One of the key criteria that a lot of banks put out these days is to meet a certain amount of spend before you can have access to a bonus kitty of miles. The intention is to get the customers to spend a certain amount of money on the card in a certain period of time, and get them used to the card. Take for instance the following: Citibank PremierMiles wants you to spend INR 50,000 to be able to receive an extra 10,000 PremierMiles on a new application within the first 60 days. IndusInd wants you to spend INR 125,000 to be able to earn an extra 20,000 JPMiles within the first 100 days. SBI Air India Visa Signature…
American Express
Tag Archives for American Express.
I just cancelled my Amex Platinum!
Yeah! And it feels liberating! American Express charges INR 50,000 per annum + taxes to provide you their Platinum Charge Card. They promise the world with it, including a luxurious do anything concierge service and access to the Platinum Travel Desk. However, unlike their home market, the USA, the fees is more than double that market, and the privileges are 1/2 or so of that market. There are no mileage or Membership Rewards points to get you started as well, unlike the 100K MR offer in the USA last year. With this insight, this card was never a competitor in my pocket since it was not worthy of the fee in my opinion. Now, earlier this year, American Express India…
Airbnb offering upto INR 4000 off to Amex India cardholders
Airbnb is a website where you can rent out lodging offered by other hosts in their homes in the form of a room, a bed or a complete apartment by itself. They have recently entered into a tie-up with American Express in India, to offer Amex’s Indian card members a discount of 50% (upto 4000 INR) for one booking per registered member. Here is how it works. You select a property on AirBnb, get your price quote in INR, then plug the coupon code which is AMEX#### (the #### are your Amex Card’s first 4 digits). This brings up the discount on your reservation and then you can go ahead and pay the rest of the amount. You can book…
Amex MR to adjust mileage transfer ratio (downwards) in India again
Last year, American Express went about readjusting the cost of transferring MR points into miles with various programs they partner with. While the usual transfer rate used to be 1.6 MR = 1 Mile, after last year’s readjustment everything except JPMiles and Air India Flying Returns Points, everything was 2 MR = 1 Mile. Now, as per email communication being sent out to members today, this will change as of May 2014 as well: Effective May 10, 2014, there will be a change in airline miles redemption for Jet Airways and Air India. The existing Membership Rewards redemption rate of 1 JPMile for every 1.6 Membership Rewards Points and 1 Air India Mile for every 1.25 Membership Rewards Points would…
Amex Travel Services: Plain Dumb?
I’ve been working to explore the feature set of my American Express Platinum Charge Card, which I finally acquired a couple of months back after all they threw in INR 40,000 worth of Taj Vouchers along with the other goodies. One of the things I’ve been looking forward to using is their Travel Services, which is basically a travel agent on the phone. Now, being American Express and all that, you’d expect that the Travel Counsellors, as they are called, would do a thorough job of researching the properties and flights before they’d send you a quote. My expectation of an offline travel agent, at least some of the good ones I work with, is that they don’t just want…
American Express adds 7 lounges across India
American Express is trying to step up their product offering in India after a very very long time (say 5 years!). In 2012, they came up with the American Express Jet Airways co-branded credit card, which has been in my wallet since, and now they are adding some serious muscle to their existing offerings. American Express cards did not offer much of Lounge access in India, apart from access to the Mumbai and Delhi Platinum lounge, that too, not for everyone, only Platinum and Centurion Card holders, and Jet Platinum Credit Card holders without any guests. Of course, Platinum Card holders and Centurion Card holders get Priority Passes as well, but this did not have the convenience of having a…
Amex Platinum Reserve and Jet co-brand cards available at INR 5,000 for first year
One of the less widely covered American Express Credit Card on my blog is the American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card. Originally meant to be the credit card version of the American Express Charge Card, the Credit Card comes with some limited but still useful benefits. While a full review of this product will have to wait, here are some of the benefits of this card: 22,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points on signup 1 Membership Rewards Point for every Rs.40 spent Access to the American Express Lounges at Delhi and Mumbai Dosmestic Airports Complimentary membership to Taj Epicure Plus Gold Tier in the Taj Inner Circle program Priority Pass, with two complimentary visits per annum Now, the usual fees for…
Last Call: OneWorld Sapphire via American Express Platinum ends March 2014
One of the benefits offered by American Express Platinum Charge Cards in some markets, including India, UK & Canada has been Complimentary Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Gold Status. This equates to oneworld Sapphire status, which provides you with the following benefits: Business Class Priority Check-in Preferred Seating Business Class Lounge Access with one guest Priority Boarding While this is not an advertised benefit, the reason for that is that this benefit is being withdrawn with effect from 31 March 2014. However, American Express has confirmed that for anyone who is holding the card or gets the card before 31 March 2014 and is able to get their completed form across for Cathay Pacific Gold, they will be able to honour…
Free Ticket codes very good reason why you should keep your Jet co-branded credit cards
One of the query I receive frequently from readers has been about the renewal for their Jet Airways co-branded credit cards issued by HDFC Bank, American Express and ICICI Bank. Most readers find it attractive to receive the card in the first year with 15,000 to 30,000 JP Miles as sign-up bonus, and want to cancel it after the first year because the second year renewal benefits are not as good, and they are paying the same amount of fees. While everyone who likes collecting miles across the globe loves to look at the US banks and the ability of US residents to churn credit cards every 3-6 months for big sign-up bonuses, it is a heartbreak indeed that the…
My 2014 Credit Card Strategy
Last week, I wrote about my 2013 Mileage Credit Card strategy, where I told you guys I managed to get something about 264,000 miles basis credit cards issued in India for the full calendar year. For 2014, here are the credit cards I am looking at having in my wallet. Take note that while I intend to publish full reviews for each product at some point of time, it may be a while before I would be able to bring them all in the fold. To make it simple, I’ve updated my Mileage CC calculator for 2014 numbers, so have a look and see which is the best one for you. Here are the cards I already have, and I’ll…
My 2013 Indian Credit Card mileage wins
I know it is a little late in the day to put out a round up for 2013, but I thought I’d do it anyways. I did not get the time to put a post earlier than this, but all I can tell you is we are lucky to be living in times when the mileage earning game is just about getting started in this country. And I am happy to be on board earlier rather than later. For the rest of you, miles and points are not just a silly hobby, but they can finance a lifestyle if you did all the right things. For the longest time, for 10 years or so actually, India just had one major…
