American Express backtracks on changes to Preferred Rewards Gold referral bonuses

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• Matt says:

  24 Mar24 March 05:26

  Hi would anyone be able to tell me if/how booking BA flights via Opodo affects status benefits i.e. free seat selection at time of booking, lounge access, bonus Avios etc. Your comments would be appreciated!

  • Lax says:

    24 Mar24 March 06:22

    It doesn’t.

  • Rob says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:08

    It doesn’t. Same as normal.

• callum says:

  24 Mar24 March 06:34

  Sorry as this is a stupid point to pick up on, but why is it “amazing” that the plane continues from Perth to Melbourne? It’s what the plane would be doing anyway if it was still connecting in Dubai! And yes, it is available with Avios.

  • Rob says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:07

    Dubai gave it a break though. My logic was that after 17 hours – when the plane will be a tip and various minor maintenance issues will have popped up – they would want to leave it in Perth for a few hours.

    • callum says:

      24 Mar24 March 12:06

      The layover on QF1 is just as short though – I’d imagine that stuff can just wait until Melbourne. Remember it’s actually a LHR-MEL direct service with a stop in Perth, having a prolonged stay in Perth will take away a lot of the benefit for those flying from Melbourne. Not least because Perth airport isn’t the most fun place in the world to spend a few hours!

      (And do let me know if you have an issue with my comments – if it bothers you half as much as it seems to have bothered Geoff and JamesB I’ll happily stop making them!)

  • @mkcol says:

    24 Mar24 March 09:16

    If it is available with Avios I’d love to know where & how as I’ve searched extensively to find nought.

    • callum says:

      24 Mar24 March 11:51

      I only tried a couple of dates but the 23rd October has seats – just on BA.com.

• Michael says:

  24 Mar24 March 07:00

  Hoe many TP does LHR-PER direct earn. Doesn’t appear on the calculator yet

  • Genghis says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:58

    240 in J

  • Louise says:

    24 Mar24 March 09:30

    That’s what I was thinking. There’s no real TP benefit from a non-stop flight. IIRC, if you change at Dubai or Doha, you get 2 x long haul TP rates for outbound and return. And you get to have a bit of a break, depending on transfer times.

    • Adam says:

      24 Mar24 March 10:52

      Assuming you were going to syd this is actually better tier points wise than going via Middle East or Asia. Lhr – doh/dxb/hkg/nrt/sin/kul – syd would net 300tp each way. 140+160. Lhr-per-syd would net you 380tp each way, 240+140.

      Melbourne would be marginally less at 280 each way. 240+40.

• Sandgrounder says:

  24 Mar24 March 07:19

  I found seats out 23/9 back 1/10. 100k Avois plus £576 for economy. Bit pricy for a journey which could be considered cruel and unusual punishment 🙂

  • Chris A says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:10

    Yes that is rather pricey: I flew economy to Perth with Emirates for £480.

  • The Original Nick says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:10

    In Y yes, but J or F, I would quite happily enjoy it.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      24 Mar24 March 08:15

      300k Avios and (I imagine) £600+ doesn’t sound like great value for business compared to some of the prices from the ME carriers over the last few years. It would certainly be an experience though.

      • Lady London says:

        24 Mar24 March 20:32

        Thai 16 hours even in Business from Bangkok to Paris nearly finished me off. I have no idea how the pax in Economy on that flight survived it. I just don’t think I could face 17 hours to Perth in whatever class. Even a change of aircraft/break in lounge at Doha at 2am has got to be better as at least it’s a break.

    • HAM76 says:

      24 Mar24 March 08:18

      Alas, the Qantas 787-9 doesn‘t have First…

  • Tracy says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:40

    How are you finding availability? I can’t see it…

• AndyR says:

  24 Mar24 March 08:22

  OT but related to Amex Gold – anyone else had issues getting the 5000 welcome points for the Gold Companion card? I didn’t receive them, contacted Amex & they say you have to be invited to apply otherwise you don’t get them. It doesn’t mention this on the signup page?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:43

    Does the welcome page still show the 5k bonus offer when you click the link through the website? If so take a screenshot and ask them where it says you must be invited to receive the offer?

    I find calling gets far better responses than the chat

    • G says:

      24 Mar24 March 08:50

      Mine didn’t post either back in January. I was told to wait a month. Still nothing. Then they said they would post by the end of March and they have finally turned up.

      I just used the link without being invited for it but was never questioned on eligibility.

