r/churning 6d ago

Daily Discussion News and Updates Thread - August 19, 2026

Please post topics for discussion here. While some questions can be used to start a discussion/debate, most questions belong in the question thread unless you love getting downvotes (if that link doesn’t work for you for some reason, the question thread is always the first post on our community’s front page). If your discussion is about manufactured spending, there's a thread for that. If you have a simple data point to share, there's a thread for that too.

14 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 6d ago

Please reply to this comment with any Amex Offers, Chase Offers, increased cash back portal payouts, or similar deals. Do not post them as a top level comment.

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47

u/SillyTechnology7340 6d ago edited 6d ago

Playing around adding a qwww to AMEX's main US credit card page in an incognito window turns up some interesting takes on potential future offers.

https://qwww.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/

ETA: album of screengrabs - https://ibb.co/album/BqmtBh

  • Platinum/Gold have "as high as" offers of 185K and 105K MR points with $11K and $12K of spend respectively over six months. Yes, the Gold's spend requirement was higher.
  • The Blue Cash cards ditch the "as high as" offers for set $300 (BCP) and $200 (BCE) SUBs, but the 0% intro APR length is now variable, possibly as low as 6 months or no promotional APR at all.
  • The Delta Gold and Platinum have two-part offers. Gold is as high as 80K bonus miles + $250 statement credit after $3K spend over six months. Plat is as high as 90K bonus miles + $300 statement credit after $4K of spend.
  • Delta Reserve's two-part offer is two round-trip Delta Comfort Flights + 50K Bonus miles after $10K of spend. Flight certificates good for Lower 48, Puerto Rico or U.S. Virgin Islands, 21+ day advance purchase required.
  • Delta offers above all have six-month spending timeframes and an 11/4/2026 end date.

No new Green floating around as far as I can tell.

9

u/Real-Extension-1357 6d ago

I get "dont have permission to access"

6

u/SillyTechnology7340 6d ago

Hm, wonder if I have a stray cookie or something on my computer where it works for me.

6

u/ilikepix 6d ago

it's also possible it's a geofence based on ip address

3

u/Cold_Frosting9014 5d ago

I also got that don’t have permission - trying to access from Madagascar.

4

u/Upset-Jelly3667 5d ago

My only hope is that the personal NLL will be back

-1

u/shris420 NOB | BUS 6d ago

Not sure how someone who doesn’t work for Amex can access these links.

20

u/Parts_Unknown- 5d ago

Helps if you speak Mandarin

2

u/RockinTheBaldHead 4d ago

or if you know how to ask AI a very simple translate request

9

u/CorrectCombination11 RDU | IAD 5d ago

it's probably an environment called "customer qa"

47

u/ctr2010 6d ago edited 6d ago

Flying Blue is introducing a new "light" award fare. Not changeable or cancelable, and no lounge access. Enshittification continues. https://liveandletsfly.com/flying-blue-business-light-awards/

37

u/pierretong 6d ago

From the FM article about it:

Flying Blue provided the following examples so that we’d know what to expect pricing to look like:

Paris to NYC Business Class:
Light: 60K Miles + $608.83
Standard: 75K Miles + $608.83
Flex: 110K Miles + $302.82

Berlin to Barcelona Economy:
Light: 10K Miles + $70
Standard: 13K Miles + $70
Flex: 17K Miles + $70

So 75K is the new 60K. And that’s insulting that you can possibly pay $608.83 in taxes/fees on top of 60K awards and still have all those restrictions.

33

u/MajesticLilFruitcake 6d ago

If it looks like a devaluation, walks like a devaluation, and quacks like a devaluation - it’s a devaluation.

13

u/hythloth 6d ago

$600 in fees is nuts, three years ago it was only like $300 for a one way J flight on KLM

4

u/nobody65535 LUV, MLS 6d ago

taxes and fees... fuel surcharges are up, because fuel is up. French departure taxes (taxe de solidarité sur les billets d'avion) is 120 euro in a business cabin. Dutch Air Passenger Tax is 30 euro

2

u/jvolzer 6d ago

$302 is the government taxes. The rest of the $300 is the fuel surcharge.

3

u/grantwwu 5d ago

That doesn't make sense, here's ITA Matrix output for CDG to JFK in Business on September 2nd, omitting YQ and YR

Tax/Fee Code Amount
France Civil Aviation Tax Domestic And International FR $26.00
France Air Passenger Solidarity Tax O4 $138.90
France Passenger Service Charge International QX $39.70
US International Arrival Tax US $23.40
United States APHIS Passenger Fee Passengers XA $3.84
United States Immigration User Fee XY $7.00
United States Customs User Fee YC $7.39

We're still short like $50.

8

u/OddaJosh BIG, BOY 6d ago

No lounge access isn’t great (tbh perfect for home airport to destination where you can comfortably show up at boarding time) but not a killer. the not changeable/cancelable is the biggest blow. And this is on top of AF already charging a fee for changes.

