David Jones American Express Platinum card - by end2012

[k3nnis]

Thanks for the info.

So do you mean you need to pick 1 airlines to transfer and that's it?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

You choose QF or the rest - I think you can swap one way or other once every 6mths - not sure - only after SQ / KF pts so irrelevent to me.

 

[Moopere]

YES transfers are free - it was me who mentioned the charge earlier - I was passing on info supplied to me from DJs reps - they were wrong.

No cap on earning - no cap on transfers to airline partners.

The fee to transfer is if you GIFT to someone else - $5 / 1,000pts - max 50K GIFTING pa.

You have the card and I don't - so you must have more up to date information than I do, but my research into this, which is keeping me away from the card at this time, is that there is subtlety here. Have read the PDS and spoken with two different CSR's at Amex now and the options appear to me to be:

Definitions used in this post:

Rewards point (RP) = no more than a measure of accrual/spend per month, these are directed to one of the below monthly:
DJ Membership Rewards (DJMR) = a parallel scheme to the standard direct Amex Ascent Membership rewards run by Amex for accumulation of DJMR points
Amex Ascent Membership Rewards (AAMR)= The standard MR scheme we are mostly used to which accumulates AAMR points.


Options:

- Transfer direct sweep to QFF at 1x RP : 0.75 QFF points
- Conversion to DJMR at 1 : 1 for accumulation in the DJMR scheme. This is free of charge. DJMR points are transferred to partners at varying rates, but most airlines are 2:1
- DJMR points may be moved, or 'gifted' to other people, but this method also allows one to gift to ones own AAMR account. The cost is $5 / 1000 points. AAMR allows transfer to most partner airlines at 1:1. Aside from the cost involved there is also a 50,000 DJMR point cap per year (on transfers).

 

[k3nnis]

Sounds like it is very tricky!!!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Damn - you are correct Moopere - been on phone again and YES conversion to ALL non QF airlines except Air NZ is indeed 2:1 - kinda changes the equation a bit huh.

 

[Moopere]

Sounds like it is very tricky!!!

Yes, I agree. Despite the technical wording being correct, I find it to be purposely misleading - to the extent that you cannot find the DJ MR conversion rates _anywhere_ on the web until you have the card and are able to log in to your DJ MR account.

I brought this to Amex's attention and it was known ... to me this is intentionally confusing and has been designed to be confused with the standard and well known Amex Ascent Membership Rewards scheme.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

to me this is intentionally confusing

Damn right - if it confused a rocket scientist like myself what chance do you mere mortals have?

 

[k3nnis]

Yep very misleading and very disappointing from AMEX.

 

[paultiffen]

I've been on the phone a bit with them regarding eligibility, if anyone is interested in applying then drop me a PM

 

[Deleted member 18152]

Can you transfer existing points? Or, can points only be transferred once you subscribe to Qantas direct?

 

[paultiffen]

Hi Johnny,

You can't transfer Ascent points to QFF, the wording is a bit misleading. You have to pick either one program or the other and you can switch at maximum once per year. The only AMEX points that you can switch is Ascent Premium which only comes with the high end premium cards (think $900 annual fee and above). If you changed programs then the Ascent points would be left. In my opinion Ascent points are more valuable than QFF points but it depends on your preferences as you can't use them for Qantas.

Paul

 

[Deleted member 18152]

Thanks! So basically, even if you call up and sign up to Qantas direct today the existing points are stuck in Ascent?

 

[paultiffen]

That's right. I would check out Best value for AMEX points - Page 6 for a good tip on Ascent points through American Airlines though as an example of why they are more valuable. Also 10000 points gets you a $100 voucher not 13500.

 

[Moopere]

Be cautious - this is an David Jones Amex thread and the rewards points gained don't go to Amex Ascent, they go to David Jones American Express Membership Rewards, a subtle difference in name perhaps, but quite a different scheme with different conversion rates to the airlines compared to Amex Ascent.

 

[paultiffen]

Hmmm, I might have been given incorrect information then, the person I spoke to was in the US and not part of the DJ AMEX group. I'll ring up again as you're right those are less valuable.

