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American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)

Old Jan 7, 2017, 4:18 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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. Thats 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.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
Print Wikipost

American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)

Old May 5, 2017, 4:18 pm
  #571  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canadia
Programs: A loyal Amerisuites customer... oh wait
Posts: 2,033
Originally Posted by echino
I have the Platinum card, can I refer friends and family to Gold Rewards card? When I click my referral link, it only lists the Platinum card, and at the bottom has Business cards, but no option to apply for personal Gold Rewards. Is there a way around it?
I think this is what you want...

Post 305
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post27971847
jerry305 is offline  
Old May 5, 2017, 5:28 pm
  #572  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Originally Posted by echino
I have the Platinum card, can I refer friends and family to Gold Rewards card? When I click my referral link, it only lists the Platinum card, and at the bottom has Business cards, but no option to apply for personal Gold Rewards. Is there a way around it?
Visit the link

Please change card to THE CARD YOU WANT at Top-Right/Bottom-Left corner "Apply for a different card that is part of this referral program"
jerryhung is offline  
Old May 5, 2017, 5:54 pm
  #573  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,464
Here is what I get when I click on my referral link:



No personal Gold Rewards card.

But, when I click on Business Gold at the bottom, I get the personal Gold Rewards at the bottom of THAT page, and when I click on it, then I can apply.

So it is two pages away from the original referral link page. Hopefully, the referral code is not lost in the process of clicking between those pages.
echino is offline  
Old May 5, 2017, 6:02 pm
  #574  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Originally Posted by echino
Here is what I get when I click on my referral link:


No personal Gold Rewards card.

But, when I click on Business Gold at the bottom, I get the personal Gold Rewards at the bottom of THAT page, and when I click on it, then I can apply.

So it is two pages away from the original referral link page. Hopefully, the referral code is not lost in the process of clicking between those pages.
You are correct, same for me
but it only happens for PERSONAL PLATINUM referral link, strange
If I tried the Biz PLAT/GOLD links, it shows all 3 OTHER cards at bottom correctly

why does AMEX keep changing the referral signup page... geez
jerryhung is offline  
Old May 7, 2017, 5:19 pm
  #575  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Montreal
Posts: 247
Originally Posted by jerryhung

why does AMEX keep changing the referral signup page... geez
Just to confirm that I had the same issues, and had to update all my referral links due to the new referral signup page (all my links were giving errors).

Hopefully didn't miss out on any referrals...

I guess I need to monitor them more regularly? How often do you guys check your links?
gonebabygone is offline  
Old May 7, 2017, 6:22 pm
  #576  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 125
I haven't talked to Amex yet, didn't feel like calling today, but I just realized that I didn't use my $200 travel credit for last year. How does Amex typically handle this? Can I get a rollover to this year ($400 total credit) or is it gone?
calgaryhhr is offline  
Old May 7, 2017, 9:30 pm
  #577  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AA LT Plat, AC 25K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,135
Originally Posted by calgaryhhr
I haven't talked to Amex yet, didn't feel like calling today, but I just realized that I didn't use my $200 travel credit for last year. How does Amex typically handle this? Can I get a rollover to this year ($400 total credit) or is it gone?
It's gone.
nabeelj is offline  
Old May 7, 2017, 9:37 pm
  #578  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AA LT Plat, AC 25K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,135
I'm not suggesting this is a good idea for everyone, but an interesting idea for those who are flush with Amex Canada Membership Rewards points and have 15K SPG to "spare":

- Transfer 150K Amex into 75K SPG
- Transfer 90K SPG to 270K Marriott
- Redeem 270K Marriot for a Cat 1-5 Travel Package, resulting in a 7 night stay and 120K AA
- Current AA 25% bonus promo (thru June 15th) means you'd actually get 150K AA
- Call Marriott after a few months and ask them to refund the Cat 1-5 7 night cert, there have been reports of people getting 45K Marriott back, which can be transferred back to 15K SPG. However, YMMV. Regardless, I think a 7 night Cat 1-5 stay is worth more than 15K SPG, so I'll call this a wash.

So, ignoring the 15K SPG and 7 night Cat 1-5 cert, you would be to transfer Amex Canada MR to AA 1:1.

