American Express Membership Rewards - Your comments re. Membership Rewards for inside Flyer

We will be reviewing the American Express Membership Rewards program for our March issue of Inside Flyer.
We would like to hear your comments for our "Report Card" feature. Please submit any comments, good or bad, your name, contact information, and a "grade" (A, B, C, D or F) by Feb. 1.
Many thanks!

Jeff Johnstone
Associate Editor
Inside Flyer
jjohnstone@insideflyer.com

My wife has the new "Rewards Card" that claims to pay double points for "everyday" purchases (supermarkets, gas stations, home improvement stores,drugstores,U.S. Postal Service or to pay your wireless phone bill.).

Unfortunatley AMEX is not allowing us to see which transactions where paid double points and I have no idea if they are actually paying double points because of the huge lag in posting points to the acount.

I have asked AMEX via their email system many times for the details I am looking for, but they never answer the question..... they always answer a question that I didn't ask.

"F" for customer service
"F" for program structure
"A" for presenting a compelling offer that convinced my wife to sign up with them.

Feel free to contact me via my email addresss on file.

As for partners, without having AA, BA or UA in the program I would rate the Membership Rewards program a "D".

I have a Gold Corporate Card.

Every morning thousands of peasants from 3rd world countries like India and the Philippines get up from their shacks and ride trains with goats and chickens running around on them to regurgitate info they read on Amex computer screens back to us about how to use their benefits and services in a world they do not understand.

Based on the level of customer service they provide and some of their sly marketing like always double miles (that means sometimes doule miles) and free companion ticket (that means companion ticket if you pay twice the fare and give up the FF miles)
I think they should rename the cards Chicken for Classic, Mule for Gold, and Fox for Platinum.

Please don't think I am trying to offend the fine people of India and the Philippines. It is just that the ones Amex hires don't know enough about our society to do anything more than read computer screens they stumble upon.

Jerrycrump - sounds like you belong over at www.amexsux.com. (http://www.amexsux.com.)

Snowcap

AMEX Membership Rewards was one of the early credit card programs. It was an OK program many years OK, even without AA and UA, but since then has become an also-ran. I used to have the AMEX card that paid 1.5 miles per dollar for all travel expenses. I think it was the first year only; after that it went back to 1 mile per dollar. I dumped it after a year. I found the AMEX fees for the card and MR too high and customer service from the MR program, not AMEX itself, was simply atrocious. The move to double miles is too little, too late. Without earning potential from UA and AA, this program simply doesn't measure up. Some of the alternative awards are nice, but far too pricey. I rate the program a C- and MR service an F.

This may be due to my own ineptness, but I haven't been able to get an Amex (or Visa/MC) which permits balances > $100k in a month other than my corporate Amex with Membership Rewards.

Since there are a few months a year when I run balances ~ $150k or more, I have kept the Amex with Membership Rewards.

But there's no question that it fails to measure up.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gleff:
...I haven't been able to get an Amex (or Visa/MC) which permits balances &gt; $100k in a month other than my corporate Amex with Membership Rewards.</font>

gleff's post reminds me of a slightly tangenital question: Some corporate Amex cards are eligible for the MR program, and some are not. Does anyone have any idea what determines their eligibility?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hnechets:
gleff's post reminds me of a slightly tangenital question: Some corporate Amex cards are eligible for the MR program, and some are not. Does anyone have any idea what determines their eligibility?</font>

If the companies program is tied into a rebate from AEMX then typically those cards are excluded from the MR program

Thanx! I never considered that very real possibility.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Does anyone have any idea what determines their eligibility?</font>

To confirm DSD's post, I was told my previous employer's Amex Corporate was not eligible for MR as the company 'had not signed up for it'.

I take it there must be a small cost/lost benefit to including MR in a Corporate Amex contract, just as with a personal Amex card.

For transfering 999 MR for 333 *wood points

"F"

For ease of transferring points "A"

dup



[This message has been edited by jfe (edited 01-17-2003).]

Amex Customer Service is definately a step behind.
Every time I try something beyond the basic check and pay may bill online it doesn't work.
it sucks that I cannot get MR points on my corporate card.
It sucks that sometimes I don't get a decline but rather I get a call us message. No store clerk ever says ok I'lll call they say - your card was declined. Go to the next store and my card works. This is especially common online. Never try to make 2 online purchases at the same site the same day with your amex card.
It sucks that the best I can do with my MR points is move them to continental add 25% then multiply by 2 to Hilton.
i'd get the Hilton Amex card if I was allowed to use a personal card for travel expenses.
I've never had to use any of the insurance benefits and such. Supposedly Amex is the best for this stuff. Hope I never have to find out.
The amex rewards card is overpriced. why did I take the sucker bet and switch when they suggested it?
Now I'm paying more for the same crappy customer service. But heh store clerks seem to like the design. I never seen that one before...

