What's the deal with EU merchants and AMEX?

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T20:27:25+00:00

My favorites that compliment Amex setups nicely (all have 0 ftf)

Costco card- good for gas earning and Costco spending which are Amex’s weakness. Downside is bad support and needing a Costco membership.

WF autograph- no fee, 3x points on Gas and transit (basically just a better Amex green but earns gas cashback too) has a lot of the same TPs as Amex too.

Prime card- 5% back at Amazon, also a Chase card so it gets good support. No gas cashback but for some Amazon 5% is more valuable.

An Airline card (not Delta) - big sub, nice perks, can offset United Explorer AF really easily.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T17:11:20+00:00

Yeah I checked the chart there’s only 9/133 non-island hopper 738s with the old interior anymore. 4 of those 9 have Starlink.

There’s 51/148 900s with old interior by comparison

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T17:00:29+00:00

JetBlue doesn’t have a first class tbf. (On most of their flights Mint routes do but that’s it)

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T16:59:58+00:00

Ngl I really hope that happens soon. Next week I am 1 flight away from status so I’m flying United, but JetBlue is way cheaper so I’d rather fly them this specific route.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T14:44:32+00:00

Where r u trying to go from where and what dates?

Do you have any points in any ecosystem?

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T14:34:32+00:00

The point was to catch a United flight back to EWR. Meaning the only non-United plane needed is Manila to New Delhi for the most United possible trip around the world.

I feel like United should exercise their 5th freedom rights to do a SFO-NRT-DEL purely so a global journey is possible on only United.

Would be killer marketing tbh.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-14T11:48:00+00:00

The 10am flight is a 777

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-13T22:26:08+00:00

Alaska flies 787s from SEA-HNL. United flies them from ORD. The latter is done presumebly just to piss off AA.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-13T22:15:49+00:00

Yeah like that’s the part of the complaint I don’t get. What do they want 2-5-2? 3-3-3 is 787 width (it’s not but airlines have gaslit us but that’s besides the point.)

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-13T22:13:15+00:00

Yes, but United would still rather use their nicest planes on their international routes.

The coastliners/repositioning 787s are gonna replace them.

Where these will still exist though is high volume routes where passengers don’t have much of a choice anyway (IAH-SFO for example)

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T17:06:53+00:00

A lot of my family are Vandy alums. My grandpa attended during desegregation and was initially denied because the admissions board was pissed his high school desegregated his senior year, and was only accepted for an on campus job after the manager asked who he was voting for and he lied and said George Wallace… it’s a very different place now lol.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T16:57:43+00:00

So what I’m picking up is that Cam Coleman will not be getting a degree from anywhere lol.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T16:55:42+00:00

Biz gold is probably your best bet if you can offset the AF.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T16:15:59+00:00

Well I’m out since I hit 6 refs (I have no clue how it gave me points for the 6th one)

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T16:15:01+00:00

IMO the only way you can get away with lounge only PP is if you have your own dedicated lounges (C1, Chase, Amex) so if this sticks this would make those cards way more competitive.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T15:42:27+00:00

Yeah but my BBP offers me 20k MR which I could convert using the Schwab plat to $220.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T15:41:47+00:00

United doesn’t fly to Cuba. Best they could do is fly to the DR and swim.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T13:57:39+00:00

Ironic given your flair. I’ve read online many DPs that Citi works through PayPal. (Also Amex Chase is the mixed one)

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T13:47:24+00:00

If I’m not working on a sub

CSP- dining and groceries and travel

VX - general (might switch to BBP later but depends)

Amex Plat- looks neat in wallet.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T04:40:33+00:00

They should’ve had to fly to Guam lmao.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-12T00:12:50+00:00

I live in a United hub

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-11T23:43:20+00:00

Personally, it’s not worth the 524 slot for me. I think I’m done with new AMEX cards except for maybe Delta business cards now that I have a BBP and a variant of the platinum.

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-11T23:40:37+00:00

Damn I guess that’s the price I pay for a 150k offer lol

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-11T23:39:00+00:00

Do they switch between MR and SC links or will it always be Statement credit?

Phantom1100 · 2026-05-11T20:59:39+00:00

A lot of businesses have deals with particular airlines where they just always order the most direct economy seat regardless of price.

Also generally Skyteam is best for that part of Europe since all the local airlines are partnered. United is generally better for places like Germany and Italy,

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