 

[paultiffen]

Hi Moopere,

Thanks a lot for pointing this out. I rang them up and you are quite right for example:
1 Ascent point = 1 Asia mile but
1 MR point = 0.5 Asia miles

I think that there's still some value in the card however even if you don't shop at David Jones and buy a lot of fuel plus and the bonus is not too bad. However this definitely means that the Platinum Edge is the best value out there (ex the top range cards for some people).

Paul

 

[Moopere]

In my view its the use of the term "Membership Rewards" that is causing most of the confusion - and I think this confusion is by design, as a way of leaning up against the rather good and fairly ubiquitous Amex Ascent Membership Rewards scheme.

In fact, there are multiple Amex Membership Rewards schemes, but many remain relatively unknown, some I'm aware of are: MR Select, MR Options, MR Ascent, MR Ascent Premium, David Jones MR, there are probably more still.

This post:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ican-express-platinum-37805-7.html#post682505

Was a rather confused attempt (by me) to quantify the difference between the Platinum DJ card and the standard DJ Amex card. I'll try and do a more useful table at some point soon as re-reading that post now makes my head spin, nevertheless, there might be something in there for those looking for a starting point to analyse their own specific use case.

 

[deluxeflyer]

Definitions used in this post:

Rewards point (RP) = no more than a measure of accrual/spend per month, these are directed to one of the below monthly:
DJ Membership Rewards (DJMR) = a parallel scheme to the standard direct Amex Ascent Membership rewards run by Amex for accumulation of DJMR points
Amex Ascent Membership Rewards (AAMR)= The standard MR scheme we are mostly used to which accumulates AAMR points.


Options:

- Transfer direct sweep to QFF at 1x RP : 0.75 QFF points
- Conversion to DJMR at 1 : 1 for accumulation in the DJMR scheme. This is free of charge. DJMR points are transferred to partners at varying rates, but most airlines are 2:1
- DJMR points may be moved, or 'gifted' to other people, but this method also allows one to gift to ones own AAMR account. The cost is $5 / 1000 points. AAMR allows transfer to most partner airlines at 1:1. Aside from the cost involved there is also a 50,000 DJMR point cap per year (on transfers).

Good summary.
Note that if you use your points for mileage transfers to a FFP,
there is no need to move your points from DJMR to AAMR,
just transfer directly to the FFP.

Just received my new Plat card yesterday,
applied instore for the upgrade on Sun last week, so 4 days turnaround.
Looking forward to my bonus 30,000 DJMR points = 15,000 KF miles.
And 4 free supps too.
Now to go book the VIP Shopping suite where I'll be swimming in Moet.....

 

[Moopere]

Good summary.
Note that if you use your points for mileage transfers to a FFP,
there is no need to move your points from DJMR to AAMR,
just transfer directly to the FFP.

You can choose to transfer direct to a FF program at 2:1 _or_ transfer up to 50,000 DJMR points per year to AAMR and then transfer those to a FF program at 1:1, but at an additional cost of 0.5c / point.

Hope this post: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ican-express-platinum-37805-7.html#post682505

goes some way to showing that transferring to Ascent and copping the 0.5c is probably the cheapest per point option (for non QF airlines) until one spends more than $5000 a year at DJ (including the 30K free points). QFF direct earn appears to offer the cheapest cost per point.

 

[deluxeflyer]

You can choose to transfer direct to a FF program at 2:1 _or_ transfer up to 50,000 DJMR points per year to AAMR and then transfer those to a FF program at 1:1, but at an additional cost of 0.5c / point.

Hope this post: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ican-express-platinum-37805-7.html#post682505

goes some way to showing that transferring to Ascent and copping the 0.5c is probably the cheapest per point option (for non QF airlines) until one spends more than $5000 a year at DJ (including the 30K free points). QFF direct earn appears to offer the cheapest cost per point.

Absolutely right moopere, I missed that point completely.
Has anyone done a DJMR transfer to AAMR so we know it's definitely 1:1 ?
I did 3 small purchases on my Plat over the weekend
and the bonus has already posted.