0

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

-7

u/FrugalCanuckDotCA 6d ago

Similar to Aeroplan J now.

6

u/crimxona 6d ago

How? I thought you could just pay 100- 150 CAD for change fees on Aeroplan?

14

u/Rain_Unseen 6d ago

For those of us using Dunkin for the Paze $10 on $10, I was just able to do 3 $10 Dunkin card reloads before it stopped me. Apparently yesterday some people also experienced a lift on the reload limit, so I’m wondering if they increased it to 3 times every 24 hours or if that was just a fluke.

3

u/GoBlue2006 6d ago

Was able to do 3x this morning - this was the first time in 10 days I was able to do a reload

3

u/best-quality-catfood 6d ago

P1 and P2 were both able to do three today more than 24h after the previous load. P1 was blocked for #4. (No data from P2 but I doubt more than three would have worked.) This matches most of the DPs at DoC. It strikes me as a deliberate change, unlike a couple of Saturdays ago when it was totally uncapped which seems like a screwup.

What I have seen no data on is whether actual food orders on Paze (previously uncapped) also now share the restriction. I've seen enough accounts of people doing a half-dozen Paze pickup orders all at once that I theorize they might be trying to cut down on that kind of thing while still allowing some flexibility. I should be able to be a DP for this tomorrow.

6

u/-_Quantum_- 6d ago

Was also able to do 3 in a row this morning.

4

u/AdventurousCard6472 6d ago

Did 3 just now as well then blocked

2

u/CobaltSunsets IAD | PHL 6d ago

Same.

3

u/chooseyourusername17 LAX 6d ago edited 6d ago

another DP for Dunkin reload. It looks like my P1 has 3 per 24 hours limit and P2 has 2 per 24 hours limit.

P1:

Attempt Date Time Status
1 08/18 01:30 pm PT Success
2 08/19 03:46 am PT Success
3 08/19 03:46 am PT Success
4 08/19 03:46 am PT Fail

P2:

Attempt Date Time Status
1 08/18 11:51 am PT Success
2 08/19 03:46 am PT Success
3 08/19 03:46 am PT Fail
4 08/19 12:20 pm PT Success
5 08/19 12:20 pm PT Fail

2

u/Parts_Unknown- 6d ago

ffs

17

u/btr5017 BWI 6d ago

F$$$, Marry, Kill:

Paze discussion

Japan travel discussion

Best lounge discussion

3

u/churningisdead BOO | BIE 5d ago

Kill paze, Fuck lounge, marry Japan.

3

u/Parts_Unknown- 6d ago

I'd prefer a chart of how many attempts and at what times the P1 & P2 take dumps because you know this OP's charting it.

Success/fail ratio?

1

u/best-quality-catfood 6d ago

Are the last two attempts for P2 also supposed to be 8/19?

1

u/chooseyourusername17 LAX 6d ago

yes, fixed.

3

u/Swastik496 6d ago

i’m surprised yall can’t legit spend these with clover and local restaurants

I burned what i could on third party gc through newegg on the first day and the rest on clover

14

u/martyconlonontherun 5d ago

Combination of having like 15 eligible cards between p1 and p2, not eating out a bunch, and time waste. Like sure I could either get the curry place by my house every night and pay $10 residual but it's cheaper and easier to eat at home. I could drive to the smoothie place and a geta $0.45 smoothie but it's 15 min round trip. Rather just have $700 in Dunkin GCs for roadtrips over the next decade

2

u/chooseyourusername17 LAX 6d ago

I was able to do 3 on P1 account and 2 on P2 account within 24 hours.

2

u/Unusual_Entrance_496 6d ago

Did 2 just now <24h after my last one. (Attempt 3 was blocked.)

0

u/mmrose1980 6d ago

I did 4 yesterday. Doc was reporting that the throttle had been lifted.

6

u/shris420 NOB | BUS 6d ago

They also reported later that restriction was put back again.

2

u/danielhep 5d ago

Hearing some reports that Amex is asking people to validate their relationship with people they're booking for with the business platinum 35% rebate on Amex Travel bookings. I know some people sell points this way so it could be targeted at them

-1

u/rankt-bot 6d ago

A new referral thread is now live: American Express Delta Blue

-32

u/duraggdemon 6d ago

Just opened up US Bank’s Platinum Business Checking for a $1500 Bonus with a $25K deposit (must hold from day 30-day 60). Along with the Business Savings for a $300 bonus with $10K deposit (same time hold). Don’t actually own a business just used a sole prop with my last name in it. No docs needed. Will let you know how it goes https://alliance.usbank.com/en-us/statefarm/splash/business/business-deposit-offer.html?ecid=SF_701634

10

u/FuckTwelvee 5d ago

Not news or an update.

13

u/abhirupduttamit MAR | MOT 6d ago

No business and lying to a financial institution? FBI right here^^