Card Promotions Amex Platinum Card Benefits, Offers & Discussion

Enjoy a world of travel benefits and 150,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Premium Ascent points...​

Learn more and apply for this card:

American Express® Platinum Card

The American Express (Amex) Platinum charge card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for travel benefits.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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What are the main benefits of this card?

1. Signup bonus: 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points (worth 75,000 Qantas Points, Velocity Points, Avios or Asia Miles, among other options) when you apply by 28 January 2025 and spend at least $5,000 within 3 months
2. Earn 2.25 Amex Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on everyday purchases, uncapped. You can transfer these points to 12 airline & 2 hotel programs, including Qantas Frequent Flyer.
3. Enjoy unlimited access to many airport lounges, including Virgin Australia and Priority Pass lounges
4. Gift Priority Pass membership to one additional cardholder
5. Receive complimentary elite status with hotel loyalty programs including Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards & Accor Live Limitless
6. Complimentary international travel insurance
7. Receive a $450 annual travel credit, plus airfare discounts, $400 worth of annual dining credits, subscriptions to The Australian & Wall Street Journal, plus many more exclusive benefits!

Why we like the American Express Platinum Card

Packed full of travel perks, the American Express Platinum Card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for frequent flyers.

With a $1,450 annual fee, this metal card is not for everyone. But the return on investment for the high annual fee is strong, as it comes with a lot of useful benefits! This includes an annual travel credit, dining credits and unlimited access to Virgin Australia, Delta, Lufthansa, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium and Amex Centurion airport lounges.

There are also some great hotel perks including a free annual hotel night, Accor Plus membership, Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits and complimentary elite status with Hilton, Marriott and Radisson.

For points collectors, this is one of the most lucrative cards available in Australia. You’ll earn 2.25 Amex Membership Rewards Ascent Premium points per $1 spent on eligible transactions. Points transfer to most frequent flyer programs at a 2:1 rate, although there are some exceptions (e.g. it's 3:1 to KrisFlyer and Emirates).

You can convert your Amex points to around 12 airlines including Qantas, Virgin Australia, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Etihad! Plus, you can transfer points to two hotel loyalty programs for even more redemption possibilities.

To sweeten the deal, new cardholders who apply by 28 January 2025 can also earn 150,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards points when spending at least $5,000 on the card within 3 months of approval. See our card guide for the full details:

American Express® Platinum Card

The American Express (Amex) Platinum charge card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for travel benefits.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.

 

[sudoer]

Transfer bonuses until 31 May just launched:

Bonvoy +50%
Velocity +20%
Hilton +30%

 

[appaz]

Transfer bonuses until 31 May just launched:

Bonvoy +50%
Velocity +20%
Hilton +30%

I'm keen to just stockpile Bonvoy points at this rate, the Bonvoy to almost any airline rewards program you can think of really opens up the options. Particularly like Bonvoy to Alaskan Airways

 

[djkelly69]

I'm keen to just stockpile Bonvoy points at this rate, the Bonvoy to almost any airline rewards program you can think of really opens up the options. Particularly like Bonvoy to Alaskan Airways

Sorry for being a bit lazy and not investigating myself, but do you know off hand what the exchange rate is for Ascent Premium > Bonvoy > Alaska?

Edit: couldn't resist looking for myself.

Looks like Ascent Prem > Bonvoy is normally 3:2, so would be 1:1 with this promo. Then Bonvoy to Alaska is 3:1, plus 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer. So 500k Ascent Prem would be 206,666 (incl 40k bonus) Alaska miles.

Does that sound right?

 

[sudoer]

Sorry for being a bit lazy and not investigating myself, but do you know off hand what the exchange rate is for Ascent Premium > Bonvoy > Alaska?

