Positive changes to Ascent.
Discuss Positive changes to Ascent, on the American Express Rewards forum of FrequentFlyer.com.au, the home of frequent flyers.
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I just got the Ascent catalogue in the mail today, and there's a number of positive changes to the program (it's rare that it can be said of programs these days). The changes don't appear to be reflected on the Amex website yet, but hopefully will be soon.
Key changes:
KrisFlyer transfers now 1 to 1 instead of 2 to 1.
AsiaMiles now 4 to 3 instead of 2 to 1.
Royal Orchid Plus now 4 to 3 instead of 2 to 1.
Enrich now 4 to 3 instead of 2 to 1.
50% bonus on transfers to Velocity Rewards until 31st May (so 1 to 1.5)
50% bonus on transfers to Priority Club until 31st May (so 1000 to 900)
Addition of Jumeirah hotels as well as a partner, basically 1000 to 330 transfer.
Starwood Preferred Guest is also now listed as 1000 to 600 but I *think* that might be a typo (the same is listed for Hilton transfer as well).
Certainly encourages me to keep earning points on the Amex anyway.
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Absolutely fantastic! Krisflyer 1:1 is a real plus ........ Go just about anywhere with Krisflyer is cheaper than Qantas with a lot less fuel fines, and more flexible than VS/DJ ...... So is CX (even though only 4:3) it is still much better than Qantas IMO.
I wonder with the new scheme, which is the best airline/hotel partner to transfer points .......
I have always liked the flexibility of being able to transfer Amex points to most airlines. With this new rate, it'd be great. I wonder whether anyone has done a chart listing difference in points required & costs of top up points between various popular ff programs. There appear to be some major ( unjustifiable ) difference in points & top up $ required between programs/airlines. For instance, it seems much easier to get seats in Virgin Atlantic AND for something like 300 % less points ? Singapore Air requires more points but their top up rate is cheap, etc. I guess now that the Amex points have changed in value, that'll change some of the point requirement discrepancy.
I got the catalogue last night and one of the inserts referred to TravelKey - 12,000 points for $100 of travel has become 10,000 points - but then I did those sums in my head - that means for a $10,000 return to the US In J you would need 1,000,000 points - that does not seem great value surely...
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Absolutely fantastic! Krisflyer 1:1 is a real plus ........ Go just about anywhere with Krisflyer is cheaper than Qantas with a lot less fuel fines,
I wouldn't say Krisflyer has a lot less fuel fines, but it does have less. However the points at 1:1 is fantastic. An online booking J class to Europe (eg FRA, LHR, MAN, ATH) using the "old" SQ business class costs 127.5K points - the same fare as Y class on QF (although as they upgrade aircraft progressively these options will disappear completely, but even if they do, the "new" J class will be identical in points to QF J). On Y products, eg to Europe SQ is 80K for online booking is better than QF, and not dependent on aircraft type.
I wouldn't say Krisflyer has a lot less fuel fines, but it does have less. However the points at 1:1 is fantastic. An online booking J class to Europe (eg FRA, LHR, MAN, ATH) using the "old" SQ business class costs 127.5K points - the same fare as Y class on QF (although as they upgrade aircraft progressively these options will disappear completely, but even if they do, the "new" J class will be identical in points to QF J). On Y products, eg to Europe SQ is 80K for online booking is better than QF, and not dependent on aircraft type.
All online bookings on SQ flights are 15% off which is a plus.
Also Australia to Pacific Islands (Tahiti, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji etc) return with free stopover at Auckland on AirNZ is 25K on Y, 35K on J, 45K on F ..... Which is so much better than Qantas.
And yes in my past experience, I do find SQ redemption tickets to have much cheaper fuel fines than Qantas redemption tickets ..... HKG-ICN, SYD-AKL-CHC for example .......
Of course the only bad thing about Krisflyer is 3 year expiry of points .... That's why it is better to leave the points in Amex and convert to KF miles in the last minute!
Last edited by edison; 8th April 2008 at 04:16 PM.
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