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Confirmed: Last sign-up date for free BA Silver (ie Cathay Gold) via Amex Platinum is 31 March

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It now seems official.  American Express has confirmed on the American Express Platinum members website (which I can’t link to) that the Cathay Pacific Gold card deal will end on 31st March.

If you are not familiar with this offer, this is how it works.

When you take out an American Express Platinum charge card, you can apply for a Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club Gold card, valid for one year.

Cathay A350-900

Cathay Pacific, like British Airways, is a member of the oneworld alliance.  This means that your Cathay Pacific Gold card gives you the same benefits as a British Airways Silver card when you fly with BA.

In particular:

You can use BA lounges, even when flying economy – and bring a guest

You can use the lounges of any other oneworld airline when flying with them (Qantas, Qatar, Cathay, Finnair, Royal Jordanian etc)

You can select seats on BA flights for free

You can get an additional baggage allowance

You can check-in at business class desks

The full list of benefits from a oneworld Sapphire card (which is what both BA Silver and Cathay Gold offer) can be found here.

To receive your Cathay Pacific Gold card, you must therefore apply for your Amex Platinum card, receive it AND order the Cathay Gold card online by 31st March.  Realistically, this means that you would need to apply for Amex Platinum by mid March.

But doesn’t Amex Platinum have a £450 fee …..?

Yes, it does.  However, the fee is refunded pro-rata when you cancel.

When you cancel, you keep the Cathay Gold card for the remainder of the 12 months for which it is valid.  You also keep the three hotel status cards for the rest of the year – Starwood Gold, Accor Platinum and Carlson (Radisson) Gold.

There is also a very lucrative sign-up bonus with Amex Platinum, although you can only get this if you have not had an Amex Gold or Amex Platinum in the last six months.  You will receive 30,000 Amex Membership Rewards points, which can be converted into 30,000 Avios or 30,000 Virgin Flying Club miles amongst other things.

This is how it could pan out:

Apply for American Express Platinum now

Order your Cathay Gold, Starwood Gold, Accor Platinum and Club Carlson Gold cards

Spend the £2,000 in 3 months required to trigger the 30,000 Membership Rewards points

Transfer your 30,000 points – plus the extra points from your spending – into 30,000 Avios, Virgin Flying Club miles or whatever other programme you choose

Cancel the card after three months for a pro-rata fee refund

For a net cost of just £112 (3/12th of £450):

you will have earned 30,000 Avios, and

you get the equivalent of a British Airways Silver card for a year and

you get Gold status at Starwood hotels for a year and

you get Platinum status at Accor hotels for a year and

you get Gold status at Carlson (Radisson, Park Inn) hotels for a year.

Which sounds OK to me ….

My full review of the American Express Platinum card is here.

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Category

American Express Platinum card, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles

Comments (89)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Johnny5a says:
    22 Nov22 November 07:36

    As far as I can see apart from the CX Gold Card there isn’t any difference between the Plat personal and Plat Small Business.

    I think I remember you saying that Plat Business travel insurance is better as it doesn’t have the excess.

    If that is the case, once my wife’s CS Gold runs out, we’ll cancel her personal Plat and I’ll move to Business Plat.

    • Johnny5a says:
      22 Nov22 November 07:37

      actually there’s another step before that, I’ll sign up personal Plat before Feb 2014.

      • Johnny5a says:
        22 Nov22 November 07:41

        aggg i can’t get the welcome bonus 🙁 I still have my gold small business card, oh well ho-hum

        just found that my wife’s CX card expires on 28 Feb 2014 … how convenient

    • Rich says:
      22 Nov22 November 07:47

      Different insurance… and a lot more MR points on the Business Plat 🙂 60,000 when you spend £6,000 in the first 3 months. I’ve not long cancelled Business Gold so I’m waiting at least 6 months before applying for Business Plat. Plan to use/retain the Plat although I imagine a fair few people will be cancelling because of the benefits and the pro rata refund. Just hope something as generous is still running when I do come to apply.

    • Rob says:
      22 Nov22 November 07:49

      I don’t think you get the hotel status cards with Business Platinum either?

      • Rob says:
        23 Nov23 November 20:43

        Now got to the bottom of this. Business Plat holders get Starwood Gold and Carlson Gold. They do not get Accor Platinum or the Cathay Gold.

    • DV says:
      22 Nov22 November 09:31

      The Business Platinum (and the supplementary cards) are restricted to directors/partners/owners/employees of a business, so it is not quite the same. If you don’t fall into these categories, it would be unwise to get the card or rely on the insurance cover (because you would be committing an offence and it would give Amex an excuse not to pay out if you made a claim). The IDC Platinum card offers an improved insurance package similar to the Business card which you could try.

      • goglobalnz says:
        22 Nov22 November 09:48

        I may be missing something, but it looks like the 60,000 MR points offer with the small business Plat has been withdrawn?

  • Colin MacKinnon says:
    22 Nov22 November 07:43

    Funny timing.

    Just tried to use my wife’s CX Gold to avoid luggage fees on a Y flight with AA.

    (AA says no baggage fee and Main Cabin Extra for One World elites)

    But AA cannot find any status for her when they put in her CX number, and CX say: All OK at her end, and – anyway – One World rules don’t give you an extra luggage!

    Anyone found this a problem before, and no the answer?

    • Rob says:
      22 Nov22 November 07:48

      They are correct, as per the link in the post you’ll see that extra baggage is not a formal OW Sapphire benefit, although I think BA does offer it as a courtesy?

