Originally Posted by
kyee
I contacted Amex this morning, and they confirmed that the Google Ads spend would qualify under the 3x offer, under the Advertising category.
Looking into the Amex points details, it looks like United MileagePlus is not one of their partners. I've been flying pretty much exclusively on United, and my credit card spend has been dedicated to United mileage accrual as well. If I were to go this route, then it would be under the assumption that the MR points redemption would be one of their supported airline partners, and NOT on United. that's really the only limitation that I can see with this offer, am I looking at this correctly?
If I wanted to keep the mileage acrrual with United, then is the best card for me to apply these charges to is the Chase Explorer card?
True, you cannot transfer Amex MR Points to UA MP Miles. But, at a 3x per $1 spend rate, the Amex MR Points are very hard to ignore.
Although calculations vary, current consensus suggests that a UA MP Mile is worth 1.5 cents while a Amex MR Point is worth 2.0 cents. Even if you value them as equal, the earning rate on the Amex points is 2-3 times that of the UA Miles. I would look closely at the Amex MR program and it's transfer partners, to see if you can find value.
The Amex 3x category is capped at $100,000/year spend, so you could max that out, and still have an additional $50-80,000 to put on a United Card.
As for the United Cards......
The Explorer rewards 1 Mile per $1 spend, with a 10k point bonus @ $25k spend.
The United Club Card rewards 1.5 Miles per $1 spend, and includes United Club access as well as other benefits.
I would definitely go with the Amex Business Gold Rewards/Chase MP Club Card combination!
You are in an enviable position; good luck making your decision.