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I am a little bit older than the OP and have not read a newspaper since probably 1995 or so... Too much wasted paper, and I only follow a select few types of news so internet on computer = win.
Anyhow, I am quite sure Amex is feeling pressure from other lenders to update their products to stay competitive.
As mentioned, the 5x on travel for Platinum was an indication, as well as the 50% refund on pay-with-points on the business Platinum. Those combined are huge for regular travelers.
Amex also seems to be more lenient by far on who it approves - as my experience with them has shown. They don't seem to care about recent inquiries, new cards, etc as long as you have clean reports. Most other lenders are a lot more conservative it seems.
@ndjim75 wrote:Redpast,
What is this new alliance with AA? When you state you cant get the reduced airfare through "their" website, are you referring to AA website? Do you book the flight through Amex travel with the Platinum card to take advantage of this new alliance? what are all the benefits of this new alliance?
Thanks in advance for any info!
You have to go through Amex concierge offering preferred pricing. I found this from The Points Guy back in Sept or October.
The preferred pricing is on selected fights not everything but it's worth the call to see what your options are before booking.
I did one first class booking from coast to coast saved about $375 but some of my flights I booked were the same as AA online.
So do your homework before booking!
To my mind there are two different things here and are interrelated, but not so signficantly to change my view of this issuer. The stock apparently is not a good buy compared to Discover: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4038366-american-express-proves-unworthy-money
Also they've taken a bit hit with the lost Costco business. But that being said, I still treat Amex as one of my preferred banks and scout their cards for my next one. I'm not heavily invested in stock, so that's not my angle on it.
To the extent that their valuation begins to affect how their cards work and the bonuses then I'll take notice.
Thanks Redpat! good to know and i appreciate you responding to my question.
The bonus game has to stop or at least slow down. Chase CSR is a good example. Now Chase comes out swinging the Chase Amazon Prime and will certainly take over from SyncB. This is very big and comes with minimal cost.
We know the CCC can't survive by giving out 3% to 5% on a consistent basis. Of course some of us pay 20% interest, but there is some limit.
I used to be an ultra heavy user of both my personal and business platinum cards (talking 75k a month and up some months) and to an extent my old citi prestige because of the free hotel night and lounge access.
Now I pretty much only use my reserve card since the perks are IMO way better than the platnium, and I canceled my prestige card when they cut all the perks from it. Amex would have to come up with something pretty fantastic to get me to going back to using them again. I still use my amex Cash card for groceries and gas though. Rest of my cards are just part of my churning cycle (and my optima becuase its one of my oldest tradelines and the fact that they dont offer it anymore I think its kind of cool, some people confuse it with the "Oasis" though ), But I will hang on to the reserve until something better comes along.
@BronzeTrader wrote:The bonus game has to stop or at least slow down. Chase CSR is a good example. Now Chase comes out swinging the Chase Amazon Prime and will certainly take over from SyncB. This is very big and comes with minimal cost.
We know the CCC can't survive by giving out 3% to 5% on a consistent basis. Of course some of us pay 20% interest, but there is some limit.
They know exactly what they're doing.
A) A large amount of credit card holders carry debt which means they're paying interest.
B) 3 and 5 percent are on very specific categories. For the average person, they will use that card on EVERYTHING meaning many transactions Chase is only paying back 1%, not 3/5.