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Update: If you have opened or will open an AMEX Business Platinum Card between 10/1/16-5/31/17 you will get 50% airfare rebates with no cap until 1 full year has passed from when your account was opened!
That means you can still open a card through the end of May and take advantage of a full year of unlimited 50% airfare point rebates!
American Express is a DansDeals.com advertiser.
It’s not only your airline miles that are being devalued. Step up to the plate, bank points.
In October AMEX attacked the Chase Sapphire Reserve® by offering a 50% rebate on paid airfare redemptions if you have a AMEX Business Platinum Card.
A few days ago I wrote about AMEX ending marketing on their Everyday Preferred card and posited that it was too generous to market the 50% bonus spending on that card while having a 50% points rebate on the AMEX Business Platinum Card.
I also wrote about AMEX slowing down the 50% rebate from posting within a day to taking much longer to post, though some DDFers have been able to get manually credited for the 50% by calling and asking or by redeeming points over the phone and asking for an instant rebate posting.
Plus AMEX has been awarding an extra 4 points per dollar even on point redemptions when you use an AMEX Consumer Platinum Card. It may even offer those 4 bonus points on the Business Platinum card after 3/30 when the 5x category for airfare bookings on AMEXTravel.com was added, but it’s too early for reports of that yet.
Clearly this benefit was costing AMEX more than that anticipated, as it’s being devalued after just 8 months.
-Effective June 1st, the Business Platinum airfare redemption rebate will drop from 50% to 35%.
-Additionally, effective June 1st the rebate will be capped at 500,000 rebated points per calendar year.
Let’s take the example from Miami to Tel Aviv via Newark from that post. The ticket was $623.18 round-trip. That is 31,159 points round-trip after 50% back (a value of 2 cents per point) but it will be 40,506 points after 35% back (a value of 1.54 cents point) when that goes into effect on June 1st. If you book the ticket with a Consumer Platinum card you would also get an additional 2,493 points back, making the out of pocket cost 28,666 points with the 50% rebate (a value of 2.17 cents per point) or 38,013 points with the 35% rebate (a value of 1.64 cents per point).
With a Sapphire Reserve card you would need 41,545 points for the ticket ( a value of 1.5 cents per point).
And of course you earn miles for the flight, in this case you’ll earn 13,555 miles round-trip if you credit your flight to United’s Star Alliance partner, Singapore.
Of course you can supercharge your spending with a Chase Freedom Unlimited® card where you can also earn 1.5 points per dollar or with an AMEX Everyday Preferred card you can earn 1.5-4.5 points per dollar everywhere.
If AMEX offers insider fares for your desired ticket then the difference between AMEX and Sapphire Reserve will be more pronounced, but otherwise this is a boon Sapphire Reserve. Sapphire Reserve doesn’t make you wait for a rebate and offers a 1.5 cents per points value on hotels, car rentals, and activities. That’s still less value per point than AMEX (especially if you also have a Consumer Platinum card), but the additional categories and not having to wait for a rebate makes it more flexible.
File this under the too generous to last category. It’s still a lot better than using airline miles for inexpensive coach tickets, but it won’t be nearly as lucrative as it is now.
Will you start burning points by 5/31 to take advantage of the 50% rebate while it lasts?
HT: mochjas, via DDF and TPG
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65 Comments On "The AMEX Business Platinum 50% Points Rebate Is Being Devalued"
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nooooooooooooooo !!! any grandfathering in ?
Is it for premium classes as well?
The problem is that since they made this delay thingy you won’t even have the option to use the rebate points before the end of the 50%…
@mia flyer:
No.
@?:
Yes.
@SG:
HUCA to get it manually posted.
Magically all rebates we’ve been waiting for since 4/11 will post 6/1 so we can’t get another 50% on them.
Dan what about CSR. Do you think they will lower that as well. especially with Freedom Unlimited earning 1.5. Will they stop the ability to transfer points from Freedom to CSR Stop?
Shocking, truly shocking!! How could Amex know this was too rich? Maybe a blogger needed more clicks? Maybe a juicy cc referral was ending and an article was needed?
the 500,000 point cap is per card or per MR account?
WOW. I am gonna miss this. Was booking delta economy flights and business flights to Israel including the delta Business for 140k….
@High end hobo:
Did you HUCA for a manual credit?
@Motty:
I think that’s safe for now. It’s a more sustainable value.
@Greg Z:
LOL. If you think a company like AMEX makes their decisions in 3 days based on a blog post…
Odds are this was decided by April 11 when the 50% rebates stopped posting within a day. As High end hobo said, this way they can wait the official 6-10 weeks until June 1st.
