Amex MR Ascent $80 & Choices $40, what's the difference...besides $40!

[addyoni]

Hey AFFers,
saw the Membership Rewards program on my Amex Discovery page. The Ascent & Choices program appear the same to me. I can't tell the difference. I saw that points are forfeited if you are 40 days late on payment, which won't affect me as I pay off full balance each month.

They both have same partners and earn rate plus option to buy 1k bulk points for $22 - 45pts/$ or 2.2c/pt.

Since the merchandise prices are a joke, I'd only use the points to transfer to Qantas FF. Then again read that you can't. They go to Singapore. I usually fly PER-EWR & PER-BNE or SYD for NRL State of Origin. So KrisFlyer is the only or best go for MR then? Or do they have Velocity?

So what's the deal? Do I have to sign up to MR to 'claim' my 10k bonus sign up points. Those are QFF pts or only MR ones? If only Amex had stated at the outset that to access your points you have to pay $40 to $80 to use them. Says the Ascent $80 one is included in annual fee but the Discovery is fee free/$0.

Have there been any deals to get into the MR program for free on the Discovery card? Shall I call or E-Mail them and charm 'em to waive me first year Ascent fee?

Thanks.

[Danger UXB]

As far as I am aware there is no airline transfers with Choices only with Ascent( Kris,velocity,CX,MH,Thai,NZ i think are the ones) .QF is a seperate program again
Cheers Danger UXB

[addyoni]

Yikes. Seems a bit odd for Qantas to partner with AE then. Was under impression that the sign up bonus points are QFF ones. LOL. Oh well.

Thanks for reply.

[Daggs01]

IMHO Qantas partnering with Amex for a joint offering is more about strengthening the QFF points bank they have, as we all know QFF points provide qantas with lots of profit.

Correct, with Choices you can not transfer points to Airlines. However can use points through Webjet, Amex Travel, Travelscene American Express and Harvey World Travel. Not the best option for a FFer however for Infrequent flyers not such a bad option.

Qantas transfers are only available through Ascent Premium (Platinum Charge only) and Qantas Amex Cards.