• Transferring miles to partner airline programs is almost always your best bet.  Your points usually transfer over at a higher rate and their cash equivalent value, is always the highest when you transfer them to an airline.  In fact, tranferring points to Delta is probably the best.
• Delta is currently running a promotion where you get a 30% bonus on points you transfer to them from your Amex - you can find that link here
• Trannsferring to Hotel programs is usually a horribly inefficient means to use your points.  But you can do it if you want.  Amex points transfer to Starwood at a rate of 333 Starwood points for every 1,000 Amex MR points.
• MR Points can be Transferred to Aeroplan at a 1:1 rate.  Aeroplan is also a Star Alliance members, so their points are good across the Star Alliance network.
• Redeeming points for merchanise is usually a bad deal.  Do it if you don’t want to have to buy the item, but it is usually cheaper to buy the item than to use points.
• You can redeem points for a statement credit on the Centurion at a rate of $.01/point

If it were me and I had a large sum of points I wanted to use, I would most likely transfer them to Delta during the 30% promotion, and use their frequent flyer miles for travel.

If you remember, awhile back I reported about MasterCard’s new Diamond studed card (in partnership with Dubai First), well they did it again.  MasterCard has teamed up with Kazkommertsbank, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, to create another diamond studded credit card.  This card, called the “Diamond” will sport a 0.02 carat diamond in the center, if the card is for a woman it will feature a large peacock, and if the card is for a man it will feature a winged horse.  New cards will be issued will start being issued in the next 2 weeks and the annual fee will be $1,000. Only 1,000 cards will be issued starting November 13 and they are estimating 30 cards will be issued every month, with a credit limit of $50,000.

In order to get an idea of how the people in Kazakhstan are receiving this new card, I asked Borat for a comment. Borat said:

Very Nice!!!

For Centurion members, MR points can be converted into statement credits at a rate of $.01 per point.  This means that a 12 month lease through the rewards program translates to $95,000.  I think I would rather take the statement credit.

I have also heard a lot of buzz on flyertalk forums and a few others, about business accounts being put under financial review and frozen by Amex, and Consumer credit lines being slashed.  Has this affected anyone recently?

Date : 10/29
Starting : 5:30 PM doors open. Movie starts at 8:00 PM
Afterparty : From 10:30 till late, location: top secret
Location : Odeon Leicester Square in London
Dresscode : Black Tie
Cost: €5000 and the money is donated to ‘Help for Heroes’ and ‘The Royal British Legion’.

In case you haven’t seen a trailer for the movie, here it is:

Another benefit of AAA is the rental car benefits.  However, with the Centurion card, members receive Hertz status as #1 Gold Club,  a Midsize to Premium upgrade, and guaranteed availability from reservation line. In addition to Hertz, Centurion members also receive status as Avis President’s Club, which includes a 2 class upgrade, and guaranteed availability as well.

If you’re saying “well AAA also has discounts at other places like Payless Shoes (10% off)”, I say wouldn’t you rather have a $1000 gift card to Mikimoto.

So there you have it, if you pay the $5k initiation and the $2.5K annual fee, you can save about $60/yr by not getting AAA.

On a side note, I recently did an interview with a producer from a national news network , and she told an interesting roadside assistance story.  In gathering information for her television piece, she was told by an individual about someone who got stuck in traffic near and was about to miss their flight. So they called their Centurion concierge and arranged for a helicopter to pick them up on the side of the road and take them to the airport.  Can AAA do that?

Yea that’s right, $5 bucks off a meal at TGI Fridays. I went to check my mail today, hoping I might have a Mikimoto gift card, or a Cannon PowerShot camera, but instead I have a voucher for 5 bucks off TGI Friday’s when I spend $15 or more and pay with an Amex card.  Now that is a promotion if I have ever received one.  The colors and layout of the mailing seem to resemble the Blue Cash card, so it might be coupled with that card (I do have one and used to use it a lot until I got the personal platinum card).

Speaking of more gifts, it is getting close to Christmas time, I wonder what Centurion is going to mail out this year?  Last year the Cannon Powershot was sent out right before Christmas.  Anyone want to take a stab at this years gift?  Maybe American Express will read this (and they do) and you will get your wish.  So if you haven’t opted into marketing promotions with Centurion (personal members only), now would be the time to do so.

This post is sort of a food for thought post.  I was interested to know exactly how rare the Centurion card really is, so I did a little bit of research with the US Census department.  Any of the population and household numbers I got from Census.gov and from CNN.

There are roughly 19,000-20,000 Black cards in the United States.  I am not sure on an exact number as it is difficult to get, but we do know that it has become a little easier to get it over the last year or so, really increasing this number.  The number I am really interested in, if I could ever get it would be the cancellation rate of black cardmembers.

• The estimated August 2008 civilian population for the US is 303,588,896.  Assuming 20,000 Centurion members, roughly 0.00658% of the population has a black card.
• There are an estimated 111,162,259 households in the US, roughly 0.0179% of households have a black card.
• There are 9,200,000 households in the US worth over $1M (excluding primary home), which is approx 8.27% of the US households.  Again assuming 20k black cardmembers, roughly 0.217% of millionaire households have a black card.
• There are approx 1,190,000 households in the US worth over $5M, which is about 1.07% of US households.  Roughly 1.7% of households over $5M have black cards.

You are more likely to die from Brain cancer than you are to be in a household that has a black card.  I just read the brain cancer statistic, I had to add it is.  Look on the bright side though, you are more likely to be in a household worth more than $5M than have a black card.  I would rather have that any day.

In addition to the $500 Wynn credit, I just got an email today from someone saying they just received a $500 gift card to Domenico Vacca, where Men’s suits start around $4,900.  Here is a picture below of Jacob the Jeweler (left - who was recently sentenced to 16 months in prison for laundering money for the Black Mafia Family) with Domenico Vacca (right).

Remember, you must be opted in to marketing promotions with Centurion to receive these gifts.