling SYD-LAX or SYD-HON

If they were offering 2:1 on up to 4 domestic Business flights a year I'd snap it up.

 

[Pumbaa]

If they were offering 2:1 on up to 4 domestic Business flights a year I'd snap it up.

What's the point of that when you can get a Business class fare for 6900 points + $180?

 

[cove]

Reality strikes us all sometime and I got hit up with a dose this week. I tried to upgrade a Gold Altitude card to Platinum and they want my 2011 tax numbers. I have to file that return by April 2nd anyway so a one week wait is on the cards.
Basically my reserve card at Westpac is currently Gold and pretty useless at earning points compared with Amex Velocity so I need to upgrade it. The advantage of the Platinum Altitude Westpac card is we can warehouse the points and then transfer them at a time more suitable to me.
i still have not flown with Virgin Australia and the ones I did with Virgin Blue were not memorable.
AFF members are saying they have improved which of course had to happen.

 

[Moopere]

What's the point of that when you can get a Business class fare for 6900 points + $180?

My points are for personal leisure. Generally try and use money for actual business related business flights.... doesn't mean that I don't want a good deal though

 

[Pumbaa]

My points are for personal leisure. Generally try and use money for actual business related business flights.... doesn't mean that I don't want a good deal though

Hi mate, sorry I re-read my post and it sounded a bit rude. Wasn't my intention at all . Points are yours and you should do as you wish

I always struggle with the cost of business class fares, even at 50% off. Points make them so much cheaper. What I've done for business expenses lately is claim the $180 and use the nominal amount of points. Without the points + pay option, I'd be paying economy every time. $1500 Full J or $750 half price J is still a lot more than $250 Y

 

[Moopere]

I always struggle with the cost of business class fares, even at 50% off. Points make them so much cheaper. What I've done for business expenses lately is claim the $180 and use the nominal amount of points. Without the points + pay option, I'd be paying economy every time. $1500 Full J or $750 half price J is still a lot more than $250 Y

I hear you. I wonder sometimes if the various airlines _actually_ want and expect to sell their J (domestic) product or if they are simply a mechanism to burn off FF points and keep their liability books in check.

However, price comparison wise, well, I look at it like this - I don't travel well, despite enjoying being out in the world I find I travel poorly and arrive in bad shape after 4+ hours on a plane. So, if travelling Y I get in the day before an activity and leave the day after. So even a relatively simple meeting will cost me three days away (otherwise I'm liable to break).

So, the normal 200$ fare becomes, $200 + (hotel + sustenance x2d) = $900-1000. If they sold ex-PER J flights for 1K I'd take them every single time without batting an eyelid to gain back 2 of the 3 days. Persnoally, I'd still arrive in questionable shape, but good enough to get the job done and probably not sacrifice my sanity/health too much

 

[AdMEL]

Reality strikes us all sometime and I got hit up with a dose this week. I tried to upgrade a Gold Altitude card to Platinum and they want my 2011 tax numbers. I have to file that return by April 2nd anyway so a one week wait is on the cards.
Basically my reserve card at Westpac is currently Gold and pretty useless at earning points compared with Amex Velocity so I need to upgrade it. The advantage of the Platinum Altitude Westpac card is we can warehouse the points and then transfer them at a time more suitable to me.
i still have not flown with Virgin Australia and the ones I did with Virgin Blue were not memorable.
AFF members are saying they have improved which of course had to happen.

That's odd! Provided your gold card has a limit higher than the Plat min. ($8,000, if I remember correctly), you should be able to upgrade your card via internet banking, without providing any financial information.

 

[cove]

The 2 cards for us have a combined credit limit of $138k but are business denoted ones. I decided not to do a second call as I spoke to a call supervisor. It is easier to do the change after April 2nd when I will have 2011 info.
i am not a big fan of Westpac credit cards because they tampered with the Visa points earning and canned the Holden rebate card....
Westpac have not come up with a new product in credit cards that I like since Kris Flyer and now virtually all of their products have been matched or beaten by others.

 

[AdMEL]

The 2 cards for us have a combined credit limit of $138k but are business denoted ones. I decided not to do a second call as I spoke to a call supervisor. It is easier to do the change after April 2nd when I will have 2011 info.
i am not a big fan of Westpac credit cards because they tampered with the Visa points earning and canned the Holden rebate card....
Westpac have not come up with a new product in credit cards that I like since Kris Flyer and now virtually all of their products have been matched or beaten by others.

Are yours Gold Altitude Business Limited Edition cards? I assume you are aware that there is no Altitude Platinum business card and that the Alt Plat card prohibits use for business purposes? This may be the problem - switching from a 'business' Altitude card to a non business Altitude Platinum card may not be allowed, although I don't think so.

The reason I have put 'business' in inverted commas is because the Altitude Business card is not technically a business card - it is really a consumer/personal card that allows business spending, which normal consumer cards do not. Otherwise, it is structured and operates as a consumer card - liability lies with the cardholder only, as distinct from true business cards, where the liability is either the business only or the business and card holder jointly.

Given the Altitude Business card is truly a consumer card, I still think you should be able to transfer the card to a Plat card via internet banking - have you tried this? By far the easiest! A few seconds and it is complete, with card received approx. a week later.

Westpac cards are far from the worst cards in the market in many respects (and have some market leading features, such as rental car excess cover in Australia on all Platinum cards), but I realise you don't like them.

Holden rebate still exists as part of Altitude - only difference is the annual fee is higher than the Holden card was. Other than the fee, it is actually improved with Altitude, as the rebate can be earned with less points by use of Amex card, which Holden Card didn't have. Also, Holden card did not have a Gold option, so no gold benefits such as travel insurance.

 

[tinkybelle]

please tell me how the 6900 + is done
give me an example as i am clueless to this

 

[markis10]

please tell me how the 6900 + is done
give me an example as i am clueless to this

See here in pictures: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-per-va-krisflyer-miles-37873.html#post581873

 

[oz_mark]

i am not a big fan of Westpac credit cards because they tampered with the Visa points earning and canned the Holden rebate card....

It's all part of the normal lifecycle of banking products, and Westpac is not IME unique in this regard.

For Westpac, the Earth card was good when it was introduced, but was eventually wound back to look like any other of their cards. The other big 4 banks have also wound back card earings over time - there are some cards out there that are worse than what Westpac provides.

The main thing we have in Australia at the moment, is that Citi have decided to go after a bigger part of the market in Australia, hence the Citibank Plus product changes, the rejig of some of their reward cards and so on.

And perhaps fortunately, some of the cobranded products have some quite good features (such as the Amex Velocity cards). But I would expect that these will also be wound back over time.