Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[potm]

It’s definitely not just how much you spend but also what you spend it on. Some types of spending would probably be a loss leader for Amex and be costing them money.

 

[Must...Fly!]

15% bonus to Velocity ends tomorrow (15 March)

Still struggling with where to send points, personally.

 

[Happy Dude]

15% bonus to Velocity ends tomorrow (15 March)

Still struggling with where to send points, personally.

It depends on how many points you're talking, but the general consensus is to KF. What this will mean for award availability on SQ for the next three or so years, in and out of AUS at least, is not too hard to predict. A lot of piranhas about to enter the water....

 

[Must...Fly!]

It depends on how many points you're talking, but the general consensus is to KF. What this will mean for award availability on SQ for the next three or so years, in and out of AUS at least, is not too hard to predict. A lot of piranhas about to enter the water....

The problem for me is I have no other source of KF miles - so it's a chance some get orphaned, or I take a good haircut to throw them over to VFF. I was thinking of putting some to EY, enough for a return to PER in J on VA - but again by the time I book the flight I am worried the reward table will change, and I again am faced with possibility of orphaned miles. Maybe just putting them all to VA is the least risky, though least value, option.

 

[SOPOOR]

The problem for me is I have no other source of KF miles - so it's a chance some get orphaned, or I take a good haircut to throw them over to VFF. I was thinking of putting some to EY, enough for a return to PER in J on VA - but again by the time I book the flight I am worried the reward table will change, and I again am faced with possibility of orphaned miles. Maybe just putting them all to VA is the least risky, though least value, option.

Amex will be earning you kris in the future、 just at half rate

So far I've put half in to virgin half into kris

 

[Must...Fly!]

Amex will be earning you kris in the future、 just at half rate

So far I've put half in to virgin half into kris

AMEX will be cut in half and in the bin once my MR account is emptied. It's a modest sum at around 140,000 gateway, but to me that is a lot.

 

[SOPOOR]

AMEX will be cut in half and in the bin once my MR account is emptied. It's a modest sum at around 140,000 gateway, but to me that is a lot.

Well that changes things

 

[SOPOOR]

Exactly 1 month to D-Day

 

[Must...Fly!]

AMEX will be cut in half and in the bin once my MR account is emptied. It's a modest sum at around 140,000 gateway, but to me that is a lot.

Well that changes things

A little, yeah. I don't have significant personal expenses and nil business, so it's a bit moot - I'm not the best customer for a credit card company, that I do acknowledge.

Although I forget my $400 travel credit. I guess once I find a use for that, I will disappear!

 

[TedE]

Got circa 800k points. Wife and I considering going to France some time in the next few years. I just want to sense check. Thinking is to transfer enough points to either KrisFlyer or AsiaMiles to do MEL-CDG return in J and transfer the balance to Velocity tomorrow to take advantage of the 20% bonus.

Looking at KrisFlyer, looks like I'll need 464k points for 2xJ whereas I'll only need 340k AsiaMiles for Cathay or 360k for OW partner. Is this correct?

Based on above, I'm thinking of transferring to AsiaMiles rather than KF (thinking I'll transfer 450k to AsiaMiles so I've got some flexibility for stopovers). Any reason why you would do KF over AsiaMiles?

Edit: perhaps that should be 480k to AsiaMiles and craft it as a round the world ticket.

Thanks
Ted

 

[SOPOOR]

Got circa 800k points. Wife and I considering going to France some time in the next few years. I just want to sense check. Thinking is to transfer enough points to either KrisFlyer or AsiaMiles to do MEL-CDG return in J and transfer the balance to Velocity tomorrow to take advantage of the 20% bonus.

Looking at KrisFlyer, looks like I'll need 464k points for 2xJ whereas I'll only need 340k AsiaMiles for Cathay or 360k for OW partner. Is this correct?

Based on above, I'm thinking of transferring to AsiaMiles rather than KF (thinking I'll transfer 450k to AsiaMiles so I've got some flexibility for stopovers). Any reason why you would do KF over AsiaMiles?

Edit: perhaps that should be 480k to AsiaMiles and craft it as a round the world ticket.

Thanks
Ted

you have to compare taxes as well!

 

[TedE]

you have to compare taxes as well!

Hadn't thought about that. I see KrisFlyer RTW is also 480k. Think I will transfer 300k to Velocity tomorrow and then spend some time thinking about taxes before making a choice between KF and AM.

Thanks
TedE

 

[andye]

Hadn't thought about that. I see KrisFlyer RTW is also 480k. Think I will transfer 300k to Velocity tomorrow and then spend some time thinking about taxes before making a choice between KF and AM.

