"Enhancements" to MR earn on Platinum Card, Reserve & Centurian

[StevePER]

Only just caught up with this thread after moving house a week ago. I can't see this being good for Amex - why do people have an Amex card if not for the better earning potential?

I got the letter on Friday for my Platinum Reserve card, I am downgrading to the Edge as the annual fee is a lot lower and the earn rate is a bit better for me. My wife has a salary sacrifice card for restaurants and international transactions go on Citibank for 3 points per dollar, so there is no advantage in paying extra for the Reserve card. The Edge card pays for itself with the free flight and I'm not keen to transfer all my Ascent points over to another program.

 

[Deleted member]

On the issue of biz card v personal card, has anyone an opinion on which biz card delivers similar or better MR points etc?

 

[wafliron]

On the issue of biz card v personal card, has anyone an opinion on which biz card delivers similar or better MR points etc?

Do you mean a genuine business card? Or a personal card that is known to be OK with business transactions being run through it? Also, you said "MR points" - do you mean an Amex card, or any card?

 

[RichardKopf]

Received the 2 x Plat Business and also Centurion changes letters. Cent one came with a small artwork, which seems unusual.

Changes to Cent:

Relationship Manager: - not sure if I see this as a plus or not, but it's a single point of contact for all business hour enquiries

Additional Priority Pass for Supp card as well, plus a guest per holder, so up to 4 pax entry at a time

Access to Virgin lounges for both cardholders (in addition to 1 QF Club) and Hertz Presidents' Circle (which will make up for losing the comped DJ plat card)

Accor Le Club Platinum

Carlson Club (Radisson) Gold

New cardmembers, from August12, will pay a $5000 joining fee (to keep the card exclusive-cough) and the new card fee will also be $5000 - a 16% increase, but the first in 5 years

Not sure if Aussies had access before to American, Delta and US Air lounges, but we do, now

Confirmed continued CX Marco Polo Diamond, which means top tier Oneworld

3 points for dining, 2 points for travel and overseas spend, including foreign internet purchases, 1 for other and 1/2 for govt and utilities. I know this'll piss most people off, but we usually exceed our points cap in less than 2 months, and it's 90% travel, so this has no real affect on us.

A few extra VIP accesses to clubs, which may be pleasant for some.

Still the best 'included' travel insurance

Overall, would I pay $700 extra for DJ lounge x 2, Hertz Pres, Accor Plat, Carlson Gold, extra Priority Club and CX Diamond. No, because the points earned allow travel in premium classes which offer the same benefits, anyway, but I won't drop the card, either

 

[Deleted member]

Do you mean a genuine business card? Or a personal card that is known to be OK with business transactions being run through it? Also, you said "MR points" - do you mean an Amex card, or any card?

Well pretty much any card, I am not thrilled with all o the Amex changes, and frankly just want to maximize my MR earn.
At this stage I use my MR points for QF points, based on the talk we had from virgin at the mid year Xmas thingy, I can't see myself being much interested in swapping for about 3 years. I will,reassess then , once the new look VA is properly up and running

 

[bossreggie]

Well.... I know the card is "exclusive" but when my 22 year old son gets an invite.... I'd question just how exclusive it is. (He declined, as we have the same policy on paying for credit cards)

I've said it before.... I am not a fan. They seem to have taken "enhancement" lessons from Qantas.

There are STILL going to be some who will get a perceived value, but for a lot it will be more about the "aura" of the card.

None of the benefits hold any value to me personally.... BUT..... I just will NOT pay for ANY credit card. It's a bossreggie policy. I'd have a higher spending pattern than many cardholders... My way of thinking, is the card company would make enough on my yearly spend to "absorb" the cost of membership. I also appreciate that in the overall scheme of things to AMEX... I'm a very small fish. I'm TOTALLY confident they are not "hurting any" because I choose not to have one of their cards.

Boss

 

[jmone]

Just spoke to a Relationship Mgr about the changes (mine is away sick apparently), and for what it is worth:
- They have had lots of calls from Centurion members who use it for ATO / Biz unhappy with the changes and considering dumping the card. I've told them this is reflected as many are now considering moving to other Co (eg Citi). Amex seems to be aware of the backlash and are monitoring it.
- They point out other Amex cards still has 1.5x MR point redemption (Amex Qantas & Virgin). I pointed out that this devalues Centurion as I can get a "better" yet cheaper MR card than the supposedly top of the range Centurion
- I'm having them run a comparison MR earn over my last 6mths under the old and new scheme so I can make an informed decision
- If you decide to cancel then the annual fee will be refunded on a pro-rata basis.
- The dedicated relationship managers will (apparently) only be offered to Centurion members going forward (but may stay for those already with one on other cards). It seems each Relationship Manager has over 100 clients they service

I'd suggest that if you are unhappy with the new program, give them a call and run through it with them.

