Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

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umberloidster said:
Congrats :)

Just as a sideline -- and apologies for the digression -- but have you found the couple seats on SQ Suites to be relatively easy to find on Europe to Australia routings?
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First up - I'm very new and uneducated when it comes to all things SQ. This was my first go at using Amex points, and it will be our first flight with SQ in any class for more than a decade.

I found plenty of availability - both ways, but ..... only advantage awards. I had no issues selecting the couple seats.
 
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amaroo said:
First up - I'm very new an uneducated when it comes to all things SQ. This was my first go at using Amex points, and it will be our first flight with SQ in any class for more than a decade.

I found plenty of availability - both ways, but ..... only advantage awards. I had no issues selecting the couple seats.
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In my completely inexpert opinion, saver rewards are usually the way to go, to save on paying ridiculous amounts of points to SQ.

The trade off for a lower points redemption cost is of course lesser availability as compared to advantage redemption tickets.

However, it is of course your perogative to spend your miles as you see fit, of which I understand you have a sizeable amount of. :) (only wish I had that much) enjoy the flight!
 
mrsquare said:
In my completely inexpert opinion, saver rewards are usually the way to go, to save on paying ridiculous amounts of points to SQ.

The trade off for a lower points redemption cost is of course lesser availability as compared to advantage redemption tickets.

However, it is of course your perogative to spend your miles as you see fit, of which I understand you have a sizeable amount of. :) (only wish I had that much) enjoy the flight!
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Agree on the value of saver awards. Looks like the “waitlist” thingy can cheat the system, but I’d rather pay for certainly.

I really like the SQ system where they give you the ability to book long or short. We love to do do things at the spur of the moment - advantage awards is perfect for us.
 
amaroo said:
The three days works well enough as it takes a couple of days for charges to be processed via RP, longer over weekends. It’s just the reoccurring issue every few weeks of their credit department algorithm saying no for the constant rinse and repeat payments every three days.

The real limiting factor is the $50k credit limit on the explorer. I’ve tried getting it increased, but they won’t oblige... they keep suggesting that I should use my Plat card as it has a limit set somewhere north of $280K. No way Jose!!!!

Now if RP drop their fee (substantially) - I might well start flogging that card even harder.

To make all this hassle worthwhile I booked our first SQ suites ride on Wednesday - 550,000 miles for CDG-SIN-SYD in a few weeks. We’ll get to see both old and new suites as a first time SQ traveller in over a decade... have selected the couple seats for both sectors.

Icing on the cake - QFF released 2 x F award seats for me on request I made two days ago for SYD-LHR .... not bad given the flight is only a few weeks away. Having high status and points is a good mix.
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My limit on the explorer is a featherweight 2k (which, given I'll be seeking approval for an upcoming loan, is quite important), but churning $100k/day works well enough for me when giving a few weeks to clear out all obligations to all 'fiend' institutions *cough*.
 
Doctore1003 said:
Absolute debacle with Amex processing money coming in and out. I somehow managed to exceed my Explorer credit limit by 55k this weekend o_O
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In my case they process the payment and then make the limit $0.00 .... very frustrating process to get fixed. Typically my account shows $49+K owing and another $49+K pending. Three days later when the payment shows and the pending becomes owing it all starts again.

I've tried Bpaying in-between, but the Singapore based Amex team don't like that.
 
@Saltywings how can you run $100K through with a $2K limit? I'd have thought you'd have to pay $2K at a time, rinse and repeat to stop it going into credit and the money laundering alert to be run. I've got a higher limit than that but found I need to be mindful of not putting my account into credit like you can with bank issued cards, or I'll get automatically routed to a delinquency team when I call Amex regardless of the option I choose of the IVR. $2000 would drive me bonkers as my main transactional card. What's the most you've been able to go into credit?
 
albyd said:
@Saltywings how can you run $100K through with a $2K limit? I'd have thought you'd have to pay $2K at a time, rinse and repeat to stop it going into credit and the money laundering alert to be run. I've got a higher limit than that but found I need to be mindful of not putting my account into credit like you can with bank issued cards, or I'll get automatically routed to a delinquency team when I call Amex regardless of the option I choose of the IVR. $2000 would drive me bonkers as my main transactional card. What's the most you've been able to go into credit?
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I can only speak for myself - this has never been a problem. I've been using this method with a 0% failure rate 2016-now. It simply puts the card into a huge credit balance; I've never received any communications from Amex regarding this, though I occasionally have been locked out of my CBA account for 'suspected high value fraud' *chortle*.
 
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I have the Charge card (along with Reserve & Explorer) and when they started sending out letters I received the letter notifying me that I would get a doubling of points balance as at 14 April. Yesterday I received my latest Charge card statement and at the end, under "Cardmember Offers and Information", it says:

"Important reminder about the Membership Rewards program.
As a reminder, you will have until 14 April 2019 to redeem your points at their current rate. Effective 15 April 2019 your earn rates and redemption rates will change. To find out more about these changes please visit amex.com.au/rewardschanges "

I'm assuming that this is a generic message for all card members but I'll phone Amex next week to confirm that I am definitely getting the doubling of points.
 
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Ken1 said:
I have the Charge card (along with Reserve & Explorer) and when they started sending out letters I received the letter notifying me that I would get a doubling of points balance as at 14 April. Yesterday I received my latest Charge card statement and at the end, under "Cardmember Offers and Information", it says:

"Important reminder about the Membership Rewards program.
As a reminder, you will have until 14 April 2019 to redeem your points at their current rate. Effective 15 April 2019 your earn rates and redemption rates will change. To find out more about these changes please visit amex.com.au/rewardschanges "

I'm assuming that this is a generic message for all card members but I'll phone Amex next week to confirm that I am definitely getting the doubling of points.
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It is accurate whether your points are doubled or not.
 
Let me share the information that might be useful to owners of Amex Explorer (and probably some other cards in Getaway program).
While preparing my Amex accounts for closure before the Devastation Day, I called their service line this morning asking to consolidate my rewards points from all my three cards into one account and close the remaining two.
They did it, and now, the exciting thing: all Getaway points (Explorer) which are valued considerably less than the Ascent rewards were transferred to the Ascent program 1 : 1 (instead of 1 : 0.75 as could be expected).
Right after this successful operation :) I asked to transfer the lot to KrisFlyer and close the last account which was completed within a minute.
Nice farewell present from Amex worth a significant amount of KrisFlyer points :)
Well, at the same time without even realising it Amex created another problem: how to spend this loot within three years? :)
 
Thanks for sharing. This has been a well-known Hack although it has been a bit hit and miss with operators allowing us to do this. This is a good data point :)

Might have helped that you were closing accounts and consolidating. Great result.
 
albyd said:
Thanks for sharing. This has been a well-known Hack although it has been a bit hit and miss with operators allowing us to do this. This is a good data point :)

Might have helped that you were closing accounts and consolidating. Great result.
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I thought it was common but if not, I'll add my experience too - got the plat, got all programs merged into Ascent Premium without fuss.
 
We've had a good run on Explorer with this hack. Shame to see it 'normalise' with the devaluation.
 
Amex MR transfer to travel /ff programs currently not available due to technical issue. Is this true for anyone/everyone here?
 
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