Merrill+ benifit
 

American Airlines
Benefits:

MERRILL+ 2
AAdvantage® Status Match - American Airlines will provide MERRILL +2 and +3 cardholders with status matches to AAdvantage Gold® and AAdvantage Platinum®, excluding AAdvantage Executive Platinum®.

MERRILL+ 3
Complimentary Earned Tickets - MERRILL+3 cardholders will have the opportunity to earn complimentary tickets for travel on American Airlines as defined below.


Terms:

AAdvantage® Status Match
American Airlines will provide MERRILL +2 and +3 cardholders with status matches to AAdvantage Gold® and AAdvantage Platinum®, excluding AAdvantage Executive Platinum®. Status matches in American Airlines AAdvantage® program are valid for one year from the date of issue. Copy of the cardholder's current statement reflecting such status on another airline must be submitted to Merrill Lynch in order to qualify. To take advantage of this offer, cardholder must mail a letter stating the following information: First Name, Last Name, Complete Address, Phone Number, Last four digits of MERRILL+ card & AAdvantage Frequent Flier Number, along with a copy of cardholder frequent flyer membership status on another airline, to:

Merrill Lynch
MERRILL+ AAdvantage Status Match Offer
PO Box 2000
Pennington, NJ 08534-9888

Merrill Lynch will not be held responsible for incorrect or missing information.

Complimentary Earned Tickets
MERRILL+3 cardholders will have the opportunity to earn complimentary tickets for travel on American Airlines as defined below. Complimentary tickets must be earned by meeting flight requirements flown by the same traveler. Flight award tickets are subject to approval and will be awarded following completed flights. For each cardholder redemption of two (2) Business Class round trip tickets from any American Airlines, U.S. gateway to London, the traveler will earn one (1) complimentary Business Class ticket valid for international travel. For each cardholder redemption of three (3) Domestic U.S. 48 States and/or Canada First Class round trip tickets, the traveler will earn one (1) complimentary First Class ticket valid for travel within the U.S. 48 States and/or Canada. For each cardholder redemption of three (3) Domestic U.S. 48 States and/or Canada Coach Class round trip tickets, with a minimum fare of $450 (or more) round trip, the traveler will earn one (1) complimentary Coach Class ticket valid for travel within the U.S. 48 States and/or Canada. For each cardholder redemption of five (5) Domestic U.S. 48 States and/or Canada Coach Class round trip tickets, purchased at any published fare, the traveler will earn one (1) complimentary Coach Class ticket valid for travel within the U.S. 48 States and/or Canada. All tickets must be flown and verified. Complimentary tickets will be provided to the traveler upon verification of proof of purchase, i.e. boarding pass, copy of ticket, electronic or paper, detailing class of service and fare purchased. Passenger must be a member of the American AAdvantage® program in order to be eligible for this offer. Earned tickets will be valid for travel twelve (12) months from the date of issue. It may take up to six months to receive your complimentary earned ticket. Ticket redemption must be completed one-year from the last qualifying ticket purchase. Complimentary tickets may be redeemed for travel by the purchaser or for a traveler of their choice. The name of the traveler must be provided at the time of redemption. Award letters/tickets are non-transferable once issued. As a MERRILL+3 cardholder, there is no limit to the number of times cardholder may obtain this benefit. For purposes of this section, cardholder redemption occurs when: (1) the cardholder redeems +Points in exchange for travel with American; or (2) the cardholder purchases travel with American through the Merrill Travel Advisor and receives Rewards credit. Award letters are not replaceable if lost or stolen and cannot be extended or renewed. Travel must be via the most direct American Airlines/American Eagle routing. Unnecessary and circuitous routings, connecting points, and/or segments are prohibited. Stopovers are not allowed, except for connecting purposes. Passengers are not eligible for American AAdvantage® mileage credit or any other promotional benefit that American might offer. Fees, taxes, surcharges, and/or service charges are the responsibility of the traveler. American Airlines reserves the right to embargo award travel and change policies without advance notice. Once ticketed, changes are permitted as follows: (1) Simple date/time change (routing remains exactly the same): No fee (2) Routing change: $100 USD Administrative fee per person, payable via MERRILL+ card. Offer valid thru 12/31/05. To take advantage of this offer, cardholder must mail a letter stating the following information: First Name, Last Name, Complete Address, Phone Number, Last four digits of MERRILL+ card & AAdvantage Frequent Flier Number, along with qualifying boarding passes to:

