What is the best course of action for a new Amex Platinum Charge cardholder due to the upcoming changes in April 2019?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
1

Hi all, very new to this card and points world.

Quick background, I’m 2nd generation QF employee so have staff travelled around the world once or twice, but as most QF employees will know it’s becoming harder and harder to get a J class seat on Staff Travel. This also means I have no bloody idea what I’m doing using points!

My wife and I joined AMEX platinum after a lot of research and blind faith 3 months ago and have quickly got to almost 150k points. Two questions.

  1. April sees the change over of points, more points for the dollars you spend but less points for the airlines. Currently 1:1 conversion, April goes to 2:1 serverly reducing the points effectiveness. Do I make the change over to an airline points program just before? And who to I go to?

  2. For those of you who have the Platinum card, what are effective ways to manage/use the perks and points?

Ps any QF group employees with tips using staff travel and points would be greatly appreciated!

2

If you have the Amex platinum ( not edge) your existing points balance should be doubled. Read the letter Amex sent you.

If doubled your existing balance is protected. It’s just new spend post 15th April will be at the new rates.

3

My understanding is not all platinum members get their balance doubled, so if you don’t receive confirmation that it applies to you, a good strategy would be to transfer them out before the devaluation.

Where to really depends on your future travel goals. I’d use the next few weeks to plan and practice dummy bookings to get s sense of fees and points required. Also look at sites like award hacker to see what programs get you there for less. If you get cheap Oneworld/qantas travel, maybe look at Star Alliance partners to have all bases covered?