highops

BA for short haul on AA. I transfer a few when there is a bonus.

Plenti when there is a bonus.

Air France for Delta metal.

I only get 1.5 cents and consider UR more valuable.

If I were to travel internationally a lot I'd look into other partners and might re-evaluate.

I was just correcting the U to an M in the prior post

mjgoldstein9

The issue with AMEX cards, is that many of the categories, not including the business cards are the same. I have the EDP card, and if I get the PRG, I only gain 3x on airfare, and only 0.5 MR on restaurants. Is that worth another $195 on annual fees? I don't think so.

Where Chase really kills it, is how their cash back and points are both UR's and you can pool them together with the Freedom's rotating categories. After they are pooled, Chase lets each point be worth 1c for cash back or more on airfare. Amex lags behind them with a MR only worth 0.6c to pay off a charge. I would open another Amex account if I had access to more categories. As the maximum value of a MR reward devalues, they have to increase the minimum redemption options to keep up, or increase the category multipliers.

mia

PRG would only cost $95 after the Airline Fee Reimbursement, but in practice you would pair Everyday Preferred with Platinum for 5X on airfare plus the Platinum benefits.

antonius66

MR are worth AT MOST 1c a piece? Goodness....I will buy all your MR for AT MOST 1c a piece right now!

eajusa

My most recent transfer of MR points to DL SkyMiles yielded me 2.5 cents per point.

jediwho

Good point. Some overlap for sure. Regarding 0.5 MR for restaurants for PRG, I thought it was 2MR for dollar spending. Also, the net fee after $100 rebate is $95. For me, the 3x for airfare and 2x for dining does change the equation. The biggest complain I have with Amex Plat and PRG is that there is no travel insurance for airfare.

dhuey

Similarly, I did F on ANA, SFO-NRT using MR points in low season. What a deal. You travel like some super-important person, even though all you did was play some cc bonus games.

jediwho

If one optimizes spending and assuming that he/she spends at least $5K on airfare (business/personal) and $5K in dinning a year, one could make having all four cards work....Personal Platinum, Business Plat, EDP and PGR.

Why the Amex strategy (2 cent redemption for business platinum) has impressed me so much is because they have now put a floor on how much airlines can devalue their miles. One could argue endlessly whether UR or MR is better and whether CSR is better than Amex Platinum/EDP combo, but what Amex has really does is divert spending from AA, UA, and Alaska cards. The reason why I am not mentioning Delta is because of the much higher MQM earning ability vs. Citi AA Exec card.

mia

They have also done this in a way that most rewards those who engage with Membership Rewards and have a continuous flow of points. EXAMPLE: to redeem for a $1,000 ticket you must have 100,000 points (versus 80,000 ThankYou or 67,667 Ultimate Rewards points), and wait (days or weeks) for a 50,000 point refund, but after the points are refunded you are instantly half way to the next ticket.

For the person who earned 100,000+ points on a new account bonus and expects to buy two $1,000 tickets this will be a frustrating disappointment, but for the more profitable customer who continues to use American Express cards it will be a flexible supplement to airline transfers.

Everyday Preferred can earn 1.5 points on all spending, which means 2X for dining on Preferred Rewards Gold is only a half point per dollar incremental gain.

jediwho

Very true regarding flow of points and profitable customers. They also very deliberately split the benefits between Personal and Business. They are segmenting their customers very well. Almost certain that customers who spend enough on Personal Platinum to get Business Platinum will also now keep PGR or EDP or both.

I think another brilliant move was 2 cent redemption for coach for pre selected airlines. One of the complains of UR fans has been that MR does not allow transfer to United miles. Well, now you can and get PQM/PQD as well. You can not only do this for United, but AA, AS, LUV as well.

This is also a big benefit for people doing any sort of mileage runs to get to the next status.

krazykanuck

Amex appears to be playing the long game with regard to Platinum card enhancements and such; which is something I fully support, vs. the rapid changes that Citi seems to love, and the unknown future of the CSR.

Thinking back, I still have lustful memories of the 10% points year end dividend and 10 UR pts per swipe (may they RIP) on my Freedom that the Chase/UR fanboys conveniently forget about when other devaluations are mentioned, because Chase would NEVER devalue UR earning, amirite?! I bet many of those fanboys weren't even in the game early enough to remember that.

jediwho

Amex's recent Platinum benefits enhancement must have been in the works for a while given the far reaching impact it will have. I am really looking forward to the next five to fix months. On the earnings call, Amex said they have a lot of promotions planned for the holiday season and Q1, they will be rolling out benefits for Platinum cardholders. They seem really focused right now on Platinum vs. PGR/BGR or any of their co-branded cards, including Delta.

krazykanuck

I'm optimistic, as Amex isn't an idiot in this game. 5X on airfare is great, especially since I can book work airfare on my personal card and get reimbursed. Also as long as I live in Houston and the Centurion Lounge access policy doesn't change, I'm happy to keep the card. I'd love a couple 2X/3X categories, so we'll see what shakes out. Either way, my net AF for my platinum card this year is ~$100 post retention bonus, so well worth it.

notquiteaff

Hasn't that floor existed before with the 2c cash back cards?

jediwho

Most 2 cent cash back cards don't earn significant category bonuses similar to PGR, BGR or EDP. With EDP and Amex Business Plat combo, you could now earn 3 cents on everyday spending and optimize it to earn much more by focusing your spending on groceries and gas. So, I think this is where the floor really sets in.

As fewer miles are transferred from Amex (and eventually others) to airlines, they will start feeling the pressure. Also, it now matters less that you cannot transfer to UA, AA, LUV or AS.

Almost everyone would take a 2 cent MR redemption with their preferred airline than 2 cent value for AA or DAL miles. Haven't done the math as to how much the MR redemption is now worth compared to airlines because of the ability to earn EQMs and RDMs with MR purchases but won't be surprised if many opted for 2 cent MR redemption vs. 2.5 cent value derived from say transferring to DAL.