canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2025-07-21 03:51 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2025-07-21 03:51 pm
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Amex CEO Admits "We Made Benefits Hard To Use On Purpose" (VFTW Blog)
Frequent flying blogger Gary Leff posted a blog Sunday on his View From The Wing (VFTW) website, "Amex CEO Admits: ‘We Made Benefits Hard To Use On Purpose’". As a person who's been playing the game of milking credit cards for airline/hotel points and benefits for years I found none of it surprising. I've noticed the changes Amex CEO Steve Squeri is referring to, even if he was saying the quiet part out loud.
For example, when I opened a costly new Amex Hilton card a few months ago I thought really hard about whether the newly raised $550 annual fee would be worth it. Yes, the card has more benefits that ever before, in absolute terms; but those benefits are structured in ways that limit them and make them more difficult to use. And Amex Hilton is hardly the only card making these kinds of changes. It's happening broadly across American Express, of course, but also with its main competitor in the points-and-loyalty space, Chase.
I'm not the only person for whom Leff's blog is more of a "Well, duh" moment than a wakeup call. From my reading on sites like FlyerTalk.com I'd say that most people who are serious players of the points credit card game have been seeing these changes coming. Cards are getting to the point where there is value there, if you fit the right profile of being able to use enough of the benefits, but the value is so close to break-even that it's arguably not worth pursuing anymore.
Is the airline/hotel loyalty credit card gravy train coming to an end? Could be. If so, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe soon I'll just use my 2% cash-back cards all the time.
For example, when I opened a costly new Amex Hilton card a few months ago I thought really hard about whether the newly raised $550 annual fee would be worth it. Yes, the card has more benefits that ever before, in absolute terms; but those benefits are structured in ways that limit them and make them more difficult to use. And Amex Hilton is hardly the only card making these kinds of changes. It's happening broadly across American Express, of course, but also with its main competitor in the points-and-loyalty space, Chase.
I'm not the only person for whom Leff's blog is more of a "Well, duh" moment than a wakeup call. From my reading on sites like FlyerTalk.com I'd say that most people who are serious players of the points credit card game have been seeing these changes coming. Cards are getting to the point where there is value there, if you fit the right profile of being able to use enough of the benefits, but the value is so close to break-even that it's arguably not worth pursuing anymore.
Is the airline/hotel loyalty credit card gravy train coming to an end? Could be. If so, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe soon I'll just use my 2% cash-back cards all the time.