chenalex

Oh... thanks. Does that mean the extra points for dining/groceries/airfare also don't apply?

mia

Correct. Bonus categories should match Platinum, not Gold, but I do not think we have confirmation that a supplementary Gold card on a Platinum account earns 5X for airfare.

FlyerStef

I can confirm that, or at least, that an AMEX person told me that it should work that way. I had to call them when I meant to get an authorized user gold card (new gold) and ended up with a platinum-gold card instead. They said that all of the purchases on the plat-gold will code bonus categories, but has none of the platinum benefits. The gold-gold card will also code bonus with no benefits.

The bonus is why I'm here - I'm finding restaurants where the charge is not square, shows as a restaurant even (category restaurant-restaurant) and no 4x points. The wait for chat was too long for me to talk to them today, but I will try tomorrow, found at least 3 purchases where this happened.

mia

Discussion of a declined referral offer application moved:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ne-2018-a.html

Troopers

Ate at a restaurant Flames Eatery inside SJC airport. I expected to receive 4x and I did, but what is interesting is that expanding the transaction details reveals - Category: Merchandise & Supplies - General Retail

ESpen36

Yes, that is correct. Restaurants inside airports typically do NOT code as restaurants, and charges often do not post with the name of the restaurant, even if the restaurant has chain branding. The reason why is because airport restaurants are typically not owned or operated directly by a restaurant brand, but instead by a third party food service licensee on behalf of the airport terminal/management. HMS Host, Sodexo, and Aramark are the most common food service contractors. You sometimes can tell by their ID tags....even if they are wearing green Starbucks aprons, their nametags say HMS Host. In fact, some airport restaurants in the same terminal might have different branding and different menus but operate one common kitchen to prepare all of the food.

It is unlikely that airport restaurants would code properly for this reason. Frankly, even a lot of airport retail locations are operated by third party management companies too. For example, Brooks Brothers stores in airports are operated by Paradies Lagardère Travel Retail. Nobody has heard of Paradies, but the way it operates is to license the Brooks Brothers (and other big-name) brands to sell merchandise in airports and other locations.

Troopers

Right. The restaurant did not code properly but I DID receive 4x as a restaurant.

sdsearch

I think it was already obvious from the opposite examples (people getting 1x at places that coded as restaurants) that Amex is using something other than just coding to judge what's a restaurant and what's not. What's totally unclear is what it is that they go by.

kapooncha

Is this considered a new card for sign-up bonus purposes? Had it about 3 years ago.

mia

Here are the terms of the public offer:

Troopers

Mainline777

Was auditing my account and also have a huge amount of charges that aren't coding as 4x. Extremely frustrating, and it's the inconsistency that gets me. The phone rep told me that stuff in airports might not code correctly because it's "in another establishment." First of all, half of Amex's entire marketing strategy is to travelers, so that's absurd (and my CSR codes just fine in airports). Second, an actual sit-down restaurant in that place didn't code as 4x, but Pinkberry did!

They claim they'll get back to me in 7 days, but after reading this I don't have much faith. Makes me want to cancel the card after a year since who knows how any particular thing will code.

I have a $750 charge from Tock (the restaurant booking site that does high-end restaurants like French Laundry, Alinea, and Minibar in DC) which only coded as 1x. Technically it is listed as "Business Services - Professional Services," but it's very clearly a restaurant. Has anyone else had issues with Tock? Huge amount of points - I don't know for sure, but would guess CSR would code it correctly.

mia

Well explained in THIS post.

Chase has the same problems.

Diplomatico

Tock is a restaurant just like Expedia is an airline. From the Tock website:

"Tock’s mission is to provide amazing, innovative software to the restaurant and hospitality industries. We’re proud that some of the best chefs, restaurateurs, and industry professionals have chosen to not only work with us to make Tock great, but also invest personally in our efforts."

Not surprising that a charge at Tock doesn't code as a restaurant.

https://www.exploretock.com/join/team

gengar

Note that Tock codes as something like 'Online - Food and Drink' on Chase, and qualifies for 3x.

It'd be interesting to know whether Tock chose that MCC or AMEX assigned it.

In any case, another clear example of how AMEX wants to have it both ways.