An awesome welcome bonus of up to 140,000 Membership Rewards points has been revealed The Platinum Card® from American Express This new offer is 40,000 points higher than the last offer and is available to new customers who are approved for the card and meet the minimum spending requirements set out below. This offer is available for applications made until January 28, 2025
The up 140,000 points welcome bonus offer:
Right now the Platinum Card from American Express has a welcome bonus offer of up to 140,000 Membership Rewards points until January 28, 2025. The bonus is awarded as follows:
- New Platinum® Cardmembers, earn 100,000 Welcome Bonus points after you charge $10,000 in net purchases to your Card in your first 3 months of Cardmembership. Offer ends Jan 28, 2025
- Plus, earn 40,000 points when you make a purchase between 14 and 17 months of Cardmembership. Offer ends Jan 28, 2025
Click here to apply for The Platinum Card from American Express
What is this bonus worth?
The 140,000 points are worth no less than $1,400 when redeemed for statement credits towards any purchase made on the card and go up from there when you redeem for other options. These include Amex’s Fixed Points for Travel where the 140K points can receive a maximum value of $2,800. And the value can skyrocket from there if you convert the points to Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club or Marriott Bonvoy. You can easily get into values of $4,200 or higher for the welcome bonus!
Annual fees
The Platinum Card from American Express has an annual fee of $799. This is one of the highest fees in Canada however it is more than made up for with all the benefits the card provides.
For additional cards there are two options. You can add additional Platinum cardmembers for $250 annually and those supplementary cardholders will avail of all the same benefits as the primary cardmember like lounge access, hotel elite status etc. If you don’t require that for the additional cardholders you can add an American Express Gold Rewards Card as the additional card with no charge for the first two and $50 per year for any additional cards.
Earning Points on everyday spend
The card earns Membership Rewards points like other proprietary American Express cards and has category multipliers on the types of purchases:
- 2 Points per dollar spent on eligible dining and food delivery purchases
- 2 Points per dollar spent on eligible travel purchases
- 1 Points per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
Redeeming Points
The Platinum Card from American Express participates in Amex’s Membership Rewards program which is the best credit card reward program in Canada as it has so many valuable redemption options. You can:
- Redeem points for any travel you book with the card
- Redeem points for any purchase you make on the card
- Redeem via Amex’s Fixed Points for Travel
- Convert your points to Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Marriott Bonvoy and numerous other programs.
If you redeem using the Use Points for Purchases option, you will get a $10 credit towards every 1,000 points redeemed for a purchase. This means the purchases you make on this card will equate to up to a 2% return.
Moving on to the Fixed Points Travel Program, the card provides great value here as well. Being able to earn up to 2 points per dollar means you can be flying for as little as $5,000 in spending on this card and provides up to a 4% return on those dining and food delivery purchases. Here are the Fixed Points award charts:
Finally, another huge and I mean huge benefit to the redemption side of this card is the ability to convert to Membership Rewards Frequent Traveller participants. You can transfer the points earned on this card to six airline programs and two hotel programs. With minimum point values of 1 cent for Marriott, 1.5 cents for Aeroplan and British Airways you are looking at returns of 2 to 3% for that 2x points earning on your dining! But that’s a minimum – there are so many occasions where you can get 3, 4 or even more cents per points with this programs that puts the Platinum Card’s return easily into double digits!
Current Membership Rewards Transfer partners and the transfer ratio:
- Air Canada Aeroplan – 1 to 1
- Air France KLM Flying Blue – 1 to 0.75
- British Airways Executive Club – 1 to 1
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles – 1 to 0.75
- Delta SkyMiles – 1 to 0.75
- Etihad Airways Guest – 1 to 0.75
- Hilton Honors – 1 to 1
- Marriott Bonvoy – 1 to 1.2
Features and Benefits
American Express Global Lounge Collection
This is the Mack daddy card of lounge access with many different options providing access to over 1,400 business class lounges in over 130 countries around the world. The lounge access benefits for the Platinum Card are as follows
- Executive Lounges by Swissport: Free of charge access for the cardmember + Spouse and 2 children or one guest to participating lounges in Canada. (Benefit applies to both primary and additional Platinum cardmembers)
- Centurion Lounges: Access to American Express Centurion lounges and Centurion Studio lounges for the cardholder and 2 Guests (Benefit applies to both primary and additional Platinum cardmembers)
- Delta SkyClubs: Access to Delta Sky Clubs for no charge for the cardmember who are holding an Delta flight boarding pass. Additional guests must pay an entrance fee. Note: This option is not available if you are flying on the cheapest economy class fare with Delta. (Benefit applies to both primary and additional Platinum cardmembers)
- Additional Global Lounge Collection Partner Lounges: Cardmembers have complimentary access to American Express and Partner Lounge locations (guest access varies by location) Examples of this include select Lufthansa lounges.
