Oct 4, 2018, 1:05 pm
Last edit by: roberto99
Faq amex: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/campaigns/gold-card/gold-update-faqs.html
For existing and new cardholders
For new cardholders (Oct 4 2018 and after)
For existing cardholders (Oct 3 2018 or before)
For existing and new cardholders
- Changes below are effective immediately
- 4x US grocery (25k/calendar year), 4x US dining* (*pervasive reports that many dining transactions are not coding as 4x, including but not limited to those from Square or Toast-based POS systems. Scroll down in thread for more reports and information.)
- $120 dining credit ($10 monthly in certain restaurants)
- No change
- $100 calendar year airline reimbursement
- Other
- $250 AF (see below for existing cardholders)
- No 2x gas (removed, see below for existing cardholders who have it till Oct 2019)
- Metal card (contactless)
- Rose gold card - limited edition until Jan 9 2019
- Regular gold card
For new cardholders (Oct 4 2018 and after)
- You may be able to find targeted/referal 50k/$2k, but first AF is not waived
- Signup bonus: You get 20% off restaurant up to $500 restaurant spend (3 month)
- You do not get 2x gas (only for existing cardholders, see below)
For existing cardholders (Oct 3 2018 or before)
- AF will change to $250 for anniversary dates after April 1 2019
- 2x gas will be removed after Oct 2019
- You can chat/call for the gold/rosegold metal card. AU card will get whatever primary cardholder is getting, cannot be different
Premier Rewards Gold refresh: 4x USA dining, groceries, $10/mon dining credit. $250.
Jan 23, 2019, 7:46 am
#1171
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
If the transaction is scheduled to earn bonus points an icon will appear next to it shortly after it posts to your account (not while still Pending). These icons are not completely reliable. Once the statement is generated the icons vanish. A month later, after the points post from pending, you will be able to find a definitive list of transactions that earned a bonus on membershiprewards.com > Points Summary > Activity Detail > Click [+] > See Card Bonus Detail.
Jan 23, 2019, 8:09 am
#1172
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
The phrase that you bolded from my post does not refer to the icons that may appear in the Statements & Activity area. I am referring to the Card Bonus Detail list that is not visible until a month after the statement is generated.
American Express seems to be working to make the Statements & Activity icons more reliable, but the lists that are here are the final word on what you really received:
membershiprewards.com > Points Summary > Activity Detail > Click [+] > See Card Bonus Detail.
American Express seems to be working to make the Statements & Activity icons more reliable, but the lists that are here are the final word on what you really received:
membershiprewards.com > Points Summary > Activity Detail > Click [+] > See Card Bonus Detail.
Jan 23, 2019, 8:51 am
#1173
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 83
Has anyone had any follow up from Amex regarding 4x points for restaurant bookings through Tock? I was told that a rep was opening a case and that they would call me, but it's been over a week and I haven't heard anything.
Jan 23, 2019, 9:53 am
#1174
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,224
I'm supposed to hear back from AMEX regarding my investigation into a bunch of TOAST charges that didn't post today...will provide an update once I hear from them
Jan 23, 2019, 10:06 am
#1175
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,880
Jan 23, 2019, 11:33 am
#1176
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 600
I know you are asking for a DP for the revamped Amex Gold, but I had a brain fart recently and purchased a fare on Expedia for Hong Kong airlines with my Platinum and I still ended up getting 5x MR points.
Jan 23, 2019, 11:46 am
#1177
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,894
I know the Platinum cards are the best to book directly with airlines due to the 5x accelerators, but I'm just wondering how many people are actually getting and keeping the Platinum just for that? I think the Gold is the better overall card as I do shopping at grocery stores and dining. Booking directly with airlines get me only 3x, but am I really losing much if I spend $2-$3k in airfare per year?
Also, just want to confirm that when AMEX meant booking directly with airlines, it means with any airlines in the world through their websites? What about using Expedia or Orbitz?
Thanks!
Also, just want to confirm that when AMEX meant booking directly with airlines, it means with any airlines in the world through their websites? What about using Expedia or Orbitz?
Thanks!
