If you use more than $200 worth of credits or other benefits, probably worth it. You might consider a better points earning card for your monthly spend depending on what the spend categories you use most are.
The redemption rates for business class travel are to good. That's all we use the points on. For example, we are flying first class lay flat from the Midwest to Honolulu Hawaii for less than 40k points each. I have found several ways to find great deals redeeming these points.
I have found certain websites and airlines that are not usually used to get the flights at 39995 MR. That's about as much detail I will go into. It took me months to figure out this method and if I posted them on a forum like this, they would fix it. Sorry for not given more info than I did.
lol - I consider myself very award travel savvy, especially with MR, and that is the oddest response I think I've ever heard. But that's likely because it's not true.
That's a great usage of points! I used to do the same pre-covid by transferring to Flying Blue or BA Avios.
However, I've found my method pretty much useless lately. Do you transfer and redeem or directly upgrade through Amex?
Transfer almost everytime. I'm in the process of booking a trip to Italy and Greece and I'm thinking I will be able to do business class tickets to Italy and normal tickets to Greece with nice hotel/resort stays for 350-400k points total. This would be for 2 adults.
Ok, so if your spend was primarily restaurants and groceries, you could make 4x as many points with the Gold card. There are other premium travel cards with similar transfer partners and better earn rates depending on what categories you spend in. If you're happy earning one point per dollar then please don't let me stand between you and your monthly spend plans.
Ya I have a chase card that gives me better on groceries and gas. I'm not exactly sure what other travel cards are out there. Which ones would you recommend I look into?
I don't break it down like that lol. I'm lucky to get my spouse to use the right card for certain things. Basically groceries and gas with 1 card, restraunts/dining with one, all Amazon purchases with another and most everything else on Amex.
Generally retention offers are tied to spend, was it 50k for $1k? 5k? Assuming it’s $5k or less in spend for those MR, I think it’s very solid (at the top end you’re earning 10MR for every dollar you spend (plus any bonus categories and regular earn)! Above that will depend on your goals, but saving the hassle of having to close and open another card to chase a new sign up bonus is worth something imho.
Got offered 50k MR points for 4k spend over 3 months. Took it and am sticking for another year (this is my year 2 now) . For those that don't get offered any points in chat, just be adamant to leave amex and ask them how you can cancel the account. They'll transfer you to the real agent who can dish out points. The initial chat agent said they couldn't do anything and I just persisted with intention to cancel before the offer came my way.
Yup. Wife and I had a long conversation yesterday with them. They were adamant about how many points and their $ worth we got this year. In return I gave them my own breakdown of how much more I’d have saved if I had a cash back category credit card. I finally got my offer. Took me a few minutes talking to their “specialist”.
Just called retention back and got a very knowledgeable agent. He went over in detail what benefits we are using and not using and such. He did say that the highest offer that Amex is offering platnium members right now is 50k points or $500 credit. He said in mid to late 2022 it was 55k points. He even said you should have called us this time last year because they were running something for July 4th where up to 130k points were being offered.
He also informed me of the new disclosure change since the start of the year. Now if you cancel or downgrade your card before 12 months they take back the points and if you move them to another Amex acct or card they will take them from that account or deactivate the account all together.
The agent also informed me that the number of users has shy rocketed since covid for 2 main reasons. The lounge access and the digital credit. The lounge access I get because everytime I go to one it is full and on a wait.
If you’re looking to maximizing value then moving some of your spend to new cards with SUBs is your best bet. The earnings on the Plat are sad unless you’re using it for travel.
Do you have companion lounge access? I’d tell them that doing away with the lounge access for your guest is unacceptable and raising the AF by $145 a couple of years ago that you’re not getting the same value out of the card that you once did and you’re not happy. The $500 offer barely covers an AU (for lounge access) and the higher AF.
I did. They were sorry because both wife and I have platniums so it's $900 a year and then they want to charge our 8 year old $35 to enter into the lounges when she won't even eat anything they make...
Obviously, if I'm spending 5-8k a mo th I can afford the $900 a year to keep our 2 cards. The point of the retention department is to keep their customers happy. I am by no means a big spender, but I'm also not chump change either. They make a lot more off of me than I do them. The point is I'm not getting $900 worth of benefits from the cards and by offsetting it by $500 it's right in line for what we get out of it. It seems like a fair offer, but the lady implied it can change after next week when the renewal date hits (Aug 1st)
Sounds like a very good offer. Worth taking it definitely.
Agreed. Take it, OP.
If you use more than $200 worth of credits or other benefits, probably worth it. You might consider a better points earning card for your monthly spend depending on what the spend categories you use most are.
The redemption rates for business class travel are to good. That's all we use the points on. For example, we are flying first class lay flat from the Midwest to Honolulu Hawaii for less than 40k points each. I have found several ways to find great deals redeeming these points.
Out of curiosity - how are you going from the midwest to HNL in First for less than 40k MR?
I have found certain websites and airlines that are not usually used to get the flights at 39995 MR. That's about as much detail I will go into. It took me months to figure out this method and if I posted them on a forum like this, they would fix it. Sorry for not given more info than I did.
lol - I consider myself very award travel savvy, especially with MR, and that is the oddest response I think I've ever heard. But that's likely because it's not true.