I think the basic card should carry the same perks that the basic diners club does. Instead you have to pay for the nose for the amex platinum.

Lastly I hate that so many places refuse to take the amex.

I'd rate amex a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

D for the MR program. F for its service. In fact, where is the service ???
Bad program. Just very rarely a nice promotion.

------------------
Take care, especially while being abroad.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Snowcap:
Jerrycrump - sounds like you belong over at www.amexsux.com. (http://www.amexsux.com.)

Snowcap</font>

Thanks for the referral.

I learned a couple of things from that site. Relating to service an employee revealed that if you call during the day and catch US customer service you have are most likely to catch college students answering the phone, but if you call nights or weekends you will likely catch 16 year old high school students for customer service.

Relating to the poster mentioning good insurance products the site has a complaint from one customer who signed up for a card with car rental insurance but in the year an a half since he signed up they droped that coverage for his type card, and he later wrecked a rental car. So unless you verify in writing coverage frequently this could be risky to depend on.

Don't mean to hijack the thread to customer service but it is part of getting to MR.

My grades.

Customer service F-------------------

(but I haven't tried the college students during the day often)

Paying off purchase protection claims A

Honoring their offers D-

Straight forward honest advertising F

Annual fees for cards and MR F

Transferring miles to airlines A
(especially helpful with Southwest when credits are about to expire)

I think they need to stay after school on most of the core subjects.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gleff:
This may be due to my own ineptness, but I haven't been able to get an Amex (or Visa/MC) which permits balances &gt; $100k in a month other than my corporate Amex with Membership Rewards.</font>

Do you have any use for a Citibank AA MC card? I talk to the credit people every once in a while when I need to go way over my credit limit (no pre-set spending doesn't mean unlimited). On more than one occasion the CSR has told me that there are more people than one would think that put over $1M on the card every month.

[This message has been edited by singlemalt (edited 01-18-2003).]

No question AMEX's MR rates an overall D (ie barely passing) in terms of flexibility for use of points. I use it strictly for overflow points when I *literally* have no other place to accumulate monthly miles due to maxed out credit cards intra-cycle.

My priority for earning (directing my charges) goes like this:
A - Starwood/OPTIMA (AMEX product also); over 250K earned my very first year in 2002, so this my blockbuster card right now.
B - Citibank/AAdvantage; lifetime charges approaching 7million; Citibank and AA captured so much of what could have been AMEXs its ridiculousl More than once over these past years I told an AMEX rep this very statement, and PLEADED to have an AMEX/Membership Rewards rep give me a call to discuss features andbenefits I personally would like to see - and with over 1.3million MR points lifetime earned, you might think some AMEX VP would have taken me up on the offer. Not to be. Never have seen so much as an online survey, mailed out questionaire, etc. Confirms my theory that AMEX is simply MILKING MR as long as they can, and playing the game of "a sucker born every minute" who, knowing no better, signed up for MR.
C - Sometimes AMEX CENT/MR, and sometimes alternative affinity cards like USAA (called Eagle Points - don't ask - its a joke also), and when I'm really backed into a corner, Chase/Continental and a US Air card.

Sadly, MR was a decent program for years...with fair if not solid airline alternatives. And, lets face it, I am convinced most people accumulate MR mostly for AIRLINE partners, not the travel/hotel rewards at inflated exchange rates. AIRLINE PARTNERS. I personally referred at least two whale to AMEX/MR that each charged, I know of, several million in recent years, but I would absolutely not refer to AMEX/MR again (Starwood/OPTIMA would win my referral nowadays hands down).

What happend to AMEX/MR ? Over the years - attrition of airline partners (TWA, NWA) which was never, ever addressed, changes in airline affiliation (US Air dropping their codeshare w/ AA, so there went our backdoor into the AA program w/ MR miles via USAir), and MR's abject failure to land either big fish (AA or UA) in theiir program just exposes this program to more and more erosion of *VALUE*...all of these shortcomings have been totally ignored by AMEX/MR as their program became more and more diluted, anemic, and moribund, and I find that sad that such a solid program has fallen so low.

BTW - believe it or not - coincidentally I spoke w/ an exec asst to the AMEX CEO this past week about MR and other issues...and he was defiant that MR is as popular as ever. I simply asked him to review my spending patterns over recent years and answer why I don't bother to actively accrue MR points these days.

