Finnish Diners Club holders: Point exchange promo
Dec 19, 2008, 2:38 pm
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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Finnish Diners Club holders: Point exchange promo
I just noticed that Diners Club has a special offer in Finland, whereby one can exchange Diners' club rewards points into SAS EB points with a 1:1 ratio until December 31. Compared to the standard conversion ratio I think this is a good offer.
Dec 19, 2008, 3:22 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Posts: 2,395
The standard conversion rate is huge joke in Finland. even at the promo rate I´d be crazy to redeem points for EB. For a 1000 points +34 euros? you can get the restaurant voucher worth 84 euros. EB points don´t come close to that, imo.
Dec 20, 2008, 2:50 am
#4
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How much are the SK points worth, though? On long-haul C (say, to North America) the cost is 90000 points, which could have a market value of 2000 euros. Doing the math would suggest that 1000 points in this case could be worth 22,22 euros. Still less than the 45 euros, but not completely bad. Besides I would not plan on eating in a fancy restaurant 90 times in a row anyway...
Dec 20, 2008, 5:10 am
#6
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(though I must agree, the FI DC -> EB conversion rate is pathetic, even compared to other Nordic countires rate. In SE it's 10 SEK -> 1 mile, which is ca. 1:1 The restaurant coupons seem a good deal, but I sorely miss the option to transfer points to hotel progs (HH or PC) as you can with Amex. Anyway 12k points just for signing up is a good deal in anyone's dictionary)
Dec 20, 2008, 11:53 am
#8
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(but DC is loosing even the comparison with Amex: 21 eur = 21* MR points = 21 Hilton Honours points, 21 eur = 21 CR points = 10 HiltonHonours points)
*multiply by 1,5 for Amex Gold
Dec 21, 2008, 1:30 am
#9
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I have that as well, and use it quite frequently. However Diners Club premium has additional insurance coverage for items bought with the card, which is a superior benefit compared to the EB MC, and with that benefit in place, I would not even think about buying electronics or other expensive items with MC.
Dec 21, 2008, 1:43 am
#10
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So the big question is why DC discriminates so much its Finland based members? Lack of competition? Finland is rather poorly served with co-branded (or other miles earning) credit cards - AY EC and Amex are the only ones that come to mine and even Amex is back to Membership Rewards with its Hilton co-branded cards expiring at the end of this month.
(but DC is loosing even the comparison with Amex: 21 eur = 21* MR points = 21 Hilton Honours points, 21 eur = 21 CR points = 10 HiltonHonours points)
*multiply by 1,5 for Amex Gold
(but DC is loosing even the comparison with Amex: 21 eur = 21* MR points = 21 Hilton Honours points, 21 eur = 21 CR points = 10 HiltonHonours points)
*multiply by 1,5 for Amex Gold
With the EB MC, one needs to spend 90 000 eur on the card to obtain the award. The same is possible with AY's Mastercard or Visa for a spending of 170 000 eur, which makes the EB MC superior against the AY credit cards, albeit that you would earn 10k "free" points annually with the AY Visa Gold. Diners Club in Finland allows points to be transferred to EB, and with the standard conversion rate of 2523 Diners points to 1000 EB points, the award is yours for a 227070 euro shopping tour. American Express gold and platinum cards earn 1,5 amex points per euro, which can be transferred to SN points, and with SN points one can redeem an AA or AY tkt in C to North America for 90k SN points, which are yours against a 60 000 eur shopping tour, making American Express gold or platinum the clear winner of the comparison. The above is valid obviously for Finland only.
Of course it is not completely that simple. Only a few of us would actually earn entire awards with credit card points, so whatever mileage one earns by flying makes a great deal of difference. Topping up a few thousand missing points is certainly possible with any of these cards, and with Amex that would only be possible if one collects miles on the airlines they have an agreement with.