Jan 23, 2019, 2:49 pm
#1178
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,900
Jan 24, 2019, 1:54 pm
#1179
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 83
So I just got off the phone with a rep from membership rewards. He made a one-time exception and awarded the 4x points for my recent booking through Tock, and suggested that in the future I should pay at the restaurant instead. I tried to explain how that's not possible, as only way to pay for a meal at these restaurants is by booking a pre-paid reservation through the Tock service. I'm still not sure he understood that point, but he did say that he was aware of others that had made the same inquiry and it sounded as though they may be open to changing this policy. For now it's frustrating that you can't use one of the main benefits of a card marketed specifically as having "foodie rewards" at many of the top restaurants across the country.
Jan 24, 2019, 2:13 pm
#1180
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,880
So I just got off the phone with a rep from membership rewards. He made a one-time exception and awarded the 4x points for my recent booking through Tock, and suggested that in the future I should pay at the restaurant instead. I tried to explain how that's not possible, as only way to pay for a meal at these restaurants is by booking a pre-paid reservation through the Tock service. I'm still not sure he understood that point, but he did say that he was aware of others that had made the same inquiry and it sounded as though they may be open to changing this policy. For now it's frustrating that you can't use one of the main benefits of a card marketed specifically as having "foodie rewards" at many of the top restaurants across the country.
Jan 24, 2019, 3:19 pm
#1181
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Baltimore/Washington, USA
Programs: AA LT Platinum, Hilton LT Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 3,076
I called American Express to follow up on the 50,000 MR bonus points as I fulfilled the spend requirement.
The agent said my card was coded for the bonus, but the reason it was not credited was due to receiving a Welcome Bonus last year on the SPG Luxury card.
Apparently, they deny the bonus to some members even after sign up for reasons such as this.
I asked the agent why I was not informed upon enrollment and why I was not informed about the denial. She did not know why and opened up a case to investigate.
This is absolute BS. I would not have opened the account and paid the $250 AF if I knew this in advance.
Last edited by chix; Jan 24, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Jan 24, 2019, 3:45 pm
#1182
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: LAS ORD
Programs: AA Pro (mostly B6) OZ♦ (flying BR/UA), BA Silver Hyatt LT, Wynn Black, Cosmo Plat, Mlife Noir
Posts: 5,992
The rep said she'll submit a request and she'll still give me the 4x points if the request didn't get approved. However she said it's just a one time courtesy. I won't be compensated the 4x at those locations again if I use my card there and only earn 1x. At that moment I decided to go back to by BofA premium card for restaurants until Amex gets their stuff fixed. I don't have the time to keep calling over points.
So I just got off the phone with a rep from membership rewards. He made a one-time exception and awarded the 4x points for my recent booking through Tock, and suggested that in the future I should pay at the restaurant instead. I tried to explain how that's not possible, as only way to pay for a meal at these restaurants is by booking a pre-paid reservation through the Tock service. I'm still not sure he understood that point, but he did say that he was aware of others that had made the same inquiry and it sounded as though they may be open to changing this policy. For now it's frustrating that you can't use one of the main benefits of a card marketed specifically as having "foodie rewards" at many of the top restaurants across the country.
In my case, they refused to issue even a courtesy or one-time exception for any of the purchases in question, so I've been wondering if there is some threshold where the front-line phone agents are allowed to make manual adjustments.
Jan 24, 2019, 4:29 pm
#1183
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Jan 25, 2019, 1:51 pm
#1184
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, SPG Gold
Posts: 120
Just wanted to add on the overall frustration with 4x points at US Restaurants not posting correctly. I had three fairly large charges in a billing cycle at merchants that show up as "Category: Restaurant - Restaurant" in the Amex system. After 4 rounds of phone tag with Amex, they gave me points on two of the three, saying that the 3rd was a bar (they serve food and code as a restaurant in Amex IT, so what gives?). The phone rep gave me a vague definition of what would code as a restaurant.
This seems like a tremendous failure by Amex management to understand the target market for the card. Coming in with 4x points was a clear shot at customers who use the Chase Sapphire Reserve heavily. But Chase never has any such issues of merchants not coding correctly for bonus categories. Very disappointing on the part of Amex. This along with the value destruction on business platinum (wework, seriously??) has me moving the bulk of my spend away from Amex for the foreseeable future.
This seems like a tremendous failure by Amex management to understand the target market for the card. Coming in with 4x points was a clear shot at customers who use the Chase Sapphire Reserve heavily. But Chase never has any such issues of merchants not coding correctly for bonus categories. Very disappointing on the part of Amex. This along with the value destruction on business platinum (wework, seriously??) has me moving the bulk of my spend away from Amex for the foreseeable future.