Merrill Lynch
MERRILL+ Complimentary Earned Ticket Offer
PO Box 2000
Pennington, NJ 08534-9888


Delta Air Lines
Benefits:

MERRILL+ 2
Transatlantic Companion Ticket offer - purchase a qualifying round-trip full-fare Business Class transatlantic Delta Airlines ticket and bring a companion along for free.
Frequent Flyer Status Acceleration Offer - this benefit awards Silver Medallion Status to cardholders that fly 6,000 miles or Gold Medallion Status to cardholders that fly 12,000 miles during the period from April 1, 2005 through June 30, 2005.

Terms:
Transatlantic Companion Ticket offer
Tickets can only be booked and ticketed by calling the MERRILL+ Benefits Center at 800-782-8388 (option 2).
Available to MERRILL +2 and +3 cardholders, Delta's 2 for 1 ticket applies to business class "JR" fare tickets, with travel originating in the continental U.S. only.
Qualifying cities include: BOS-Boston, CHI-Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, DTT-Detroit, LAX-Los Angeles, JFK-New York John F. Kennedy, PHL-Philadelphia, SFO-San Francisco, WAS-Baltimore, Washington Dulles, Washington National
Customer is responsible for all Taxes, Segment Fees, Passenger Facility Charge or Security fees.
Applicable to only DL online and DL operated destinations, flight numbers 001- 54 (International sectors) with the exception of LGW-London Gatwick; BOS- Boston, NYC-JFK, EWR to LGW-London Gatwick, MAN- Manchester, SNN-Shannon, DUB-Dublin, MUC-Munich, STR- Stuttgart and ZRH-Zurich. Any tickets that originate in all US cities with destination to London are also excluded from this offer.
No DL code share flights will be allowed on the transatlantic or within Europe sectors.
Program not combinable with any other program, offers, promotions, or fares.
The Primary and Companion travelers must accompany each other on the same flights, dates, and itinerary
Companion ticket it subject to availability of applicable inventory.
Offer valid thru 12/31/06.

Frequent Flyer Status Acceleration Offer
Cardholders must call (800) 782-8388 by 3/15/05 to enroll in this benefit
Qualifying Fares are all fares excluding those with a fare basis beginning with L, U, and/or T in any segment within an itinerary.
Qualifying flights must be flights booked as a result of +Point redemptions made through Merrill Travel Services
Upgraded status will be valid thru February 28, 2006.
Cardholder must be a member of the Delta SkyMiles program in order to qualify for offer.

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Sounded like they will match your status. Or am I reading it wrong ?

Why aren't more people drooling all over this card?

Forget about status matches for a moment: I'm seeing 1 to 3 free nights at Ritz-Carlton on top of the standard home-grown-points travel rewards. And I see a ton of other goodies that might or might not have value depending on my specific needs - but appear to be given to me for free nonetheless.

I currently run a ton of volume through SPG Amex. I don't run much volume through any MC/Visa, because everybody takes Amex these days. I enjoy my Starpoints and how easy it is to use them for free hotel stays. I think of Starpoints as being worth about 3 cents apiece. This card clearly yields only about 1.5 cents per dollar in up-front rewards, but the question is: how much are the auxiliary goodies worth?

Is it worth moving $20k/yr. over to this card to hit the +2 level? Or is it worth moving $50k over there? My opportunity cost is Starpoints...

The FT consensus is that SPG Amex is the mother of all rewards cards. Is this card a viable rival, or do all of those goodies have so many strings attached that they really aren't what they appear?

On the surface, their basic air-travel reward system seems more flexible than others. One of my litmus tests: long weekend in London (from MCI), $400 R/T airfare, leaving tomorrow, is allowable with this card for 30,000 points. (They have a preferred carrier system, but AA is the preferred carrier and the one that always offers the cheap weekends in London from KC, so it's a good fit for me.)