So - my grading goes like this:
FLEXIBILITY: D
VARIETY OF PARTNERS: F
EASE OF CHARGING/ACCUMULATING: B+
VALUE (measured againt competing products: C-
SPONTANEOUS/INTERMITTANT PROMOTIONS (of value to me, like double miles): D-
AMEX's INTEREST (as I perceive it) to MAKE MR THRIVE, GROW, BE VITAL: D

So, I vote with my dollars...and they go in order of the priorities listed above. In effect, the Starwood/OPTIMA product is what AMEX's MR *should have been*. Starwood literally scooped and trumped AMEX's own product.

Membership Rewards is a free benefit as such on Platinum/Centurion cards here in the UK.

I think if you are spending lots of money, then its an okay program for getting free flights. The conversion rates are a little bit dubious in my opinion. Transfer speed is very good, sometimes overnight.

What is a fatal flaw for UK members is the obvious earning ratio, 1 MR per £1, where you guys get 1 MR per $1. Obvioulsy the eschange rate means that you are getting 50% more than me for the same ammount of money. Now the conversion ratios don't take this currency rate issue into consideration.

Sure there are some glaring omissions from the program (BA), but then we get the BA Credit Card line which is a pretty good deal.

I'd rate the program overall as a C.

Thanks,
Richard

I used to collect the points, putting them all into Virgin Flying Club.

Then along came the BA Amex which gives 1.5 BA miles per £, which to me is better value. This is why I stopped collecting membership rewards a long time ago.

All in all it's got to be a grade 'D' in the UK....it doesn't tempt me to use anything other than my BA AMEX card at all.

Customer service: "F"

MR has good promotion from time to time. Last year MR offer 25% bonus plus elite status on Delta. This year they have a 20% bonus to Continental. There is no limit of miles transferred, and these bonus miles really add up fast.

I understand Citibank and First USA spend tons of money to have exclusive rights with AA and UA. MR can't compete. I actually fly less on AA and UA because MR can't transfer to those accounts.

The MR to SPG is really a terrible conversion rate. If there is one thing MR can improve, this will be it. American Express has a Starwood card offer 1 to 1 conversion; I don't understand why MR has such a lousy conversation rate.

My experience with AMEX customer service is always good. I find them very useful overseas.

I assumed the original query to be for the US version of Membership Rewards (I don't really know why... I just did).

As we all know, MR varies as much from country to country as do the very products to which it is attached. My experieces with AMEX and MR here in Canada may vary wildly, I would assume, with those of my fellow compatriots. I don't think that further comparisons beyond our borders provides any meaningful discussion.

My two cents, anyway... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Following on from Danam's post above.

I am not the biggest fan of Amex, but found the MR programme to be good for transferring my points to Virgin Flying Club very quickly so will rate it as a C+.

Along came the Virgin Mastercard - after a few teething problems it appears to be working fine now - it offers 2 points for each pound spent instead of 1, and has an £80 fee compared to Amex Plat's £275.

I have said Goodbye to Amex and got my fee back - still enjoy lurking on this board though - and if Amex Plat members are ever offered Virgin Clubhouse entry again I will be back like a shot.

Nick

Edited 'cos it's been a long day and I can't spell anymore http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Nottingham Nick (edited 01-27-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Nottingham Nick:
and if Amex Plat members are ever offered Virgin Clubhouse entry again I will be back like a shot.
</font>

More likely to see Lord Lucan riding Shergar.

The staff at the Virgin Clubhouses themselves said it was getting ridiculous, there were more Platinums in than Upper Class passengers.

Thanks,
Richard

Overall, I'd give MRewards a solid B rating. I simply transfer all my points to my Delta acct in the required multiples of 1000, Even though I rarely fly Delta, I've built up a hefty balance which will be more valuable to me once the DL/CO/NWA codeshare is final and then I'll be able to claim coach awards on NWA & then get my NWA Gold 1class upgrade.

Most of the large point rewards are out of my range and I pay no attention to them.

I'm not suprised at Virgin turfing the Platinum riff raff out given how hard they try to protect the exclusivity of their top product.

I think increasing numbers of business travellers (me being one of them) who don't get to fly biz any more in these hard times are looking at ways to get some of their old perks back. That was my motivation for upgrading to plat recently. I thought I was being smart but instead I was just part of a trend.

And if you use just a couple of the perks (e.g. lounge access or travel insurance) on the odd occasion then platinum does, on the face of it, seem to offer very good value for money.

I'm sure I read somewhere though (bbc web article?????) that Amex were continuing to keep platinum to under 2 percent of their membership???

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RichardMannion:
More likely to see Lord Lucan riding Shergar.

The staff at the Virgin Clubhouses themselves said it was getting ridiculous, there were more Platinums in than Upper Class passengers.

Thanks,
Richard

</font>