American Express just increased the welcome bonus on the Business Platinum® Card to 100,000 Membership Rewards points after spending a total of $15,000 within the first three months (OFFER EXPIRED).
The minimum spending requirement is high and may be out of reach for some, but if you can make it work this could be a great offer and a way to earn a very high welcome bonus on this card.
100,000 Points Welcome Offer
The 100,000 point welcome bonus is actually broken down into two parts based on the spending that you complete within the first three months of having the card.
You'll earn:
- 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months.
- An additional 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending an additional $10,000 within the first 3 months.
This makes the total bonus worth 100,000 points after spending a total of $15,000 within the first three months.
The offer is marketed as a limited-time offer that will expire until January 25, 2017.
Amex Business Platinum Card quick card overview:
Card Benefits
The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN comes with some valuable travel benefits that can easily make the card worth it for many.
However, it's also vital to note that the card does have a high annual fee which is not waived the first year.
Here's a breakdown of the cards benefits:
$200 Airline Fee Credit
You'll get $200 in statement credits per calendar year when you use your Business Platinum Card to charge incidental fees, such as checked bags, in-flight beverages, change fees are charged from the airline of your choice.
Note that for the charges to qualify you will first need to select an airline of your choice and assign it to your card account.
The $200 travel credit is per calendar year, so you can use the $200 for the current calendar year and again another $200 once the new year starts. This makes it possible to get $400 in travel credit before the second annual fees hits your account.
50% Airline Points Rebate
When you use Membership Rewards Pay with Points for all or part of an eligible fare you'll get 50% of those points back.
The two types of eligible fares include:
- First and Business Class tickets with all airlines available with American Express Travel.
- Any fare class with your selected qualifying airline.
Global Airport Lounge Access
The card also gives you the benefit of airport lounge access from several different programs. In total you get complimentary access to over 1,000+ airport lounges in 120 countries.
The programs included in the airport lounge access benefit include:
- The Centurion® lounge network
- The International American Express lounges
- Delta Sky Club®
- Priority PassTM Select* lounges.
- Airspace Lounge
Gogo® and Boingo Internet Access
You also get the benefit of complimentary internet access when you travel. You'll get unlimited Boingo internext access as well as 10 passes to use GoGo internet.
This can come in handy when flying on routes that do not include complimentary internet access.
SPG Gold Status
As a cardmember you'll get automatic SPG Gold elite status as long as you keep your account open. If you don't have any status level with SPG this can be a easy way to earn and keep a lower-tier status.
The major benefits of SPG Gold include:
- 50% bonus bonus over Preferred status.
- 4p.m. late checkout
- Room upgrades
- Welcome gift (either bonus Starpoints, a free drink, or free internet).
- Complimentary in-room premium internet when you book directly with SPG (in addition to your welcome gift).
Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓
You can get a statement credit every 5 years when you apply for Global Entry ($100) or TSA Pre✔® ($85) using your eligible Business Platinum Card. Having Global Entry can be a nice perk and save time and headaches at the airport by getting you through airport security quicker.
If you frequently travel internationally the best option is Global Entry, because you automatically receive TSA Pre✔.
Who is Eligible for This Offer?
Remember, you can only earn the welcome bonus on American Express cards once per lifetime. This means that you will want to apply for each American Express card when it is at offering an increased offer.
If you have ever had this card before you will not be eligible to earn the welcome bonus. However, if you have any other version of the Amex Platinum card, such as personal cards, etc you will still be able to earn the welcome bonus.
Should You Apply?
The 100,000 Membership Rewards points offer on the Amex Business Platinum Card is a great offer if you have never had this card in the past.
Also, presumably American Express is trying to attract new premium credit card customers to compete with Chase's Sapphire Reserve which has drawn a lot of attention. The bottom line is that the benefits offered from the Sapphire Reserve are hard to beat.
Apart from the lucrative 100,000 point welcome bonus the card does offer some nice perks such as the $200 travel credit, airport lounge access, Global Entry free credit, and so on. However, if you have another premium credit card many of these benefits are redundant.
American Express also recently added the benefit of 1.5x points on purchases of $5,000+ so if you do have a business that makes large purchases this could be a great way to maximize your Membership Rewards points earnings.
