Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[daft009]

so just tried my luck as well 15min ago...
first reply was "no, no such doubling offer for you" and that's it
so I asked again, "is there any escalation process that you could suggest for special consideration, i have a high spend etc"
put me on hold again and after 5mins said she would escalate to another team who would make the call (after seeing my spend & tenure etc), will get back to me in 4-5 days..

so *fingers cossed*

just followed up on my special request from 19th Dec.
Spoke to the same person and they said no decision has been made as yet. the higher team has asked her for more info over a few emails back & forth, which has been provided and they think the other team should have a decision any day now... *fingers crossed*

 

[jdez]

I spoke to someone today and they said I'm eligible for the double up... but it doubles up balance on Apr 15 and points are given in June. What's the point in this vs cashing out pre-Apr 15? If the points are worth half the value on Apr 15, why bother with the double up? Seems sort of redundant ?

 

[BriarFlyer]

The point is, you're not forced to make a decision which airline(s) to transfer to pre-April 15. With the attached need to use them or lose them. IOW warehousing in Amex and transferring as needed.

 

[jdez]

The point is, you're not forced to make a decision which airline(s) to transfer to pre-April 15. With the attached need to use them or lose them. IOW warehousing in Amex and transferring as needed.

Gotcha, thanks. Shame you have to wait till June 15. I suppose another benefit is that you get the "old" SPG rate. Wonder if leveraging that (SPG) to an airline is better than the new rate.

 

[k3nnis]

Is this doubling up applicable to all Amex clients or selected?

 

[k3nnis]

I see now SPG transfer to KrisFlyer is 3:1. It used to be 1:1. If this is the case that is very poor isn’t it?

 

[potm]

Old SPG rate was 2:1 Amex.
Old SPG = 3 Marriott points or new SPG.
Effective old rate was 1 Amex: 1.5 Marriott.

New rate is 3 Amex: 2 Marriott
So you get 2 instead of 4.5 points you would have before. 44.44% as much as before.

With the doubling of points it becomes 88.88% as much as before. Pretty close.

Of course going forward the rate is still only the 44.44% as before. Compared to airlines which only got smashed down to 50%.

For Krisflyer transfer after deval.
60k Marriott/SPG = 25k Krisflyer.
You need 90k Amex for 60k Marriott.
You can just transfer those 90k Amex for 45k Krisflyer directly.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks for the calculations

Yep should just transfer directly to KF from Amex unless there is a massive good deal on buying SPG points and then transfer to KF from there. But I doubt it’s a good deal...

Old SPG rate was 2:1 Amex.
Old SPG = 3 Marriott points or new SPG.
Effective old rate was 1 Amex: 1.5 Marriott.

New rate is 3 Amex: 2 Marriott
So you get 2 instead of 4.5 points you would have before. 44.44% as much as before.

With the doubling of points it becomes 88.88% as much as before. Pretty close.

Of course going forward the rate is still only the 44.44% as before. Compared to airlines which only got smashed down to 50%.

For Krisflyer transfer after deval.
60k Marriott/SPG = 25k Krisflyer.
You need 90k Amex for 60k Marriott.
You can just transfer those 90k Amex for 45k Krisflyer directly.

 

[jdez]

Is this doubling up applicable to all Amex clients or selected?

Think it's just platinum/centurion

 

[jdez]

Old SPG rate was 2:1 Amex.
Old SPG = 3 Marriott points or new SPG.
Effective old rate was 1 Amex: 1.5 Marriott.

New rate is 3 Amex: 2 Marriott
So you get 2 instead of 4.5 points you would have before. 44.44% as much as before.

With the doubling of points it becomes 88.88% as much as before. Pretty close.

Of course going forward the rate is still only the 44.44% as before. Compared to airlines which only got smashed down to 50%.

For Krisflyer transfer after deval.
60k Marriott/SPG = 25k Krisflyer.
You need 90k Amex for 60k Marriott.
You can just transfer those 90k Amex for 45k Krisflyer directly.

Thanks for this. Suppose it's a good way to get close to the old rate for some hotel bookings.

 

[andye]

Thanks for this. Suppose it's a good way to get close to the old rate for some hotel bookings.

..and some of the harder to reach FF programmes (BA AS etc etc) with their own sweet spots

 

[Mr_Orange]

Hmmm.

Are you talking about RACQ by calling them, or via their rewards website?

At checkout in the rewards site I only get Visa or MC options... with the discount cut to 4% rather than 5%.

And I only have the Coles EGC, not Woolies. Maybe I’m doing something wrong?

I use this link: Share this page.

 

[snufl]

I'm a little confused about the 19th April change.
My statement date is the 20th and from the T&Cs the rewards points cut off up to 6 days earlier (any after this reflect next statement) so that would be the 13th. From this I'm thinking any points for purchases I make after the 13th March would not be able to be redeemed before 19th April and therefore would end up at the reduced rate. Does that make sense?

 

[opusman]

For my platinum card my amex points are credited in "real time", they don't wait until the statement cut off.

 

[snufl]

For my platinum card my amex points are credited in "real time", they don't wait until the statement cut off.

Thanks, when I checked my last statement it was:
Statement: Nov 20 to Dec 19
Points: Nov 13 to Dec 12
however, after reading your reply, I went to Redeem and the balance available is real time. I really appreciate your reply, it takes some pressure off.

 

[potm]

Points credit when the transaction clears. That usually takes 1-3 days for me, depending on the merchant.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I'm a little confused about the 19th April change.
My statement date is the 20th and from the T&Cs the rewards points cut off up to 6 days earlier (any after this reflect next statement) so that would be the 13th. From this I'm thinking any points for purchases I make after the 13th March would not be able to be redeemed before 19th April and therefore would end up at the reduced rate. Does that make sense?

As potm just posted MR points are awarded once they clear. It has nothing to do with your statement date as there is no monthly dump.

Any new transaction will normally go to Pending first (you can see what is marked as pending) and they often take 1-3 days to clear. I have had some take longer on occasion. Once it was at least a week.

Also some transaction take a little while to post, even to pending. There seems to be some business on the weekend that do not post till Monday.


The 15th is a Monday. So I personally would suggest not doing any big transactions on the weekend of 13/14 and try and do them early in the last week just to be on the prudent side.

 

[snufl]

As potm just posted MR points are awarded once they clear. It has nothing to do with your statement date as there is no monthly dump.

Any new transaction will normally go to Pending first (you can see what is marked as pending) and they often take 1-3 days to clear. I have had some take longer on occasion. Once it was at least a week.

Also some transaction take a little while to post, even to pending. There seems to be some business on the weekend that do not post till Monday.


The 15th is a Monday. So I personally would suggest not doing any big transactions on the weekend of 13/14 and try and do them early in the last week just to be on the prudent side.

A big thank you to everyone who replied. It seems I was more than a little confused. I somehow thought points were not available for redemption until after the statement was issued and that meant avoiding big transactions after my March statement date. Glad to find out I was wrong. Avoiding large transactions for days will be much easier than weeks, which is what I was planning to do.

 

[inMotion]

Do you have a reference for this?

They are still quoting the old rates on their website and a couple of days ago an agent told me the DJ rates are not changing.

Sorry I should have mentioned that information was not released at the time I posted it.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Sorry I should have mentioned that information was not released at the time I posted it.

No problem; it is now