Amex PERSONAL platinum 100k mr point sign-up bonus

Old Feb 25, 2011, 10:52 am
  #1  
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AmEx Platinum Card offer- 100k points - worth it for me?

Hi everyone,

I received the above offer in the mail and am trying to decide whether it is worth the $450 fee. (You need to charge $1,000 within four months for the 100k points, which isn't an issue.)

The only AmEx I currently have is one I use at Costco and hardly charge anything on it. I mostly use my AA Mastercard and charge quite a bit; in fact, I currently have accumulated about 250,000 "not from flying" AA miles that I have not used. (I will use them next year for two first class tickets to Europe.)

I understand the 100k AmEx points is a lot, but I also see that American is not a partner. However, I can possibly use the points for some hotel stays while in Europe. (I realize that I don't know enough about the rewards one gets with AmEx so I'll try to do some investigating along those lines.)

Is it worth taking advantage of this offer, and possibly even switching some of my "typical" charging over to this card instead of my AA Mastercard? For a person like myself who doesn't travel much but does do "big splurge" family vacations every 2 years (but never really have time to get to a Lounge!), would the benefits of an AmEx Platinum really be worth it? How about the no exchange rate fee? Is that a big deal considering I'm going to Europe next year, but then may not travel internationally again for a while?

Just trying to determine if a Platinum Card is worth that large fee for a "regular person" like me.

Thanks for any advice!
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 10:56 am
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Originally Posted by onetess
Hi everyone,

I received the above offer in the mail and am trying to decide whether it is worth the $450 fee. (You need to charge $1,000 within four months for the 100k points, which isn't an issue.)

The only AmEx I currently have is one I use at Costco and hardly charge anything on it. I mostly use my AA Mastercard and charge quite a bit; in fact, I currently have accumulated about 250,000 "not from flying" AA miles that I have not used. (I will use them next year for two first class tickets to Europe.)

I understand the 100k AmEx points is a lot, but I also see that American is not a partner. However, I can possibly use the points for some hotel stays while in Europe. (I realize that I don't know enough about the rewards one gets with AmEx so I'll try to do some investigating along those lines.)

Is it worth taking advantage of this offer, and possibly even switching some of my "typical" charging over to this card instead of my AA Mastercard? For a person like myself who doesn't travel much but does do "big splurge" family vacations every 2 years (but never really have time to get to a Lounge!), would the benefits of an AmEx Platinum really be worth it? How about the no exchange rate fee? Is that a big deal considering I'm going to Europe next year, but then may not travel internationally again for a while?

Just trying to determine if a Platinum Card is worth that large fee for a "regular person" like me.

Thanks for any advice!
Although I haven't used any MR points yet, as I am still a new Plat cardholder, I have thought about this when signing up for the 50K offer. Lucky you!

Why do you have to fly AA if you're redeeming? I know it would be nice to have AA miles because they count towards liftetime status, but you can convert MR to ANA or AC, and fly on Star Alliance planes. If it's an award, it shouldn't matter much if it's AA or not since you don't earn EQM anyway. I'm assuming you'll be redeeming it for premium cabin flights.

But if you don't fly much, then the lounge access portion of the $450 fee may be lost to you.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 11:14 am
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Well at minimum you could change it 100,000 points for $1000 in gift cards to numerous retailers/restaurants for only $450 annual fee. Thats a good deal in itself if you want to just sign up and cancel. You will get your best value transferring into airline programs but if you dont travel that much it may not be worth it to do that.

You can transfer your miles to BA which currently has a bonus promo going where you get 40% (I think) bonus BA miles for your transfer. That would net you 140k miles on BA which are good on AA since they are a partner. However, the miles are diluted a bit because you would be using them on AA instead of BA.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 11:22 am
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Thanks for the responses.

Millere...actually I don't believe you can use BA miles on Int'l AA coded flights, but no big deal. Flyme's point is valid....I don't necessarily have to use AA since I'm not getting miles; I'm just used to them and they have the best schedules for me.

I guess I was just wondering if this card is worthwhile for non-frequent flyers.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 11:27 am
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Originally Posted by onetess
Thanks for the responses.

Millere...actually I don't believe you can use BA miles on Int'l AA coded flights, but no big deal. Flyme's point is valid....I don't necessarily have to use AA since I'm not getting miles; I'm just used to them and they have the best schedules for me.

I guess I was just wondering if this card is worthwhile for non-frequent flyers.
Yes, I would still say its worth it because as I mentioned before 100k MR points = $1000 gift cards to many retailers or restaurants so that pays for itself right there. You could then cancel the card after that and they should prorate you an annual fee refund.

