Exploiting American Express referral bonuses

The credit card posts on Head for Points are focussed on the sign-up and ongoing bonuses that you can get for applying personally for the various loyalty credit cards.  These are, at present, the easiest way to accumulate a large pile of Avios or other points quickly and cheaply.

However, if you have a British Airways Amex or an Amex Platinum, Green, Centurion or Preferred Rewards Gold charge card, there are also attractive referral bonuses available that can make it attractive to get a card for your partner, parents or other close friend or relative, with you pocketing the miles!

How can you take advantage of both ends of the bonus (assuming the card recipient agrees!)?  With Avios, it is easy – you can issue a flight ticket for yourself from the others persons BAEC account, or form a household account with them and access their miles that way. 

With American Express Membership Rewards points it is – whilst not openly publicised by Amex – usually possible to transfer them into anyones airline account, even if the names do not match.  I have done this in the past with Nectar, Priority Club and Club Carlson transfers.

Yesterday – after I had already drafted this post, as it happens – Amex changed the rules on referral bonuses for the Platinum and Gold card.  You must now be a new customer to Amex to receive a referral bonus for these products, which unfortunately knocks out a lot of people who already hold BA, SPG, Nectar, Platinum, Gold, Centurion, Green etc Amex cards. 

(If you a supplementary card holder on someone else’s Amex account, then you are NOT treated as an Amex client and so you are OK.) 

What is not yet clear is how long you have to wait after cancelling your existing Amex cards to be treated as a new customer – I would give it at least six months.

Let’s take a look at the possible combinations:

If you have the BA Amex or BA Premium Plus Amex and refer a BA Premium Plus Amex:

You get 9,000 Avios for referring and your friend receives 31,000 for signing up and spending £3,000 in three months

Total Avios earned:  40,000 for £150 fee

Verdict:  OK deal.  It is not clear if fee is refunded pro-rata if the card is later cancelled.  However, as per the Cards Update page, there is an offer for 40,000 Avios for a new application anyway with no referral required.

If you have the BA Amex or BA Premium Plus Amex and refer a BA Amex:

You get 2,000 Avios for referring and your friend receives 2,000 for signing up and spending £500 in three months

Total Avios earned:  4,000 for £0 fee

Verdict:  Not worth the effort unless the referred person genuinely wants the card

If you have a Centurion, Platinum, Gold or Green Amex and refer an Amex Platinum card:

You get 25,000 Membership Rewards points for referring and your friend receives 52,000 for signing up and spending £2,000 in three months

Total Membership Rewards points earned:  77,000 for £450 fee

Verdict:  A fantastic deal if you cancel the card quickly, since the £450 fee is refunded pro-rata to your membership period used.  If you cancel after three months, for example, you will get £300-£350 back whilst retaining the 77,000 points.  Only open to people who do not already have an Amex card.  £40,000 income requirement.

If you have a Centurion, Platinum, Gold or Green Amex and refer an Amex Preferred Rewards Gold card:

You get 12,000 Membership Rewards points for referring and your friend receives 22,000 for signing up and spending £1,000 in three months

Total Membership Rewards points earned:  34,000 for £0 fee (fee free for first year)

Verdict:  A fantastic deal if you are nervous about cancelling a Platinum card and reclaiming the fee, as the card is free for the first year (£125 thereafter).  Only open to people who do not already have an Amex card.  £20,000 income requirement.

In my view, the best deal here is for the American Express Platinum charge card as long as you are happy paying the £450 and then claiming a pro-rata refund after cancellation.  (The T&C’s of the card confirm you can do this, so you are not asking for a favour by doing so.)  You could earn 77,000 Membership Rewards points between you for, depending on how fast you cancel, around £100 of fee.  The person you refer needs to have a £40,000 income to get the Amex Platinum card, though – if you can’t reach that, the Gold card only requires £20,000.

Note that you must transfer your Membership Rewards points before you cancel the card, so there is a trade off involved as Amex occasionally runs 30%-40% transfer bonuses on transfers to Avios.  The longer you wait for a transfer bonus, the smaller the fee that will be refunded to you when you cancel.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.