New Amex statement credits

Just activated an offer to "Get 1 Bonus Point per AU$1 spent in foreign currency, up to 20,000 bonus points"

I'm just back from an o/s trip, but have another in August, so I should get some decent bonus points.
It runs through 30/09/2026.
 
Spend $150 or more, in one or more transactions, online or in-store at Myer by 31/07/2026 to receive one $15 credit.
On Qantas Discovery (free card)
Typical, spent $120 online yesterday.
 
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Just activated an offer to "Get 1 Bonus Point per AU$1 spent in foreign currency, up to 20,000 bonus points"
I'm just back from an o/s trip, but have another in August, so I should get some decent bonus points.
At an extra charge of 3.5% for foreign currency, is it worth it for the extra point? Wouldn't you be better off using a fee-free card and forgoing the points?
 
Myer $150 / $15 (Amex Platinum)
Sunglass Hut - Spend $400+ get 3500 membership rewards points (Amex Platinum)
Catalina Restaurant - 15% back up to $200 (Amex Platinum and Qantas Ultimate)

My offer is "Get 2 Bonus Points per AU$1..", this is on the Plat, still not worth it in my opinion.
Got that one too.
 
Agree. Would have to be at least a bonus 10 pts per dollar to be worth it 😂
My offer is "Get 2 Bonus Points per AU$1..", this is on the Plat, still not worth it in my opinion.
Not necessarily. It depends on what you intend to use your MR points for.

For example, let's say you have a Platinum card and the offer is for 2 bonus points per $ spent in foreign currency. That means that you'll earn 4.25 MR points per dollar, at a cost of 3.5cents per dollar.

If you're intending to convert your MR points to a FF programme that has a 2:1 transfer rate (Qantas or Velocity) that means you'll be paying 1.65 cents per point -- not fantastic, but definitely something I'd consider if I were wanting to accumulate points quickly. AFF values Velocity points at 1.7 cents each, and Qantas points at 1.6c each. So we're in the ballpark.

On the other hand, if you want to convert your MR points to a FF programme that has a 3:1 transfer rate, that raises the cost to 2.47c per point, which is not generally a price I'd consider paying.
 
At an extra charge of 3.5% for foreign currency, is it worth it for the extra point? Wouldn't you be better off using a fee-free card and forgoing the points?
Meh - I redeem all of our points on J fares at between about 2.5c & 5c per point, so still a gain for me!
 
Not necessarily. It depends on what you intend to use your MR points for.

For example, let's say you have a Platinum card and the offer is for 2 bonus points per $ spent in foreign currency. That means that you'll earn 4.25 MR points per dollar, at a cost of 3.5cents per dollar.

If you're intending to convert your MR points to a FF programme that has a 2:1 transfer rate (Qantas or Velocity) that means you'll be paying 1.65 cents per point -- not fantastic, but definitely something I'd consider if I were wanting to accumulate points quickly. AFF values Velocity points at 1.7 cents each, and Qantas points at 1.6c each. So we're in the ballpark.

On the other hand, if you want to convert your MR points to a FF programme that has a 3:1 transfer rate, that raises the cost to 2.47c per point, which is not generally a price I'd consider paying.
If your goal is to get Qantas or Velocity then there are plenty of ways to get these points for under 1c pp and even if you do need them quickly then I'd rather do an option such as buying wine where you're paying 1.8c pp but getting something in return, plus your normal 2.25 MR on that spend.

This offer is decent if you were already putting some FX spend on the card, such as paying for an FHR booking at the hotel or car hire, but I wouldn't be going out of my way to get these 20k extra MR.
 
Just activated an offer to "Get 1 Bonus Point per AU$1 spent in foreign currency, up to 20,000 bonus points"
None for me but I had used a previous offer to book some flights only to end up cancelling and still have a deficit after the reversal of the bonus points
 
Yeah it's decent value IMO. It all hinges on how you can redeem them of course, and I will echo the above in that if you are using this to attain extra QF or velocity points then it's not a smart strategy. However on a plat charge for other partner redemptions, the maths says that its pretty great value.

For me specifically, I worked out the following:

CX redemption in J for PER-HKG return = 120k Asia Miles + ~$600 in fees, with plenty of availability.

Cash value of the route (and yes I've flown revenue on this route before, so I would / have paid this) is $5.5 to $6k.

Subtract the fees and we are looking at a 120k Asia Miles for the remaining ~$5k or so. Cents per point on the redemption = 4.1c per Asia mile.

Now on the plat charge, at 4.25 MR points per dollar spent, this equates to ~1.4 Asia Miles per dollar, while paying a 3.5% surcharge.

Given that we are paying 3.5 cents for 1.4 Asia Miles, but redeeming them at ~4 cents, we break even on a forex surcharge of 5.75% or lower.

Since amex charges 3.5%, anything spent under this offer is profit for me. In fact, you could say that for every dollar spent, I'm "profiting" 2.25%. You can shift it up / down accordingly, the formula to work out your breakeven is simply:

Break-even FX fee (%) = Earn rate × Value per point (in cents)

If your break even fee that you work out is less than 3.5%, the offer holds some value for you. Hope this helps, as I see a fair few people saying that the offer is bad value, but thats not entirely correct.
 
Is it easy to get J on CX and other OW airlines with QF points? It certainly isn't on QF and it is far from a certainty elsewhere, especially ex-AUS. It's even more difficult for non-elites. The thought of paying real money to have a slim chance getting something back smells a bit like those other "Reward Clubs".
 

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