American Express Ultimate Card 30,000 bonus points

[ceavoi]

came across this on the qantas site however someone forgot to update the american express web page as it doesn't say anything about this new promotion...
The Qantas American Express Ultimate Card

Take off with up to 30,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points

It's simple. Apply to be a new Qantas American Express Ultimate Cardmember by 31 March 2010, be approved, and you could be on your way.*
The way the points add up:

• The first time you make a purchase on the Card you'll earn 5,000 points.^
• If you spend $750 on purchases within the first three months of becoming a Cardmember, you'll earn an additional 22,500 points.^
• Plus, earn a further 2,500 points after your first Card spend on selected Qantas products and services in Australia.+

[newformula]

Can anyone illuminate me on the next question that come to my mind... is the 30k points worth the $450 annual fee (not taking into account the other benefits such as travel insurance, increased earn rate, flight, QC invites etc).

Is 30k points for $450 decent value, at a cost per point of $0.015 (1.5c)... or not?

[drewbles]

Can anyone illuminate me on the next question that come to my mind... is the 30k points worth the $450 annual fee (not taking into account the other benefits such as travel insurance, increased earn rate, flight, QC invites etc).

Is 30k points for $450 decent value, at a cost per point of $0.015 (1.5c)... or not?

I have received an offer for $250, so you could potentially beat them down (although i'm not sure of bargaining power of new members, probably Zero).

Ultimate gives no QP invites, however, does offer a free flight. It's the QF earning equivalent of the Amex Platinum CC. 1.5 points per dollar, bonus 1 point per dollar on QF spend, and a free return flight (excluding east coast-PER flights, but PER-SYD/MEL return is available).

[newformula]

Thanks drewbles. I'm an existing Amex Qantas Classic Customer, but have this at $0 annual fee for life so would be a new customer for this card (I checked with them over the phone and it sounded like I'd have little bargaining power).

I guess the free flight is worth around $250 give or take, but the main draw is the FF bonus points. I'm trying to work out if the card fee is worth those bonus points - I'm thinking it probably is.

Any of my QF redemptions would be used on a SYD-LHR flight which makes the 30k points fairly worthwhile IMO.

[Danger]

Is there a link for this offer?

[newformula]

Can't post a linked link as I have less than 10 posts... but copy and paste this into your browser: bit.ly/5bNucB

[Gold Member]

Frequent Flyer - Member Specials - Cards - Qantas American Express Ultimate Card

Knock yourself out.

IMHO, $450 is great value for 30K points. I value my points at 3c pp which makes these points worth ~$900. And as others have said, the flights are probably worth about $250 and after the first year you should be able to secure a $0 fee if you negotiate/threaten to cancel.

UPDATE: I've just realised that clicking on the 'Apply Now' link doesn't actually forward through any special promo details via the URL redirect. I spoke with Amex about this and they acknolwedge it is a problem and that they will fix it ASAP. Personally, I wouldn't be applying for the promo until its fixed despite Amex's insistence they will honour the promo if you take a screen dump of the offer. I've had too many bad experiences with them in this regard in the past.

[Danger]

What number did you reach Amex on to discuss this promo?

[Gold Member]

1800 507 104

The link has another link to 'Contact Amex' where all the numbers you need are listed by dropdown sort.

[lovetravellingoz]

Good joining offers have been a bit thin of late.

Hopefully this way be the start of a few more.

I find QF J hard to get for when I want to fly and where I want to fly as my status is low...so I only value QF points at say about 2 cents.

However $450 for say $600 of points plus a domestic flight is not to bad. Not fantasic..but not too bad.