Jan 7, 2017, 4:18 pm
Last edit by: mia
Referrals and self-referrals are an important part of maximizing rewards from Canadian-issued American Express cards. It is appropriate to discuss how the referral process works in this thread. However, please do not offer or request referrals here. Use only this thread, and do read the Wikipost carefully before posting: Referral Offers (post only in this thread, no referral links, read Wiki post first).
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
New as of March 23 2016.
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
New as of March 23 2016.
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
- Earn 2,500 Membership Tiered Rewards points for each month where you spend $500 (up to 30,000/year).
- Limited Time Offer: Apply by Jan 30, 2018 and you can earn a Welcome Bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3K in 3 months.
- See discussion thread for more details: 2017 American Express Cobalt (Canada)
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
Referral Difference Between Cards:
Please note there is a maximum annual referral bonus you can make per card.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
- mid-May 2016, increased from $500 to $1500 required spending.
- Jan 11 to mid-May 2016, the Gold card earned 0 referral points.
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)
Mar 4, 2017, 2:48 pm
#331
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PHL, NYC, DC
Posts: 9,708
the impression im getting from amex lately is they're very defensive-aggressive.... agree YMMV on phone agent vs online but they seem to back one another more now.
You didn't get the 20,000 SPG welcome bonus on a Personal SPG card because you've been churning it? i.e., Are you saying they denied the points even after spending the minimum requirement, because they noticed this?
In any event, I'm a bit surprised they wouldn't refund you a pro-rata amount. If they gave you the welcome bonus, sure, but since you didn't get it I don't know why they would be hesitant to give it to you.
Well, since the Secured Message way didn't work for you, try calling and speak to a phone rep. Maybe they will be more 'giving'?
In any event, I'm a bit surprised they wouldn't refund you a pro-rata amount. If they gave you the welcome bonus, sure, but since you didn't get it I don't know why they would be hesitant to give it to you.
Well, since the Secured Message way didn't work for you, try calling and speak to a phone rep. Maybe they will be more 'giving'?
Mar 4, 2017, 6:57 pm
#332
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Montreal
Programs: Aeroplan, Delta, SPG, ClubPremier
Posts: 65
Amex Travel web site
Hello:
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
Mar 4, 2017, 7:38 pm
#333
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Hello:
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
Mar 5, 2017, 7:59 pm
#334
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Hello:
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
How do you find AMEX Travel Website regarding prices and availability to book flights?
It's my first year with AMEX, I've a personal Gold AMEX almost a year and planning to apply for the Personal Platinum taking advantage of $200 credit each year but according to what I read you need to apply it to a flight booked throught them (not like the Reward Points that can be used against anything is in your statement).
Two weeks ago I booked a flight directly with United but just of curiousity looked at AMEX web site and there was nothing interesting to be honest. A lot of flights and airlines are not there.
What do you think?
For your clarification, you do need to book something for at least $200 from the Amex Travel Site, but not just flights, it could be hotels and rental cars as well. Unfortunately, as you've seen, they are often not competitive with other travel sites.
Some people have reported that they have found similar pricing with the Amex Travel Site and other sites such as Expedia.ca and Hotels.com, but last summer when I looked during the Amex Gold promo that offered a $50 statement credit for booking at the ATS, I have to admit that I spent a significant amount of time trying to find something reasonably priced, and not much different from the other travel website. In the end we settled on booking hotels, and thus the $50 promo netted us about $40 actual credit, because of the higher prices.
I know a lot of people in the community don't like it when the churners simply book a refundable travel item, and then call in to ask for the reservation to be cancelled, while keeping the Plat's $200 travel credit. I saw that others tried to do the same with the Gold's $50 travel credit promo, but we didn't try to abuse this, and kept our hotel reservations. Have to give back to Amex, for all the great benefits and service that they've showered us with.
Mar 5, 2017, 8:25 pm
#335
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YVR to SEA
Posts: 2,536
Flights on major airlines within North America should be fairly constant across different websites, given that there isn't a lot of commission on those.
Hotels are more of a miss, other than fine hotels and resorts which is a different program altogether
during some of the business class deals to Europe, found that amex travel actually had more availability than expedia, orbitz and kayak
Hotels are more of a miss, other than fine hotels and resorts which is a different program altogether
during some of the business class deals to Europe, found that amex travel actually had more availability than expedia, orbitz and kayak
Mar 5, 2017, 9:50 pm
#336
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YVR
Posts: 625
Flights on major airlines within North America should be fairly constant across different websites, given that there isn't a lot of commission on those.
Hotels are more of a miss, other than fine hotels and resorts which is a different program altogether
during some of the business class deals to Europe, found that amex travel actually had more availability than expedia, orbitz and kayak
Hotels are more of a miss, other than fine hotels and resorts which is a different program altogether
during some of the business class deals to Europe, found that amex travel actually had more availability than expedia, orbitz and kayak
Mar 6, 2017, 12:04 pm
#337
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
I recently found and booked a hotel stay at a Delta hotel through Amex Travel website. The hotel in question had low availability and inflated rates due to a convention happening there during the stay. However, the rate I found on the Amex Travel website for that stay was significantly lower that on any other site. After I completed the reservation, I found out that room Amex Travel website sold me was sourced from Hotel Beds inventory.
