Really Does Chairman give free. comp no stringes attached BA executive Club Sillver AND confirmed at RESERVATION, not check in suites and club floor at Ritz carlton.

If you fly oneworld this is lounge access on al members.
Its actually a backdoor way for USA based advantage member to get a Admiral Club membership WITH FREE BOOZE. I wonder if this will be a recurring benefit or a one shot deal that needs to be earned afte first year.
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/ffp/onewo...ritish-airways

In fact if you were creative then you could do 25,000 on this,
20,000 on mERRILL pLUS AND HAVE aa pLATNIUM, ba SIVER AND LOUNGE ACCESS.

THIS TOTAL $45,000 CALANDER YEAR SPEND AND THE MERRILL PLUS IS 50,000 FOR THE ADMIRIAL CLUB MEMBERSHIP ;)


Or stay at RItz Carlton's anyway, this is a great lifestyle card.

What is really really weak is the reward scheme.

1% at Saks is like maybe .6 of one penny per mile spent.

I look foward to higher fee cards with better rewards, but these benefits.

PREMIUM PRICING FOR WHO?? us or the merchants?
 

The World Elite platform will have associated premium pricing expected to be announced the first quarter of 2007.


I read that MIA posted that he thought it meant merchants.
I respect his judgement, but do you think M.C. can intrduce a platform and then after the fact tell merchants a higher fee will apply?


I think that the saks version is "free" because you are giving up so much on the reward program.

For non sak's purchases , you get 1% good only at saks :(

I would not touch a 1%cash rebate card. And as I mentioned this is more like six- tenths of a penny.

I look for a MINIMUM OF two cents value per dollar.

Hence at 25,000 annual spend , it has a hidden annual fee of about $400-.
(can anyone say chairman, amex plat :p

Now if you are a clothes horse dropping 15K plus annually at Saks then this card is a great deal.

This intial card Is obviously designed fro high spending Saks customers.

You can't even apply if you are not an exsisting saks customer.

Future cards WILL carry hefty annual fees.


MIA- Do you still think that New Chairman will be an Amex platfom.

Will it be a $1000 centurion card??

Do other cards offers status on an airline?

I only know of:
1) Saks World Elite Mastercard
2) Spending $1M on a Citi AA card

And maybe this counts:
3) Status match with Merrill card (a little

Thanks.

<<Really Does Chairman give free. comp no stringes attached BA executive Club Sillver>>

No, these are the strings...

1."cardholder must be a SAKSFIRST Diamond member " = $25,000 annual spend at Saks

2. "Purchase and complete a round-trip transatlantic British Airways flight
in FIRST or Club World"

3. "Eligible travel must be completed by December 31, 2006."

4. "If member does not accrue enough Executive Club Tier Points to maintain his/her Silver Tier membership during the twelve-month complimentary Silver Tier period, he/she will be re-classified back to Blue Tier membership...Complimentary Silver Tier membership offer is valid for Executive Club Blue Tier level members only, and is not valid for existing Executive Club Silver Tier members"

<<confirmed at RESERVATION, not check in suites and club floor at Ritz carlton.>>


"Upgrades are based on availability of room type at time of reservation" BUT "Offers are valid for stays February 1 through December 30, 2006"

<< do you think M.C. can intrduce a platform and then after the fact tell merchants a higher fee will apply?>>

Absolutely, although there is litigation pending...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...uits_wrap.html

"...started when he received a notice from MasterCard that his interchange fee for frequent-flyer card usage was going up...."

MIA,

Eveything on ML PlUS says through Dec 30,2006.

It's knid of like the Amex FHR not having a contract with certain hotels for next program year so they can't book you.

I did not notice this verbiage on Saks site with regard to Ritz Carlton.
However, the fact that the Card was even not awailable on Febuary lends credance to the point that this is boilerplate CYA legealese and WILL be available in new program year.

I don't fancy the Ritz myself. So for me its not a great beni.

But a suite confirmed at reservation is a heck of a lot diffrent that "upon availability at check in"

Essential you get a suite for a room. period.

Also it comes with $75 off for no spenders.

In so far as needing to buy a premum cabin tix for the silver, I missed that.
But, I said this was for saks customers. Non saks cutomer can apply for a saks store card. Once they spend $1000 at the store they can upgrade. Not a big deal. and you'd be surprised how many households have a saks card already. I don't.

But if someone uses the Ritz Carlton Benefit Only three times a year AND spends no more than 25,000 on card, than a lot of the poor reward on spending is made up by the Ritz and no annual fee.

<< fact that the Card was even not awailable on Febuary lends credance to the point that this is boilerplate CYA legealese and WILL be available in new program year>>

These benefits were already available as part of SaksFirst, nothing to do with the Mastercard per se. Saks has merely welded the World Elite Mastercard benefits onto their pre-existing SaksFirst program.

<<needing to buy a premum cabin tix for the silver>>

You also must spend $25,000 at Saks to qualify because that is the requirement for SaksFirst Diamond. It also appears that the fasttrack to BA silver is a one time deal, because it does not apply to existing silver members.

dennis

I could be wrong but I think a non saks card holde needs only spend $1000 at Saks now, not $25,000.

Saks Diamond is not required for the BA silver now.

The only requirement is that you are a holder of the new W.E. M.C.

There are two ways to do this:
1-Exsisting Saks Charge acct. holders can convert irrespective of their status or prior spending with Saks.

2- Those without a Saks acct (me!) would have to apply for a department store only card and spend ONE THOUSAND dollars before requestion a free conversion.

Read the Saks BA offer here...

https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/Saks...sh_airways.jsp

"All Tiers" receive the Companion Ticket and $250 discount benefits, same offer available through Chase BA VISA, Diners Club, Carte Blanche and Merrill+

"Diamond Tier" members receive Upgrade to First with purchase of full fare Club and complimentary BA Silver status with purchase of Club.

See also the Terms and Conditions of the BA Silver offer...

https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/Saks...regulation.jsp

"Complimentary one-year Executive Club Silver Tier membership:To be eligible for upgrade, cardholder must be a SAKSFIRST Diamond member"

The SaksFIRST tiers are based on annual spending at Saks and have nothing whatsoever to do with holding or using the Mastercard except that they waive the $1000 annual spend requirement to enroll in the base level of SaksFirst if you apply for the Mastercard. "Those without a Saks World Elite Mastercard must spend $1000 in a calendar year on your Saks card to qualify for SaksFirst."

and a current saksfirst member / cardholder CONFIRMED in the original thread that it was $25K AT saks.

But now, you can make "diamond" with $25,000 total spend not just at Saks?
 

I could be wrong but I think a non saks card holder needs only spend the 25,000 a year ON tHE CARD, not exclusively at Saks
The only requirement is that you are a holder of the new W.E. M.C. and be diamond level ($25,000 annual spend??)

There are two ways to do this:
1-Exsisting Saks Charge acct. holders can convert irrespective of their status or prior spending with Saks.

2- Those without a Saks acct (me!) would have to apply for a department store only card and spend ONE THOUSAND dollars before requestion a free conversion.

<<But now, you can make "diamond" with $25,000 total spend not just at Saks?>>

No, SaksFirst tier status is based only on purchases from Saks. The requirement is to spend $25,000 in calendar year at Saks, not merely to earn 25,000 SaksFirst points from any source.

See parallel discussion here...

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611933

...look in particular at most recent half dozen messages.

Well MIA , I went to your link.

I read it V-e-r-y- c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y.

It turn out I was right.

About being wrong that is ;)

I stand corrected :)

I 'm SURE it won't be the last time :D