- Plaza Premium Lounges: Cardmembers have complimentary access to Plaza Premium Lounges along with one guest (Benefit applies to both primary and additional Platinum cardmembers)
- Priority Pass Lounges: Cardmembers are provided Prestige Membership which provides unlimited lounge access with one guest included per lounge visit. All additional guests are US$32 (Benefit applies to both primary and additional cardmembers)
- Escape lounges: Cardmembers have complimentary access along with 2 Guests (Benefit applies to both primary and additional Platinum cardmembers)
The lounge access is good for not only the primary cardholder but also for additional/supplementary Platinum Cards.
Tip: Use Amex’s Lounge search to see which lounges you can access with the Platinum Card.
Annual Travel Credit
Upon approval for the card and then each year on your card’s anniversary date you will receive a $200 travel credit that can be used towards any single travel booking of $200 or more charged to Card with American Express Travel Online or through the Platinum Card Travel Service at 1-800-263-1616.
Annual Dining Credit
Basic Platinum Cardmembers now have access to a $200 CAD Annual Dining Credit. Enrolled Cardmembers will be eligible to receive a statement credit of $200 CAD following a single transaction of $200 CAD or more (including taxes and gratuity) at one of the eligible restaurants listed on our website at go.amex/diningcreditrestaurants at the time of the transaction.
The credit is available only once per redemption period. Participating restaurants are subject to change. Spend must be in one transaction. A one-time enrolment is required for the $200 Annual Dining Credit through Amex Offers and Cardmembers will automatically be enrolled for future redemption periods and do not need to re-enroll. Each calendar year is a separate redemption period. In 2023, however, the redemption period will be from September 26, 2023 until December 31, 2023.
Annual Value Credits
Platinum Cardmembers can earn up to $200 or more in additional value with participating partners like Disney+, Holt Renfrew and Lululemon, among others. These will show up in the Amex Offers platform like the current offers but they are and/or will be unique to the Platinum Card.
These are available to all Platinum cardmembers and are not targeted like many of the general Amex Offers. Amex told me they will “always be committing to at least $200 of value from Member Extras that everyone on the Card will get – it may just be that the merchants change from year to year.”
Automatic Hotel and Car Rental Elite Status
The Platinum Card from American Express comes with the following Elite Status benefits:
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status
- Hilton Honors Gold Elite Status
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star Status
To receive these automatic elite statuses you’ll have to log in to your Amex account and register for them. The Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status level provide more points on your stays as well as a welcome amenity plus potential room upgrades and late check out. Considering you need to stay in the range 25 nights to earn this status organically you can see why this can be considered a big benefit!
The Hilton Honors Gold Elite Status provides 80% bonus points, space available upgrades and a Daily Food & Beverage Credit (U.S. hotels only) or Continental Breakfast (non-U.S. hotels)
You can then use that status gained from this card to apply for status matches in other programs. We have a complete article on how you can do that:
Recommended reading: How to maximize the elite status benefits from The Platinum Card from American Express
The Hertz status provides 25% bonus points on Hertz rentals, a one car class upgrade and expedited rental service.
Fine Hotels & Resorts + The Hotel Collection
The Fine Hotels & Resorts program provides complimentary benefit at over 1,100 high end properties worldwide when you book via American Express Travel with your Platinum Card. Those benefits include a unique property benefit (typically a food and beverage, spa credit or general hotel credit), daily breakfast for two, guaranteed 4pm late check-out. room upgrade upon arrival when available, In-room Wi-Fi and Noon check-in, when available.
The The Hotel Collection from American Express provides up to a $100 USD hotel credit at participating properties and a room upgrade, when available. This is available at over 600 participating hotels and resorts in over 30 countries worldwide, when booking a minimum of two consecutive nights with American Express Travel.
International Airline program
With The Platinum Card from American Express discounts are available on the base fare for qualifying International First, Business, and Premium Economy Class tickets with participating airlines.
Recommended reading:Ultimate Guide to the American Express International Airline Program
Wrapping it up
The Platinum Card from American Express, which is Canada’s best Ultra Premium Credit Card, has an amazing new bonus of up to 140,000 points available until January 28, 2025. It does have a relatively high minimum spending requirement of $10,000 over the course of the first three months to get 100,000 points but for most of the Platinum Card’s target market that amount should not be difficult to hit. Then, all you have to do is remember to make a single purchase between 14 and 17 months to get the remaining 40,000 points.
Click here to apply for The Platinum Card from American Express