Originally Posted by
raffa
So, to summarize a bit.
With
€780 for the Platinum and for the first year only, we can get:
- a 3:1 MR points ratio (earned) with the booster offered
- a 50.000 bonus points offer, that can be converted with a 2:1 ratio into M&M miles, totalling 25.000 award miles (is that correct?)
- at any moment you can swap your MR points into M&M miles with a 2:1 ratio
- a second Amex Platinum card for free for your partner, if needed
- 4 Amex Green cards for free, if needed
- fast lane at BRU for 2 people
- PriorityPass lounges included for 2 people + 1 guest (each) = total 4 people
- discounts and upgrades at Avis and Hertz up to 15%
- you can keep getting award miles with M&M without interruption (by converting MR points into miles)
- some other Amex perks (300€/year discount on select restaurants, loyalty programs with some hotel chains, travel insurances, locksmith, etc.)
Am I missing something? Is the above correct?
Correct. A couple of additions:
- You need the 2nd Amex Platinum card to get the 2nd fast lane / lounge passes.
- The select restaurants are mostly quite expensive ones so that may limit the use of the benefit if you don't fancy spending on such (I do as both the belly and wallet like to remind me).
- "you can keep getting award miles with M&M without interruption (by converting MR points into miles)" you get miles but do not get mile validity extension (as a FTL, that shouldn't impact you though).
Originally Posted by
raffa
Even just considering the first 7 points I find it quite interesting. It's not a cheap price, but I personally would have no problem in just testing out the first year of this offer, while we will see what comes out of BeoBank after a few months.
And even if you don't want to pay penalties with Amex with early termination of the contract (if any), you could just wait the entire year and then just refuse to renew the following year. At that point, the "retention offers" on Amex side could also be useful.
In the past I have used the italian M&M Mastercard Gold for many years, and acceptance was better than Amex as usual. Earning was 1 mile for 1 € (don't know current rates).
But I have to say, at least in Belgium since 2020 when I got the Amex Brussels Airlines, the situation has improved.
What do you guys think? I admit I like the idea of dropping Amex, but that would mean not earning award miles from November to July (or whenever Beobank is ready) – and their current offer is quite good, all in all, in my opinion.
With 25,000 miles (worth, say, 250 euros) and 300 euros of dining cashback (assuming you'd spend in these restaurants anyway), then indeed it's probably not too difficult to find 230 euros of value out of the various perks / mileage earning for the first year.
From the 2nd year onwards, the fee will increase to 900 and there won't be any welcome bonus, so one has to find 600 euros of value and this becomes less of an obvious question.
My assumption is that I'll keep an AMEX anyway (and take the Beobank on top, if they offer meaningful perks) and therefore, my focus is mostly on the medium term value but if you're planning to ditch AMEX anyway...