Questions and Answers

I made a mess today and need HELP please. I would love to travel to Kenya Africa through Dubai using United Arab Emirates first class but of course I can’t afford to pay $$$ for it. After research, I realized I can earn points through SPG, transfer them to JAL and book my flight though JAL. I figured out I will need the following credit cards to fund my SPG account: SPG guest preferred, SPG business card and Marriott Chase card. So last week I applied for a guess SPG card and Marriott card from Chase and got approved for both. However, I got an email over the weekend from SPG about my free two notes after the spending limit…that’s when I realized that’s sPG had changed their over from 25000 to two free notices. I decided to wait until I receive the credit card today to contact Customer Service to see if they’d be willing to offer 25000 instead of free nights. Unfortunately I got run arounds between SPG and American Express and was finally told that they can’t change an offer after the card is opened. May be its me but I just don’t see how they can’t change the offer…it’s their card! Anyway I got so upset and asked them to cancel the card. My thinking was I can cancel and reopen the card down the road since I didn’t cash the bonus. Am I correct or will they consider the offer a once in a life time deal? The card was oepened and closed today and no charge was made? Can I open the guest card again may be in 3 months and if so will I get a sign on bonus? If not is there another way whatsoever to get SPG points? I do plan on getting SPG business after I am done with the Marriott card. Please help me get SPG points.

Well since you didnt get the bonus, I dont think you’ll have a problem reapplying and getting the bonus if/when the terms change.

Promotional bonus are very, very rarely changed, especially after applying and getting approved for a card. The only exceptions banks may make are if bonus points were increased after you applied for card, banks sometimes will provide the difference in points provided you opened the card very recently and meet the new terms of the bonus.

Where are you planning on flying to Kenya from? Assuming it’s the US, have you looked into the Alaska MileagePlan program? EK awards devalued but it could still be worth it if you open their credit card and if you can buy miles when there is a promotion.

One never knows with AMEX. might depend on if you activated the card. Sounds like you didn’t therefore have a good argument that you never had the card or bonus. If you activated then they can say you had the card. Of course this is logic and lately lots of things in this hobby have been illogical. Good luck.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 21935, member: 29″]Well since you didnt get the bonus, I dont think you’ll have a problem reapplying and getting the bonus if/when the terms change.

Promotional bonus are very, very rarely changed, especially after applying and getting approved for a card. The only exceptions banks may make are if bonus points were increased after you applied for card, banks sometimes will provide the difference in points provided you opened the card very recently and meet the new terms of the bonus.

Where are you planning on flying to Kenya from? Assuming it’s the US, have you looked into the Alaska MileagePlan program? EK awards devalued but it could still be worth it if you open their credit card and if you can buy miles when there is a promotion.[/QUOTE]

Planning on traveling from Florida to Dubai or Europe then Kenya. Do you know if Alaska has a limit on the number of credit cards? It looks like I would need 150000 miles one way from NY to Dubai First Class.

[QUOTE=”MarkS, post: 21936, member: 2121″]One never knows with AMEX. might depend on if you activated the card. Sounds like you didn’t therefore have a good argument that you never had the card or bonus. If you activated then they can say you had the card. Of course this is logic and lately lots of things in this hobby have been illogical. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Mark, unfortunately I had to activate the card to talk to someone. I will definitely try again and make an argument that even though I got the product I didn’t get the bonus

I believe that the Alaska Airlines cards are still churnable though I’m 100% sure. You can definitely apply for the personal and business cards though – thats 30k after spending $1000 on each card

Mary K, just so you are aware, if you apply for this card again you must make sure you are eligible. The terms and conditions for the SPG card are clear in bold letters

“Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.”

This doesn’t mean you won’t get it as you certainly have unusual circumstance. A workaround might be to get the SPG business card. Good luck,

To answer your question about Alaska, their card bonus is 30K with 1K spend. A number of stories have circulated about multiple bonuses by opening multiple cards within a short time frame. There are also stories about Bank of America cutting down on this practice. I don’t play that game so I don’t have first hand experience. However they do have a business card and you can get both, even with a business that doesn’t have any revenue. Plus as [USER=29]@David W[/USER] indicated they do sell miles and often have specials where you can get them for around 2 cents. Alaska is a transfer partner with SPG so you can still convert your Marriott points to SPG than transfer them out to AK. Also, while I’ve never dealt with JAL on a mileage reward, I would guess that dealing with AK is going to be much easier, starting with the fact you can book the reward online.

Good luck.

[URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/personal-card-application/terms/starwood-preferred-credit-card/25330-10-0/?print#offerBenefitTermsDisclosures[/URL]

Hi [USER=2405]@Mary K[/USER], and welcome!

With Amex, you won’t be eligible for any future bonus on the card (unless the rules change), as they restrict the bonus to people who have never had the card before.

Chase, on the other hand, restricts the bonus based on how recently you’ve received a bonus for a certain card.

So if this were a Chase card, you’d be able to get the bonus in future, but since it’s Amex, you probably won’t be eligible.