Last edited by nabeelj; May 7, 2017 at 9:47 pm
nabeelj is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 11:18 am
  #579  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: YYC, SFO, OAK
Programs: AS MVP 75K, AA Platinum, IHG Platinum, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 734
Originally Posted by nabeelj
I'm not suggesting this is a good idea for everyone, but an interesting idea for those who are flush with Amex Canada Membership Rewards points and have 15K SPG to "spare":

- Transfer 150K Amex into 75K SPG
- Transfer 90K SPG to 270K Marriott
- Redeem 270K Marriot for a Cat 1-5 Travel Package, resulting in a 7 night stay and 120K AA
- Current AA 25% bonus promo (thru June 15th) means you'd actually get 150K AA
- Call Marriott after a few months and ask them to refund the Cat 1-5 7 night cert, there have been reports of people getting 45K Marriott back, which can be transferred back to 15K SPG. However, YMMV. Regardless, I think a 7 night Cat 1-5 stay is worth more than 15K SPG, so I'll call this a wash.

So, ignoring the 15K SPG and 7 night Cat 1-5 cert, you would be to transfer Amex Canada MR to AA 1:1.
Interesting strategy I hadn't thought of! AA's massive devaluation last year soured me towards their miles, even though cashing out Canadian Amex MR's 1:1 presents a relatively attractive value.

Has anyone managed to transfer Canadian MR to their US MR account? Even better than redeeming for airlines miles is getting 2cpm using the US Amex Business Platinum 50% rebate!
AwardBee is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 11:30 am
  #580  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AA LT Plat, AC 25K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,135
Originally Posted by AwardBee
Has anyone managed to transfer Canadian MR to their US MR account? Even better than redeeming for airlines miles is getting 2cpm using the US Amex Business Platinum 50% rebate!
I'm guessing you already know this, but they would give you a transfer ratio per the exchange rate, so you would be getting approx. CAD 0.02 value per Amex Canada MR, not USD 0.02.

I'm actually considering transferring the other way, later this year. I may transfer my 200K Amex USA MR balance to ~270K Amex Canada MR and transfer to Aeroplan.
nabeelj is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 12:03 pm
  #581  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PVR
Programs: Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines
Posts: 420
Originally Posted by jerryhung
You are correct, same for me
but it only happens for PERSONAL PLATINUM referral link, strange
If I tried the Biz PLAT/GOLD links, it shows all 3 OTHER cards at bottom correctly

why does AMEX keep changing the referral signup page... geez
This is annoying! I have the personal platinum now and I have a friend I recently referred for the gold card. He used my link today and I found out about this. I hope they put the regular gold card back on the referral page.
tryinginvain is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 1:29 pm
  #582  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: YYC, SFO, OAK
Programs: AS MVP 75K, AA Platinum, IHG Platinum, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 734
Originally Posted by nabeelj
I'm guessing you already know this, but they would give you a transfer ratio per the exchange rate, so you would be getting approx. CAD 0.02 value per Amex Canada MR, not USD 0.02.

I'm actually considering transferring the other way, later this year. I may transfer my 200K Amex USA MR balance to ~270K Amex Canada MR and transfer to Aeroplan.
I have heard about this before. I suppose now isn't a good time to make a transfer to the US due to the crappy exchange rate. With the abundance of relatively cheap business class fares to Asia I'd just rather redeem MR by buying cash fares at 2cpm - which then earn RDM and EQMs for status - rather than redeeming thru Aeroplan or even AS/AA. Aeroplan is also a fuel surcharge landmine I'd rather not wade thru if I didn't have to!
AwardBee is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 4:32 pm
  #583  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: YYC/YEG
Programs: Fairmont Platinum, SPG Gold
Posts: 47
Trouble getting referral points

I'm a platinum card holder and i referred 2 friends to the gold amex card. It's been a few months and i contact the call center about my bonus points.

I had one person tell me that i would only get points if the referral was the same platinum card. I don't believe this is true unless something has change.

Another rep told me he would look into it but hasn't gotten back to me.

What the best course of action for me.
ntle is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 5:22 pm
  #584  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Da Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,471
When I click my referral link, I get the following message:

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Cookie
/n
It's been like this for a couple of days. Do I need to call Amex to reset something?
margarita girl is offline  
Old May 8, 2017, 6:59 pm
  #585  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,581
Originally Posted by margarita girl
When I click my referral link, I get the following message:



It's been like this for a couple of days. Do I need to call Amex to reset something?
Which browser are you using? I've been getting that message when I use firefox, but it's ok if I use chrome or explorer.
Low Roller is offline  

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