YOu are right, they match the status. I am more interested in the free earned ticket, only lose 1k online booking bonus each tickt but earn additional ticket every 2/3/5 flights without fare restriction

FWIW, status matching is a reasonably common thing done by most airlines. It is a benefit here in that it's written and defined - you don't have to call and grovel for it - but I probably wouldn't use it as a prime motivator for getting the card.

I'm like you: I'd want to know more about the strings attached to those "free" and "companion" tickets.

I purchase two tickets to HNL worth $550 each, so it's 30k points each ticket, totaly 60k points, I got 4 nights ritz-carlton for free when reach +3 status, so when spending 60k/year, I got $1100 worth of tickets+ 4 nights ritz-carlton (usually I only pay hotel thorugh PL with maxium $150/night, so I value it $600), that's toltal of $1700 for 60k points. additionally, I got $175 gift cards from sports express for free as merrill+3 member, so I deliver my luggage to ritz roundtrip, save me much hassle. I fly from PHL to RDU often, which fare is only $80, 5 roundtrips get me additional one free domestic ticket is not bad, I will buy all my tickets from merrill card.

At the 50k spending level, Merrill beats SPG Amex, $1000 worth airfare + 4 nights ritz( I value it $600, but someone may value it $1400 as value SPG) + $175 sports express gift card + 20k aa mile(1.5 cents each, 300) = $2875($1875 is my personal opnion), that's 5.75 or 3.75 cents/point

For SPG, 70k points give u 5 nights level 4 + 50k miles, i would value 5 nights level4 = 4 nights ritz, so question is that does the 30k miles worth $1000 airfare + 20k SPG points + $175 gift card, if you prefer the 30k miles, choose spg, otherwise Merrill card is better at 50k spending level.

air ticket is pretty straight, u get the cheapest fare on airline website, call merrill card, tell them the fare code if they give u a higher quote. I did this with several tickets without any problem. for the ritz, the only catch is book as early as possible, no blackout but standard room only wich runs out quickly in hot place like hawaii, this is what I was told by ritz-carlton central reservation.

And...you earn AAdvantage miles on those HNL trips. :)

Let's say I just did $30k and took a $550 flight somewhere. $550 flight + $150 hotel + $75 golf club shipping (which I would use). $775 in value, plus the miles earned on the flight.

In other words, used correctly, this card is a viable complement to the SPG Amex even at the +2 level. It's in that 3-cent ballpark, which is amazing for a no-fee MC. Which is why I ask why more FT'ers aren't wiping the drool off of their keyboards as they apply for this thing.

I keep wanting to think there's gotta be some obvious catch that I'm not seeing.

The status match isn't worth anything.

The free ticket thing sounds like it might be really worth something. At first I thought it was only good when you redeemed points for a free ticket. But it looks like you can earn free tickets when you buy tickets through them. That's a pretty good deal.

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The importance of status match is in the eye of the beholder. But in my experience, American NEVER matched status. The most they would do is give you a challenge - three months to accrue a specified number of miles (from flying only) to get either Gold or Platinum. So to me, this is a big change.

AMEX Centurion gives you Gold Elite status with Continental, Delta and US Air. Who knows where USAir will be in 6 months. I too have switched much of my spending to the Merrill+ card until I hit the $50k level. These posts make it even more exciting. Thanks.

AA did match status for some people in the past - but more recently has implemented a strict no match policy. This status offer is very valuable in my opinion.



I wish I could get this card but fear I will be declined. My aunt who has better credit than me and a 15K limit on another MBNA MC was declined her application.

I'm a +3 member and am mostly satisfied with the card. Redeeming points is quite easy as they just purchase a ticket for you...and I earn miles on that ticket:) Three members of our family have the card so we have earned a total of 12 Ritz Carlton free hotel nights. Unfortunately they seem to be fairly restrictive as far as availibilty goes. Have tried to book hotels in Cancun, Maui, Barcelona, Laguna Nigel, Dubai and New Orleans and never were their hotels available. Getting the free hotel stays was one of the main reasons I use this card and now it seems to be less attractive. I'm going to investigate the new AA offer before I start using my SW Amex more often.

