Chris2013

It's too piecemeal and too much of a hassle to use especially since I never use any Grubhub, Uber eats, etc. Once you get to a trivial amount of money like $10 or so, it simply isn't worth keeping track of credits. I think everyone has a dollar figure that does/doesn't make sense for them to try to eek out every cent of value from their cards. Mine is $10 and below where I feel it's more of a nuisance than a benefit.

MaxVO

That's a presidential-grade slogan that they couldn't translate into anything actionable
Thus for now the masses would have to be occupied by tracking $5 and $10 freebies.

Chris2013

I guess more specifically...investing in new Centurion lounges as well as expanding current ones. Or perhaps looking into getting rid of that $200 airline fee credit and making it more usable like the CSR's travel credit. Or even perhaps adding CLEAR as a benefit?

I would think now would be the time for Amex to negotiate with other companies on adding their products/services as many travel-related companies are in need of a cash infusion.

TravelingZoomer

I suppose, I appreciate the arbitrage and this viewpoint subsidizing the rest of us though (not trying to be snarky but like actually thanks). Literally using one card instead of the other when I'm ordering a pizza seems like a low bar but not everyone agrees.

Chris2013

I guess the whole reason I got into the points/miles game was to help subsidize and enhance my traveling experience. I pay a high AF because the perks as beneficial to me but all these menial credits just seem to detract a bit from the main purpose of these cards. I mean COVID completely turned the world on its' head and I understand having to do SOMETHING to give those frequent travelers some type of enhancement to keep their card vs cancelling it. However I feel now is the time to do away with these credits and start preparing for the future when travel resumes.

If it were a broad credit say "Spend $20 on restaurants" and anything counted...I'd be all for it! But I just don't care for how narrowly tailored it is, that's all. YMMV.

mattp1987

The way I’m reading the terms, any $20 (or whatever dollar amount you got) spend at restaurants should count as long as it codes as restaurant. The terms mention restaurants in hotels and casinos being excluded, but I assume that’s because the may show up as the larger establishment.

Or did I misread your post and you were using the restaurant credit as an example of how the airline credit would ideally work? If that’s the case then I complete agree.

notquiteaff

aren’t they doing that as well?

see for example https://thepointsguy.com/news/new-am...urion-lounges/

Seems like they walk and chew gum

I think that is really only an option at the end of they year to give people advance notice. See Gold card.

In the meantime it is nice to see some $$ credits to compensate for my inability to use the travel benefits that were the reason to get the card. I won’t go overboard with trying to squeeze every single dollar out of those credits, but a lot of these will credit “naturally” for me if I just switch my dining spend from my CSR to my Delta Plat or Aspire a few times a month.

zakami

What are some options to add money to wallets (Starbucks, Dunkin, etc) to use up these small amounts of dining credit? I prefer not to carry some of these cards in my wallet.

Chris2013

Oh I agree they are working on new lounges...I think that's one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) draw of the Platinum card is the Centurion lounge access. Now if they would just open one at ORD I'd be ecstatic...

TravelingZoomer

Nearly every fast food shop has an option to pay through an app. Domino’s, McD, Chipotle, etc.

All delivery good services code as restaurants in my experience. I haven’t tried grocery delivery through these apps.

Global Adventurer

I think for me the only one that will work is the starbucks app down here in mexico so that's why I reloaded it with the amex offer. Mostly all other fast food places here are on a different app system, like burger king, 7 Eleven, McDonalds. Can't use the US apps down here. But, Starbucks still work and there's one right up the street, 5 minute walk with outdoor dining. That will work for me.

TravelingZoomer

Didn’t realize you were abroad. When I lived in Taiwan, Ubereats was on the same app and coded as restaurant spend

Global Adventurer

I use UberEats down here too, but it wouldn't be worth using my hilton card on that for only $5.00 off. I rather get some good value out of it like starbucks. I use my Amex Plat card for ubereats here because I can still get the free delivery on every order, still not a lot, but I rather get $5.00 off starbucks and get a free coffee and a free grill cheese sandwich. But, so far Uber/UberEats and Starbucks is the only app I found to work down here. But, I can't take advantage of my free AmexPlatinum Uber monthly credit down here, it just doesn't work, and the app even states I'm out of the region.

cfischer

yeah, right ... I don't need a spreadsheet for that. My complaint is that all Amex can apparently think about is a dining credit. Would be great if they could get a little bit more creative and offer different or multiple options across their card products ... they must know some of us have 'several' of their cards

notquiteaff

Shrug. It”s $35 bucks a month for me across two cards, plus the previous $15 Uber credit (which doesn’t require use of the Plat card). I don’t really have a problem using those credits even during COVID days. No creativity needed. If you have the Plat, the PayPal credit let’s you get creative. And there are the BestBuy and Home Depot credits, too. And HomeChef. And hundreds of “Sync” offers from other places that I have never heard of.