Dec 21, 2008, 4:34 am
#11
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One way to compare the cards is to pick a flight reward and to see how much you need to spend to get the reward. As an example, let's consider a RT ticket to North America in C class. SAS charges 90k points for such an award, and for example AY charges 170k for the same award.
American Express gold and platinum cards earn 1,5 amex points per euro, which can be transferred to SN points, and with SN points one can redeem an AA or AY tkt in C to North America for 90k SN points, which are yours against a 60 000 eur shopping tour, making American Express gold or platinum the clear winner of the comparison. The above is valid obviously for Finland only.
American Express gold and platinum cards earn 1,5 amex points per euro, which can be transferred to SN points, and with SN points one can redeem an AA or AY tkt in C to North America for 90k SN points, which are yours against a 60 000 eur shopping tour, making American Express gold or platinum the clear winner of the comparison. The above is valid obviously for Finland only.
(NB - after Amex announced the end of their Hilton branded card, I called them. They first offered the green card, I said I already have it so finally got Amex Gold for free as a "compensation" Of course first I emptied my MR account for the "green" card, which was a clever thing to do, because the MR account for the gold card started from 0 points and the account for the green one just disappeared into thin air)
Dec 21, 2008, 7:47 am
#12
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(NB - after Amex announced the end of their Hilton branded card, I called them. They first offered the green card, I said I already have it so finally got Amex Gold for free as a "compensation" Of course first I emptied my MR account for the "green" card, which was a clever thing to do, because the MR account for the gold card started from 0 points and the account for the green one just disappeared into thin air)
Dec 22, 2008, 2:21 am
#13
Join Date: Jan 2003
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I tried at least...
A few months ago I sent the following letter to Diners Club Finland, never received an answer from them:
When I was a member of Diners Club Sweden I received 15 SAS Eurobonus points per 100 SEK (~10.5 EUR) spent.
Now that I have switched to Diners Club Finland I only receive (10 Club Rewards per 10 EUR, converted to Eurobonus points at a rate of 2523 => 1000) 4 SAS Eurobonus points per 10 EUR.
How come you give your members not even a third of what you award your Swedish members?
Furthermore, in a comparison to American Express you fare pretty poorly. While they do not allow transfer to Eurobonus, they do to AF/KLM Flying Blue (their miles have roughly the same value as the SAS points). They award their customers 10 Membership Reward points for every 10 EUR spent (for a green card holder, upgraded cards get 1,5x). These can then be converted to Flying Blue miles at a rate 5 => 4. Thus the card holder will receive 8 Flying Blue miles for every 10 EUR. Though not as good as in Sweden it is still much better than the Diners Club offering.
Are you in the process of changing this or are these the conditions offered?
Now that I have switched to Diners Club Finland I only receive (10 Club Rewards per 10 EUR, converted to Eurobonus points at a rate of 2523 => 1000) 4 SAS Eurobonus points per 10 EUR.
How come you give your members not even a third of what you award your Swedish members?
Furthermore, in a comparison to American Express you fare pretty poorly. While they do not allow transfer to Eurobonus, they do to AF/KLM Flying Blue (their miles have roughly the same value as the SAS points). They award their customers 10 Membership Reward points for every 10 EUR spent (for a green card holder, upgraded cards get 1,5x). These can then be converted to Flying Blue miles at a rate 5 => 4. Thus the card holder will receive 8 Flying Blue miles for every 10 EUR. Though not as good as in Sweden it is still much better than the Diners Club offering.
Are you in the process of changing this or are these the conditions offered?
Dec 25, 2008, 4:42 pm
#14
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Finnish Diners Club to SAS EB point exchange promo
There is a limit of 10.000 points that you can exchange. They state at their website that one can exchange max. 10 units, one unit being 1000 points.
Last edited by finflyer; Dec 26, 2008 at 4:02 am
Dec 26, 2008, 3:55 am
#15
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Combined with the double points campaign for Nov-Jan this start to sound a decent proposal: 1 eur = 2 EB points. Too bad it will be gone in less than a week.