American Express made a number of changes to both the Personal & Business versions of their Platinum card (largely in response to the Chase Sapphire Reserve). Recently they have made two negative changes to the Business card though that undermine the previous upgrades to that card:
- They will reduce the 50% rebate you receive on points booking with a selected airline to 35% in June
- That rebate now takes 6-10 weeks, previously it was posting within 24Â hours
American Express has been coming increasingly desperate to sign new customers up and retain existing customers:
- Upgrade offers of up to 75,000 points
- Targeted offers for 100,000 points without the once per lifetime language
- Retention bonuses of up to 50,000 points
Phone Offer
Several people have reported that American Express have called them offering a sign up bonus of 100,000 points after $10,000 in spend. It’s rare for a prime card issuer to do a direct call campaign like this for a premium card. At the moment it isn’t clear how they are targeting customers but one data point:
- Has a personal platinum coming up for renewal. Has existing American Express business cards with recent spend on them (trying to meet a minimum spend requirement).
It isn’t clear if these offers are subjected to the American Express once per lifetime rule or not. I suspect they are simply not targeting customers that have held this card before. If you get a phone representative that states this offer does not have that rule applied to it then do the following:
- Clearly get them to state this
- Ask for a reference number for the phone call
- Ask them to e-mail you confirming this
- Let us know in the comments
Card Details
- Annual fee of $450 is not waived the first year
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on purchases made with airlines or hotels booked directly from AmericanExpress Travel website
- 1.5x points on qualifying purchases of $5,000 or more
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- Lounge access:
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- Delta SkyClub lounge access
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- Internet Access:
- Unlimited Boingo internet access
- SPG gold status (this will also give you Marriott Gold status)
- Hilton gold status
- 35% Airline Bonus when using Pay With Points to book eligible flights
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓
- 10 complimentary in flight Gogo passes
- No foreign transaction fees
- View these other hidden benefits
Our Verdict
It’s a good offer if you can meet the minimum spend requirement. The current public offer is 50,000 points after $10,000 in spend and an additional 25,000 points after another $10,000 in spend. Best targeted offer has been 100,000 points after $10,000 in spend an additional 50,000 points after another $10,000 in spend. Best public bonus has been 50,000 points after $5,000 in spend and another 50,000 points after an additional $10,000 in spend. Thanks to our handy spreadsheet for making this information easy to access.
Hat tip to Biocidal & TheToolMan for sending me additional information
