Last chance to get Amex Platinum with 50,000 Membership Rewards (= 50,000 Avios) bonus

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• AviosNewbie says:

  28 Feb28 February 08:39

  Hi Raffles, I have been a follower of your blog for the past few months and you’re doing a fantastic job!

  I have the Gold charge card and I achieved their bonus a few months ago, but haven’t cancelled it yet as I am waiting for a MR to avios transfer bonus. I am sitting on around 52k MRs, and do you think I should transfer now or wait for a bonus? I haven’t been able to apply for the Platinum because I already have the gold, and will lose out on the 52k offer now.

  I also had a suggestion for your site: can you create a section where readers could post questions for you? I had a few questions about avios, BA redemptions, etc. and would love to get your thoughts on them, but don’t know where to post.

  • David says:

    28 Feb28 February 10:36

    The good thing is that the Gold is fee-free for the first year. So you don’t loose out on any prorated refund.

    Do you have a significant other or fanily menber than you could refer for a card? You can then move your points MR points to them for a flat fee and cancel your card, yet still be waiting in MR. However the MR holding account would not be in your name but theirs while you wait for transfer.

    Far better to wait for the fee-free first year of gold on your account, get them to churn the plat (apply, spend, get bonus, cancel) and then pay the flat fee to trf their points into your holding pot. You could be the additional plat card holder on their account of that helps with spending.
    The only plat feature you can’t apply for as the additional sup is the Cathay card – main cardholder only.

    This also keeps you holding the Gold which is that better for day-to-day spending.
    Of course if you wanted to switch to the plat yourself as a long term hold card that would be different.

• Flashware says:

  28 Feb28 February 10:06

  When did it drop to only 2 priority passes? I have 2 full priority pass memberships (myself + supp card holder) that also allows us both to bring in 1 guest for no cost, unlimited use. I suspect that is what you meant but it didn’t read like that!

  • Colin says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:50

    Hi,

    Can i just double check this, if i take out an AMEX Platinum charge card and a supplementary card i can get the Priority Pass with unlimited access on BOTH PP cards? I have read on other websites the supplementary card is the basic one where you need to pay for access, albeit i think that might be for AMEX cards issued in the U.S.

    • Alan says:

      2 Mar2 March 16:01

      Hi Colin – yes, BOTH the main cardholder and the additional Plat cardholder receive a PP card. These cards both allow both the PP cardholder + 1 guest unlimited free entry to lounges. The US Plat card is quite different – it comes with the PP Select (valid for fewer lounges) and I don’t think has the free guest – on the other hand the US card also has lots of other benefits that we don’t have, like no fees on foreign currency transactions!

• David says:

  28 Feb28 February 10:37

  It is Accor Plat I believe (well mine certainly is), not Gold.

  • Flashware says:

    28 Feb28 February 10:41

    Yep, ditto.

• Steve says:

  28 Feb28 February 10:47

  Is the hotel status renewed each year, or is it just for one year?

  • David says:

    28 Feb28 February 11:20

    Hilton Gold (now removed, replace with Accor Plat) used to be one-year only.
    Le Club Accor Hotels Plat is I believe on-going (renewed).
    Club Carlson Gold is ongoing (renwed)
    Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Gold is one-year.

    Above is from memory.

    • Alan says:

      28 Feb28 February 11:22

      Almost right 😉 SPG Gold is a longstanding ongoing benefit. The only one-year hotel status was Hilton, now removed.

      • David says:

        28 Feb28 February 11:41

        It was from memory – and I’m not really a SPG person.

        • Alan says:

          28 Feb28 February 11:45

          Yes, I haven’t had many stays with them either (few UK properties and those they have are pretty pricey) but have had good use out of the Gold status on a few stays – also applied twice for the SPG Amex which has given me a nice chunk of SPG points. This kind of occasional stay but getting mid-tier benefits is a definite benefit of the Plat card and something I would miss if they removed it.

