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.