AMEX has revised the offering on their premium Platinum Charge Card to
150,000 sign-on bonus points.
This offer, linked here which is set to expire on the 28th of August.
The
150k bonus points is a reasonable deal for this card under the new Amex scheme! Unfortunately there is a catch and it's a relatively large catch - that is that the card comes with a $1450 annual fee (increased recently from $1200). As a standard rule I'm not much into paying annual fees for credit cards, so how can I justify such a large annual fee?! Well the Platinum Charge card is now a swanky metal card (say good by to the old plastic!), but that's not actually it
. Before the recent Amex devaluation, I used to think this card was a great deal, now I just think it a reasonable deal, but still value and here is my logic:
- 150,000 Membership Rewards points (75k airline miles) – pretty simple really – based on my numbers I value this at $1900-$2600 (annual fee covered right there!) – a little more on this later.
- Points can be transferred to massive variety of partners – Qantas FF, Virgin Velocity, Kris Flyer and Cathy Pacific Asia Miles and some more valuable ones via SPG (AAdvantage, BA Executive Club & Alaska Miles etc) – no other (non-invite only) Australian Credit Card can boast this! Transfer ratio is 2:1 (Amex:Airline)
- $450 Annual Travel Credit with American Express Travel – value $450 (clearly)
- The option for an additional $400 annual Travel Credit if you apply for a FREE Platinum Reserve companion card – you’ll need to ring AMEX after approval to arrange an application for this (value to me $400+)
- Unlimited Virgin Australia / Priority Pass / AMEX & Delta Lounge Access – a bit more subjective this one but, I value it at around $250. As a rule I’m not big on paying for lounge access, so it is hard for me to put a value on it. The Virgin Australia domestic lounge access speaks for itself - they are excellent these days and have a good network. Once outside Australia, the Priority Pass lounge network that is hard to surpass! If you are prepared to pay for lounge access then this benefit would easily be worth $900+++
- Access to AMEX Cash Backs and Small Shop Offers. This used to be an amazing benfit, saving my thousands of dollars a year. Last year I only saved around $500 though - hoping for better to come in the next 12 months! AFF has a really good thread covering these offers here: AMEX Statement Credits.
- Accor Plus membership is back! (worth $395+) - this includes a free nights hotel stay at a number of their resorts! I’ve really made good use of this benfit in the past!
- NRMA style roadside assistance – value about $90 (hopefully you or I never need this one!!)
- Australian Financial Review Subscription - valued at $628 (this is a new offering in the last month or so and I haven't even set it up yet).
A Quick Card Summary:
- 150,000 Membership Rewards bonus points after spending $1500 in each of first three months after card activation (credit as 50k points per month) - transfer radio is 2:1 (Amex:Airlines)
- A $300 Platinum Travel Credit each year, can be redeemed online for airfares, car hire and hotel bookings – I’ve done it quite recently for my card and it was very simple
- Complimentary access to more than 800 airport lounges in 100 countries, including Virgin Australia Lounges, Priority Pass (restaurants now included at a number of Aust. airports), Delta Skymiles and American Express own lounge network
- Dedicated Platinum Concierge Service to take care of travel plans, tickets or dinner reservations
- Earn up to 2.25 Membership Reward points per dollar – I should mention I value MR points at 1.25 - 1.75c/point
- Transfer your points to a choice of 10 airline rewards programs (most at 2:1 ratio):
- Qantas Frequent Flyer, Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air New Zealand Airpoints, THAI Royal Orchid Plus, Malaysia Airlines Enrich and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Transfers to AAdvantage, BA Executive Club & Alaska Miles, amongst others are possible through the Marriot Bonvoy program (previously Starwood Preferred Guest) - this is a more advanced method and you need to ensure that it is good value for you!
- Transfer your points to leading hotel programs: Hilton HHonors, Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy (formally SPG)
- Complimentary enrolment into elite tier of hotel partner programs including Club Carlson, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and Accor (back again)
- Complimentary worldwide Travel Insurance and Purchase Protection Insurance - includes Australia's best rental car insurance (in my opinion)
- Great savings on First and Business Class fares with some of the worlds leading airlines through the AMEX Platinum Airline Privileges program
So as you see, you can really get some value out of this card, especially with the
current sign-on bonus. How to value the current AMEX offer, this is always a challenging task, but I will give it a go. Whilst putting a value on reward points is always very subjective,
I personally value AMEX membership reward points at 1.25-1.75c/point. Based on this,
the bonus points from the current offer are worth $1900-$2600. Perhaps a less subjective way is to provide some basic concrete examples, the 150k points redeemed for
Virgin Australia economy SYD-MEL flights is worth around $1800 – not a bad deal, but this is probably a really poor use of these points. Better value would be flying Business class return on Qantas/CX/BA Australia to Europe by redeeming the points through Cathy Pacific Asia Miles. You'll need 75k-110k AMEX points for these redemptions – Qantas charge $5000+ for these flights, so not a bad deal at all! Of course for supreme value you could try your luck at a Singapore Airlines Suite – using AMEX points is the only way I’m ever seeing the inside of one of those!!!
If you add in all the other benefits in too, the
total value of this offer to me is in the order of $2200-$3700!! Not a bad deal at all in my mind!!
As I started off with, if you like the sound of the Platinum Charge Card then I'd really recommend you get on the bandwagon. Any referral link from this forum, or elsewhere, should do the trick, but make sure the AMEX page that loads explicitly says 150,000 points. I always recommend printing a PDF copy of the page before beginning the process in case there are any problems later - that way you always have a record! If you'd like to use my
Referral link is HERE, my sincere thanks and good luck to anyone applying! I'm happy to take questions via PM too on this card (or anything else), no obligations whatsoever.
Footnote:
Amex has made some recent changes to their card offerings in Australia, these were a pretty massive devaluation in value of their card scheme. Having said that this card is still one of the highest earning cards in the market place, it just isn't as good as it used to be.
Referral Link HERE
PS - Whilst applying for new credit cards offers can be really great value (and can even be addictive), please only apply for a card you can afford! No sign-on bonus, no matter how big, is worth a lifetime of debt, so please don't put points ahead of financial security!!
PPS - AMEX are also currently offering the refree (myself, if you choose to use my link) 60k bonus points for anyone that signs-up using a referral link. I'm planning a trip away with the family in the middle of next year so will be putting any referral bonus points to excellent use.
amex.com.au