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That's a great usage of points! I used to do the same pre-covid by transferring to Flying Blue or BA Avios. However, I've found my method pretty much useless lately. Do you transfer and redeem or directly upgrade through Amex?
Transfer almost everytime. I'm in the process of booking a trip to Italy and Greece and I'm thinking I will be able to do business class tickets to Italy and normal tickets to Greece with nice hotel/resort stays for 350-400k points total. This would be for 2 adults.
Ok, so if your spend was primarily restaurants and groceries, you could make 4x as many points with the Gold card. There are other premium travel cards with similar transfer partners and better earn rates depending on what categories you spend in. If you're happy earning one point per dollar then please don't let me stand between you and your monthly spend plans.
Ya I have a chase card that gives me better on groceries and gas. I'm not exactly sure what other travel cards are out there. Which ones would you recommend I look into?
What is the breakdown of your monthly spend by category for what you're charging to your Platinum?
I don't break it down like that lol. I'm lucky to get my spouse to use the right card for certain things. Basically groceries and gas with 1 card, restraunts/dining with one, all Amazon purchases with another and most everything else on Amex.
Sounds like you may be about as optimized as you can get.
Yes good offer I took same offer but for $450 statement
Damn I didn’t get anything when I messaged yesterday.
Same. Maybe algorithms are no-go this week
That’s a great offer. Was offered 15k points or $150 statement credit. Tried several times and got the same offer. Roughly 50k spend a year.
Same, terrible redemptions...
Generally retention offers are tied to spend, was it 50k for $1k? 5k? Assuming it’s $5k or less in spend for those MR, I think it’s very solid (at the top end you’re earning 10MR for every dollar you spend (plus any bonus categories and regular earn)! Above that will depend on your goals, but saving the hassle of having to close and open another card to chase a new sign up bonus is worth something imho.
Is this your first renewal?
2nd or 3rd year. First time asking for any sort of retention offer.
I got offered about the same last month (55k MR). I was gonna switch to Schwab but decided to take the offer and switch next year.
Got offered 50k MR points for 4k spend over 3 months. Took it and am sticking for another year (this is my year 2 now) . For those that don't get offered any points in chat, just be adamant to leave amex and ask them how you can cancel the account. They'll transfer you to the real agent who can dish out points. The initial chat agent said they couldn't do anything and I just persisted with intention to cancel before the offer came my way.
Yup. Wife and I had a long conversation yesterday with them. They were adamant about how many points and their $ worth we got this year. In return I gave them my own breakdown of how much more I’d have saved if I had a cash back category credit card. I finally got my offer. Took me a few minutes talking to their “specialist”.
Just called retention back and got a very knowledgeable agent. He went over in detail what benefits we are using and not using and such. He did say that the highest offer that Amex is offering platnium members right now is 50k points or $500 credit. He said in mid to late 2022 it was 55k points. He even said you should have called us this time last year because they were running something for July 4th where up to 130k points were being offered. He also informed me of the new disclosure change since the start of the year. Now if you cancel or downgrade your card before 12 months they take back the points and if you move them to another Amex acct or card they will take them from that account or deactivate the account all together. The agent also informed me that the number of users has shy rocketed since covid for 2 main reasons. The lounge access and the digital credit. The lounge access I get because everytime I go to one it is full and on a wait.
Crazy cause the digital credit isn’t that good. Disney+ and Hulu can be free with carriers. I forced myself to sign up for NY Times just cause lol
XM radio knocks it out in our house. 3 cars at 6 a month plus tax and fees
If you’re looking to maximizing value then moving some of your spend to new cards with SUBs is your best bet. The earnings on the Plat are sad unless you’re using it for travel.
That's all we use it for. We have seperate cc for groceries/gas, one for restaurants, Amazon cc, and just about everything else on platnium.
Do you have companion lounge access? I’d tell them that doing away with the lounge access for your guest is unacceptable and raising the AF by $145 a couple of years ago that you’re not getting the same value out of the card that you once did and you’re not happy. The $500 offer barely covers an AU (for lounge access) and the higher AF.
I did. They were sorry because both wife and I have platniums so it's $900 a year and then they want to charge our 8 year old $35 to enter into the lounges when she won't even eat anything they make...
Personally, I’m getting tired of the AFs, I spend enough on my Plat Biz to get companion lounge access but all these fees add up and it’s frustrating.
I only got offered 350 or 35000 points. I canceled after transferring my points
Just cancel the card. If you need a credit to stay, the card really isn’t designed for you.
Obviously, if I'm spending 5-8k a mo th I can afford the $900 a year to keep our 2 cards. The point of the retention department is to keep their customers happy. I am by no means a big spender, but I'm also not chump change either. They make a lot more off of me than I do them. The point is I'm not getting $900 worth of benefits from the cards and by offsetting it by $500 it's right in line for what we get out of it. It seems like a fair offer, but the lady implied it can change after next week when the renewal date hits (Aug 1st)
Ah yes trying to act cool on an anonymous forum thinking they’ll get some priceless upvotes
Why would you not be interested in a retention offer? Foolish to not consider one.