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)
Jul 20, 2017, 11:56 pm
#782
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Somewhere
Posts: 1,178
Hi, does anyone know how to add the supplementary card to online services? I added my gold to my existing account but can't seem to add the other. Am I suppose to create a new account for the supplement? Sorry for the newb question. 
Jul 21, 2017, 12:20 am
#783
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 73
Fudgsicles. I can't seem to refer to PG from BP any more... anyone else missing PG from their ref link?
Jul 21, 2017, 4:55 am
#784
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: Star Alliance G*, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium,
Posts: 3,585
give me a reason to renew Aeroplan Platinum please?
I have a decision to make whether to renew (or not) the Aeroplan Plat card? I figure they are losing clients big time since AC divorced AP & redemptions became very difficult. Any recent retention offers? Fee waivers?
Jul 21, 2017, 5:19 am
#785
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Or they can add the supplementary cards to their existing accounts if they have one.
Jul 21, 2017, 5:29 am
#786
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Update: Uh oh...you're right. NO MORE REFERRING TO THE PERSONAL GOLD? Not even after you click on all the other card icons, and then the icons on those next pages, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Last edited by JJonahJ; Jul 21, 2017 at 7:34 am
Jul 21, 2017, 3:15 pm
#788
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
Thanks Flying Prince. This one, I'm aware of, in the context of Amex MR to Marriott. My old buddy alc had mentioned it last year here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...l#post27266970
Basically, without an Aeroplan hotels conversion bonus promo the 7-night e-cert would effectively cost 60K MR. But with the recent Spring 30% Aeroplan conversion promo yielding 150K Aeroplans it was reduced down to a cost of 30K. Now with the current 35% conversion promo, a cost of 18K for 7-nites is ridiculously good value!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...l#post27266970
Basically, without an Aeroplan hotels conversion bonus promo the 7-night e-cert would effectively cost 60K MR. But with the recent Spring 30% Aeroplan conversion promo yielding 150K Aeroplans it was reduced down to a cost of 30K. Now with the current 35% conversion promo, a cost of 18K for 7-nites is ridiculously good value!
And it looks like you can purchase a package for any frequent flyer program of your choice - right?
Do you know if you can get the travel package for anything lower than 200K? If not, is it worthwhile to buy points to take advantage of this promo if you stay at Marriott hotels a lot? I only have 46K Amex MRs - which wouldn't even come close to the 200K Marriott points I'd need to buy the package.
And if your package includes 7 nights - do they have to be consecutive at the same hotel - or is it 7 free nights anywhere (so I could book 7 single night stays)? And if you buy cat 5 - can you upgrade at the time of redemption to get a higher category stay?
Last edited by pokee; Jul 21, 2017 at 3:51 pm
Jul 21, 2017, 3:55 pm
#789
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
Nor at GCR where it's still at 20,000 signup. But, they tend to lag behind by a half day or so. It'll be super interesting though if the offer via referrals does NOT increase. Who would bother then, other than family/self-referrals, to keep the 10K referring bonanzas within the circle.
Update 10:30a ET - GCR's signup has been updated to reflect the higher 25,000 welcome bonus offer now...and same $30 cash rebate. Referred signups still stuck with 20,000 verbiage.
Update 1:45p ET - now the referred signup pages are also showing the higher 25,000 welcome bonus offer.
Update 10:30a ET - GCR's signup has been updated to reflect the higher 25,000 welcome bonus offer now...and same $30 cash rebate. Referred signups still stuck with 20,000 verbiage.
Update 1:45p ET - now the referred signup pages are also showing the higher 25,000 welcome bonus offer.
Jul 21, 2017, 4:28 pm
#790
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 73
Do you know if you can get the travel package for anything lower than 200K? If not, is it worthwhile to buy points to take advantage of this promo if you stay at Marriott hotels a lot? I only have 46K Amex MRs - which wouldn't even come close to the 200K Marriott points I'd need to buy the package.
You can book up to 7 consecutive nights at one location, doesn't mean you need to stay there all 7, but you must book all 7 consecutively and at one location. Yes, you can upgrade from cat5 after the fact!
Last edited by 604flyer; Jul 21, 2017 at 4:29 pm Reason: added info
Jul 22, 2017, 4:58 am
#791
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 48
At your BP's referring page, click on one of the other cards, such as the BG or PP. then look for the PG card icon at that page. Should ring up as 25K for your BP on a successful referral to PG.
Update: Uh oh...you're right. NO MORE REFERRING TO THE PERSONAL GOLD? Not even after you click on all the other card icons, and then the icons on those next pages, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Update: Uh oh...you're right. NO MORE REFERRING TO THE PERSONAL GOLD? Not even after you click on all the other card icons, and then the icons on those next pages, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Jul 22, 2017, 10:22 am
#792
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: NB, Canada
Programs: Fairmont, Amex MR, Marriott
Posts: 2,531
Whether or not to renew I think is a bit of a ways off. The divorce is far from final, and I personally find redemptions to be the same (or even better).
Jul 22, 2017, 12:19 pm
#793
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
Same thing, referral to personal gold gone from Business Plat referral options. Damn. That really sucks. I'm glad I got one more self-referral in a few months ago, but I was in the process of referring a bunch of other people... not anymore I guess. damn. SOME advance notice sure would've been nice, Amex.
edit: and for the record, the personal gold referral is also gone from the personal plat referral page, not just the business plat.
edit: and for the record, the personal gold referral is also gone from the personal plat referral page, not just the business plat.
Last edited by Smiley90; Jul 22, 2017 at 12:42 pm
Jul 22, 2017, 2:58 pm
#794
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
Same thing, referral to personal gold gone from Business Plat referral options. Damn. That really sucks. I'm glad I got one more self-referral in a few months ago, but I was in the process of referring a bunch of other people... not anymore I guess. damn. SOME advance notice sure would've been nice, Amex.
edit: and for the record, the personal gold referral is also gone from the personal plat referral page, not just the business plat.
edit: and for the record, the personal gold referral is also gone from the personal plat referral page, not just the business plat.
Jul 22, 2017, 10:27 pm
#795
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,519
Wow, no more referring to Personal Gold, that is actually going to help to make the decision to cancel my Biz Plat. Annual just kick in and I had been debating if I should keep it as I do have 3 Personal Gold line up from family members for the next 8 to 9 months.... so kind of thinking $399 for 75K. But now that it is gone, I will cancel it (after I use it for a lounge access later this week 
)
)