Comments on: Has the Starwood American Express card finally been outdone?

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:42:30 +0000

https://wwwa.applyonlinenow.com/USCCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=UABAC5

Hard to find I know! Not even on BAC website…

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:58:06 +0000

I have tried everything I can do to find this card. Bank of America tells me they only offer a VISA card–no American Express–and the VISA only offers 2 miles for every dollar spent on an Asiana ticket purchases and some grocery stores. I only gives 1 mile per dollar on other purchases. Can anyone help me find the American Express version that offers 2 miles for every dollar spent?

By: lucky

lucky — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:07:59 +0000

10,000 Priority Club points gets you 2,000 miles, which isn’t exactly a compelling deal.

By: echohorn

echohorn — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:57:47 +0000

@Gary and Lucky- Any idea what the transfer ratio from ICH to Asiana is?

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:17:27 +0000

@lucky, alas, you’re right. Called up MR rep and confirmed you can’t convert from SPG pts to MR pts. That’s really too bad.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:28:11 +0000

@ Lucky, to be fair it *IS* possible to transfer from Hyatt, SPG, and Priority Club to Asiana. My concern is that someone really needs to be earning their miles from credit card spend, rather than the myriad sources of points (promos, iDine, what have you) because the partners are in fact quite limited.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:18:57 +0000

Now THAT sounds like a real trick. Do tell. I am not familiar with this option at all. I’d be surprised if it were possible.

By: lucky

lucky — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:13:01 +0000

@ Gary — Spot on. I’m not running to get an Asiana credit card because of the fact that there are hardly any partner transfer options, which is a pain, especially when you’re close to an award. for certain people, it’s a great award, though!

@ Paul — Both Gary and I are *very* familiar with the American Express Membership Rewards program, and I can assure you that’s not an option, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. Can you point out where you can conver 1SPG>3MR points. I know it’s possible the other way around (1MR>1/3SPG), but that’s not exactly a deal.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:07:28 +0000

Gary, I was referring to the other reverse conversion ( 1 SPG pt -> 3 Membership Rewards pts ), then on to ANA or Air France, etc.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:50:06 +0000

It’s Membership Rewards -> SPG at 3:1, and that’s not especially appealing

Meanwhile, this is an outstanding card for a very limited set of circumstances.

There aren’t too many opportunities to earn Asiana miles as a member based in North America other than credit card spend and by crediting flights (although they do offer very favorable terms under which to qualify for Star Alliance Gold — for up to FOUR YEARS).

So you either need to decide to be an OZ member for crediting miles, or be able to earn your awards solely on credit card spend.

And once you do earn those awards, their chart is very favorable for US East Coast – Europe. Indeed, the better value than the 8k mile award is the 10k mile award — only 80k miles in business, or $40k in spend. And that allows up to FOUR STOPOVERS.

But the greater distance awards tend to increase proportionately in points and become less lucrative. This is not a chart you really want to fly to Asia under. With the 2 miles per dollar on all spen tthe chart becomes barely palatable.

Personally, since I don’t make Europe my reward goal generally, this isn’t the card for me. But it can have real leverage for someone willing to put all their eggs in this basket, or with enough credit card spend to earn awards with this card AND other cards.

Personally, I’ll still keep the flexibility that comes with the Starwood Amex. But there’s real punch here…