So I was looking to boost my Membership Reward Points balance and if you remember from my post on Membership Rewards Uncovered, I am a fan of their earn website.  I needed to make some regular household purchases a few weeks back, and also I needed to rack up my spend on my new Business Gold Rewards Card(R) from American Express OPEN.  It has a high minimum spend of $10,000 but the promise of 75,000 points as the fruit of my spending labor, I couldn’t resist it.

Heading to the American Express earn site I was greeted with “it is currently down” or words to that effect.  I figured maintenance or whatnot.  A couple days later, with it still being inactive and unavailable some investigation was needed.  After a few calls to Membership Rewards, I was told the news (eventually, after conflicting information) that the program has been discontinued with no indication if it will come back.

Hmn… Mr. Amex, that’s a blow to your non-branded card benefits in my mind.  For me now the Chase Sapphire Preferred which also has flexibility in transfer partners and still has multiple times point earning through their Ultimate rewards earn site, has now muscled past the Amex in some ways.  Time will tell if American Express replaces the program.

On a separate but related note, I had just charged multiple bag fees on my Platinum American Express recently of over $100, basking in the smugness that American Express would foot the bill of up to $200 a year in airline fees.  My smugness was short lived in when I called to action this I was told they didn’t cover certain low cost airlines (Mesa) and I hadn’t designated an airline before anyway.  My mistake of course; but one I was not expecting.  I subsequently called American Express to ask if I could transfer those purchases to my business card to edge closer to the minimum spend, and the answer was no … but “I will remove them from your balance and you can even keep your $200 airline fee limit for later credits, as we want you to be happy”; Happy I was!  This was an example of American Express’ great customer service that is not always consistent, but sometimes a relatively small gesture goes a long way.

Deal of the Day

For today’s Deal of the Day TopCashback is donating $50 cash (to be deposited to your TopCashback.com account) for the best overall travel deal submitted. A great mileage run, mistake fare, partner promo, new card sign-up offer, or the special twist you figured out on a deal today. Add it to the comments section of this post (along with your First Name, Last Initial, and Airport Code) or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post to be eligible to win.