Strategy to obtain US Amex

[N0mad]

HSBC Elite rewards get nerfs from next month

“Effective July 13, 2026, your HSBC Elite Rewards Program will change as follows:

Select Airlines/Air Carriers, Car Rental Agencies, and Lodging (Hotels, Motels, Resorts)will continue to earn 5 Points per net dollar spent in these categories.

All other travel purchases will be classified under Other Travel and will earn 2 Points per net dollar spent.”

It is on the recent statement

i think they are just reducing the airlines, us Aussies smashing Qantas spend i think killed it.

 

[DAC1]

i think they are just reducing the airlines, us Aussies smashing Qantas spend i think killed it.

So have they definitely nerfed Qantas from earning 5x?

If so, may as well just go back to the Premier card given they are both 2x on QF spend and you get the additional benefit of 3x on supermarkets and groceries.

 

[AppleJune]

I think they are just reducing the airlines; us Aussies smashing Qantas spend killed it, I think.

Previously, it covered most transport, including tolls, parking, buses, trains, ride-sharing (Uber, etc.), cruisers, and even random booking travel portals such as Rove. Now it's only “select airline, car rental and lodging”, which kinda nerfs and is really just in line with other US cards, so not much distinct anymore. Not sure if there are any other card offers that cover a major portion of Travel MCC codes, as this card, apart from the Citi 5% cash back, got canned recently.

I spent 10K USD on Rove and I got 5x for that

 

[AppleJune]

So have they definitely nerfed Qantas from earning 5x?

If so, may as well just go back to the Premier card given they are both 2x on QF spend and you get the additional benefit of 3x on supermarkets and groceries.

Don't know yet; it is currently only listed on the recent statement as "select airline".

 

[N0mad]

Don't know yet; it is currently only listed on the recent statement as "select airline".

@DAC1 This, i've earned 115k points mostly Qantas spend in under a year. I would average $2k-$5k spend per month with the odd outlier.

 

[AppleJune]

Such a bummer, not sure if they update anywhere or only listed on statement for those read it. On their website still listed it as normal.

 

[Darkpulsar]

Details on the HSBC Elite nerf are on the updated benefits guide page 6:
https://www.us.hsbc.com/content/dam...-pdfs/elite-mc-rewards-and-benefits-guide.pdf

 

[AppleJune]

Travel agencies got reduced to 2x is a huge loss

 

[djchuckles]

Travel agencies got reduced to 2x is a huge loss

Yeah I can see why that would be for some - for me, it's all Hotels and Airlines, so I should be fine, so long as they don't cherry pick airlines to include (doesn't sound like they wlll)

 

[AppleJune]

Based on the list I dont think they will cherry pick the airline, not mentioned “select” as the statement

 

[fafnersbane]

So QFF Marketplace should still be ok then.
Annoying for travel agents as sometimes good deals on Booking.com or Luxury escapes need upfront payment.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Both in a shock and surprise, I had an Amex Biz gold sent to my address in the US. It was stolen and someone tried to use it. Amex flagged it as fraud and I called in to let them know. To my surprise, they were happy to send the card to Oz bypassing the 10 day requirement.

 

[metaphase]

Details on the HSBC Elite nerf are on the updated benefits guide page 6:
https://www.us.hsbc.com/content/dam...-pdfs/elite-mc-rewards-and-benefits-guide.pdf

Very helpful, thanks. Annoying re trains, I used that one quite a bit! Also the travel operators one could be a pain for non-direct hotel bookings but at least they don't seem to be cherry-picking operators. I'm surprised they didn't have to send the updated T&Cs out or link to them from the statement but I suppose they're not quite so hot on consumer protection there!