American Express Blue Sky

[pajammies]

Has anyone here received the A.E. Blue Sky credit card offer of 37500 bonus points. To be used 7500 points at a time worth $100. So I'm wondering what the fine print is that you don't get until you get the card. It says no blackout dates, any airline etc. etc. However, it does on the back of the application say " 7500 point increment shall be equal to a credit of up to $100" So I'm not sure what the UP TO means:confused: Anyone know? I sure would appreciate it.:)

[greatam]

Has anyone here received the A.E. Blue Sky credit card offer of 37500 bonus points. To be used 7500 points at a time worth $100. So I'm wondering what the fine print is that you don't get until you get the card. It says no blackout dates, any airline etc. etc. However, it does on the back of the application say " 7500 point increment shall be equal to a credit of up to $100" So I'm not sure what the UP TO means:confused: Anyone know? I sure would appreciate it.:)

 

Sounds like another rip off like Cap One cards-"any airline, any time". The only catch-IF you read the fine print on a Cap One ticket purchase, it MAY be CASH + points or an OUTRAGEOUS number of points depending on the price of the ticket and the zone you want to fly to. 60,000 miles for a $350.00 ticket???? You can get a domestic coach ticket on MOST FF programs for ANYTIME, ANY FLIGHT for 50,000 miles. And most "saver" FF tickets are 25,000 miles.

 

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/faq_miles_popup.php?linkid=WWW_Z_Z_v1_CP31802_H2_04_T_CPOPMF

 

If you can get the card for free and not have to purchase anything to get the 37,500, it may be at least worth looking at to see the fine print. But the best you are going to get for your 37,500 miles is $500.00 credit. 37,500 miles in most FF programs are worth AT LEAST $750.00 and much more if you are using the miles for upgrades or international tickets.

 

JMHO, but the best credit card going other than airline specific cards is the Starwood Amex. Miles are transferable to about 30 airlines and Starwood transfers on some airlines are 2 to 1 + 5000 miles bonus on every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to an airline credit card. 109,000 Starpoints with the transfer bonuses got me 2 tickets on Concorde-normally 150,000 miles per ticket. You have to sign up for a Starwood hotels (Sheraton, Westin, W, Four Points, etc) frequent guest card, but that is free. The benefits are VERY good.

 

 

http://www201.americanexpress.com/apply/Fmacfservlet?csi=6/4206/b/3/2407406702/240084459837/0/n

[pajammies]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not too worried about having to make a purchase on the card because we usually put xx amount of money on our credit card every month anyway and then just pay it off. I just don't want another card if it's useless.

 

I would like to know if anyone has redeemed points through Amex Blue Sky.

[LuckyStar]

I have this card and love it. What I like is that when you can book your travel and use your card, you call AMEX and tell them you have booked travel and they will cash in points and credit the cash amount to your account. I got 37500 pts, I believe, for opening my account in November. It took until I racked up some of my own points until they credited it. Read the fine print on the contract. We did and they have abided by every detail.

[dclark]

Hey, it could be good! Take it from, an card churner.

Last november, I got in on a juicy deal with Amex where I got a bunch of points for my first purchase.

So, I bought four bucks worth of gas, paid the bill off in advance and then called them up to redeem the points. Once I got tracking numbers for my 'rewards' I cancelled the card.

So, what did I get? I got gift cards- $50 red Lobster, $50 Olive Garden and $150 P.F. Changs! Not bad for a days work, eh?

FWIW, I'll be taking the P.F. Chang card with me on my next cruise to help bring the trip cost down.

[fbgd]

I'm with greatam, the SPG Amex is the best thing out there. The wife and I run pretty much all our bills and spending through credit cards and so we earn a ton of frequent flyer miles each year. Usually we send them to BA Executive Club 20,000 Starpoints at a time for 25,000 BA miles (so a better earning rate than on BA's own card) but we found she had some orphan US Airways miles and so topped up that account for a free ticket.

 

So, what did I get? I got gift cards- $50 red Lobster, $50 Olive Garden and $150 P.F. Changs! Not bad for a days work, eh?

 

But that means you've got to go to a Red Lobster or Olive Garden, right? ;)

[dclark]

I

 

But that means you've got to go to a Red Lobster or Olive Garden, right? ;)

 

Hey, I took my wife to dinner at Red Lobster two weeks before our Dawn Princess cruise because I thought she'd get a better lobster there than on the ship - I was right!

[oceannotion]

Red Lobster better than on board...Hmmm...

[fbgd]

Hey, I took my wife to dinner at Red Lobster

And you're still married? ;)

I think my wife would file for an annulment if I were to take her to the Slobster:p

[LuckyStar]

Follow-up...I finally got around to calling AMEX to redeem my points and they credited $500 to my account just like they said they would. I had booked my cruise and air on my AMEX blue sky and they came through like they said they would.

[pajammies]

Follow-up...I finally got around to calling AMEX to redeem my points and they credited $500 to my account just like they said they would. I had booked my cruise and air on my AMEX blue sky and they came through like they said they would.

