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AMEX (USA) kills ability to transfer MR to non-account holder's airline or hotel acct

Old Sep 19, 2014, 7:20 am
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Last edit by: HookemHorns
Membership Rewards (USA) points can be transferred to airline and hotel accounts in the name of the primary cardholder -or- the name of a supplementary cardholder on any card account linked to the same Membership Rewards account. You only need to request a supplementary card. It need not ever be given to the cardholder, nor used for any purchases. American Express will not issue cards for children under age 13.

Bear in mind that American Express (USA) generally limits customers to four credit cards, plus an unspecified number of charge cards. Most of the cards which can be used to add free supplementary cardholders are credit cards, choose one that you actually want to use,

These products allow you to add free Supplementary cardholders:

PERSONAL CARD ACCOUNTS
  • Premier Rewards Gold charge card. $175 fee for primary card, up to five free supplementary cards.
  • Mercedes-Benz credit card. $95 fee for primary card, free supplementary cards.
  • Everyday Preferred credit card. $95 fee for primary card, free supplementary cards.
  • Everyday credit card. No fee for primary or supplementary cards.
  • Blue from American Express credit card. No fee for primary or supplementary cards, but this card participates in Membership Rewards Express. Express points are not eligible for transfer unless you also hold a card participating in the full Membership Rewards program. Caution: Blue Cash, Blue Cash Everyday, Blue Cash Preferred, Blue Sky and Blue Sky Preferred do not participate in Membership Rewards, and supplementary cardholders are not eligible to receive transfers.


SMALL BUSINESS CARD ACCOUNTS
  • Business Gold Rewards charge card. $175 fee for the primary card, $50 for the first supplementary card, but additional supplementary cards are free.
  • Blue for Business credit card. No fee for primary card or supplementary cards, but this card participates in Membership Rewards Express. Express points are not eligible for transfer unless you also hold a card participating in the full Membership Rewards program. This is the best Membership Rewards card for general spending because it earns a 30% annual bonus on all spending.
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AMEX (USA) kills ability to transfer MR to non-account holder's airline or hotel acct

Old Jun 19, 2014, 7:31 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New York City
Posts: 800
AMEX (USA) kills ability to transfer MR to non-account holder's airline or hotel acct

Title says it all.

End of an era.

For clarification, those programs previously linked look still to be eligible, but if the FFN (i) was not previously linked on the AMEX profile, (ii) does not belong to primary account holder, or (ii) does not belong to an AU on the account, it's all over.

Last edited by thexfactor; Jun 19, 2014 at 7:40 am
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 7:46 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by thexfactor
Title says it all.

End of an era.

For clarification, those programs previously linked look still to be eligible, but if the FFN (i) was not previously linked on the AMEX profile, (ii) does not belong to primary account holder, or (ii) does not belong to an AU on the account, it's all over.
how did you discover this?
bajrbajr is offline  
Old Jun 19, 2014, 8:05 am
  #3  
mia
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This has long been American Express policy, and it is enforced in countries other than the USA. If they now have the software to enforce, it is a trivial matter to make someone an Authorized User on (for example) an Everyday card account.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 8:18 am
  #4  
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A policy which has been unenforced to the point of (nearly) never is akin to not having the policy at all, regardless of whether or not it was enforced in countries other than the USA.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 8:53 am
  #5  
mia
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Originally Posted by bajrbajr
how did you discover this?
When you link an airline or hotel account to Membership Rewards (USA) you are now presented with a picklist of eligible names. There is no way to add a name to the list except by requesting a supplementary card on the American Express account. In many instances this would require paying a fee, but Everyday, Blue, Blue for Business, and (up to five) Premier Rewards Gold cards are free.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 9:07 am
  #6  
 
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There's a lot of fraud in the miles / points space. Not so much issues with people selling miles, but with miles outright being stolen or sent away without authorization. Seems like a stopgap for that.
Brendan likes this.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 9:47 am
  #7  
 
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Originally Posted by cerealmarketer
There's a lot of fraud in the miles / points space. Not so much issues with people selling miles, but with miles outright being stolen or sent away without authorization. Seems like a stopgap for that.
I think that market is growing very quickly.

Last edited by infamousdx; Jun 19, 2014 at 9:53 am
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 11:29 am
  #8  
 
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Well well well, this seriously blows.

Originally Posted by mia
When you link an airline or hotel account to Membership Rewards (USA) you are now presented with a picklist of eligible names. There is no way to add a name to the list except by requesting a supplementary card on the American Express account. In many instances this would require paying a fee, but Everyday, Blue, Blue for Business, and (up to five) Premier Rewards Gold cards are free.
But you would need a SSN to add an AU, is this correct??
vtqanh is offline  
Old Jun 19, 2014, 11:33 am
  #9  
mia
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Originally Posted by vtqanh
But you would need a SSN to add an AU, is this correct??
Perhaps not. This thread has been running since 2006, but read the most recent posts (2013), bearing in mind that this too may change:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...er-no-ssn.html

Further discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-account.html
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 12:11 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by vtqanh
Well well well, this seriously blows.



But you would need a SSN to add an AU, is this correct??
Can do it without.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 12:26 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: May 2011
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Originally Posted by thexfactor
Can do it without.
I am sure that will be the next thing to change.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 12:28 pm
  #12  
 
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You should replace "can do.." with "could do..."
Originally Posted by thexfactor
Can do it without.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 12:32 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by Centurion
You should replace "can do.." with "could do..."
When that becomes the case, I'll do it. But not before.
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 12:49 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Trouble transferring Delta

I have been trying to transfer a few thousand skymiles to a friends account.
I clicked link accounts, chose delta, added his number.
But under linked account it lists Delta with status of "cant confirm".

When I go to checkout with the transfer it says I do not have a linked account.

Does it just take a while to link or what?
I never had the option of putting in his name only his number. Will that be an issue because the name does not match the account number?

Please advise if possible. The flight is a few days away and just opened up award space.

Thanks
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Old Jun 19, 2014, 1:13 pm
  #15  
 
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What did Amex say?
heyeaglefn is offline  

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