SirWilliam

I called DC today to cancel my card as my membership fee is going to be posted in October. I did not end up canceling when I found out that BMO is going to be taking over the customer service part of DC in September. According to the rep this transition has been postponed twice now.

Are the any US DC card holders that have more information on this possible change? It would be great to have a new website and some proper rewards again. Maybe they will even start accepting applications.

mia

Club Rewards remains very competitive, what would you expect to change?

SirWilliam

You can get a similar rewards program from a card with no annual fee. Yes there is primary rental car coverage but that benefit is not worth $100 a year to me.

mia

I am not aware of any card that can earn miles ($1 = 1 mile) in 16 airline program, plus a half-dozen hotel programs, with no annual fee (except when there is a fee waiver for the first year).

Beckles

Which card has a similar awards program with no annual fee?

SirWilliam

I thought Chase Sapphire gave you 1 point per $1 worth $.01 useable on any airline. I guess I could have that wrong.

I know sometimes DC would do a 50% bonus for British Airways but it seems like AMEX has that offer more often these days.

mia

Many free cards earn $0.01 in cash or scrip, but an airline mile is worth about $0.0225 to me.

If you Search this Forum on the keyword: bonus you will see that there have been offers for AA, BA and DL in the past year:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...anada-usa.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...-2-2011-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...er-2010-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...1-15-11-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...er-2010-a.html

SirWilliam

I guess I just need to keep up with the program. I do get 2% cash back on all purchases though through my Schwab/FIA card with no annual fee.

sdsearch

Are you happy enough with coach seats no matter where you're going?

If so, then 2% cash back may work best for you.

Those people who value miles much more than 2% cash back tend to be those redeem for business class (or even first class) overseas travel. To match the earning power of Diners Club when used for those kinds of seats, you'd have to have a 5% or even 10% cash back card, which doesn't exist.

Also, on keeping up with the program: If you try to "cancel" the right way at the right time, you may get a bonus of 10k DC points every year. (No such perk at Amex that I'm aware of.) Here's the thread on that:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diner...ion-bonus.html

IMHO, the 10k bonus, if you can get it, much more than pays for the annual fee all in itself. (At least, if you use your DC points for high-value redemptions.)

And IMHO you should only worry about "net" annual fees (annual fees not offset by annual bonuses), not "raw" annual fees.

SirWilliam

I fly business class when my company or my father pays for the ticket which is about 90% of the time I fly. I have about 500k miles total between British Airways, American Airlines, Cathy Pacific and Alaska Airlines. I never use my miles so I did not realize I should expect 5% to 10% return if I were to fly business...though I probably wouldn't if the flight was coming out of my pocket.

I usually get a retention bonus but I never use the card and last year I ended up paying $19 for the annual fee but I may have had other points accumulated at that time.

sdsearch

Are you sure your Cathay Pacific miles aren't going to expire? I thought they had a "hard" expiration, but I'm not 100% sure.

Why do you have your miles spread across so many different OneWorld programs (BA, AA, CX)? You could put all your flights on the four airlines you just mentioned all into one program (if you chose an airline that partners with AA, which is at least two of those). Then it'd be a lot easier to not worry about expiration.

Anyhow, I don't know what to tell you, the only two high-value redemptions out of any flexible-points program (such as Diners Club Club Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards) are airline miles used for business/first-class airline rewards (or for domestic awards to low-competition places sometimes, like when I once got Los Angeles to Jackson Hole WY on 25k UA miles roundtrip even though cash cost was $500++), and hotel points used in situations where the point cost for the stay is low but the cash cost for the stay would be high. That's because airline miles and hotel points are not "fixed value" currencies.

Alll redemptions for pretty much everything else are done as cash conversion (ie, the credit card pays real money to buy the gift card or gift certificate), and the gift card or gift certificate has a fixed value), so there's no way to get more than about 1% cash back equivalent using those other redemptions (out of DC CR or Amex MR).

SirWilliam

I am not sure how to combine them? AMEX travel does all of my business bookings and the reminder of flights are done through a travel agent. Can I use my BA Executive Club # to book Cathy Pacific and American flights?

I believe Cathy Pacific's miles last for three years. The 500k mile number is what I currently have. I probably have forfeited some CP miles.

mia

AA, BA and CX are all OneWorld members. AS is not a OneWorld member, but happens to have partnerships with all three of those airlines. This means that all flights on these four airlines could be credited to one program, but you need to chose in advance, you cannot transfer miles from one program to another after the fact. To choose which program to use you would need to compare the earning, redemption and elite status details of all four programs.

This topic is better discussed in the OneWorld section of Flyertalk, please mention if you would like me to move a portion of this thread.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld-411/

MoJ0

BMO owns Harris Bank... they just bought M&I Bank in Milwaukee and they are combining into BMO Harris.

Harris sold off their credit card operations years ago... first to a joint venture with BankBoston, then that sold to Wachovia (now Wells Fargo). M&I had (has) a captive consumer & business credit card operation, so now the combined bank will have a platform to migrate the Diners cards to.

It can't get worse than it is today!

toomanybooks

Harris is my local bank, where we have a HELOC and all our accounts. Would love to get some extra benefit out of that relationship.