 

[myturn]

wow, just finished reading through the whole thread. I own an Edge and Reserve card so I was quite interested how everyone was going to respond to the changes but it seems like many of you here are on the Charge card. For the more ordinary users, there are some things you can do before 1 October to beat the changes such as pre-paying some things and adjusting your direct debits for utilities etc Some other good ideas posted here perthhacks.com/2012/07/beat-changes-to-amex-platinum-reserve.html

Personally I think I will keep the Reserve and Edge card. One way to beat the changes is use your free flight redemption or get someone in Perth to buy a ticket through you to Melb/Bris/Syd at a price lower than Virgin is charging. Anyone done that successfully?

 

[k3nnis]

The only thing I am dissapointed with the free flight from SYD to NZ is the timing of the flights on VA.....

 

[wafliron]

Well pretty much any card, I am not thrilled with all o the Amex changes, and frankly just want to maximize my MR earn.
At this stage I use my MR points for QF points

If you're happy paying Amex-level surcharges and just want Qantas points then one of the Amex Qantas Ultimate cards (1.5 QFF points per $1) is probably a good alternative. Another good option is the CitiBusiness Gold card, which earns 1.25 QFF points per $1 and has the additional benefit of being a Visa card - but points are capped to 250,000 per annum. After that you're looking at any of the uncapped 1 QFF point to $1 Visa/Master cards - WOW EDR, HSBC Platinum, QantasCU, etc.

- They have had lots of calls from Centurion members who use it for ATO / Biz unhappy with the changes and considering dumping the card. I've told them this is reflected as many are now considering moving to other Co (eg Citi). Amex seems to be aware of the backlash and are monitoring it.

I got that feeling too. My relationship manager was very interested in finding out which other cards I have in my "portfolio" and where my spend was going (both now, and after these changes). I basically told her that Citi Select mops the floor with Amex Platinum for higher-spenders after these MR "enhancements", and a range of other cards are better than Edge/Reserve/etc (again, post-MR-changes) for lower-spenders.

 

[k3nnis]

Hi All,

I was wondering is there an email address we can email our enquiries to for concierge services or travel services or even genral enquiries to the amex plat charge team?

Cheers,
K.

 

[perthtraveller]

For those maintaining their Plat Charge cards, what have you managed to extract from AMEX or your relationship managers?

I have already received a $500 discount on my annual fee in April as a result of the travel insurance changes and high spend. If AMEX are going to erode value on this card, I am not going to sit here and take it. Would like to maintain the card for FF flexibility.

I will be giving my relationship manager some grief after recommending 5 colleagues who signed up in the last few months through my referral. Will let you all know of the outcome.

 

[myturn]

Good stuff.. there has been a massive, really massive push for signing up people to Platinum cards and I guess with these changes, we now know why. Definitely one arm for argument with AMEX is that they used or rather tarnished our reputation with our friends by making this switch.

Reputation is not something that high flyers with deep pockets take lightly. Speak up.

 

[cove]

If you don't need your hand held just quickly switch out of Platinum and Centurion and move to Ultimate before they close that option. Enjoy the refund you will get and enjoy the 1.5/2.5 Qantas costs points earn that is uncapped.
If you are not there for the points earn just stay where you are.

 

[perthtraveller]

If you don't need your hand held just quickly switch out of Platinum and Centurion and move to Ultimate before they close that option. Enjoy the refund you will get and enjoy the 1.5/2.5 Qantas costs points earn that is uncapped.
If you are not there for the points earn just stay where you are.

For my personal circumstances, I am not at all keen on QF points. Shocking burn rates and even worse award availability.

SQ, CX and MH for me.

 

[jmone]

I agree, QFs FFP is not what it used to be....

 

[k3nnis]

I find it very difficult to find 2 or 3 J seats on QF. And also upgrades are not confirmed. And as perthtraveller suggested burn rates are shocking

 

[greenfrog86]

Hi All,

I was wondering is there an email address we can email our enquiries to for concierge services or travel services or even genral enquiries to the amex plat charge team?

Cheers,
K.

Yes - each service has their own shared inbox... I think they prefer to use this for follow ups though as they need to speak to you for authorisation before they can do much, so it is mostly useful for following up on something you've enquired about previously.

Give them a call to get each address and discuss how it might work for you.

Not really a subject for this thread however so I'll leave it there...

 

[cove]

Sounds like Citi may have a selection of cards for earning on a lot of those other carriers. Citi has two thirds of my credit card charges in the last 12 months.

 

[burmans]

I'm sure that Cove can comment on this! By the sounds of things he uses Select for all ATO payments for his business, with 100% success of achieving points (correct me Cove if I'm wrong!), as well as often putting the card into credit for this purpose.

On a different note, has anyone any further information re my previous post about how to buy Amex points under the new rules?

As I've noted before Citibank don't actually know that your payment to the ATO is a business expense, people do make personal payments to the ATO as well! They may of course suspect it but there is nothing that can be determined from the payment itself to confirm the payment is business or personal.