I'm leaving work and my Platinum card will get turned off next week. I have around 140,000 points and am wondering what the best option is to preserve the value. I don't have any immediate flights planned. Here are what I think my options are from reading threads on this forum:
1) I have an American Blue card and my points will get "downgraded" to blue points if I don't do anything. I think I lose 50% or more of the value? Is that true?
2) I'm a dumb@ss - I missed the BA 50% bonus by a week. Is there any other FF program that is running a promo now or this month? I fly to Asia often, not Europe as much.
3) Would it make sense to open up a personal platinum AMEX card just to save my points? Or can I transfer my points to someone else that has an AMEX platium card?
Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks!
Wangta
mia
Jun 7, 12, 6:41 pm
Your Blue card participates in Membership Rewards Express, and while Express points cannot be transferred to any airline or hotel program Blue can preserve your balance until you need them.
2) Promos come and go. DL used to have a lot but have not in a while, and the rumor is they won't for a while longer. Air Canada has a year-end promo but it's only about 20-25% with a max of 25K.
3) You don't need a Plat card. You could transfer them to any other card that participates in Membership Rewards, including gold and green cards. Many gold cards have a fee-free year and some kind of signup bonus. Redemptions from a Platinum card are slightly better than from a gold card, but not dramatically.
3a) You cannot transfer MR points to another person. You can usually transfer them to another person's loyalty account - i.e. you cannot transfer MR points to your brother, but you can transfer them to his DL/BA/etc. account.
Wangta
Jun 12, 12, 12:45 pm
Your Blue card participates in Membership Rewards Express, and while Express points cannot be transferred to any airline or hotel program Blue can preserve your balance until you need them.
Thanks for this Mia. I just spoke to Amex - they are saying that my points earned with the Platinum card are "worth" more than the points earned with my blue card, and since my platinum card will be cancelled, all the points will revert to the highest card on the account - which will be the blue card (the only other card on the account), and thus all my points will be "downgraded" to the blue point system. Is this incorrect?
It's not so much that your points are downgraded, as that your options for using them are. While you have a Blue card, you will only be able to use them for merchandise, gift cards, and (I think) 1 cent per mile for travel booked through Amex. While you have a gold card, they can be redeemed as above, plus transferred to travel partners. While you have a Plat card, your options are expanded to include using them for statement credits, 1.25 cents for travel booked through Amex, and some other redemption options for merchandise.
Based on what you've said, I think your best options are:
a) Open a new Preferred Rewards Gold card, fee-free for one year, 25K signup bonus (I think that is the best available now). This will get you 25K extra points if you can spend $2000 in the first three months, and your points will remain active and you can transfer them if a good transfer bonus comes along. The drawback here is that it's a one-year solution.
b) Get a Blue card, planning at some time in the future to get a Gold (or Plat) card and redeem them. The drawback here is that if you want to transfer points quickly, you will not be able to do so until you apply for and get another card.
mia
Jun 12, 12, 1:44 pm
... they are saying that my points earned with the Platinum card are "worth" more than the points earned with my blue card, and since my platinum card will be cancelled, all the points will revert to the highest card on the account - which will be the blue card (the only other card on the account), and thus all my points will be "downgraded" to the blue point system.
That is exactly correct. The Blue card will preserve the numerical point balance, but you will lose the ability to transfer to other programs. Later, when you need to transfer you can apply for a Green, Gold or Platinum card and all your points will be reclassified to the highest card that you then hold. The card used to originally earn the points is irrelevant.
Precision1
Jun 12, 12, 1:53 pm
You can transfer to aeroplan and you would get a 25% bonus right now . They have great flights and partners to Asia.
Wangta
Jun 12, 12, 2:04 pm
That is exactly correct. The Blue card will preserve the numerical point balance, but you will lose the ability to transfer to other programs. Later, when you need to transfer you can apply for a Green, Gold or Platinum card and all your points will be reclassified to the highest card that you then hold. The card used to originally earn the points is irrelevant.
Really - ok, I was not aware of this. So my blue card will "preserve" my points as they are 1 for 1, and assuming I don't spend them until I get a higher status card, my points will remain "platinum" level value.
Dumb question, but is green, gold and platinum all the same from a points perspective?
It's not so much that your points are downgraded, as that your options for using them are. While you have a Blue card, you will only be able to use them for merchandise, gift cards, and (I think) 1 cent per mile for travel booked through Amex. While you have a gold card, they can be redeemed as above, plus transferred to travel partners. While you have a Plat card, your options are expanded to include using them for statement credits, 1.25 cents for travel booked through Amex, and some other redemption options for merchandise.
Based on what you've said, I think your best options are:
a) Open a new Preferred Rewards Gold card, fee-free for one year, 25K signup bonus (I think that is the best available now). This will get you 25K extra points if you can spend $2000 in the first three months, and your points will remain active and you can transfer them if a good transfer bonus comes along. The drawback here is that it's a one-year solution.
b) Get a Blue card, planning at some time in the future to get a Gold (or Plat) card and redeem them. The drawback here is that if you want to transfer points quickly, you will not be able to do so until you apply for and get another card.
Thanks so much for this - I'll think about a) - seems like a good idea and I'll likely spend $2,000 in the next two months for sure. I actually applied for the SPG card to replace my blue card and was rejected despite my 700+ credit score due to a retarded claim by a collection agency from a hospital bill dating 5 years ago for $140 (it just recently showed up - it took me a week to figure out what it was for). I'm guessing I'll have to fix this or AMEX will continue to reject me.
B) I have a blue card already, so I should be good....and as stated above, once I clean up this one blip on my credit report, I can apply for a higher status card, right?