Question
I've had an American Express card forever, and I've accumulated about 300,000 Membership Rewards miles. I don't fly enough to have any particular "home airline", so I've left most of the miles on the card, and I just transfer them to whichever airline I'll need.
But I'm sick of places not taking Amex, I'm sick of paying $55/year, and the last straw was when I returned from a vacation in France to discover they'd cancelled my card for "fraud protection".
Are there any Visa/MC cards that have the wide range of airline transfers available from Amex? Is there any way to get my miles over to them?
Answer
Maybe the Diners/MasterCard would solve some of the problems.
Answer
But I'm sick of places not taking Amex, I'm sick of paying $55/year, and the last straw was when I returned from a vacation in France to discover they'd cancelled my card for "fraud protection".
Most MC/Visa's with airline/rewards programs will also charge an annual fee, such as the Citi Premier Pass Elite World MC.
As for anti-fraud measures, it's part of the card industry now...card issuers such as Citi and Chase are more stringent on monitoring 'out of pattern' card activity than Amex. Contact Amex before your trip abroad and let them know where you'll be travelling. The CSR will note it in your account and you should have no difficulty with using the card on your travels. I've done this with Amex & other card issuers and have not experienced any usage stops during my business or personal travels.
Answer
I've had an American Express card forever, and I've accumulated about 300,000 Membership Rewards miles. I don't fly enough to have any particular "home airline", so I've left most of the miles on the card, and I just transfer them to whichever airline I'll need.
But I'm sick of places not taking Amex, I'm sick of paying $55/year, and the last straw was when I returned from a vacation in France to discover they'd cancelled my card for "fraud protection".
Are there any Visa/MC cards that have the wide range of airline transfers available from Amex? Is there any way to get my miles over to them?
The kind of problems you had are pretty much same with the rest of the cards. You can try the new DC/MC which can be used everywhere and to avoid the fee, you can have Citigold status with Citibank where you have a total deposit of 100,000 $ in all of your accounts combined.