American Express Membership Rewards - Gold Preferred Rewards or Gold Rewards Plus

Which is the better of the two?

Gold Preferred Rewards

or

Gold Rewards Plus

There are two differences:

1. Gold Rewards Plus earns an extra half-point (full point during the first 12 billing cycles) on purchases made from Membership Rewards transfer partner airlines and hotel chains. (The only airline mentioned in your profile is United, be aware that United does not participate in Membership Rewards.)

2. Gold Rewards Plus includes five supplementary card with no fee. If you need even one supplementary card for a spouse/partner, child, parent, grandparent etc this card is less expensive.

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I would say Gold Rewards Plus, just because you can get 5 additional cards on your account.

There are two differences:

1. Gold Rewards Plus earns an extra half-point (full point during the first 12 billing cycles) on purchases made from Membership Rewards transfer partner airlines and hotel chains. (The only airline mentioned in your profile is United, be aware that United does not participate in Membership Rewards.)



Do you have to book through AMEX Travel to get these extra points or do they automatically apply them just because you made a purchase with one of the partners......in other words, you get the extra points no matter where you made the purchase?

I currently have the Green Card but on the website received a notice that I am preapproved for the Rewards Plus Gold Card $95 vs $150.....trying to determine if it is worth it to upgrade.

Do you have to book through AMEX Travel to get these extra points or do they automatically apply them just because you made a purchase with one of the partners.

These are two separate bonuses. All USA issued Membership Rewards cards can earn one extra point per dollar for booking on http://americanexpress.com/travel , but only Gold Rewards Plus cards earn the bonus points for transactions with Membership Rewards transfer partner airlines and hotel chains. The partner bonus is automatic, although in my experience their system has some trouble recognizing (for example) all of the hotel brands owned by Intercontinental and Starwood.

I have the Gold Rewards Plus. I only booked a flight through Amex once to get the extra points the first year. I did add my mom onto my card (I used "the" you just pay and don't worry...I'll manage your checking account and make all payments). If you can add someone to your card you'll earn more points and be able to transfer to anyone on your account's linked flyer programs (the legal way anyway).

I have an offer sitting here, for gold rewards plus, no fee first year and 50,000 point after spending $500. Is this one of the better offers? I really don't need the card, fly AA, no hotel stays to speak of, and have the Advantage citicards for personal and business, plus just got the amex SPG..but I'm thinking I could use these points for something in the next year....anyone see any drawbacks to taking this deal?
If it were the plat I would take it right away, but it's only gold.

... Is this one of the better offers?

Yes.

Worst case you can redeem 50,500 Membership Rewards points for $505 credit toward the cost of an airline ticket on AA or most other carriers, purchased at americanexpress.com/travel .

On the other hand, for only 90,000 points you could obtain a roundtrip flight JFK-LHR in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic.

I currently have the Green Card but on the website received a notice that I am preapproved for the Rewards Plus Gold Card $95 vs $150.....trying to determine if it is worth it to upgrade.

I currently have two offers. On the website, it is offering me 15,000 points if I sign up.

In an e-mail I received today, I was offered the first year free.

I called and, unfortunately, can not combine the two offers. I decided to stay with my HHonors and Starwood cards instead.

I currently have two offers. On the website, it is offering me 15,000 points if I sign up.

In an e-mail I received today, I was offered the first year free.

I called and, unfortunately, can not combine the two offers. I decided to stay with my HHonors and Starwood cards instead.

Geez, wish they would give me offer.....maybe cause I already have over 200K MR points on my Green Card.

mia, you are always soooo helpful. Thank you.

All USA issued Membership Rewards cards can earn one extra point per dollar for booking on http://americanexpress.com/travel , but only Gold Rewards Plus cards earn the bonus points for transactions with Membership Rewards transfer partner airlines and hotel chains.

Anyone got a handy list of the transfer partner airlines? When I got the Rewards Plus, I was told it was "the airlines listed on the Membership Rewards page," but that's not very precise.

You can also earn bonus points if you buy stuff using www.bonuspointsmall.com. It's double points, IIRC...Only drawback is, their partner vendors change pretty often. They used to have BHPhotoVideo.com and REI.com, but now both of those are gone...They do have Target, Buy.com, JR.com, and a few others worth fooling with, though.

They'll also send you fliers in the mail every now and then offering double points if you, say, spend over $5000 per month, or buy from certain outlets. Sometimes you have to register your card to score these points, so watch that mailbox, folks.

... list of the transfer partner airlines?

Airline Programs:
A+ Rewards(R)
ANA Mileage Club
AeroMexico Club Premier®
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France/KLM FlyingBlue
Alitalia MilleMiglia
Continental OnePass®
Delta SkyMiles®
EL AL Frequent Traveler Club, "Matmid"
Frontier Early Returns
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles®
JetBlue TrueBlue
Mexicana Frecuenta®
Singapore Air KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
Virgin Flying Club

Hotel Programs:
Best Western Gold Crown Club®
Hilton HHonors®
Priority Club®
Starwood Preferred Guest®

Airline Programs:
A+ Rewards(R)
ANA Mileage Club
AeroMexico Club Premier®
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France/KLM FlyingBlue
Alitalia MilleMiglia
Continental OnePass®
Delta SkyMiles®
EL AL Frequent Traveler Club, "Matmid"
Frontier Early Returns
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles®
JetBlue TrueBlue
Mexicana Frecuenta®
Singapore Air KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
Virgin Flying Club

Hotel Programs:
Best Western Gold Crown Club®
Hilton HHonors®
Priority Club®
Starwood Preferred Guest®

Mia, I read your posts in this forum and I just want to say you have saved me from making a lot of calls to CS. You are a real source of valuable information. Thank you ^

... saved me from making a lot of calls to CS.

Thank you for your kind words. This information is, of course, copied from membershiprewards.com. The problem with the American Express site is that it is a pretty ambitious design and some information is not visible unless you login, and some links appear to work differently based on details from the previous session (cookies).

Since I have been preapproved, is it possible that I could call and see about one of the special MR points for signing up?