You may find this thread helpful:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...s-19-days.html

Thanks so much!! Any links to more threads like that would be appreciated! :)

Told you. :)

:) Yeah, I'm bit paranoid. :P

Now, I need to figure out what are the next steps to take to get that 100K points within a month.

Do you mean complete the spend in a month, or have the redeemable points in your account? The second is improbable, though not impossible, unless you have a history with American Express.

Oh, I actually meant complete the spend in a month, by May 29. The points can come later.

Do you suggest I should try the Target $500 load again after it was flagged as fraudulent last night? Or get a $500 AMEX gift card? I'm not sure which one I should do first.

Why not actually purchase something (that you plan to keep) with your new AmEx card? New appliance, clothes, furniture, car maintenance, etc. Electronics items tend to raise flags with AmEx, so expect to have to do something like talk to them to get those charges approved.

I definitely plan to, but meeting $3000 spend isn't going to be easy just on my own without some MS or buying stuff for other friends.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but if you can't spend $3000 in a month without MS it all, should you really be paying a $450 annual fee? Sounds like your budget it a little tight.

Unless you were planning on using some of the points on your trip and need to rush, why not do the spend while in Europe? Vacation expenses add up pretty quickly and you wouldn't be falling into the trap of overspending/forcing your spend that you otherwise wouldn't do absent this promo offer.

I definitely plan on spending $$ while on vacation in Europe, but it'll be nice to complete the spend requirements before I leave just in case. I don't have an exact estimates of how much I will spend while I'm on vacation in Europe right now (still in the process of planning)

I'll probably need to use the points for my return trip back home! Lol.

Then I would focus on worrying about the part you're not sure you'll end up spending on the trip. If you know you'll spend at least a grand over there, just worry about taking care of the other 2 large before you leave and spend the $1k naturally. I'm sure you'll go on vacations in the future, so you'll always have a chance to redeem points later on. Just don't force spend hastily and end up losing money.

Don't forget that the regular USA issued nonaffiliated Platinum charge card does not have foreign transaction fees.

OP, you need to cool your jets (no pun intended). Your 100k points will take a minimum of 2 months from the day you got the card to even post to your account. Unless you are going to be in Europe then, don't count on using your points to return. Also, it takes time to book award flights (availability is scarce during peak season) and it sounds like you don't even have the basics of churning down, let alone booking award flights for the best possible price. The entire point of this hobby is to get rewards and to maximize them. You are in no position to maximize rewards if you are hastily booking return flights home.

Naw, I don't need the points right away. I'm actually going to be in Europe for 4 months, so I have the time to wait for the points to post and get the best ticket back to the US in the fall.