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Amex Platinum Card to add Priority Pass Guest Benefit
UPDATE: The theory I shared in this post has been confirmed. See Below. Yesterday, American Express announced refreshed benefits for its Platinum Card as well as an increased annual fee. They proudly touted new Uber benefits, 5x Membership Rewards for certain hotel bookings, and a new metal Card design. Strangely, there’s one other enhanced benefit that American Express never mentioned. Beginning March 30, 2017, the Priority Pass guest policy for Platinum Card Members will change. At any visit to a Priority Pass lounge, all Platinum Card Members may bring in two guests for no charge. Card Members will be charged $27 for any additional guests. The old policy automatically charged $27…
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American Express Announces Changes to its Platinum Card
American Express today announced its anticipated refresh of benefits for the Platinum Card. The changes include new Uber benefits, 5x Membership Rewards for certain hotel bookings, and a new metal Card design. But the accompanying annual fee increase casts a rather large shadow over what are only marginal new benefits. The new perks will kick in on on March 30, 2017. At that time, the annual fee will be increased to $550 from $450 for new applicants. For existing Platinum Card Members, the new annual fee will take effect on their renewal date on or after September 1, 2017. Back in October, Amex announced its last set of enhancements to Platinum Card benefits and…
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Amex Platinum – Frozen MR Points and MPX Concerns
American Express has been pushing back rather hard against those they deem to be abusing Amex credit cards for points and benefits. Frozen points and closed loopholes appear to be in response to people using online application links discovered by some technically savvy individuals. These links tend to be attractive because they offer much higher than normal signup bonuses for the Platinum Card. There have been reports from those that used these links that their Membership Rewards accounts have been frozen and previously awarded points have been clawed back. In addition to the points freezing, a once reliable method of monetizing the airline incidental fee credit suddenly stop working. The common…
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A Primer on Priority Pass Select Airport Lounge Membership
Since the announcement of the immensely popular Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, many questions have arisen about one of its benefits–Priority Pass Select membership. The confusion stems from the number of different Priority Pass membership levels and the fees associated with each. Here are answers to some of the more common questions I’ve seen asked lately. What is Priority Pass? Priority Pass is a club that provides frequent travelers with independent airport lounge access worldwide. There are currently over 1000 lounges in 400 cities across 120 countries in the the network. Priority Pass does not own or operate any lounges, instead they contract with independent lounge operators to allow members access during certain hours.…
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Amex Announces New Platinum Card Benefits
After recent buzz about potential new benefits coming to the Platinum Card, today American Express announced the changes. Beginning October 6, consumers with a Platinum Card from American Express will receive 5X Membership Rewards points on airfare booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel. Also, Business Platinum Card Members will now earn 50% points back (up from 30%) when using Membership Rewards Pay with Points through American Express Travel to book an economy flight with their selected airline or a first or business class ticket with any airline. In addition, Business Platinum Card Members can earn 1.5X Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on any individual purchase of $5,000 or more. “Our new…
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Transfer Points and Status Match Between Marriott and Starwood
Marriott has completed its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, giving the combined company 30 hotel brands and over 5700 properties worldwide. Effective immediately, you can now match your highest level status and transfer points in either direction between the programs. The 3:1 ratio for transferring points is fair: 3 Marriott/Ritz Carlton Rewards points = 1 Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) point. The only limitations are a minimum of 1000 points and a maximum of all the points in your account. If you have a Marriott or Ritz Carlton account and an SPG account, you can link them together here. If you are not already a member of one or both of the programs,…
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Chase Sapphire Reserve – Post Denial Options
After applying for Chase Sapphire Reserve in a bank branch earlier this week, I finally decided to call the reconsideration line to check the status. As I feared, my application was denied due to too many accounts opened in the past 24 months. I asked the representative “How many is too many accounts?” She was polite but would not put a number on it. I had considered waiting to let the decision process play out on its own–some have had more luck being approved that way. I finally considered calling for two reasons: There might be a need to move some credit around which could be causing the delay. I have 3 additional recently…
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The New Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Looks Fantastic!
UPDATE: The 100,000 point signup bonus offer for online applications will be reduced to 50,000 on January 12, 2017. Chase has introduced its new premium travel credit card, Sapphire Reserve, and it looks fantastic! Loaded with benefits, it carries a hefty $450 annual fee. This new addition to its lineup finally gives Chase a direct competitor to The Platinum Card from American Express and Citi Prestige. Sapphire Reserve offers a myriad of travel benefits that more than make up for the annual fee, including an annual $300 travel credit, complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge access, and Global Entry/TSA Pre✓ credit. Unfortunately, this card is subject to Chase’s restrictive 5/24 rule. Last week, I wrote…
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New Chase Sapphire Reserve: Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Update: Chase has clarified that the Visa Infinite $100 credit towards 2-5 domestic flights will not be included as a benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I’ve updated this post accordingly. Yesterday afternoon, Chase prematurely accepted online applications for it’s new, but yet-to-be-announced flagship credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve. The link to the application page was discovered and posted by a user on reddit. A short time later, another link listing the card’s benefits was posted by a different user. Within a couple hours, the party was over as Chase took down the links. During the time that the links were active, applications to Sapphire Reserve did not appear to be subject to the…
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More Negative Changes to Citi Prestige Coming
In an earlier post, I wrote about Citi’s plans to discontinue complimentary American Airlines Admirals Club lounge access for Prestige cardmembers. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. More Citi Prestige changes have been announced and they’re all bad. In addition to the loss of Admirals Club access, Citi is reducing the value of ThankYou points redeemed for flights, discontinuing the Complimentary Golf benefit, and reducing the value (in some cases substantially) of the 4th Night Free hotel benefit. All these changes are to take effect July 23, 2017. Citi Prestige Changes Access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges will no longer be offered. After July 23, 2017, current cardmembers will…
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