United’s MileagePlus X app used to code as ‘travel’ when making certain purchases with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Reports are now stating that this is no longer the case and these purchases will not earn 3x points. It now seems to code as ‘MISCELLANEOUS AND SPECIALTY RETAIL STORES’. It’s not clear if all purchases are no longer passing on the merchant category code or if this is a temporary error.
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just fyi. I got 2 airbnb gc’s from MPX with CSR for an upcoming trip.
first one showed up as 3x
10/02 MPX*AIRBNB
2nd one showed up as 1x
10/05 MPW*UNITED
surprisingly the 2nd one showed up as MPW*UNITED even though both were airbnb gc’s…
Travel credit triggered for me. MPX Airbnb. CSR.
To clarify my transaction was on 8/7/18.
I meant to say my transaction was on 10/7/18. Not enough coffee.
A recent purchase of a Bertucci’s (restaurant) gc from MPX did NOT code as dining. Only 1x points.
I just used the app with my reserve card at panera bread which did not code as 3x and Buffalo Wild Wings which did code as 3x. I think it’s just hit and miss.
Is mpx working?
wat
yea but you have to charge your phone first and get some sleep. if ur tired you wont see it.
For some values of “working”, yes.
But only on Tuesdays, and never for people who own Renault cars.
Unless they’re blue.
Are there any cc that do post as travel using MPX?
Alas, it appears that this is no longer the case generally.
There was a beautiful golden age that saw all MPX purchases use United’s MCC (Merchant Category Code) when using an American Express-issued card. For those holding the American Express Platinum Card (or Business equivalent), the ultimate stack was possible:
(5x Amex Membership Rewards Points + 0.5 United MileagePlus Miles + 3 JetBlue Points) per dollar on Amazon
This got silly for a while if you were buying Lyft gift cards via Amazon:
(5x Amex Membership Rewards Points + 0.5 United MileagePlus Miles + 3 JetBlue Points + 3 Delta SkyMiles) per dollar + 30 JetBlue points for Lyft rides to/from airports.
This seemed to be limited to American Express cards for quite a while though – it’s common for merchants and payment providers to not quite get things right in terms of the MCC they pass to the acquirer/scheme for Amex transactions whilst getting things right for Visa and MasterCard payments (so, for example, Dominos gift card purchases featured an MCC in the dining category for the CSP or Citi ThankYou Premier).
American Express made a change on their end to stop the 5x points earn – MPX purchases still show up as travel along with the Level 3-style data associated with airfare purchases however the earn rate is 1 point per dollar.
I don’t have a data point right now, but I might purchase an Uber gift card using either my Chase Sapphire Preferred or Citi ThankYou Premier and report back.
The MPX program has been going from decent to terrible at a worrying pace recently.
For a number of merchants I regularly but gift cards for, details have either not been issued or unusable details have been provided
In the most recent instance I received canned responses to my message requesting resolution of the issue and only saw any action when I initiated a chargeback – very subpar indeed.