@Dov:
I’ll reach out and try to find out.
@Joe G:
Yup, shame.
The real question is can we file a class action lawsuit, since legally they’d need to give a year of the benefit… I see that l a good chunk of people will be dropping their plat biz in favor of the csr just because there’s less reliability on Amex now….
Where can we leave feedback effectually for Amex?
(especially if you also have a Consumer Platinum card) why is a consumer better ?
How can you get 50% back with business card and 5 points from consumer card? you only use one card to pay with points not two
Here is my opening to get the annual fee refunded
@Dan:
Where do you HUCA for it? Regular number or MR department?
@miles:
Read the post.
@Anonymous:
The 50% rebate doesn’t require that you use the card, just that you have the card.
@moses:
MR.
I heard that if u opened the card between October 2016 and may 31 they will honor the 50% for 1 year from card opening. Anyone know if that’s true?
Boy the hits keep coming
Perhaps not surprisingly, there’s no mention here (not on any other blog I’ve seen) of the massive abuse and fraud that led to this.
Can I assume if I upgraded an old card, I will be grandfathered in for a year?
Makes sense that they shifted and will offer 1 year from when you opened the card. Otherwise, they could be found in violation of “bait-and-switch” for the $450 fee that they charged all those customers.
We knew this would end the day it was introduced. As with everything in this game, it was fun while it lasted. Move on to the next thing.
@Dan: “I think that’s safe for now. It’s a more sustainable value.” I think this is especially true with the new Altitude reserve.
@Sam:
True!
@Me:
Abuse didn’t lead to this, abuse can be fixed in other ways.
It was just too costly.
@Mendel:
Good question. Try Tweeting @AskAMEX and let us know what they say.
@Anonymous:
True, though I can all but guarantee that Altitude will see a devaluation of its categories or shutdowns of “category abusers” in short order.
I had biz plat cards for a while and I just opened a new one but it’s the same MR account as my other cards. Does that qualify for the uncapped 50%?
is 50% rebate only for Businees class or economy as well?
What does supercharge your spending mean?
@Mike:
Yes.
@shauly:
Business and first on all airlines.
Coach on the airline of your choice, though you can change that choice if you haven’t spend the $200 fee refund this year.
@Dave:
To earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere and then redeem them at 1.5-2 cents per point.
“or 38,013 points with the 35% rebate (a value of 1.64 cents per point).
With a Sapphire Reserve card you would need 41,545 points for the ticket ( a value of 1.5 cents per point).”
I would take the sapphire reserves 1.5 instant and simplistic value any day of the week over the 1.64 deferred and overly complicated value.
@Dan: “Abuse didn’t lead to this, abuse can be fixed in other ways.”
Maybe, maybe not, but it almost certainly hastened its demise. People who abuse and defraud ruin it for us all. They don’t just steal from the big corporations, but from all of us.
B”H I didn’t open this card — I would be quite annoyed
As a major player in this game and a power user of points and miles Amex pulled ahead of Chase over the last 6 months but now they just set themselves back. Very strange move, lets think back what happened here. Chase kicked Amex in 2016 with the introduction of the reserve. Amex answered back powerfully in October only to hurt themselves now. Chase is laughing on the sidelines watching Amex set themselves back in this war.
Is there a link to this announcement?
I’ve been using the benefit and love it.
My points refunds have all posted within about 2 days
@Amex was winning the war…until now: So true. They are a laughingstock.
@Amex was winning the war…until now: It’s almost as Amex asked for abuse by making this whole redeeming process overly complex,which savvy users who are more likely to abuse system. Chases simplicity attracts the everyday person and gives them better chance to be profitable.
Dan – what if I upgrade my Amex Green Biz to Amex Plat Biz last month, as opposed to opening a new account.
Will I still get until 03/2018 to get the 50% rebate?
@ANON:
Not yet, but I’d expect one soon.
@DanR:
Good question. Try Tweeting @AskAMEX and let us know what they say.
@Emgee: Don’t be ridiculous. They’re not after people who are squeezing them for every penny. They’re after big business clients who probably won’t even notice the difference between the 50 and 35 percent. Stop convincing yourself that when big banks make moves that are bad for you that they’re actually bad for them. To be blunt they probably couldn’t care less about your 30k a year in business (or whatever it is).
oh gosh I have like 500K points and I don’t know what to do with them. was waiting for next summer to book to Israel business w the whole mishpocha
@me
I think you are wrong. They do care they have to $30K users add up to allot of money. Besides many of us are heavy isers. I spend upwards of $5,000,000 per year on cc and i know there are many of us on this blog and others that are heavy players in this game. My spending shifts based on where is the best bang for my buck.
