Ancien Maestro

And what used to be Maple Leaf Lounge access on the Amex Platinum cards. I thought the AE cards and the Amex Plat cards were equal as the number of points earned through point transfer bonuses were about 1.5 points per dollar spent, just as the Aeroplat card providing the 1.5 points after 25K spend.

Definitely some differentiation between the cards now.

Jigger

I have been Amex Canada free for almost a year
time to decide what to do I see:
Aeroplan Gold @ 30K Aeroplan after $500, 1st Year Free / Air Miles Platinum @ 1250 AM after $500, FYF / Gold/Platinum @ 25K/60K MR after $500/$1000, FYF
posted
should i get one now? If so what do most of you recommend?
Any other ccs you recommend churning?
Thaks

Jigger

jerryhung

Thanks for using my signature summary

I'd get them all, since they're first year free
But it's really up to your preferences, some cards are more for travel than others

choupeo

I have recently applied for the Aeroplan Gold but didn't get the instant approval. The last time when I applied for an Amex and not got instant approval, they did call me soon afterwards to confirm something then approved my application right away. Do you think it's likely that my card application was rejected ?

yerffej201

as in currently there are lots of amex cardholders happily paying 699 (well not happy, but they're paying). unless there's lots of cardholders clamouring for lower af, it's unlikely amex would just reduce annual fee and lose additional revenue.

ap gold, since this is the highest bonus i've seen historically. if you want to apply for the25k amex gold, go through gcr (great canadian rebates )and you can get like tens of dollars as a rebate.

JJonahJ

Cannot comment on if you were approved or rejected, not enough info.

But, an Amex rep once explained to me that their instant approval system is not 'strong' enough to handle many concurrent applications, so often it fails to give you an instant answer. So, not getting an approval right away does not necessarily reflect Amex's initial assessment of you. If you weren't instantly approved, call them and quote the reference number that you got at the end of your application process.

I'd suggest you call them either right away, or the next day, and get the application process moved along.

markandrew

Amex deals are in a good place right now, hard to imagine them being reduced but you never know, a lot of high street banks (TD, BMO, CIBC at least) have excellent offers ending March 31st, how Amex will respond is to be determined. There is also the fact that Amex is developing a new AP produce - reportedly a credit card - an we do not know how that will slot in amongst the existing suite of products.

As a pure sign up and churn card, 30k AP is a great deal, and it also opens up referral opportunities if you know co-collectors since your buddies get more than the off the street deal, however for most people, certainly myself, over the course of a year, the regular Gold rewards with double points in gas-grocery-pharmacy-travel categories ends up accruing more over a year notwithstanding the sign up is 5k less. Gold Rewards also allows greater flexibility in redeeming.



A 2 minute call to the new accounts department (they should have given you a phone number and reference # when you applied) will resolve all; I had on on hold for some time because there was an odd piece of data on my TU history so I had answered one of the ID questions wrongly.

choupeo

Thanks. It's good to know the possible reason of not getting an instant answer. I guess next time I will submit my application at 2 am PT to increase my chance

Cana2013

You can call them to check the status. If you have the reference number, they can find your application easily, if you don't have it, they might be able to search by your phone number.

By calling them, you can actually negotiate with them even your application was rejected initially, and they can review your application again.

beep88

It's not the first time in AMEX Canada Platinum history to reduce significant airline benefits ("Canadian Plus Club" - Empress Lounge, AA, and lounges at overseas CP destinations), but kept the same annual fee, if not increased it. I told them in writing that it's a rip off (in a polite way). The president's assistant called and basically said take it or leave it.

Cana2013

They didn't promise that they will add more benefites to the card?

Bobbyj1048

Catching up on my reading in this thread. First time contribution. I applied for Cathay Pacific MPC (thru Amex Plat) in late Nov 2013 and received it early 2014. The membership card said valid thru Dec 2014.

Ancien Maestro

Nice.. President's assistant. Basically telling you where to go, and how to get there. Thats' true customer service for you. Its a good thing, these types of incidences nowadays don't happen often.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Looks like the benefit is going south soon. Hopefully, fast track renewal for you is in the horizon.

markandrew

What the Plat statements read as saying is that enrollment to MPC will no longer be offered from March 31, 2014. I would understand this, combined with the fact that beep88 is enrolled until Dec. 2014, and the fact that this is how it works in the UK, to mean that although renewals are only running until 11/2014, new enrollments can get a free years until 3/2015. If this is correct, for anyone interested in CX, the coming months are a very good time to sign up to Plat.

habshabs444

I applied for the Amex Gold this past Friday and received the non-instant approval message, so after reading this thread I called Amex today to enquire as to what the status was and she indicated that they were waiting to confirm my ID with my bank and were going to email me a form confirming my banking information which I could then PDF back to Amex and they would send it to the bank. I thought this was rather odd as I already have an Amex Plat, Aeroplan Gold, and SPG Amex (recently cancelled). Needless to say she said she still had to go through the process. Five minutes after getting of the phone, she called me back to say that she didn't have to go through this process after all and my card would be shipped out to me today!