Thanks
TedE

For the last year or so, availability has been much better with KF

 

[casanovawa]

I havent really used my points much so am new to this whole thing, I have been accruing on different cards for years though and had to move 1.4 mil over from Altitude black end of last year before the devaluation to KrisFlyer.Now having to move from my MR to Freq flyer sucks, I preferred keeping them in the cards till i know how i was going to use them. Also whats annoying is KrisFlyer expires after 3 years and now i already have around 600K or so with them.

I was thinking of using the velocity bonus to transfer my MR to Velocity but never having really used much of these Freq Flyer programmes to fly yet, Does the Velocity flights have much in the way to SE Asian especially Thailand? Those are the countries i usually fly to with a very rare long haul flight to the US or UK but not very often at all. Or is Velocity more useful for flying the US? US I probably wont be back to for a few years, UK is on the cards in the next couple of years. But I generally fly to Asia about 3 times a year or so.

What exactly is the point of accruing millions of points/miles over the years and never using them for anything??? There are always the chance with all these card and programs of devaluations?? Not even chance, its a dead set certainty.... Sounds odd and maybe a lesson worth learning... And 29 posts in 10 years?? That's another decent effort....

 

[casanovawa]

you have to compare taxes as well!

is there an easy way to check taxes on the Asia mile website?? I was looking at one or two redemption options and it showed the miles but said you had to contact Asia Miles to find the taxes and surcharges which seems time consuming and stupid??

 

[lonewolf]

What exactly is the point of accruing millions of points/miles over the years and never using them for anything??? There are always the chance with all these card and programs of devaluations?? Not even chance, its a dead set certainty.... Sounds odd and maybe a lesson worth learning... And 29 posts in 10 years?? That's another decent effort....

I actually didnt know for a long time that there was any such thing as devaluations and secondly i had thought since the points never expire i will save it for my honeymoon if i get married. I only found out about devaluations last year, before that i had never received letters about it on my card but even last year when i read about the devaluations happening for the Altitude card, i never received a letter about it, then i realised it was in my online banking messages which i dont really check. So who knows how many times it got devalued over the 10 years.

I did use it once for a domestic flight from sydney to brisbane but thats about it, I had thought you just use it for normal economy free flights, I didnt know about upgrades or business seats etc.

 

[albyd]

@lonewolf the good news is you have a month before this devaluation kicks in so you have some time to decide from your options. You’re in the right place to get answers to your questions from the knowledgeable members of AFF.

 

[lonewolf]

@lonewolf the good news is you have a month before this devaluation kicks in so you have some time to decide from your options. You’re in the right place to get answers to your questions from the knowledgeable members of AFF.

Thanks, I was going to go with the Velocity bonus transfer option but since i fly to Asia mainly, it doesnt seem as useful to me as KrisFlyer.

 

[SOPOOR]

I actually didnt know for a long time that there was any such thing as devaluations and secondly i had thought since the points never expire i will save it for my honeymoon if i get married. I only found out about devaluations last year, before that i had never received letters about it on my card but even last year when i read about the devaluations happening for the Altitude card, i never received a letter about it, then i realised it was in my online banking messages which i dont really check. So who knows how many times it got devalued over the 10 years.

I did use it once for a domestic flight from sydney to brisbane but thats about it, I had thought you just use it for normal economy free flights, I didnt know about upgrades or business seats etc.

my first experience with redemptions all those years ago was a embarassing one,
having saved up 70k odd of points from young over 5-8 years using my visa (I had it in my mind that amex was only for rich people)
went on a trip with a friend to bali, used my points, got stung with $250 in taxes in economy, while my friend bought the same flight on sale for $330, so that put me off rewards points in general for many years!

 

[lonewolf]

my first experience with redemptions all those years ago was a embarassing one,
having saved up 70k odd of points from young over 5-8 years using my visa (I had it in my mind that amex was only for rich people)
went on a trip with a friend to bali, used my points, got stung with $250 in taxes in economy, while my friend bought the same flight on sale for $330, so that put me off rewards points in general for many years!

Its sort of the problem i had too, i only used it once to try to buy a flight from Sydney to brisbane but everytime i moved points across to virgin, and went to buy then the cost of the points required increased and i had to go back and move more points across. And then i wasnt sure i was getting a good deal and i noticed on here people mention all these abbrevs as J class or Y class tickets or something and i get all confused about it . But now i am thinking instead of waiting for a honeymoon, and wasting half the points on a would be wife.. i might as well spend all the points on myself .