Platinum (USA) refresh 10.6.2016: Personal 5X airfare; Business $0.02 Pay with Points
 

Official twitter acct says 5x pts on flights for plat card:


Original question:

Offer is now "old" apparently according to their subsequent reply.

Wow! That's really upping the ante. For an international premium RT costing $5,000, that's an extra 10,000 points as compared to Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Yeah, don't get that. They posted today...

Interesting that Amex ended that tweet with a comma. What else, Amex, what else? There must be more.

Huh - odd twitter exchange but if does in fact happen it's a big time move. Instantly makes the Plat the best option for air travel.

Rumor is 5x points on plat for air travel

I feel like there has to be more. If this is the only upgrade, people will just save the card to their FF profile and only use it for that. Still no incentive for prolonged use.

Yeah dining is a much better bonus category if you want to induce people to keep the card top-of-wallet.

Yes, but strategically makes no sense. People will go from not using it at all to using it only for air travel, which will be costly to them (because of the 5x) but still won't get anyone to take it out of his wallet. 5x at Starbucks would make more sense (not that I would prefer that personally).

The 5x rumor is true I called AMEX and it starts October 6. If this is the only big surprise, sorry but it is lame and can't match to the reserve. If they introduce this in conjunction with a 100,000 bonus, then maybe they will get some hype. But to truly match they need the 100,000 plus $300 unrestricted travel credit plus this 5x, just IMO.

I would think it would be smart (for Amex) to offer accelerator categories (5X airfare etc.) and award the bonus points only upon hitting spend thresholds. That way they can capture more everyday spend and not just have card holder spend against the bonus categories.

For example you could offer 5X airfare, 3X travel, 2X restaurants that each cardholder would accrue. When they hit my arbitrarily assigned annual spend level of $30k, those points would be released. That way card members charge non bonus categories to hit the spend threshold. Just an idea....

I have bought more airline tickets than Starbucks drinks this year (though lots of coffee at independent coffee shops).

Grocery stores and gas stations would be my preference. It would complement the CSR's categories and actually get me to put the card in my wallet when I am not travelling.

I'd be happy with the PRG earning structure and keep everything else the same. Then I would consider using this as my daily charger

Yea, Am Ex Card Services said the 5X points for travel is for travel booked through Am Ex Travel and Airline web sites. Hopefully there is more than just this.