The Offer
No direct link, check your e-mails. Unsure on subject line
- American Express is sending out targeted e-mails for 60,000 points after $5,000 in spend within the first three months on the Personal Platinum card.
Card Details
- Annual fee of $550 is not waived the first year
- Authorized Platinum cards are $175 for three user (then $175 per Platinum)
- Authorized Gold cards are free
- Full details here
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on purchases made with airlines or with American Express Travel
- 5x points per $1 spent on hotel bookings made directly from the American Express travel website
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- $200 Uber credit ($15 per month and additional $20 in December)
- 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
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓
- No foreign transaction fees
- SoulCycle benefits
- View these other hidden benefits
- Once per lifetime language is NOT included in this offer, meaning YOU ARE eligible if you’ve had the card/bonus before
Our Verdict
You should only consider this offer if you’ve had the Platinum card before, otherwise you are better off waiting for a 100,000/125,000 point offer. I think it’s harder to justify the annual fee now that it’s more difficult to use the airline incidental credits and that Priority Pass doesn’t include restaurant access, but with the 60,000 point sign up bonus you should still come out well ahead. As always read through these things everybody should know about American Express cards first.
What a time to be alive! Already have two of these from the last link and a couple of Chase cards that haven’t even arrived yet. Geez…
I applied for and received a personal AmEx Platinum around 1 month ago. I have not yet spent the full $5k so have not yet earned the sign-up bonus but should cross that threshold by the end of the year. Today I received an email from AmEx offering to upgrade my Gold card to Platinum for 60k, and I see no lifetime language. Is it even possible to have 2 of the same kind of AmEx cards? And if so, is it possible to earn a sign-up bonus twice in a row like that if the second application had no lifetime language? AmEx knows I already have a Platinum, yet they are the ones sending this email offering me a bonus for upgrading another card to Platinum.
Yeah, it’s possible. It is also possible to have all your accounts closed because of this. Seems like that was the main red flag in recent closures.
The red flag was from self referrals from what I read
Not worth bothering upgrading Gold to Plat. Easy 100K from grocery on Gold.
I agree that the MRs puts you well ahead. MRs r extremely lucrative and remember, these cards r once in a life time, except during special occasions like this one or 7 years?
60K MR value at what? Maybe $800? With the $550 AF, even with the Uber and Airline credits I still don’t think this is worth my time. Maybe if you travel a ton and get good benefit from the credit and priority pass.
Examples:
1) Worse case scenario is 1cent/MR = $600
2) Second worse case is 1cent/MR * 25% via Schwab = $750
3) Fly business over the Atlantic or Pacific (priceless, to say the least!). Details apart.
4) I paid my June 2020 awards fees (business) for SD->AMS, ZRH->SD using the $200 credit.
5) I always get some value from daily card offers
6) 5x airfare
7) etc……
JB, aren’t you afraid Amex could consider this “gaming” and then point to the “once in a lifetime” rule and say you should have “known better” ?? They are the undisputed king of grey areas. The terms of every account say they can do whatever they desire at their sole discretion. So there is virtually no limit to how much they can jerk anyone around. I’ll admit, I’m gun shy now. No longer trust them. No longer take offers at face value without wondering if they’ll just claw it back at a future date. The kicker is that you can’t just call in and get accurate information. I had a rep tell me I can’t get the bonus on the Platinum business card because I already got the bonus on the Platinum personal card. The chat reps are even more misinformed. Puts the customer in a bad spot. Never know whom or what to believe.
Also received this offer when logging into my Amex account.