Mar 6, 2017, 3:37 pm
#338
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AMEX AC CX UA AA DL
Posts: 3,008
These fares were not found on AMEX website. So you have to call in for the best air fare.
Last edited by beep88; Mar 6, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Mar 6, 2017, 8:54 pm
#339
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Canada
Posts: 49
I was just told by Amex Gold that I will not be getting any promotion (2nd time around) after my $1500 spend because I was 'informed' that it is a once and a life time promotion 
Mar 7, 2017, 6:20 pm
#341
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: United 1K, AC 50K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriot Platinum
Posts: 684
Not sure if this has been experienced by others (I glanced through a few pages and didn't see anything) but today when I cancelled my Platinum Amex card after a year I was told that I would receive a credit for the yearly fee that I had just been billed for a second year but that isntead of the $699 that I had been billed I would only be getting $499 credited as I had used my $200 travel credit this year and was not renewing. Has this happened to anyone else?
Mar 7, 2017, 8:40 pm
#342
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
Is the $399 af on the Biz Plat partially refunded if you cancel before the year is finished?
Mar 7, 2017, 8:53 pm
#343
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YYZ, YUL, PEK
Posts: 429
Not sure if this has been experienced by others (I glanced through a few pages and didn't see anything) but today when I cancelled my Platinum Amex card after a year I was told that I would receive a credit for the yearly fee that I had just been billed for a second year but that isntead of the $699 that I had been billed I would only be getting $499 credited as I had used my $200 travel credit this year and was not renewing. Has this happened to anyone else?
Kind of shady of Amex since the terms clearly state that the credit is per calendar year, but that's the nature of the game for you.
Mar 8, 2017, 7:48 pm
#344
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 198
Some info and would appreciate any opinions please.
I self referred from Biz Plat to Regular Plat and received 25,000 MR points for referral.
I just called Amex and asked when I would receive 60,000 MR for meeting minimum spend on Regular Plat and was told...I would NOT receive the 60,000 MR "bonus points" as I've previously held the card.
I told the rep that yes I held the card before, cancelled it, and then at a later date applied for a new card which provided the 60,000 sign up bonus, and didn't see anything in the terms and conditions which stated that I couldnt get the points if I held the card before...
*honestly can't recall seeing it but anyways*
The most interesting thing was the language that the rep used. She kept repeating, "So,you have had this card for 2 years now..."....and each time I would interrupt her and say, "No, I had a card, cancelled it, applied for a new card, and have had this card for 2 months..."
Then she would say, "Yes, we have had some customers misunderstand and think that they would receive bonus points on a previously held card...but they won't..."
Long story short seems to be that I can:
a. call in and ask a supervisor to make an exception
b. failing an exception, cancel the card and get the full $699 CAD returned (and I don't know what would happen to 25,000 MR referral bonus)...or
c. keep the card, know that I got 25,000 MR as a referral, use the .... out of the Priority Pass, and use the $200 annual credit...
Definitely, I will do (a)...but would like some perspectives on (b) and (c) please...
I self referred from Biz Plat to Regular Plat and received 25,000 MR points for referral.
I just called Amex and asked when I would receive 60,000 MR for meeting minimum spend on Regular Plat and was told...I would NOT receive the 60,000 MR "bonus points" as I've previously held the card.
I told the rep that yes I held the card before, cancelled it, and then at a later date applied for a new card which provided the 60,000 sign up bonus, and didn't see anything in the terms and conditions which stated that I couldnt get the points if I held the card before...
*honestly can't recall seeing it but anyways*
The most interesting thing was the language that the rep used. She kept repeating, "So,you have had this card for 2 years now..."....and each time I would interrupt her and say, "No, I had a card, cancelled it, applied for a new card, and have had this card for 2 months..."
Then she would say, "Yes, we have had some customers misunderstand and think that they would receive bonus points on a previously held card...but they won't..."
Long story short seems to be that I can:
a. call in and ask a supervisor to make an exception
b. failing an exception, cancel the card and get the full $699 CAD returned (and I don't know what would happen to 25,000 MR referral bonus)...or
c. keep the card, know that I got 25,000 MR as a referral, use the .... out of the Priority Pass, and use the $200 annual credit...
Definitely, I will do (a)...but would like some perspectives on (b) and (c) please...
Mar 8, 2017, 7:56 pm
#345
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 198
One more data point to add...
I just saw that I received 25,000 MR points for a Gold Rewards Card that I just met the minimum spend on.
Like the above Plat card that I mentioned...this was also self referred...and I have held it before.
So Amex is being a bit inconsistent here...
Not surprised...just observing...
I just saw that I received 25,000 MR points for a Gold Rewards Card that I just met the minimum spend on.
Like the above Plat card that I mentioned...this was also self referred...and I have held it before.
So Amex is being a bit inconsistent here...
Not surprised...just observing...