It’s not worth it to compete on value if that ultimately makes your brand lose money. However, I think this abrupt change really hurts them. They’d have come out of this much better if they’d stuck with 35% from the onset.
I see in the article that if I got the card 2 months ago I will still have another 10 months at 50% back correct?
@what do i do now:
When did you open your card?
@Shmuel:
Correct.
I opened a Business Gold card in 2015 but in October of 2016 upgraded it to the Business Platinum. Do you think they would consider that my date for opening the card, hence allowing me to use the 50% credit until then?
Should I just call and ask them?
in Nov. I know I have until November to spend it but still not good enough- maybe it is wise to open one for DW on 5/30 and transfer all my points to her account and get the 50% until may 2018- what you think?
Amex told me that for Ticets I bought last week I’ll sure get %50, and same for anything bought until June.
@wondering:
Call or Tweet and ask.
@what do i do now:
You can’t transfer points to your account.
You could open another Business Platinum for yourself though.
@Sam1:
Why wouldn’t you?
Seriously, need to read Dans Deals more closely. Just booked tix for $640 for 10 to Israel which was a great deal but didn’t bother figuring out this AMEX points thing, have so many AMEX points, now I’m feeling bad!!!
you saying I cant combine points from DW account to mine and V.V.? also I don’t think its worth opening another account under my name without sign up bonus. no?
It’s possible that an MR point redeemed for airfare with a 50% bonus cost Amex LESS than an MR point transferred to a FFP, but the airfare/travel redemptions are easier and thus redeemed more often than FFP transfers.
i opened my card before 10/1/16 and have already crossed the 500,00 threshold, does that mean that until june 1 i will still receive back 50% and after that nothing until jan 1 ? [and if takes 8 weeks to post, that means i might not even got back 50% on what i use till then ?]
@Dan
Just spoke to Amex rep, after redeeming 500k mr points WITH 50% back on the business platinum, THEN you’ll get moved to 35% (I’m wondering if this is annually or lifetime)
Apparently it’s 500k per year, so unless you’re burning miles like you’re on fire, this whole devaluation shouldn’t apply to you…. sorry @Dan and everyone else who burns as fast as they earn.
@Dan why would I use Chase to earn UR to purchase tickets when I can use the venture card to earn 2 cents per dollar for travel ? Especially given that the annual fee is $59
@what do i do now:
Depends on how many points you have and will use.
@bmw:
You will get 50% back uncapped for all redemptions until 5/31.
After that you’ll have to wait until 2018.
@Mendy r:
Incorrect.
@TM:
Because you can earn 1.5-5 points per dollar everywhere by using the right cards. Multiply 1.5-5 by 1.5 cents per point.
@Me: @Bog spender on cc: @Bog spender on cc. On point! @me you couldn’t be more wrong, I spend close to 1 mill on credit card for my business. I make sure to get a minimum of 1.5 ppd, that around 1.5 mill points annually 1.5, 1.6 or 2 value makes a huge difference in the value. Maximize if the value is not a crime. I only opened the Platinum card because of the 50% rebate, now I’m rethinking my strategy. This non consistency makes me very uncomfortable spending with their cards. You are completely off.
What is this points rebate I don’t understand it can someone explain it please
@Land of the free:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/100685
Question/Idea for post.
My grandfathered 50% just ended. Do the points I used from JAN-APR count towards the 500,000 calendar limit now, or does is reset now?
@Dan: thanx Dan for your help
If you card was open before October 2016 then there is a no grace period it goes straight to 35% June 1st?
What if they just charged my $450 fee
Just a thought i recently booked a ticked from EWR to Lax chase was 14k in points and amex was 18k points for the same ticket . With 50% in points back i saved 5k points Now with 35% points back it is cutting it close . I checked a few other fairs it seems that amex ups the points cost .
Can I change airline of choice for economy refund an unlimited amount of times if I have not yet used the $200 credit? If yes, is that official policy or just …. ?
Update: If you have opened or will open an AMEX Business Platinum Card between 10/1/16-5/31/17 you will get 50% airfare rebates with no cap until 1 full year has passed from when your account was opened!
That means you can still open a card through the end of May and take advantage of a full year of unlimited 50% airfare point rebates!