Add someone to your Amex account for 1000 Membership Rewards points or 500 Avios

American Express has two on-going bonus schemes to encourage cardholders to add supplementary cardholders to their accounts.  After all, the more people who are carrying a card, the more spend they can accumulate!

There are two offers, one for American Express Platinum and one for the British Airways American Express card.

The Platinum offer gives 1,000 Membership Rewards points for every supplementary cardholder you add.

Your first supplementary cardholder gets a Platinum card and can apply for all of the Platinum benefits including the Carlson Gold, Starwood Gold and Accor Platinum hotel statuses.  They also receive their own Priority Pass giving them access to 600 airport lounges, together with a guest.

Four other people can be give Gold supplementary cards on your account.  These do not qualify for the perks above apart from the travel insurance benefits.

In all cases, the charges for the spending on the supplementary cards appear on your statement.  You are legally responsible for their payment!

The British Airways American Express offer is worth 500 Avios points for every supplementary cardholder you add.

This is applicable to either the free BA Amex card or the fee-paying Premium Plus version.  It is not clear how many supplementary cards you can add to a British Airways American Express account but I know people with 3-4.

Note that it can take American Express a while to process applications for supplementary cards – it is not unusual for it to take six weeks.

PS.  One of the most common questions I am asked is ‘does having a supplementary card on my partners account stop me signing up for my own Platinum / Gold / BA Amex later?’.  The answer is No.  You can still apply in your own right and receive a sign-up bonus.

(To see our complete list of all current credit card bonuses, click here to visit our ‘Credit Cards Update’ page or use the link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)