Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - ROP through AMEX

Hi all,

First time post here, hope this is in the right section! anyways i applied to AMEX for their normal credit card, and was asked if i have an ROP account i said yes (i need to fly once in awhile for work, usually to a near neighboring country, not far), and i'm not even silver status yet. so they said they're sending me the app for amex ROP PLAT instead...which is odd considering they know my salary and its like half of what is required to get the amex ROP card normally.

what i am curious to know is whether or not it is worth it to get this card? i noticed there is like a 4000baht annual fee. when i fly what i am most interested in getting would probably be access to the royal silk lounge and upgrades to business (since usually the office books me on an economy ticket). i've read here and there that this amex card is a quick way to earn gold status. is there anyone here who can confirm that for me? i'm also a little worried about what i've been hearing regarding vendors rejecting amex plat cards.

anyways thanks in advance for any feedback!
cheers.
silentfoot

Hi, silentfoot

I worked for Amex in Europe for a long time. So let me add my two cents (thoughts) here. I can't answer all your questions because Thailand is different, but some.

First: Receiving a plat application form does not mean you are already approved. After receiving the application it will be captured and automatically scored. Then the system either approves or declines it. On the other hand, there are budgets, targets etc. and they might have a though time right now to reach their goals so they lowered the standards. Chances are fifty/fifty you get approved.

(When it works here like is does in my country, your application was received by a 3rd party company who process the apps for AX. Even the phone call you got wasn't probably from AX. They just pretend. These companies are paid by success. So when you agree to accept to receive a plat app they score a point on their tally.)

Second: Many establishments in Thailand add an extra service charge when using credit cards. For AX mostly 5%, while for MC or Visa 3, resp. 2%. So this adds to the annual fee.

I cannot answer your other questions, but I am sure someone will.

Good luck!

Hi Fan,

Thanks so much for your response it was extremely helpful! Makes sense that they might eventually not approve it, though from what I recall a conversation with someone at citibank recently also revealed that many of the banks are sort of lowering their thresholds and are willing to make more exceptions recently, not sure why but I guess their business isnt doing too good.

silentfoot

I have a TG American Express Platinum credit card

[NOTE: do not confuse this with the American Express Platinum charge card issued in Thailand (with an annual of over US$500-600). I had that one previously and cancelled it]

the annual fee for the credit card is Baht 4,000 (aboutUS$120) but should be worth it in light of the benefits (last time I checked which was awhile ago):

***1 mile earned for every Baht25 (about 74 US cents) charged (in Thailand or outside Thailand)

***2 miles earned for every Baht25 charged with TG

***bonus miles for threshold spends (e.g., US$26,300 annual charges =25,000 bonus miles)

***1 free first class roundtrip ticket (for every 5 roundtrip first class tickets purchased)

***only need 25,000 miles flown in TG First or Biz to attain TG Gold status (instead of the normal 50,000 miles) (so called fast-track to TG Gold status)

***50% bonus miles if you fly TG First or Biz

***50% mileage award discount for your companion if you buy a TG First or Biz ticket

***spending points on the card never expire so you dont need to convert into miles until you need them (TG miles expire in 3 yrs after you convert them AFAIK)

Good summary.

Use of the search function will find significant discussion on this card when it was released in 2005 or 2006.

I got one and used it....for everything, and it was worthwhile. But I also signed up to the citibank card as it had a better THB/miles earn rate, which was then matched by AMEX.

Enjoy,

TK

I have a TG American Express Platinum credit card

[NOTE: do not confuse this with the American Express Platinum charge card issued in Thailand (with an annual of over US$500-600). I had that one previously and cancelled it]

the annual fee for the credit card is Baht 4,000 (aboutUS$120) but should be worth it in light of the benefits (last time I checked which was awhile ago):

***1 mile earned for every Baht25 (about 74 US cents) charged (in Thailand or outside Thailand)

***2 miles earned for every Baht25 charged with TG

***bonus miles for threshold spends (e.g., US$26,300 annual charges =25,000 bonus miles)

***1 free first class roundtrip ticket (for every 5 roundtrip first class tickets purchased)

***only need 25,000 miles flown in TG First or Biz to attain TG Gold status (instead of the normal 50,000 miles) (so called fast-track to TG Gold status)