    • meta says:

      24 Mar24 March 09:01

      I had the same issue end of last year. I took a screenshot when applying. 5000 MR didn’t appear, so the chat agent said I have to be invited, but I said I have a screenshot of the application page. He then said it will post in 4 weeks. It didn’t, so I was back on chat. They then opened a case for me and said it will take 7-10 days to resolve. On the 11th day they still didn’t post, so I phoned in and they added manually then and there. Lesson learned – don’t use chat!

      • Lady London says:

        24 Mar24 March 20:33

        After that wait I’d have asked for more 🙂

  • mark2 says:

    24 Mar24 March 11:04

    My 5,000 for uninvited companion card posted with the transaction taking spend over £500. There was never any mention of the progress (although it was only about a week). All of the points from the companion card have been added to the points on the main charge card account rather than on the companion card.

    • Sussex bantam says:

      24 Mar24 March 13:59

      Same for mine. One £502 transaction 5500 points. Thanks for the tip mark2 !

  • AndyR says:

    24 Mar24 March 14:24

    Thanks everyone. I have received the points ok for the purchases into my main Gold card account, it’s just the bonus points that didn’t appear when I hit £500.

    I was told that I didn’t qualify via chat so will try giving them a call. Fingers crossed.

• jon says:

  24 Mar24 March 08:47

  OT
  From yesterdays chat it was posted that

  There’s an upgrade off for upgrading to Platinum.
  https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/platinum-charge/upgrade/

  Is this really an offer?

  Thought it was standard for an upgrade?
  Thanks

  • G says:

    24 Mar24 March 08:52

    It does get pulled sometimes, so it’s not always guaranteed to be available

    • jon says:

      24 Mar24 March 10:13

      Thanks

  • Rob says:

    24 Mar24 March 15:12

    It is not openly promoted.

  • Sparkzilla says:

    24 Mar24 March 19:43

    My wife is just about to apply for an AMEX, so i’m now thinking she should take gold, spend the 2k and then upgrade to plat (assuming the offer is still there).

    Could she take out gold and then immediately upgrade to plat and still receive the gold welcome 20,000 points and the platinum 20,000?

    • Lady London says:

      24 Mar24 March 20:35

      Why are you not referring her and getting a bonus yourself as well, the amount of which would be according to your own level of card, surely?

      • Sparkzilla says:

        24 Mar24 March 21:38

        I don’t currently hold an Amex, we go through cycles and this application starts the chain off.

    • mark2 says:

      24 Mar24 March 23:13

      She will need to spend £2,000 on gold to get 20,000 (or 22,000 with a referral e.g. Rob).

      • Sparkzilla says:

        27 Mar27 March 07:55

        Thanks all, I shall complete the gold through a referal before upgrading to platinum 🙂

• Mark says:

  24 Mar24 March 09:11

  O/T, thinking of doing the 20k MR upgrade from Gold to Plat after hitting our sign up bonus target and wondered how easy it is to combine the Plat hotel status benefits with an existing hotel points account; do you have to sign up for each scheme separately to get the status and then contact each hotel chain to combine with any accounts you already have?

  • Paul says:

    24 Mar24 March 09:20

    You apply via the Amex platinum benefits page, enter your existing hotel membership number and your account gets upgraded to the relevant status shortly thereafter. No need to open new accounts, merge etc

    • MarkH says:

      24 Mar24 March 09:43

      Also if you already have an account in a particular scheme upgrading the status seems to be a lot quicker than if a new account has to be opened

  • Anna says:

    24 Mar24 March 09:21

    I’ve just enrolled for HH gold after upgrading to Platinum, there’s a box for your HH number so I’m assuming they marry it up with your current account. I’d think the other hotel schemes would be the same.

• Kilburnflyer says:

  24 Mar24 March 09:14

  3,000 bonus MR for adding supplementary card to Amex Gold Account is now BACK.

  Message appeared when I logged in this morning.
  NB. This may be a targeted offer

  • Jack says:

    24 Mar24 March 09:35

    I feel like I should know this and I’m sure it’s been asked a million times: are supp applications a full credit check? For the supp or the cardholder?

    • MarkH says:

      24 Mar24 March 09:40

      No credit check as they are simply spending on the main cardholder’s account

      • Jack says:

        24 Mar24 March 09:46

        Thanks, makes sense.

  • Bach says:

    24 Mar24 March 15:57

    Just did it on my BAPP, was waiting for this. Thanks!

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