How far out did you try to book them? I was able to book the Maui Ritz for 7 days by calling them 9 months in advance.

Another little know benefit by having the card is that you can upgrade to a suite for $10/day.

"sbc94523 Another little know benefit by having the card is that you can upgrade to a suite for $10/day. "


Hmm. True, but you need to book this through them, right? So price will probably be inflated?

Thanks for the heads up on the Ritz availability issue... Got on the ball and just booked 3 free nights at the SF Ritz in July 2005. I can't believe parking is $50 per night there! Now to figure out where to spend my other two free nights before the year-end (for some reason, Merrill sent me 4 Certificates when I hit +3 Status).... any suggestions?

Availability issues and flights offered
 

I've had this card for a while now. I thought it was going to be awesome, but availability for the Ritz has been a problem and the flights are on their preferred carriers. Meaning of preferred is usually the lowest price in the market. So if you want to go nonstop instead of connecting which is usually cheaper, you have to use an additional 5,000 miles. Thus, it costs 25,000 to 30,000 for a free ticket rather than 20,000 (once a year) or 25,000. So I've switched away from this as a primary card to SPG Amex.

np

Are there any specifics on the rules/restrictions of the Ritz certs? Or do you just call them and they say "no", a la those commercials? :eek:

In general, my wife and I avoid traveling to cities when there is peak hotel demand unless we are specifically attending the event that is causing all of the demand. We like visiting popular destinations at off-peak times - mainly to avoid the tourist throngs, but also because it's easier to get travel awards if we want 'em. So if using these free Ritz-nights is simply on-par (in terms of difficulty) with redeeming Marriott points for the same room, I'd probably be OK with it.

The terms say that you cnan only use one free night at a time. Is this not enforced?

I think...errr...I hope that verbiage means that you are allowed to use multiple certificates in sequence. e.g., 3 certs, 1 room for 3 successive nights at 1 Ritz on the same reservation number.

Question about the calendar
 

Do your $20k/$50k counters reset on the calendar year, or on the anniversary date of card activation? If I were to apply for the card now, would I have one year to hit the level, or really about ten months?

Do the Ritz certs have an expiration date on them? (Sounds like they do.) If so, is it a set number of months from the date they were issued, or is it always a fixed date? e.g., I earn one in 2005, it expires Dec 31, 2006 no matter when I earned it. Are the certificates transferrable? Not that I'd hawk them on eBay, but could I donate them to charity if I so chose?

The Ritz Certs can be used for consecutive nights or broken up. Each Cert is good for one night and can be used however you like whether consecutively or at different hotels. For the next question that I am sure you guys are wondering and I'll get straight to the point: you can't sell it on eBay because it requires you to use your Merrill Visa at check-in to be held for deposit/incidentals. Also the Certs have a big "Merrill+" written on it. Beside the fact that it states the certs are void if sold, I guess it would work for another person with a Merrill+ Visa, but that cuts down significantly on the qualified bidders which would reduce your auction price.

To answer the question about point accumulation, the points are based on a CALENDAR year and resets on January 1. So basically if you signed up for the card now, you would have until 12/31/2005 to have your points count towards +2 or +3 status.

The Certs earned last calendar year are good until 12/31/2005. I'm pretty sure the Certs earned during 2005 will be good until 12/31/2006... can't confirm this since I haven't earned 20k points yet in 2005, but very close to it.

When I looked into this, a standard room Las Vegas Ritz was going for $189/night (suite $349) from website. I then call the 800 number and was offered a suite for $199 using the ML card.

I actually think the status match has a lot of value. Typically when an airline status matches its a one time deal. If, and its a big if, I can status match my NWA Plat to AA every year with the Merrill+ card, I find it to be a huge benefit. I always wanted to check out the CX lounge in HKG!

I too am +3 and am a little frustrated with the Ritz certs. I had a trip to London all planned out and low and behold Ritz London is not participating. Milan? No dice. Half Moon Bay for a weekend getaway? No.

Oh well. Still a great free CC though.

