Amex Gold to Lose Airline Credit 2022 adds uber ea... - Page 2 - myFICO® Forums

notmyrealname23 · ‎10-15-2020

@TheFIGuy wrote:

Wouldn't they make more money off a revolving credit card than a Charge-card?

AMEX makes their nut in no small part on annual fees and swipe fees, and positioning themselves to the upper middle ++ segment. These are people more likely to pay monthly balances off each month.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/012715/how-american-express-makes-its-money.asp

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/25/how-american-express-company-makes-most-of-its-mon.aspx

If they bulk converted everyone from NPSL charge cards to credit cards with spending limits, they might make more money, but there are advantages to NPSL, especially if you're high income. Their mix also doesn't require them to do that.

notmyrealname23 · ‎10-15-2020

@blindambition wrote:
This will be interesting to see where Amex goes. Just like CSP/CSr, losing benefits like that make them completely less desirable. Until there's a real handle on things, lenders can't predict what landscape looks like in 2 years.

Given how AMEX has cracked down on gift cards for airlines, as well as airlines ditching a bunch of incidental fees in the pandemic (though not luggage), plus the pandemic in general, I'm not sure how desirable that $100 airline incidental credit is. I think it depends on what it's replaced with in 2022. My experience is I can make AMEX fee reimbursements work VERY well with cheap tickets or EarlyBird on Southwest, it's 50/50 on Alaska for cheap tickets (haven't tried the Alaska Lounge yet, I may do this though before year's end so I can use up my credits). I'd trust @K-in-Boston when he says it works pretty well with Delta, but if the hoops to jump through get smaller and smaller...

This is probably going to turn into a case for keeping my Aspire (with $250 incidental credit -> $250 in Southwest airfare + EarlyBird) and being wait-and-see on Gold vs. getting an EDP to complement my Green and dumping the Gold.

Curious_George2 · ‎10-15-2020

Bummer. I'm in my first year with the Gold card so I'm still figuring out which features I value and which I don't. I was initially happy about the $10/mo dining credits, but I have cooled on them. I've used them for Boxed and Grubhub, which seem to be overpriced by roughly the same amount as the credit. I think I will value these at zero in the future.

Some Amex offers are nice, but the same ones are generally available on Green, so they can't help justify the higher AF.

For me, this card's value all comes down to the 4x grocery and dining points. Those are high-spend categories for me, so it still has positive value, but I'm starting to wonder if Green + BCP would be a better fit for me than my current Gold + Delta Gold. This news nudges things a bit more in that direction.

UncleB · ‎10-15-2020

This is very interesting... unless they add something else 'travel' related it's like they want the Green card to be for travel and the Gold for grocery/dining. (Not that this wasn't already the case, but without the airline credit it's more obvious.)

I admit I was always surprised that the Green Card ended up being geared more towards (general) travel and the Gold - which they market as an upgrade - as a grocery/dining product. I would have thought it would have been the opposite but what do I know, LOL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The last few years I had the Gold I was unable to use the credit which is one of the reasons I downgraded to the Green. Who knows, if they add something interesting I might even end up upgrading again in 2022.

drboxing · ‎10-15-2020

AMEX must have something to replace the $100 airline credit. ive had the Gold card for sometime and do enjoy it but losing the $100 airline credit is an issue with me.

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2020

Just saw in the DoC digest that the Amex Gold is losing its $100 airline credit as of 2022. Per Amex:

As we are always looking to evolve our Card benefits and services to best support our Card Members’ needs, the Airline Fee Credit on the American Express Gold Card will no longer be available at the end of 2021. Current Gold Card Members will be able to continue to use the Airline Fee Credit through December 31, 2021. We will continue to evolve and enhance our Card benefits and services to provide relevant and rich value to our Card Members in the areas they care about most, so stay tuned!

NRB525 · ‎10-16-2020

We were able to schedule a trip coming up, on Alaska airlines. I hadn't used the Gold Airline fee credit on Delta at all so was able to switch that over to Alaska to cover the upcoming bag fees. I had been chipping away at the Platinum Delta assignment and Aspire United assignment already.

I expect something will be added to the card to replace the airline fee credit.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765

FlaDude · ‎10-16-2020

@NRB525 wrote:
I expect something will be added to the card to replace the airline fee credit.

I hope so too, even with it I'm having a hard time getting enough value to cover the AF. I'd hate to have to close a 26 year old card though.

Scores: March 21 FICO 8: EX 810, TU 808, EQ 813
AoOA: closed: 36 years, open: 25 years; AAoA: 11.8 years
Amex Gold, Amex Green, Amex Blue, Amex ED, Amex Delta Gold, Amex Hilton Surpass, BoA Platinum Plus, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Chase Amazon, Chase CSP, Chase United Explorer, Citi AA Plat, Sync Lowes, Sync JC Penney - total CL 145k
Loans: Chase car loan (35k/6yrs 0.9%)

Anonymous · ‎10-16-2020

TBH I was only able to utilize the credit once before they stopped allowing the GC glitch, and since i don't use incidentals or checke baggage it really is of no use to me. So I cannot truly say if it's a deal breaker for me and if I'll finally cancel because of it. I've been on the egde of tat cliff this whole year, the only thing that kept it wortwhike to keep was the Dining credit and the few Amex offers throught the year, as well as the big kicker in August for $50 small Business credit!

Surely it will be replace with something else though, considering it comes with such a high AF? It will be intersting to see what that may be, or if it happens. I mean I wouldn't even mind a smaller $75 credit that i can actually utilize. lol

$120 Dining

$75 ??? Question is what should it be if not travel related?

$250 - $195 = $55 out of pocket to make up with other Amex offers.

SouthJamaica · ‎10-16-2020

@FlaDude wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
I expect something will be added to the card to replace the airline fee credit.
I hope so too, even with it I'm having a hard time getting enough value to cover the AF. I'd hate to have to close a 26 year old card though.

I dropped the card a while back. I too was having a hard time getting enough value to cover the AF.