Qantas American Express Cards - Changes underway?

[oz_mark]

Not to worry. It's back and it seems that the website has been revamped.
https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/frequent-flyer-cards/qantas-ultimate/

Aside from the bit that says "This product is not currently available".

 

[anchew]

With a big red note saying This Product Is Not Currently Available

Whops... I don't know how I missed that

 

[Foreigner]

There was mail today from David Jones regarding their co-branded Amex card. Looks like they're re-naming it as platinum. Don't know if there are enhancements to be announced shortly.

 

[oz_mark]

There was mail today from David Jones regarding their co-branded Amex card. Looks like they're re-naming it as platinum. Don't know if there are enhancements to be announced shortly.

There's supposed to be....

 

[Richarde]

I received an invitation to complete a survey about my American Express/QANTAS Premium Card earlier this afternoon whick looked at possible "improvements" in benefits for card holders.

It appears that its not only the Ultimate Card that is under review!!

 

[lovestotravel]

I received an email about the Gold Charge card.

I don't own the card but I look after the account for another family member

Seems Amex are worried about things, the only reason a business does a survey is when things are not going well... I received one from Virgin the other day about my J flight......

 

[JQ29]

Hey does anyone know if AMEX are allowing the Ultimate Card to be renewed, or do they make you take a different card as part of the annual renewal?

 

[Newk]

Hey does anyone know if AMEX are allowing the Ultimate Card to be renewed, or do they make you take a different card as part of the annual renewal?

Mine's not due to expire until 2016

 

[JQ29]

Mine's not due to expire until 2016

So no membership renewal fee until 2016?

 

[Newk]

So no membership renewal fee until 2016?

ah, sorry, i see

not sure when renewal is

 

[anchew]

My annal fee is due in March but I'm going to see if they will waive or reduce the annual fee again, but by the looks of it, doesn't look good. I don't expect to hold the Amex Ultimate card after that. I'll report back on the outcome.

 

[cove]

My Amex Ultimate is still working sweetly alongside Mrscove's card. There have been no changes so far.

 

[amaroo]

I rang yesterday about travel insurance. FWIW I asked if they were cancelling the card - they advised they have withdrawn it for new holders however, they have no intention of taking it away from existing holders.

I'll be keeping it right up to the point they tell me it's gone the way of the dodo.

 

[anchew]

My annal fee is due in March but I'm going to see if they will waive or reduce the annual fee again, but by the looks of it, doesn't look good. I don't expect to hold the Amex Ultimate card after that. I'll report back on the outcome.

So as predicted, when I rang to cancel the card today, it was done in a matter of minutes. Did not even get transferred to the, cancellations department
Oh well. So long ultimate.

 

[dejium]

My fees was due this month too. Called to cancel due to an overseas move, but I did suggest a move to the Discovery card as a replacement. AMEX were surprisingly happy to waive the fees, so it looks like someone's getting a free flight out of me this year. FWIW my call was initially answered by an American call centre, which hadn't happened to me before. Call was handed back to a local call centre to make the final decision though.

 

[bismarck]

Must admit that I'm a little disappointed with the variety of cards available from Amex at the moment.

The Discovery is a great little card, and has served me well, but I'd love to see something similar to the Platinum Edge that credits to Qantas. Regrettably, I really don't earn enough to justify the Platinum Card and hardly any of the other cards credit to Qantas at the moment.

Hoping they'll launch a new product soon to replace the old Ultimate (or at least upgrade the current Premium card with some better earning rates)

 

[Speedbird001]

Yes, had this confirmed to me last night. They are "reviewing" their Qantas cards. Probably fed up like the rest of us with QFF screwing everyone.

I may be totally paranoid, however given all the talk around the Platinum Charge card I thought I'd check details of the Qantas Ultimate card however cannot find it anywhere on the Amex website...

It doesn't appear under 'all cards' or under the 'current offers' section etc. It has also been removed from the Qantas website where they list all the Direct Earn FF cards... This is a little odd as this is normally the last webpage to be updated.

Also, when you google the card and click on what you think will take you to the Ultimate page they have killed all links (Amex sometimes have old links that stay active, however don't click through from the main page).

The staff member I just spoke to had no information about any changes to the card, however such a widespread interruption to every single mention of it online seems a bit more than just a 'technical issue', especially since it is no longer on the Qantas page either.

Given all links are dead etc it also doesn't strike me that they are going for a new card design or something as that shouldn't take down the whole page at 10pm on a weeknight.

Any thoughts on what might be happening? I get a sinking feeling that this is an error where they have killed all the web pages too early, however might be making significant changes or decommissioning the card in order to have the Platinum Charge as the 'preferred' option for QFF members who want a 'premium' card earning 1.5FF per $...

I could be completely paranoid and this is just a website glitch (albeit across Amex and Qantas), however given this forum is full of paranoid people I thought it might be of interest, even for the entertainment value that a company like Amex could completely screw up something so badly that one of their cards is completely deleted from all online existence...

 

[JQ29]

My annual fee charged at end of April13, rang to cancel card. Told them fee too much to justify with all the changes etc. They suggested a move to the Discovery card or Qantas Premium as a replacement, I still declined both and wanted to cancel AMEX.

They responded with as long term Amex customer 10 years.. that they happy to waive the fees for another year. So kept card.. getting the free flight for free.. and will be back to this matter in 1 years time to do it all over again!!!

FWIW my call was initially answered by an American call centre, and then handed back to a local australian call centre to make the final decision.

 

[k3nnis]

Approx what time did you call?

 

[JQ29]

930am friday