 

Wow! That's impressive, Is your card new or do you recall if you had to make a certain amount of purchases to get the points? I'm thinking it's worth a try.

 

EDIT: I se your original post said you got your card in Nov. But how many points did you have to rack up before they credited your account with the bonus points? Thanks

[greatam]

Wow! That's impressive, Is your card new or do you recall if you had to make a certain amount of purchases to get the points? I'm thinking it's worth a try.

 

EDIT: I se your original post said you got your card in Nov. But how many points did you have to rack up before they credited your account with the bonus points? Thanks

 

You can do what you want. But again, this program is NOT a good value for credit card/airline points. 25,000 points for most FF programs gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Mexico, Canada or Alaska. 35,000 points gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Hawaii. 40,000 gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Europe or Chile/Brazil or Argentina. Tickets for other than domestic USA run about $1000.00. Why are you willing to settle for half the money?

 

If you just want a $500.00 discount on a cruise, go for it. But to use the points for airline miles-BAD VALUE. And Amex is not accepted well outside the USA.

[pajammies]

You can do what you want. But again, this program is NOT a good value for credit card/airline points. 25,000 points for most FF programs gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Mexico, Canada or Alaska. 35,000 points gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Hawaii. 40,000 gets you a "saver" coach ticket to Europe or Chile/Brazil or Argentina. Tickets for other than domestic USA run about $1000.00. Why are you willing to settle for half the money?

 

If you just want a $500.00 discount on a cruise, go for it. But to use the points for airline miles-BAD VALUE. And Amex is not accepted well outside the USA.

 

Thank you, I should have clarified in my post that I am just looking at this card to get the $500.00 discount on airline tickets. Will I keep the card? Probably, but it will not be my primary card. I have the NCL Bank of America card that earns a heck of alot more that any card I have found, so that is the card I use all the time. It kind of sticks when I want to try another line because it's only good on NCL, but it works out to get a decent discount on that line anway.

[pajammies]

Luckystar, since you have this card, do you know if the flight can be out of the U.S.?

[FlyerTalker]

I'm with greatam, the SPG Amex is the best thing out there. The wife and I run pretty much all our bills and spending through credit cards and so we earn a ton of frequent flyer miles each year.

FWIW, the Starwood AMEX just won this year's Freddie award for best affinity credit card, beating out AMEX Membership Rewards and Marriott's Visa.

[LuckyStar]

Wow! That's impressive, Is your card new or do you recall if you had to make a certain amount of purchases to get the points? I'm thinking it's worth a try.

 

EDIT: I se your original post said you got your card in Nov. But how many points did you have to rack up before they credited your account with the bonus points? Thanks

 

I think that you have to make $1000 in purchases before they give you the points. I use my cc for everything so that wasn't hard to do! But it's by far the best card I've ever had regarding travel. Bank of America World Points is a close second.

[fbgd]

FWIW, the Starwood AMEX just won this year's Freddie award for best affinity credit card, beating out AMEX Membership Rewards and Marriott's Visa.

 

I'm not surprised at all! If you transfer 20k Starpoints at a time you tend to earn airline miles at a better rate than if you have the airline's own affinity card! Plus you have the option of choosing which airline program you send it to, or even just using it for hotels!

[FlyerTalker]

The best redemption for the Starwood card, IMO, is the nights and flights. You get a reduced rate on 5 nights of hotel stay redemption, plus you get the bonus for the FF mile conversion. The "points and cash" is also a great deal, where you can combine Starpoints + dollars for award nights.

[alikaalex]

Luckystar, since you have this card, do you know if the flight can be out of the U.S.?

 

I have a Blue Sky card and I love it so far. Basically you can redeem your points (7,500 points have $100 in value, making Blue Sky points somewhat more valuable than the 1% most travel cards offer) for any travel-related charges on your statement. Thus, you can use the points for flights, rental cars, cruises, etc.

[many cruises]

I have had the card for about 3 years & it is the BEST rewards card out there. Am/Ex is a great company to deal with...we have never had any problems. For every $7,500. you spend they will credit your card with a $100. credit. When you put everything on the card, it adds up very fast. We average about $800.00 of free flights/travel purchases each year.

[jenale80]

Hoping maybe the OP can help out or anyone else, who has had this card.

 

Just signed up for this card. I have to make $500 in purchases to get the bonus points. So I am thinking.....

 

Could I pay for a cruise in full once I receive the card (which will put me way over the $500 spending amount). Then once the points are credited to my account, call in to have them redeemed for a credit statement on my cruise balance. (I will let the balance ride for a bit, since they are also offering 15 months no interest ;))

[frugaltravel]

I am not sure about this specific card, but the AmEx Blue Cash card I just got recently gives 5% cash back on three spending categories - gas, groceries and drugstores. It is not offered any longer, but it is a great deal if one can spend in these categories.

 

Regarding your question, just be careful that you pay your minimum payment on time every month and that you pay the entire balance within that 15 months. Otherwise, they will charge you interest from the date of the original purchase. Ouch!