This short-term transfer trick makes your Amex Membership Rewards points more valuable

Offer alert: transfer your Australian Amex points to American Airlines, Delta, United and more at a respectable rate, via Marriott Bonvoy.

www.pointhacks.com.au

Effectively 60k MR = 25k Mileage Plan points (when transferring in 60k chunks)

 

[appaz]

This short-term transfer trick makes your Amex Membership Rewards points more valuable

Offer alert: transfer your Australian Amex points to American Airlines, Delta, United and more at a respectable rate, via Marriott Bonvoy.

www.pointhacks.com.au

Effectively 60k MR = 25k Mileage Plan points (when transferring in 60k chunks)

Which is a business class return to and from anywhere in Aus (including a stopover) - when you're based in Perth like me, its a good deal imo. Also like the CX award pricing and the new Starlux partnership

 

[foggy]

I'm keen to just stockpile Bonvoy points at this rate, the Bonvoy to almost any airline rewards program you can think of really opens up the options. Particularly like Bonvoy to Alaskan Airways

pardon my ignorance, but what airlines do you book via Alaskan Airways? Is it just Qatar?

 

[appaz]

pardon my ignorance, but what airlines do you book via Alaskan Airways? Is it just Qatar?

QF and CX are good value redemptions. Access to many more but some are not worth the points (SQ for example)

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks. Is bonvoy a good one to transfer to?

 

[appaz]

In my opinion, yes. With award seats harder and harder to find, the ability to send your miles to 20+ programs is great. Transfer Points to Miles

 

[Franko Costa]

Pity the conversion rate is bad. Still nothing beats Au amex to US Amex to Hilton points for hotels. Depends on what you need though

 

[Ecco]

Pity the conversion rate is bad. Still nothing beats Au amex to US Amex to Hilton points for hotels. Depends on what you need though

How do you transfer au amex to us amex? Is that dependent on you being able to get a us amex card?

 

[sudoer]

How do you transfer au amex to us amex? Is that dependent on you being able to get a us amex card?

Yes, you need a US card which earns MR

 

[bobbinbrisco]

Amazon Prime credit added to Plat Charge
View attachment 317794

still enough to cover the increase just announced

 

[sudoer]

A new hotel under Accor just opened recently at Hyde Park, The Porter House Hotel Sydney - MGallery.

Wondering if the Accor dining benefits can be applied there.

Yes, dining benefits available at both F&B outlets:

Henry's Bread & Wine is now on the dining exceptions list...

 

[RealtimeY]

I was denied the discount at Spice Trader upstairs from it a few weeks ago... and now only one of the venues shows on the list?

 

[sudoer]

I was denied the discount at Spice Trader upstairs from it a few weeks ago... and now only one of the venues shows on the list?

If you still have the receipt I would contact Accor Plus and ask how they plan to make it right. Perhaps the equivalent value in ALL points? (nice and easy to calculate with a fixed value per point)

 

[jhy10998]

Henry's Bread & Wine is now on the dining exceptions list...

What... That's sad!

 

[mjs16]

Another question on the interpretation of the eligibility criteria in the travel insurance T&Cs - I've transferred the exact number of points from my Amex required to redeem on KrisFlyer, but it technically doesn't correspond exactly on a FIFO basis as I've earned from flights and Pelago before, so could this disqualify me from the insurance? What sort of information do they actually ask for to verify that the points "correspond"?

View attachment 317840

I called Chubb prior to a recent trip and was advised that both of the following 2 conditions need to be met for points redemption bookings:

1. Verification of a transfer from AMEX MR to the relevant FF program for at least the amount of points covering the redemption, AND

2. Any fees/taxes/airline charges are paid for by the AMEX card.

So based on your KF statement above, so long as you paid for the fees on your AMEX, you should be OK. Seems to make sense, but maybe call Chubb also to confirm.

 

[mjs16]

Recently "upgraded" - applied for a new Platinum Charge card and plan to cancel my Explorer card... Have paid for a trip to Europe with Explorer card. Does anyone know if the Travel insurance will still apply as I will still hold the new Platinum Charge card?

I did the same thing recently but just made sure the Explorer card was still active in case of any issues. There's probably no urgency to cancel until just before it is due for the annual renewal.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

1. Verification of a transfer from AMEX MR to the relevant FF program for at least the amount of points covering the redemption

This is BS - nowhere in the T&Cs mentions the transfer requirement