      • Colin MacKinnon says:
        22 Nov22 November 08:04

        Actually, Raffles, the AA web site says here, about baggage:

        The following passengers will be allowed a 1st and/or 2nd checked bag at no additional charge provided it falls within the size and weight limitations. These free checked bag allowances apply on flights operated by American Airlines, American Eagle and American Connection®.
        ………………

        American Airlines AAdvantage® Executive Platinum AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold members
        Alaska Airlines MVP Gold 75K, MVP Gold and MVP members
        oneworld alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby members
        Customers flying on the same reservation as an American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold member or oneworld alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby member regardless of frequent flyer status or fare type (not applicable to group bookings)

  • Guesswho2000 says:
    22 Nov22 November 07:47

    Damn! I was hoping this ran on in the event I don’t requalify for AA PLT next year. Never mind, no benefit to me now, as I’m OW Sapphire until 2015 at least anyway.

  • zark says:
    22 Nov22 November 07:50

    I think you need to spend £2K not 3£3k in first 3 months for the 30K Membership Rewards.
    Also , on the Amex web site it does say:
    “American Express reserves the right to instruct The Marco Polo Club to cancel your membership if you cease to be a Platinum member or your account is not in good standing”
    They may not execute this, but the could, I suppose

  • Kiran says:
    22 Nov22 November 07:58

    The Platinum card looks less appealing now. No CX Gold, no Hilton or Marriott status. I have BA Silver already. I guess you still get priority pass for lounges?

    • sandgrounder says:
      22 Nov22 November 08:22

      Priority Pass for the main and first supplementary cardholder I think? I’m thinking of getting the plat, but I think I’ll wait for a bigger bonus, such as we had last year. The PP is a good benefit, the best cash prices I can find at the moment are from Marriott rewards- 20% off plus 3 months free- has anyone seen better at the moment? I only fly about 15 sectors a year, so I might just stump up for the standard plus.

      • sandgrounder says:
        22 Nov22 November 09:27

        Plus it doesn’t even work! I don’t know what’s happened to me this week. I’m glad that I’ve got a long weekend this week and that it starts here! 🙂

        • sandgrounder says:
          22 Nov22 November 09:43

          Ignore above post!

          Thanks Raffles!

          • Kipto says:
            22 Nov22 November 12:58

            So am I entitled to one if I took out the gold charge card in August this year ?

          • Rob says:
            22 Nov22 November 13:39

            Amex will give you a Platinum card but you won’t get the sign-up bonus as you already have a Membership Rewards account.

          • KilburnFlyer says:
            27 Nov27 November 07:55

            *EZE-LHR that should be of course. That booking was my best reward ever: LHR – GIG in BA F on 777-300ER arriving June 10th (2 days before World Cup Starts) returning EZE-LHR in Club World 2 weeks later. 2for1 voucher meant it came out at 90K avios + about £450 in tax pp. Not too shabby

      • Rob says:
        22 Nov22 November 09:31

        Correct, 2 x Priority Pass and each gets you a free guest, so a family of 4 is covered

    • Susan says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:16

      Agreed, CX renewal was the only reason I kept Platinum this year. The other benefits just don’t add up to a hill of beans in comparison.

  • Thomas says:
    22 Nov22 November 08:01

    Morning all,

    Any thoughts on what currently holders of Platinum cards should do – my CX Gold expires April next year, is it worth contacting AMEX and see if they can renew in Feb, then at least get the extra year – any thoughts?

    • al says:
      22 Nov22 November 08:19

      My CX gold expires in Jan and my Amex Plat is due for renewal in December. My assumption is that as a continuing Plat holder I will be able to apply for the CX card for another year

      Anyone know if my assumption is wrong?

      With no priority pass lounges at Terminal 5, and most of my flying with BA – but at the back end of the bus, then no CX card would be a deal breaker, the Plat Card would be no longer worth the fee for me.

      • Rob says:
        22 Nov22 November 09:32

        Yes. So far, even if Cathay does not automatically renew your card, applying again via the Amex website seems to do the trick!

    • Kevin says:
      22 Nov22 November 09:04

      Similarly my CX card expires at end of Feb 14, without the ability to renew next year, I’m far from sure that the other Platinum benefits stack up against the annual charge. You can get a lot of lounge access and travel insurance for the fee.

  • Adam (sigma421) says:
    22 Nov22 November 08:49

    I wonder if this has anything to do with BA’s contract with Amex being up for renewal in the near future? BA has previously been reported to be pretty furious about the free Marco Polo card and it’s obviously in Amex’s interests not to have an unhappy BA at the moment (especially since MBNA seem to have been so proactive with the Diamond Club card).

    • Rob says:
      22 Nov22 November 09:30

      The Cathay arrangement is a global deal that Amex made, you can get it in numerous countries. The lack of promotion in the UK is definitely linked to BA though.

  • Peter says:
    22 Nov22 November 09:10

    The small print:
    “Enrolment in The Marco Polo Club is required to receive all benefits, and benefits may be subject to availability. Enrolment is open to basic Platinum Cardmembers only. Full Terms and Conditions of The Marco Polo Club’s Gold membership can be found at http://www.cathaypacific.com . Enrolment applications must be received by American Express by 15 February 2014, or they will not be processed. American Express terms and conditions apply. American Express reserves the right to instruct The Marco Polo Club to cancel your membership if you cease to be a Platinum member or your account is not in good standing.”

    Let’s see what “enhancement” they bring instead.

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