Nelis Infra

Hi everybody,

To make a long story short: I cannot get my head around those new AMEX cards. Maybe someone can help me with this? This is my situation:

I annualy spend around EUR 100.000 with my AMEX card, which is on the increase. I do not fly very often. Last three years: AMS-JFK roundway, AMS-NRT roundway, AMS-ORD roundway. However, I do travel with two other (sub)card holders. If we travel, we want to travel in business class and enjoy the lounges around the world.

So. That is my situation. What is the best thing to do, considering the new AMEX cards? Is there anybody with experience in this field?

Your help is kindly appreciated :-)

Thanks!

joostw

Hi Nelis

I would suggest to get an AMEX FB Gold or AMEX FB Platinum. These new cards will give you 4 (Gold) or 8 (Platinum) qualifying flights towards elite status. This will help you to get to a FB Gold/Silver/Platinum status faster.

Moreover, platinum will give you 1,5 awardmiles per euro spend (instead of 1 mile per euro for the Gold card). So that means 150K for you yearly!

If you sign-up for Platinum through a referal you will get a bonus of 50K miles!! For gold it's 10K + no card fee for first year.

Ofcourse the AMEX FB Platinum is far more expensive, but considering the 50K extra miles per year, the 4 extra qualifying flights and the 50K sign-up bonus (if through referal) I would go for the Platinum card.

Please PM me if you want me to refer you for the bonus.

Nelis Infra

Thank you for your reply! Excuse my probably stupid questions, but is it me, or is the 'qualifying flight' something new? I never heard of it before. Does that mean that you get a one way ticket for free to a destination of your choice? And can you go into lounges with a gold card? Or is this only for platinum card holders?

Brobbel

Qualifying flights is only a number. Normally it is the number of segments flown; your status can be because of level miles earned OR qualifying flights.

To do the math for you for the cards:
( Let's say 1 mile is EUR 0,01 )
FB Amex Silvercard / EUR 75 / 80.000 miles=EUR 800, nett 725,00
FB Amex Goldcard / EUR 140 / 100.000 miles=EUR 1000, nett 860,00
FB Amex Platinumcard / EUR 570 / 150.000 miles=EUR 1500, nett 930,00

And the travel insurance is better for more expensive cards.

You can get a referral from me too, although Joostw was first with the offer.

joostw

Please be aware that the AMEX FB cards and you Flying Blue status are now separated.

You can have a platinum card, but still have Flying Blue Ivory status. To gain elite status (silver/gold/platinum) you will need to earn status miles or qualifying flights. The 8 “free qualifying flights” you will get with an AMEX FB Platinum card, help you to reach elite status faster. But this doesn't mean that you will get free tickets... It’s only a matter of getting status.

Eg. to get to silver status you'll need 15 qualifying flights. With AMEX FB Plat. you will get 8 qualifying flights for free and you will only need to do 7 more flights that year… For Gold you will need 30 qualifying flights. Gold will give you lounge access.

JohanR

Would the regular (non-FB) Amex platinum card be an option as well? Collecting membership rewards points that can be converted into a ff program of choice (although at a slightly worse conversion rate) and instant access to lounges with the priority pass.
The sign-up bonus through referral is only 25.000 MR points though (instead of 50.000 for Amex FB plat).

joostw

Yes ofcourse. I personally prefer this! You will get the Priority Pass and access to the FHR program only with regular AMEX Platinum. I personally use this a lot.
AMEX sometimes runs promotions to get double miles when you convert your MR points to frequent flyer miles, so it’s worth to wait.

But be sure to sign-up for AMEX Plat. through referral, otherwise you won’t get any bonus. :-/

SDQBound

I am also looking for a FB AMEX Card. So far, the Gold has quite similar benefits to the Skymiles AMEX, which I won't be able to use anymore in France. How does the referral bonus works?

--Update: Got the Plat Card, no referral bonus though--

joostw

You can just be introduced by a friend or somebody else with an AMEX card by providing them with your full name and emailaddress. Let me know if you want me to refer you.

Dutch71

How does a referral work? Switching from a FB silver card to an AMEX Platinumcard.

Gajan

I do not think you get the referral bonus in this case as I was told a current member needs to cancel his card and can only re-apply after 6 months if you want to receive the bonus.

Gajan

joostw

You are right! You won't get a referral bonus in case you already have a FB AMEX Card.

Xandrios

I would not bother with a specific airline card just for the advantages while flying. The OP flies not enough to gain status, plus when he does fly..its business anyway. So he already has all the advantages like lounge access anyway.

There are two reasons why to sign up for a credit card. 1) Signup bonus, and 2) rewards per euro/dollar spent. In the OP's case, the latter is most important.

So I'd look for a card that offers the most per euro spent.

The FB platinum card gives you 1.5 miles per euro. That is 150K miles per year with the spending pattern outlined in the first post. That equals three transatlantic business class promo tickets. Minus the taxes (~300) thats worth about 1500 euro per ticket. So thats a total value of ~4500 euro...if (and only if) the OP can find his favorite destinations in the promo list.

The regular Amex Platinum card offers lounge access, which is not needed since the OP flies business anyway. It earns 1 point per euro spent. However these points are more flexible, and if Promo award tickets are of no value to the OP...it might be a better choice.

Another random idea could be the Bijenkorf card. The points collected with this card can directly be used in any Bijenkorf store, and is thus very close to cash-back. The rate is 1.25 cents back per euro spent. So 100K euro equals 1250 euro to spend in any Bijenkorf store. Another advantage is that this is a MasterCard card, and therefore has greater acceptance than amex.

smartflyer

If you fly only a few times per year the flight segments are not really useful for you as you will not become a KLM elite member. Furthermore if you fly business class they don't need elite benfits as you get already priority, lounge access etc.
if you spend most of your 100k abroad you can consider the green card. for foreign transactions you get 2 membership rewards per euro which you can convert to 1.6 flying blue mile. which is better than any amex flying blue card. (and green card is only 65 eur, Flying blue amex plat 570)

I agree that the Bijcard mastercard is perfect card for rewards. More rewarding than Amex FB silver or gold. And if you spend >8k you get the card for free (incl some insurenses). Customer service is good as well.