Tag Archives: American Express Membership Rewards Points

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Round 2 of AMEX Serve Card Account Closures (March 4, 2016)

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Good morning everyone, I wish I had better news to share, but it looks like American Express is up to no good today.  Myself and at least 1 other person I know, received the following email that says that their AMEX Serve Card was flagged for “unusual usage patterns.”  This follows on the heels of AMEX Serve Card Mass Account Closures Effective Immediately (1/8/2016, Section 15.d).  Based on these 2 data points, AMEX sends account closure emails around the first week of the month, possibly every other month.  Did anyone receive an email between January 8 and today (March 4)?  The title of the email says: Termination Of Funds Loading Capabilities on Your Serve® Account.

New Serve Account Shutdown Email

As of today, all my AMEX Serve Cards are closed and I have no more prepaid cards with American Express.  It has been a good run, but now it is time to shred my final AMEX Serve Card.  Did anyone else get hit with an account shutdown email today?  I hope the rest of the weekend goes better :)

If you want to read more AMEX Serve Card shutdown stories, head over to:

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New AMEX Offers: Staples, TurboTax, & Cruise Lines; US Bank FlexPerks & Club Carlson Targeted Spending Offers

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Good afternoon everyone.  American Express added a few new AMEX Offers over the last few days.  The offers include Staples, TurboTax, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, and Porsche Design.  Receive a 5% statement credit at Staples or staples.com after spending $100 or more.  This is not any better than the Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Credit Cards, but I suppose if you have already maxed out the $50,000 yearly cap on your Chase Ink card, you may be interested in this AMEX Offer.

Staples AMEX Offer

After you enroll all your eligible AMEX cards, you will receive a bunch of enrollment emails from American Express explaining how to shop at Staples and earn cash back via a statement credit.  Too much hand holding from Staples and AMEX for me.

Staples AMEX Offer Enrollment Email

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New AMEX Offers: KLM $200 Off $1,000, Hilton Garden Inn $40 Off $200, a Few Others

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Good morning everyone.  It’s been a while since I last reported on AMEX Offers.  The offers have just been so bad for the last few weeks that it wasn’t even worth mentioning.  The streak has been broken with 2 pretty good travel offers.  The first is from KLM, where you can get a $200 statement credit for spending $1,000 or more on KLM flights.  The only cash back portal that has KLM is Ebates (they are offering 1% cash back for KLM flights).  The second offer is from Hilton Garden Inn, where you can get a $40 statement credit after spending $200 or more.  iConsumer is offering 3.2% cash back for Hilton Garden Inn.  This offer is not valid at any other Hilton properties and the total stay charge must be higher than $200 to trigger the statement credit.

KLM AMEX Offer Hilton Garden Inn AMEX Offer

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Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 2: Credit Cards and MS

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed my insightful/crazy ramblings in Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 1: Airlines and Hotels.  If you liked that post, you will surely love my crazy predictions about credit cards and MS.  Full disclosure, I wrote most of this post on my iPhone standing in front of a dryer at my local laundromat, so the train of thought might be kind of strange.  I apologize.  Without any further ado, let’s get started!

Credit Cards

Chase – with the loss of Amtrak and the addition of Singapore Airlines in 2015, I think we will see some more changes to Chase’s transfer partners in 2016.  I think we will see some more international airlines added (like the Citi Thank You Points program).  A few guesses?  Air Canada, Qantas, Air China, and Lufthansa (insert your favorite international airline).  Chase Ultimate Rewards will continue to transfer 1:1 to all programs and there will be no transfer bonuses.  I think there will be a newsworthy announcement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, maybe adding free Gogo WiFi like the US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card or perhaps a new 3x category to compete with Citi Premier/Prestige Credit Cards.  What about our beloved Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Cards?  I am worries that the 5x category might change to something less lucrative or the yearly cap might be lowered.  I also predict Chase will launch a completely new travel rewards credit card in 2016.  Maybe the Airbnb/Uber Credit Card?  Lastly, I hope Chase loosens up on the 5/24 rule or completely eliminates the rule altogether.   Continue reading →

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Reviewing my Travel Predictions from December 30, 2013

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A few years ago, I wrote My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014 on December 30, 2013.  I thought I wrote a similar post at the end of 2014 for 2015 predictions, but I guess I did not.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to review that original post and see how close I came to predicting the truth.  For the most part, I think my predictions were about a year too early.

My original predictions are in black and my thoughts/reactions are in red.

Airlines:

  • British Airways – I think the 4,500 and 7,500 (maybe even 10,000) Avios award prices will go away or the entire award chart will be revamped.  The current prices are just too good.  I was partially right about the 4,500 BA Avios award band.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the 4,500 BA Avios band completely disappears in 2016.
  • Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines – since there has been a lot of fighting over routes to/from SEA and SLC, I think Alaska will no longer allow you to earn or redeem miles with Delta.  This is an ongoing issue, but I think the fighting will continue in 2016.
  • American Airlines and US Airways – after the merger, we will see some new “enhancements” (aka devaluations) to the new award chart.  Maybe off-peak awards will be changed or removed.  You could see this coming from a mile away.  I’m sad that off-peak awards are changing.
  • Southwest Airlines and AirTran – hopefully the merger goes through smoothly and quickly.  I look forward to using Southwest Rapid Reward Points for flights to Hawaii, Mexico City, and other tropical destinations south of the border.  I also think the 50,000 Southwest Rapid Reward sign up bonus will no longer count for companion pass status, it is just too easy to get Companion Pass.  I hope Southwest continues to add new routes.  I’m especially excited about the newly announced LAX-LIR (Liberia, Costa Rica) route starting in mid 2016.
  • Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.  This seems unlikely, but it could still happen.
  • Lufthansa  – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.  I wasn’t approved for the Barlcays Lufthansa credit card (or any Barclays credit card, ever), so I don’t care what happens to the Lufthansa award chart.
  • Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.  This seems unlikely, but Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines allow transferring miles between their award programs (just not at a 1:1 ratio).

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