Amex PPS Club Credit Card

[sQchap]

I'm just wondering if anyone who had lost their PPS status lose their Amex PPS Club Credit Card as well?

I'm thinking of applying for the card but as I might not requal for next year's PPS status I would only be able to use the card for 2 years. Do they really check on your PPS status every other year?

[LionCity]

I have no experience with the credit card withdrawal issue. But I will tell you my experiences:

1. First year is free but they insisted I should pay SGD 165 for the renewal and they claimed they made no exceptions at all. Someone told me that he was not charged for the renewal. Might be a mistake on Amex's system or they do make exceptions.

2. My understanding that the card is valid for two years and will not be canceled within that 2 years period even if PPS Membership lapse. Suggest you double check on this.

3. Attractiveness is that they give 1 mile for 50 cents spent SQ on air tickets. But this is negated by rise in number of miles required to book SQ F & J tickets on A380 or 77W.

4. However, note that it does not give double mileage on MI tickets. This is contrary to the Krisflyer Amex Gold Card.

5. The free 25,000 miles for upgrading is difficult to use. You should also note that there are many conditions attached to it. For e.g. if your redeeming requirement is 30,000 miles, you are entitled only to 15,000 miles (or something like that) off and not 25,000 miles off. There are also a time expiry and redemption saving is negated by the 15% discount given for online redemption booking for upgrades or full redemption tickets. I always throw mine away as it is not very useful for me as I usually used my miles to redeem long haul tickets.

The above is based on my memory and it isn't my best point...so double check.

Happy Spending!

[upright man]

2. My understanding that the card is valid for two years and will not be canceled within that 2 years period even if PPS Membership lapse. Suggest you double check on this.

5. The free 25,000 miles for upgrading is difficult to use. You should also note that there are many conditions attached to it. For e.g. if your redeeming requirement is 30,000 miles, you are entitled only to 15,000 miles (or something like that) off and not 25,000 miles off. There are also a time expiry and redemption saving is negated by the 15% discount given for online redemption booking for upgrades or full redemption tickets. I always throw mine away as it is not very useful for me as I usually used my miles to redeem long haul tickets.

Hi,

2. Correct. The card is valid for 2 years, with the $165 fee to be paid at start of second year. Therefore, apply for it for free and use it for one year if you dont want to pay the $165.

5. I found my redemption voucher very useful, cos I redeemed 2 economy tickets to NRT for 30000 miles each with it.

Best feature is still 2 miles per S$1 spent online for bookings on SQ website, and this includes surcharges/taxes.

Overall, I am very happy with this Amex card.

Cheers.

[SuperJonJon]

It is a great card for mileage accural to KF! Since I use the card for all my tickets.

[MAN Flyer]

It is a great card for mileage accural to KF!

It is for those of you in a country where they have the bl**dy thing...

[nickbot]

It is for those of you in a country where they have the bl**dy thing...

Grrr too right,...those of us in the UK have to make do with convoluted methods of earning KF miles via credit card spending (AMEX to Priority Club, Priority Club to KF) - oh how nice it would be to have a UK KF AMEX!

[token01]

HA

lol dont get me started until recently all we could do in AUS was use the DINERS CLUB card (great card that is) and every 2 dollars u spent u got one point - finally AMEX has offered points through one of its membership programs

[jjpb3]

Grrr too right,...those of us in the UK have to make do with convoluted methods of earning KF miles via credit card spending (AMEX to Priority Club, Priority Club to KF) - oh how nice it would be to have a UK KF AMEX!

My sentiments exactly. ( to SQ for neglecting UK-based frequent flyers.)

[Savage25]

Just saw this on the Amex Singapore website for new PPS Amex applications:

Up to 35,000 KrisFlyer miles with our compliments
With our exclusive welcome gift of up to 35,000 KrisFlyer miles*, you’ll be taking off to your dream destination sooner than you think. You can redeem it for:

• Up to 65% off the KF miles required for up to two Economy (YCL) Saver flight (subjected to a maximum of 35 KF miles); or
• Up to 25% off the KF miles required for up to two Economy (Unrestricted) flight (subjected to a maximum of 25 KF miles); or
• Up to 50% off the KF miles required for one Upgrade flight (subjected to a maximum of 25 KF miles)

5,000 bonus miles
The very first time you charge to your American Express Singapore Airlines PPS Club Platinum Credit Card, we will give you an activation bonus of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles.

Both my PPS status and my current PPS Amex card expire at the end of November.

1. Has anyone had their PPS Amex card renewed recently under this situation or were you downgraded to the KrisFlyer Gold card?

2. If you got the PPS Amex renewed, what was the renewal bonus offered - the 25K or 35K miles offer?

[StarG]

Will they be changing their card design to match the new PPS card look?

[oblivious]

Speaking of which, how do you use the bonus miles? Mine came without any instructions, just the voucher/card... do you book through Amex or through Krisflyer or is the bonus automatically applied when you redeem miles?
________
Herbal grinder

[milehighj]

do you book through Amex or through Krisflyer or is the bonus automatically applied when you redeem miles?

You have to call Krisflyer to book. Once confirmed, inform them you want to use the Amex bonus, and they will take care of it. This also means that you are not entitled to the 15% online booking discount at the same time.

[The High Flyer]

I have the AMEX PPS Credit Card. Got it when my PPS status was expiring. My status expired in April this year, and my card will expire in February next year.

The free 25,000 miles (now increased to 30,000) can be a little tricky to use, but it can be done. My colleague used them to upgrade himself to F one-way when he had a paid C ticket on FRA-SIN. I didn't have the luxury of travelling on C, so the best I could do was to upgrade my SIN-SGN-SIN trip in Y to C (both ways). It was 7,500 miles one way and 15,000 on both. So I forfeited 10,000 miles.

One thing to note here. It seems there might be a loophole with respect to the 10% discount on purchases. The LSS on my recent SQ178 flight rightfully checked my status against her passenger manifest when I bought my A380 model and confirmed that I WOULD NOT be entitled to any discount. Still, one LS made a mistake during the transaction and they gave it to me anyway.

Fast forward to shopping at Nuance-Watson @ Changi Airport. I got my 10% during a cosmetic purchase, no questions asked. Hmmm...

[259850]

I called this morning to cancel the card. I was put through a someone who wanted to know why. I said that the reasons are the high annual fees, and the inability to match the product offering of another new card in the market. She kept harping about the benefits and I still insisted on cancelling. Finally she offered to waive the fee, "on an exceptional basis, just for this year". So I agreed to keep the card, but the spending still will go to Citibank Premier Miles.

[SuperJonJon]

I called this morning to cancel the card. I was put through a someone who wanted to know why. I said that the reasons are the high annual fees, and the inability to match the product offering of another new card in the market. She kept harping about the benefits and I still insisted on cancelling. Finally she offered to waive the fee, "on an exceptional basis, just for this year". So I agreed to keep the card, but the spending still will go to Citibank Premier Miles.

Cool!
Guess I will try that when my annual fee is due.