NYTimes: "Amex, Challenged by Chase, Is Losing the Snob War"
 

I can't help but think this change (and in particular, the Uber benefit) was part of a misguided attempt to try to get Millennials to sign up for the Plat: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/b...e-reserve.html

It's as if someone at one of Amex's corporate meetings asked: "What do Millennials spend their money on? What do Millennials buy, what do they use?" And someone else stood up and said "Uber! They take Uber all over town!" And therefore Amex decided to provide Uber benefits, without addressing the issues that still hold back the Platinum: A far less useful points earning structure and fewer transfer partners than the CSR. Millennials want a card that provides a good ROI for their spend as well as rewards that are easy for them to use.

Count again.

• Amex: 20 transfer partners
• Diners: 20 transfer partners
• Citi: 14 transfer partners
• Chase: 10 transfer partners

I think the article says the reason why but doesn't point it out. AMEX is the 'old cool' and the 'old affluent'. Millennials want the 'new cool'. They don't want the card their dad had(was mentioned a little). Ever.

So AMEX is fighting that. I can tell you right now I have a friend who is definitely a 'millennial' and has his own money plus parents money. I was talking to him about the Platinum. He didn't know it existed but he KNEW of the CSR. He currently has a Gold DL AMEX. He wouldn't really be using ANY of the benefits but knew of the CSR. Which likely means Chase is making their mark because it's 'interesting'...

I think he means fewer useful partners. But then again they each have their useful partners.

Didn't know it existed? That's weird to believe.

Isn't shopping for a card. Just flies DL some so has that card.

Well, the reason Amex became the 'old cool' is because it's out of touch with the new reality, as the article does point out. Millennials don't care about things like concierge services and travel planning because we do everything we can online, without the assistance of other humans. What we do want is rewards programs that give us a good return on our spend, and the Platinum card doesn't fall into that category. 5x MR points on airlines is a good step in the right direction but most of us dine out a lot more than we fly, so Amex is losing the ability to be the go-to card in our wallet every time we eat out. The fact that Amex isn't accepted at as many restaurants as Visa is doesn't help either. So my Plat card just sits in my wallet most of the time and the CSR card comes out routinely.

Okay fine. Fewer useful partners. At least to me, because I mostly fly UA. The one bright spot is the ability to transfer to SQ at a 1:1 ratio, and in combination with 5x MR points on airfare, I could earn 5 SQ miles/$ spent on airfare as opposed to only 3 SQ miles/$ on the CSR. So they've got something going there. If I want to experience the SQ suites, I'd be putting a lot more airline spend on the Plat. The hotel partners in the Amex MR program are more interesting to me than the hotel partners in the Chase UR program, but the redemption rates for the Plat are awful compared to holding the actual cards for those hotels (like the Amex Surpass, etc).

NYTimes: "Amex, Challenged by Chase, Is Losing the Snob War"
 

The NY Times wrote a piece about how Amex is not attracting millennials, because of the perception that Amex is pretentious. I found it an interesting read.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/business/american-express-chase-sapphire-reserve.html

Another thing. Millennials, as I said, like rewards programs that work for them, but they also like benefits that work for them. I know Chase had concerns about whether the public, and in particular Millennials, could stomach a $450 annual fee but it's clear the most Millennials could see a deal when the blogs all told them that $300 of the annual fee could be recovered by spending $300 on travel each year (and who doesn't have $300 of travel expenses in a year? Even college students do that!).

On the other hand, what do we get from Amex? Airline fee credits that can't be applied to tickets, and Uber ride credits that are divided up into $15 increments each month and $35 in December. I almost guarantee you that if Chase made the travel credits $25 per month, expiring at the end of each month, instead of $300 per year, the CSR would not have been nearly as popular as it was. Until this crap from Amex stops (giving us benefits that are useless or difficult or impossible to use), the Plat will never be as popular as the CSR.

Where are you going that doesn't take Amex? Even international. 10 days in Japan and I had to use Chase cars one time at the Shanghai airport. Everywhere that took cards in Japan took AMEx.

And locally I can't remember the last time. Even hole in the wall eateries have Square or similar. All Amex.

You're on to something here. In my office full of young people, the CSR caught on like wildfire. And it seemed that many people were signing up because (a) everyone else was and (b) everyone said it was a good deal.

Now the office is full of people who are conspicuously using the card, still talking to each other about it, but have no idea how to use the points. Lots of talk about cashback.

It seems like it's not so much the rewards program or the benefits - unless you are an FT enthusiast, you're probably not going to know the difference vs. an Amex Platinum - but more the "cool factor" and the momentum of everyone talking about it.

Quantity over quality?
Ease of earning?
Value points?

Yup. I said there are other options. He had not considered them or bothered to research if anything else existed that might work better for his needs.

I run into smaller restaurants where I live that don't accept it on occasion. YMMV, of course.

As others have mentioned, many millennials (myself included) want good return on our spend. Every dollar I spend on Travel/Dining gets me 3x/4.5% cash back on future travel through Chase (or possibly better with transfer partners).

I haven't had many issues with AMEX not being accepted, but its hard to use AMEX in Southeast Asia. I was trying to get tickets for Jersey Boys in Manila (was actually pretty good) and the AMEX concierge said "looks like the box office doesn't accept AMEX", and that was the end of that conversation. I needed to get tickets on my own or through another service.

That being said I have the CSR for mostly all my spend, and the Platinum for Centurion Lounge access as I fly every week.