Originally Posted by bigbuy

Agreed. I went to bed last night thinking "WOW" 5 points on airline spend. When I woke up this morning it was 'Damn' 2 points on airline spend since many folks already get 3 points thru the Citi Prestige or Chase Reserve. Both of these cards have insurance, so now everytime I purchase an airfare I'll have to think about which is more important, 2 more points or insurance.

Originally Posted by bgriff

I agree with those who have noted that this is not a good way to get the Platinum card to be top of wallet (or indeed, for many people, even "in wallet"), so seems like a questionable choice on Amex's part, though I'm certainly not complaining.

Indeed, this is even worse for Amex than what I shared on the "how will Amex respond to CSR" thread -- I was going to keep the Platinum card for SkyClub/Centurion/FHR anyway, but was thinking about cancelling my PRG card thanks to the CSR.

For my spend patterns, the only reason I could think of to keep the PRG was that I occasionally have large amounts of airfare spend, and appreciate having large and diversified MR and UR balances, so 3x points on airfare with the PRG was the main way I stood a chance of accumulating large MR balances.

But now, the Platinum that I was going to keep anyway offers an even better way to accumulate large MR balances on my airfare spend. I'll continue not to use the Platinum for anything else. And 2x on gas and groceries with the PRG is definitely not worth the annual fee.

Originally Posted by radiowell

I celebrated this offer by spending around $1,000 on an airline, but with $700 airfare, $100 award fee/tax and $200 change fee. I am guessing the first two will count for the X5, but not sure about the change fee (coded differently; I already used up $200 credit). Will try to report back.

Originally Posted by jediwho

Or, it could tie you even deeper into Amex MR ecosystem. Because of the business platinum 2 cent redemption, 5x for airfare on Amex personal platinum, PGR that has better rewards (at least for me because of grocery) than CSR, and EDP that gives you 4.5x on groceries, 3x on gas and 1.5x on everything, at least for me, the Amex ecosystem is going to be very hard to beat. I don't have Personal Platinum or PGR but most likely will end up getting PGR and use that and EDP as the main cards for spending and business platinum for FHR, $5k+ spending and benefits of 2 cent redemption.

Originally Posted by radiowell

Progress so far. I'm also targeted for X2 MR for every purchase, and the X2 showed up on my MR account. Wondering if X5 bonus posting has different time frame (and sure don't want to hear that X2 and X5 offers are not combinable, as in only one of them will count and not other other, or something like that).

Originally Posted by bgriff

The x5 isn't an "offer," it's a feature. But it will likely work the same as the x3 on the PRG, which is that it will appear at the same time as the base points, so a month after your statement closes.

Originally Posted by xxpert

... Business or First Class then the 50% rebate applies to any airline. .

Originally Posted by tmiw

The wording about Delta Private Jet probably means that only a small subset of Platinum cardholders would be able to benefit from the discount. Still, I'd have expected at least a passing mention of it.

Originally Posted by bodiddely

Interesting datapoint on the 1.5x earnings on purchases of 5k+ on the Business Platinum. I made a qualifying purchase on Thursday, 10/6, which posted today 10/8, along with the bonus MR points (the extra .5 points per dollar, not the full 1.5). My current statement cycle does not end for a few more weeks. A welcome change from waiting until after the closing of the next statement!

Originally Posted by jediwho

Or, it could tie you even deeper into Amex MR ecosystem. Because of the business platinum 2 cent redemption, 5x for airfare on Amex personal platinum, PGR that has better rewards (at least for me because of grocery) than CSR, and EDP that gives you 4.5x on groceries, 3x on gas and 1.5x on everything, at least for me, the Amex ecosystem is going to be very hard to beat. I don't have Personal Platinum or PGR but most likely will end up getting PGR and use that and EDP as the main cards for spending and business platinum for FHR, $5k+ spending and benefits of 2 cent redemption.

Originally Posted by runb4fun

You skipped over the part that holding all 4 of those cards is redundant and not viable for a lot of people. Every single one of those card comes with an AF and they often have overlapping categories and benefits.

You look over at chase and Freedom + FU + Ink Cash + CSP/CSR covers A TON of day-to-day expenses at $95 AF min. In essence, you pay less to earn UR points and I personally value UR higher than MR to begin with.