Wow thanks. I have fond feelings for this card anyway, its my first ever cc :) Hoping I'll have a chance to make +3 soon.

This card is free and has so many benefits, like the 1m travel insurance. :>

Is there a published, well-defined list of the hotels that are participating? Major pet peeve of mine: when hotel chains allow certain properties to opt out of various programs such as this. But...if the list is known up front, I guess it's a lesser peeve.

Mistake.

The list of participating hotels is printed on the back of the certificate. It isn't a bad list and does include some top properties such as Maui and several in Asia. European participation seems to be sparse. I feel somewhat misled by Merrill's claim on their website:

"Available at all participating Ritz-Carlton Hotels worldwide, with the exception of The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago, IL."

I don't know why they explicitly say they exclude Chicago but not list any other properties.

Participating Ritz Carlton list
 

I hope that it is not too much to ask a friendly holder of the Ritz certificate to post the list of participating hotels or scan it ... from the web, it sounds like only the Chicago property has opted out. Thanks!

Ritz suite upgrade is now nearly useless
 

The $10 suite upgrade is replaced by a vague upgrade process. I called to evalute the new upgrade process, the price is close to what Ritz would charge for a suite. You still save some money, but not $10 more than the standard room anymore. Looks like that there is some revamp of benefits this year. Be aware.

Dang. Now I understand why FT'ers aren't drooling over this card. It's just like every other half-baked home-grown points card on the market: full of vaguely-described benefits, exclusions, restrictions, overnight changes, poor processes, poor definitions, and deteriorating value to the end user over time.

I'm disappointed: I was starting to think this card might be different, because Merrill seems like a cut above the usual suspects that market these cards. But the underlying parties are MBNA and Carlson-Wagonlit. Guess I should've noticed that from the beginning.

Looks like I'll stay with SPG Amex. At least that card is no bull: every month, I earn a couple of free hotel-nights with very few strings attached. The idea of the Ritz sounds tempting, but I'm really dying for a fancy hotel, Starwood has 'em available with very straightforward terms and conditions.

Rats :(

Park somewhere else. ;)

[QUOTE=pinniped]Dang. Now I understand why FT'ers aren't drooling over this card. It's just like every other half-baked home-grown points card on the market: full of vaguely-described benefits, exclusions, restrictions, overnight changes, poor processes, poor definitions, and deteriorating value to the end user over time.QUOTE]

Yep.

Not only is the Starwood card a great value numbers-wise, but unlike the Merrill card's obstacle course of restrictions, Starwood essentially has none. In fact, you could argue that Starwood is undervalued when just comparing the numbers, because of the substantial intangible value that comes from the program's extreme flexibility (i.e., the ability to xfer to other programs at a competitive rate.

[QUOTE=Bidkat]Starwood does have restrictions, as the ritz-certificate: standard room only. Last Oct. I tried to redeem rooms at both ritz and spg maui, ritz have availability till Dec23, spg is a little better, gave me avaiability till Dec24, both are not avaiable after Dec24. SPG is more flexible than ritz because it has more hotels and points can be transfered to airlines. No doubt SPG has the best affinity card program of all hotel chains except the dread Amex financial review, I got hit last year and I decided to close all my amex cards and never use them again.

I made 3 reservations at ritz, that's what I got based on my experience and chat with ritz-reservation: before you make reservation, check rate at ritz website, for the ritz-maui, , if it's $25X/night, then u can use your merrill+ certificate; for the ritz-VI, if rate is $35X, u r fine too.

[QUOTE=Bidkat]True...the fact that I never have to call somebody, wait on hold, and then beg for permission to use my earned points for a hotel room is worth something, isn't it? The ability to use Starwood to do a top-off to liberate orphaned FF miles is merely an added bonus!

Starwood has *some* upgrade awards available through SPG. I understand that these are harder to get and can't always be gotten online. One of the complaints about the Starwood program is that some hotels will cheat the system by classifying a lot of their rooms as something other than standard (even when they truly are normal hotel rooms) to get around the No Capacity Controls rules. I know the Four Points in Cincinnati does this, but I've never been bitten by it anywhere else. (Thankfully.)

What is the Amex financial review?