Originally Posted by karlmitchell

Lots of speculation, little concrete, and on the off-change that Amex have just made a mistake, we don't really want to ask them. I proposed my interpretations in post #216. I recommend reading from post #145 onwards in order to catch up with discussions.

The idea of this being a test market for 3x on all internet purchases and travel is a great one, and it would certainly help make Amex competitive with Chase again. However, I can't see how they can make it cost effective as a business model. Without referral bonuses, the value of the miles from that is almost certainly greater than what Amex bring in on merchant fees. Admittedly that argument applies to Flights as well, and yet 3x on flights is a stated benefit. So my pet theory is that they're introducing this to keep the points/miles community engaged, and to make up for the lack of mall. Perhaps they will introduce something new eventually, but while this is happening I'm going to exploit it. Three months ago I thought there was little chance than I'd hit my $30k spend, and it was only the retention bonus keeping me onboard. Suddenly the Amex PRG is looking lucrative again, though.

you can always go the VR cards at CVS/Amex BB to build spend and pick up points for paying bills that otherwise would not have earned points