Most people in the travel hacking world know about the recent changes to many people’s Bluebird / Serve accounts, dubbed #BirdArmageddon. Most people’s Bluebird and Serve accounts were not shut down, but instead limited the ability to LOAD anything on to the card. Since that was what most people were actually using their Bluebird and Serve cards for, it essentially makes them worthless for those people. For whatever reason, my Serve account was NOT shut down and I have been able to load it since #BirdArmageddon. We’ve looked for the patterns to figure out whose cards got shut down and whose did not, but I haven’t seen any conclusive proof.
American Express gives me a heart attack
Yesterday I received an email from American Express titled:
Important changes to your Serve account!
I immediately got a lump in my throat – worrying that the final hammer had dropped on me. But when I opened up the email, all I found was:
Oh, the “Serve E-Communications Disclosure” has been updated!! I’m glad they decided to let us know that, especially given the fact that they apparently did not feel the need to let anyone know when they updated the terms and conditions to specifically include the words “manufactured spending”. It appears too that everyone with a Bluebird / Serve account got this email, even people whose accounts had previously been load limited.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I got a similar one for my remaining Bluebird, and experienced the same sinking feeling. Maybe someone at AX has a really demented sense of humor, sending these so soon after the Culling of the Bluebirds.
Well, they can play all the pranks they want. Their days are numbered. AMEX has almost no legitimate customers for these cards. Once the cull the rest of the herd there will be not enough users left to justify running the program.
I often ask WM cashiers if anyone else really uses Bluebird and they say “almost never”.
well said Rick B — may AMEX rot in corporate hades….. and never mind all the faux-heads and bloggers still feeding at the AMEX trough telling us it’s only business, that we have no “right” to complain, that we should keep “supporting” (pumping) mother AMEX, being grateful for the crumbs thrown, etc.
Yup, spouse here also got the same perverse, adding-insult-to-injury Serve message, never mind she got axed too. (even though nearly all her serve spending was quite “legit”)
Meanwhile, “dealswelike” goes on pumping the newest (!!! omg) AMEX credit card…. as if we’re all soma-imbibing drones, with not an ounce of memory or conscience. (the ‘merikin way)
I got 2 of these. I *had* three accounts and CLOSED them the same day I got the axe. Since then I get every email they send out to cardholders. WTH? Why send me emails when the account is closed?
I can see one of the reasons they are shutting Serve down (mostly, including letting people go), it is that they are fairly incompetent!