You did say you might use it for hotels. Hotels are usually always bad value for points, but amex does have a few different hotel group partners you can transfer the points to.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 11:32 am
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Originally Posted by millere2

You did say you might use it for hotels. Hotels are usually always bad value for points, but amex does have a few different hotel group partners you can transfer the points to.
That's good to know, thanks. I don't stay in many hotels because we are big timeshare users, but I need to find a hotel in London and I don't even know how to go about finding the best deal on one (and one that is decent, to boot). I will have to do some research on that as well.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 12:15 pm
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Wow, is this a targeted offer? I just applied and was approved for the Plat card with 50K bonus points offer. You are getting a sweet deal.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 12:34 pm
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Originally Posted by akcae
Wow, is this a targeted offer? I just applied and was approved for the Plat card with 50K bonus points offer. You are getting a sweet deal.
Yes it was...it was personalized. But I have to say that they did an excellent job of targeting, because I never would have considered the card at all had I not gotten the offer, and after some simple Googling, if I had gotten a lesser offer I also would not have bothered. The only reason I am even considering it is because the point value is very good. So I guess they accomplished what they set out to do!
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 12:35 pm
  #9  
mia
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Originally Posted by onetess
...mostly use my AA Mastercard....
You could earn 25% more AAdvantage miles for the same amount of spending if you were to use the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card rather than the card issued by Citi.

Originally Posted by onetess
...don't believe you can use BA miles on Int'l AA coded flights...
Yes, you can. AA and BA now offer full reciprocal earning and redeeming on all routes with no exceptions. This changed in late 2010 when their transatlantic joint operating agreement was granted an anti-trust exemption.

Last edited by mia; Feb 25, 2011 at 12:51 pm
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 12:40 pm
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can always cancel prior to the second annual fee. of course need to transfer the miles out prior.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 12:59 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
You could earn 25% more AAdvantage miles for the same amount of spending if you were to use the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card rather than the card issued by Citi.



Yes, you can. AA and BA now offer full reciprocal earning and redeeming on all routes with no exceptions. This changed in late 2010 when their transatlantic joint operating agreement was granted an anti-trust exemption.
Mia, thanks for this info. Is the Starwood Preferred Guest Card to which you are preferring the Amex Starwood? Why would anyone bother to use the Citi card then? (Is there a spending to miles conversion cap on the Starwood card? I know that there are different caps on the Citi cards which is why we have the platinum one, otherwise some of our charges would exceed the cap.)

Thanks for the lesson in this.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 2:52 pm
  #12  
mia
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Originally Posted by onetess
... Amex Starwood?
Yes, that's the card.

Why would anyone bother to use the Citi card then?
0. The 25% SPG bonus applies only if points are transferred in blocks of 20,000 from Starwood to AAdvantage. For someone who charges a small amount per year the bonus is only theoretical.

1. Citi offers very aggressive new account bonuses, and because they issue cards on three networks (Amex, Mastercard, VISA) and issue both personal and business cards it's often possible to earn multiple bonuses.

2. Not every merchant accepts American Express.

3. MasterCard World and VISA Signature cards have a "no preset spending limit" feature. American Express credit cards do not (although there are anecdotal reports of American Express allowing some SPG cardholders to exceed their limit without penalty).

4. If you are a CitiGold account holder Citi may waive the annual fee on an AAdvantage card. American Express seldom waives fees.

5. The Citi card offers discounted award redemptions which are sometimes attractive.

6. Some people prefer the convenience of having miles deposited in their AAdvantage account every month.

7. Marketing by Citi and American Airlines.

Last edited by mia; Feb 25, 2011 at 2:58 pm Reason: Multiple typographical and editing errors.
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 6:40 pm
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Wow...going through old mail I just discovered that I also have a Gold Amex/50,000 point offer. How funny! I wonder why they are suddenly so interested in me. At any rate, that seems like a better deal since the Gold fee is cheaper, but I'm really wondering if I should be getting sucked in by this whole thing in the first place!
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 6:44 pm
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Originally Posted by onetess
Wow...going through old mail I just discovered that I also have a Gold Amex/50,000 point offer. How funny! I wonder why they are suddenly so interested in me. At any rate, that seems like a better deal since the Gold fee is cheaper, but I'm really wondering if I should be getting sucked in by this whole thing in the first place!
yes, you should
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Old Feb 25, 2011, 6:51 pm
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If you will use all the service and benefits that come with the card then it will be worth it. Most of the benefits are travel related, I think it will be worth it if you do a lot of traveling.
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