mia

There is no referral program for USA-issued cards at this time.

nrdk

Just received 100k Plat offer after 3k spend in the mail, however I'm a bit leery as I've never had an AmEx product before, don't like the idea of paying $450 (infrequent traveler so benefits of this card aren't worth much to me), I've never used MR before, and am wary of any potential FR that I've heard so much about coming from AmEx.

What are some of the best redemptions for MR and how complicated/time consuming is it? Any suggested reading material?

fl9999

MR points are great! 100k Points are worth $1200 for travel. And you may get more better redemption value if you transfer to airlines partner, ANA, etc etc.

This comes with $200 airline credit, and $100 for global entry.

If I received 100k offer, I would not miss it! Go for that! And if the benefits does not make much sense after 1 year, then downgrade it to Green/Gold card or simply close the account.

nrdk

$200 airline credit is nice since I could use it this year and next, however I'm not a frequent traveler by any means beyond my miles/points earning with CC, so Global Entry would be a hassle, as I have to do the interview over 3 hours away.

When you downgrade to Green/Gold, would you also receive a sign up bonus for those products?

From what I can tell of MR, to get any of the redemptions I would be interested in (Non-economy for 2 to Western Europe, South America or maybe Asia/Australia etc) I would need quite a bit more MR before hitting a good number, which is what has me concerned. 100,000 are great when you're adding it to a pile, however when starting a pile and not really having any idea of future plans and travel is a luxury item, it's hard to go out on a limb for it.

blitzen

Where else do you get 100k? No sign up bonus will get you two non economy tickets to Europe.
Get this and a BA or AA card and then combine points ....

fl9999

Yup, if you do not have destination in your mind, it is hard to suggest. But I will take an example:
EWR-LIM-EWR - You would require 43k MR ( ANA Miles ) for each person round trip in economy or 68k MR ( ANA Miles ) for business class.
EWR-FRA-EWR - Same amount of miles as required for Lima destination.

In fact, MR points can be converted for HomeDepot gift cards. 100k points are worth $1000 HD gift card.

You will not get bonus when you downgrade the card.

cbkcc1

you can transfer them to BA for short trip Avios which are a great value. they often do bonus transfers as well, current is 20%.

i cannot explain how valuable global entry is, the application takes the longest, the interview is no more than 15 minutes and you can use pre-check, which has saved so much time on domestic/international airport jaunts. if you only use it twice a year, it is worth it.

and the airline credit can be gotten twice, that is $400, GE $100. lounge access, both the card and priority pass. it is pretty awesome.

nrdk

Thanks for the reply. Understood and I don't expect to ever receive a sign up bonus enough for 2 biz+ to Europe, however I like to generally have a plan on how I can get bonuses to the point where they are actually useful to me, rather than just hoarding points for a what if situation.

Thanks for replying, and that's good to know. I figured at worst I could cash them out (as a last resort) for $1000 GC and still be up $550 + $400 airline reimbursement, however I like traveling and of course the best redemptions are that way.

Destination would be ideal for Europe for a honeymoon in the next 2 years, however if that does not work out it'd be kind of a 'throw a dart at the globe' type event.

I'll have 100k AA coming shortly from Citi apps, and have close to 100k UR, 45k United. Plenty of hotel points as well (Ritz/Marriott, Club Carlson) for the stay, so mainly looking to treat my girlfriend (soon to be fiancee).


Thanks for the ideas. I've researched short haul Avios, but unfortunately I fly out of CID (small airport) so I would require a connection which makes even short one ways 9000 Avois, as to my understanding they charge by segment.

Global entry seems great, however the hassle of driving 3 to 4 hours for the interview is a PIA and would be more of a convenience thing (when I'm in the area anyways).



The more and more I've thought about it, I would be a fool not to jump on this, however I am wary to get into the AmEx and MR world as it's much more of a cluster than UR from what I can tell. I wish there was a bit more centralized researching for all the possibilities of MR, as what I've gleaned so far comes from a thread here, an article there, and some general inference on the program. Any suggestions would be great, and as always, thanks to all those in the FT community that reach out to help.

tylerdurden4543

How can the airline credit be gotten twice? Looking specifically at using it on AA

mia

The airline credit can be claimed once in calendar year 2013 and again in calendar year 2014. This is twice in the same card anniversary year, but if you renew the card you will also have paid two annual fees.

nrdk

Airline credit is $200 per calendar year.

tylerdurden4543

Great - thanks to both.

Happy

68K MR for TWO persons US to Europe r/t?

How long ANA miles stay alive?

I assume you can hold an ANA award then transfer the MR pts to ticket it as the transfer with MR usually is instant.

I have not thought about the ANA option but the recent bonus transfer to BA is a disappointing 20% and we already have 300K in our household account. So I am thinking about DL which is not as bad as others perceived believe or not. Transfer to DL incurs the excise tax though, like $0.00075? per mile?

fl9999

68k MR for each person ( round trip ) in business class. Remember, ANA is a distance based program, so it may be great value for someone, and may not for someone else. It all depend up to where you live, and where you want to go.

xp0

Sorry if this has been asked 100 times already but if my friend got a 100k offer and he isnt going to use it, can I ? Or is the code tied to the specific person/biz only?

Thanks in advance