New 2012 Centurion Benefits

[Deleted member]

Are these clowns serious?

Yesterday received latest Cent 'By Invitation Only' package - AFL Grand Final for 299,444pts - OMFG.

294K KF pts equated to 98% of pts reqd 2 x ret F Saver flts MEL-PEK - now if I bought those flts from SQ cost would be approx $7.3K ea = $14.6K x 98% = $14.3K - hmmm.......

Do any of you guys ever take these offers up?

Nope , not with points anyway

 

[obrienja]

Are these clowns serious?

Yesterday received latest Cent 'By Invitation Only' package - AFL Grand Final for 299,444pts - OMFG.

294K KF pts equated to 98% of pts reqd 2 x ret F Saver flts MEL-PEK - now if I bought those flts from SQ cost would be approx $7.3K ea = $14.6K x 98% = $14.3K - hmmm.......

Do any of you guys ever take these offers up?

It's not even that exclusive, I got it as a humble Plat & no I wouldn't be going with either their points or points + pay prices.

 

[Deleted member]

I may have already said this BUT I will say it again.
Access to these is is all very nice.
But at the end of the day , just because I put a high volume through the card. ( and i know others put way more than i) It does not follow that I am interested I spending small fortunes on watching football or tennis ( etc)
I believe that being exclusive does NOT mean it has to be expensive, irrespective of conventional
Wisdom.
If you are offered the opportunity to join rather than apply , there's the exclusivity.

If I ( or anyone else) is putting high volumes through their card it does not necessarily follow that I want to pay 5 times as much for the privilege of having a card that is black and made from metal instead of plastic.
I wold pay maybe double for a cent card but not the outrageous additional cost that Amex wants to extract from me.

But it doesn't matter what I say. There are enough of the wealthy happy to meet the cost
Anyway that's my Friday rant

 

[fangster]

Yes, I received these. Struggle to see the value. They very quickly ended up in the bin.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Just checked Marco Polo account and note Diamond Status rolled over for another year - I checked yesterday and showed May 31 2012 exp - was expecting to be non-member when I checked this morn.

I think I booked 4 sectors last year with them - PVG-HKG-MNL x 2 all in Y - 3 upgrades to J I think from memory - plus the F lounge access in HKG and in LAX when flying AA gives this a bit of value - plus the free night in Raffles in July and already this Cent year looking better value than last year.



I know this topic has been canvassed in Sent 2011 benefits thread but this 2012 so I post here.

Also received over night offer from Mandarin Oriental for +1 free night or US$200 credit. Offer valid June 25 to Sept 3 - not sure I will get to take advantage but sure will try.

 

[Extasea33]

Just checked Marco Polo account and note Diamond Status rolled over for another year - I checked yesterday and showed May 31 2012 exp - was expecting to be non-member when I checked this morn.

i second this, very happy camper

 

[Diesellife]

;-) I'm glad that it's all sorted

 

[Extasea33]

New MP Diamond card arrived in the mail today

 

[AusTim]

CX Diamond extended for another 12 months. Score!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

How many of you guys using AMEX for FX?

Well hold on to your hats - coming soon to a FX transaction near you will be ability to settle FX with AMEX Card - so rather than earning 40pts / 1K free of charge you will be able to earn 1:1 at 1% fee.

Not specific Centurion benefit but rather a general AMEX - still will be a game changer again - should be rolled out by years end.

 

[MrSpokeyTokey]

How many of you guys using AMEX for FX?

Well hold on to your hats - coming soon to a FX transaction near you will be ability to settle FX with AMEX Card - so rather than earning 40pts / 1K free of charge you will be able to earn 1:1 at 1% fee.

Not specific Centurion benefit but rather a general AMEX - still will be a game changer again - should be rolled out by years end.

Hi,

Please excuse my ignorance, but I don't quite understand your post.

Could you please explain?

Thanks.

ST

 

[rowdy]

How many of you guys using AMEX for FX?

Well hold on to your hats - coming soon to a FX transaction near you will be ability to settle FX with AMEX Card - so rather than earning 40pts / 1K free of charge you will be able to earn 1:1 at 1% fee.

Not specific Centurion benefit but rather a general AMEX - still will be a game changer again - should be rolled out by years end.

I used it once and coincidentally got a stack of bonus points, but didn't think the exchange rate was that competitive to justify ongoing use. Plus the daily limit available to me does not allow any significant transfers to be done without human intervention.

 

[wafliron]

How many of you guys using AMEX for FX?

Well hold on to your hats - coming soon to a FX transaction near you will be ability to settle FX with AMEX Card - so rather than earning 40pts / 1K free of charge you will be able to earn 1:1 at 1% fee.

Not specific Centurion benefit but rather a general AMEX - still will be a game changer again - should be rolled out by years end.

Thanks for posting this... I don't perform any significant FX transactions but a friend (who has an Amex Plat card) does. Could you clarify how this works though please?

1) Previously, if you had an Amex card you would receive 40 MR points per $1,000 AUD transferred by Amex FX as a bonus, but you had to settle the funds out of a bank account (or via EFT / Bpay / whatever).

2) Now (or at least soon), if you have an Amex card you can elect to settle the funds required for the FX transaction from your Amex card (so Amex FX charge the AUD amount of the FX transaction to your Amex card) and this settlement is treated like a regular purchase earning MR points, but you pay a 1% CC surcharge for the priviledge.

Is that right?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Is that right?

YES - basically that is how it will work.

I have no specific details - but you will be able to pay for AMEX FX transactions with Amex CC rather than bank transfer as we do now.

All of a sudden Cent with no spend cap starts to look atractive.

% cost and pts earn I do not know - but suspect it will be 1:1 - currently clearing regulartory hurdles I was told by AMEX FX rep.

 

[wafliron]

YES - basically that is how it will work.

I have no specific details - but you will be able to pay for AMEX FX transactions with Amex CC rather than bank transfer as we do now.

All of a sudden Cent with no spend cap starts to look atractive.

% cost and pts earn I do not know - but suspect it will be 1:1 - currently clearing regulartory hurdles I was told by AMEX FX rep.

Great - thanks for confirming. Certainly attractive at 1:1 w/ 1% surcharge - just wish I had a greater need for FX!

 

[sparoz]

What's the rate though? 1% including the margin?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

What's the rate though? 1% including the margin?

The FX rate? Do you use FX regularly? There is no margin - you buy currency at a spot rate - if you don't like their rate shop elsewhere - I have ALWAYS found them very competitive - and I always call our broker there to get better rate than available online.

Of course you an always buy your FX from a bank - I hear some tools still actually do that.

 

[sparoz]

Exactly what I am trying to say - if they haven't got any favourable buy/sell rates you won't use it. If it is 1% from the actual spot rate that would be a different issue. I always have my fx done in HK as they have much more favourable rates.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Exactly what I am trying to say - if they haven't got any favourable buy/sell rates you won't use it. If it is 1% from the actual spot rate that would be a different issue. I always have my fx done in HK as they have much more favourable rates.

Use or not use - totally up to the individual - as I said - I have always found them very competive - just putting the info out there and trying to help.

 

[wafliron]

The FX rate? Do you use FX regularly? There is no margin - you buy currency at a spot rate - if you don't like their rate shop elsewhere - I have ALWAYS found them very competitive - and I always call our broker there to get better rate than available online.

Have you ever compared Amex FX's rates to OzForex's rates? If so, how did it stack up in comparison? Again, asking for the sake of my friend mentioned in my previous post - I believe he's using OzForex for most of his FX at the moment.