        • Flashware says:

          28 Feb28 February 11:47

          What have you found the bennies like? I’ve got upcoming stays at the Sheraton Grand Tokyo Bay & Westin Kyoto.

        • Rob says:

          28 Feb28 February 12:00

          Ironically I stayed at Westin Kyoto about 8 years ago as an SPG Gold and got upgraded to a lovely junior suite. In theory, though, you are behind SPG Platinum members in the upgrade queue. There was a big tour group at the Westin when I was there, all of whom would have had no status, which probably helped me. It was a lovely hotel, hopefully it is still OK.

        • Flashware says:

          28 Feb28 February 12:02

          Given it will be our 1 year wedding anniversary the night we check in, fingers crossed!

        • Alan says:

          28 Feb28 February 11:59

          I’ve had upgrades to SPG Gold/Plat floors (generally higher up and daily free water, which was quite useful for when I was in Argentina and it was hot!), also been refunded the resort fee due to SPG Gold status on a few stays in the US – at $14.95/day for a couple of week-long stays that’s about £139 of value straight away 😀 It’s only mid-tier status though, so I’d go in not expecting too much and hopefully be pleasantly surprised!

        • Alan says:

          28 Feb28 February 12:03

          Congrats, Flashware! Given that I’d definitely contact the hotel in advance to make them aware – I had very good results with Hilton on a recent NZ trip in contacting them in advance.

        • Flashware says:

          28 Feb28 February 12:13

          I did mention it on the booking, but maybe it’s worth emailing the hotel as well! Thanks for the idea Alan!

    • Rob says:

      28 Feb28 February 11:58

      SPG is actually permanent, but it does not renew automatically. You need to ring up or re-do the application form each year.

      • Alan says:

        28 Feb28 February 12:00

        Not quite – it has auto-renewed for me twice now – it’s certainly meant to auto-renew!

• Flashware says:

  28 Feb28 February 15:22

  How you described just there is how I did it 🙂

• Rob says:

  28 Feb28 February 15:35

  Yes, that was it. It may or may not work, it shouldn’t work, obviously!

• Thomas says:

  28 Feb28 February 16:22

  On the AMEX Platinum you get Gold Marco Polo as well which gets you into BA lounges at T5 for example – the card is valid for a year, is this renewable or is it a 1 year deal only?

  • Alan says:

    28 Feb28 February 16:28

    It’s not 100% clear. They initially offered a free Marco Polo Gold card for one year in a mailshot about six months prior to the fee rise from £300 to £450. At the time of the fee rise they included it as a main benefit, although were not particularly clear about whether it was recurring or not! I first got the card from the mailshot offer – this ran out in September time but then automatically renewed. Others seem to have had the same experience. Whether this will happen again or not or whether this was a one-time thing is yet to be seen. It’s a definite benefit in the first year but I would stake everything on it being ongoing – however I think it’s probably more likely than not to renew again, only time will tell! (Amex CS seem to give conflicting/useless answers when questioned)

    • Thomas says:

      28 Feb28 February 16:33

      Alan – many thanks for this, my MPG card expires in a couple of months so time will tell, but very much appreciate your reply.

      • Alan says:

        28 Feb28 February 16:36

        Well certainly up until now everyone’s cards seem to have been renewing so I think you’re in with a good chance – how things are in another 10-12 months is possibly quite different though!

• Mark says:

  28 Feb28 February 19:55

  If you spend and then cancel, do you get to keep the statuses for the rest of the year?

  • Rob says:

    28 Feb28 February 20:24

    Priority Pass no, Cathay, Accor, SPG, Carlson, Hertz, Avis yes

    • Thomas says:

      28 Feb28 February 21:43

      They cancel the Priority Pass very quickly as any guests over the 1 free is charged to your card, a colleague cancelled his AMEX card and a couple of days later the Priority Pass was no longer accepted.

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