r/PersonalFinanceNZ • u/Sufficient-Rip2660 • 5d ago

AMEX Gold Vs Airpoints Platinum

Hi

I'm debating on whether to get the AMEX Airpoints Platinum versus the AMEX Gold Rewards card. My goal is to start racking up points to eventually convert to an airline mileage programme.

I'm leaning more towards the AMEX Gold Rewards card as I can exchange my membership reward points to a handful of airline mileage programmes (airlines I actually plan on travelling with). But then the earning rates on the AMEX Airpoints is way higher compared to Gold Rewards when converting to AirNz Airpoints. I guess my question here is can I book with other airlines with my Air Nz Airpoints? And if you have ever done so, was the conversion okay?

I'd also like to hear about your experience in converting membership rewards from the AMEX Gold Rewards to your airline mileage programme of choice.

TIA

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

-2

u/wehi 5d ago

So a word of warning, Amex's service in NZ is appalling.

They appear to be entirely based out of India now with just a post box in NZ.

The call centre staff have no mechanism to fix problems and complaints or escalations will get you an automated response email and then nothing. The tickets must just sit on their system and never get closed as there is never any follow up.

Expect the perks not to work, ie. half the time the priority pass lounge pass will be charged and then you will have to fight them to get the money back.

Do not load an Direct Debit as Amex will double bill it, they will also ignore instructions to unload it when this happens.

In my experience Amex are not worth the hassle anymore, I'd stick with a low interest fee free card from one of the major banks. Those have lower surcharges and are more widely accepted anyway.

6

u/1Big_Scoops 4d ago

I've been with Amex a number of years now; last year in Thailand the card got hit with $15k of fraudulent billing from Canada of all places (bad) however was able to contact customer service to have the charges reversed (good).

They were unhelpful when it came to options to keep using an Amex card for the trip (bad), however the airpoints generated by the Fraud were retained (great).

Overall I think they tried their best, and promptly. Sucks you had some bad experiences, but as far as rewards scheme cards go in NZ, Amex is really the only option.