***50% bonus miles if you fly TG First or Biz

***50% mileage award discount for your companion if you buy a TG First or Biz ticket

***spending points on the card never expire so you dont need to convert into miles until you need them (TG miles expire in 3 yrs after you convert them AFAIK)

Trajan,

thanks for that awesome summary! yes the card you are using is the one I am applying for. though to be honest after reading the benefits, i'm not entirely sure i really want this card. you mentioned that the fast track for gold status is for miles earned when flying biz and first..and i was hoping that the miles i get from spending on my card (the whole 25b = 1mile) thingy would help me reach gold faster.. add that to the fact that my office only flies me on economy, does this mean it'll be a little pointless for me to spend 4k a year on collecting miles that wont really help me reach gold? sorry if i misunderstood anything, this is all very new to me! thanks again.

silentfoot

yeah, exactly...I also got the Citibank TG Visa because it had a better TG mileage accrual rate (I think 2 miles per Baht25 spend?) but then TG Amex card matched it (in sort of a trade war).....

so I traded in my Citibank TG for a Citibank Mall/Siam Paragon Plat Visa (for the discounts etc. at those places) and kept the TG Amex card....

yeah, maxim....the card benefits are turbo-charged if you fly TG premium classes, but it is also a great mileage accrual tool if that is one of your goals...

it has been very useful for me (and more than paid for itself), but I normally fly biz...

however you can use miles to upgrade to biz....the card allows you to accrue miles pretty easily....

[but, it does have a fee of baht 4000 per year (about US$120)...]

if you havent seen the webpages, here they are:
http://www.americanexpress.com/thailand/en/campaigns/tongfah/benefit.shtml

yeah, maxim....the card benefits are turbo-charged if you fly TG premium classes, but it is also a great mileage accrual tool if that is one of your goals...

it has been very useful for me (and more than paid for itself), but I normally fly biz...

however you can use miles to upgrade to biz....the card allows you to accrue miles pretty easily....

[but, it does have a fee of baht 4000 per year (about US$120)...]

if you havent seen the webpages, here they are:
http://www.americanexpress.com/thailand/en/campaigns/tongfah/benefit.shtml

Trajan,

Thanks again for that great explanation. i guess in earning miles, using this card would be the quickest way! and upgrade using miles will hopefully come in handy one day when i fly long-haul to wherever.

I'm still planning to apply for a visa (perhaps kasikorn since my salary gets paid into tat account) as a backup. but for the sake of miles i'll try to max using the thai amex (fingers crossed that i eventually qualify for it!).

cheers.
silentfoot

silentfoot,

If you live in Thailand, why not you apply for a KTC ROP credit card.
**1 mile earned for every Baht20 charged**

silentfoot,

If you live in Thailand, why not you apply for a KTC ROP credit card.
**1 mile earned for every Baht20 charged**

Joy,

thanks for the recommendation i'll look it up.

*update- turns out KTC ROP does not have an annual fee either. looks good so far.

Joy,

thanks for the recommendation i'll look it up.

*update- turns out KTC ROP does not have an annual fee either. looks good so far.

maxim, if KTC ROP card racks up the miles like that (and is free!) I would go for that... (I will stick with Amex for TG because I like the premium class benefits)

I have the Amex Platinum credit card, Citibank Platinum and KTC ROP cards, even have a gold Tesco Visa Card but they no longer give miles and was poor value anyway.

Yes the fee is 4,000 baht a year but I just got mine waived, so if you spend a million baht a year you can too plus you get a 25,000 mile bonus. Amex have also added a 25% bonus to counter act the Citibank card deal and you just have to spend 100,000 baht to get this. Amex also offered a buy miles deal recently which was 30% cheaper than buying from Thai. You also get lots of offers for many things.

KTC ROP gives some great bonus deals if you spend certain amounts over a 2-4 month period, depending on the promotion. Only problem is many offers are in Thai so unless you can read Thai, can be hard, unless you have a Thai to translate for you.

Hope this helps.