Get 30,000 Membership Rewards points for upgrading Green or Gold Charge to Platinum

UPDATE – APRIL 2023:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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American Express is currently running a special offer for anyone holding the Green Card or the old charge card version of Preferred Rewards Gold.

If you upgrade to The Platinum Card by 28th February, you will receive a bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points for spending £4,000 in three months.

You will get an additional 5,000 points for adding a free Platinum supplementary card.

You will also be allowed to pay your annual fee in monthly installments.

Let’s be clear: this offer does NOT apply to holders of the Preferred Rewards Gold credit card. You need to have the Preferred Rewards Gold charge card, which was removed from the market 3-4 years ago.

You must upgrade your charge card via this page of the American Express website.

The offer does not seem to be targeted. That said, some people have receive a pop-up for it when logging into the American Express website, but my wife – who still has a Gold charge card – has not.

There is no restriction on qualifying for the 30,000 points bonus as long as you can spend £4,000 in three months. This is very attractive because, for anyone who already holds Preferred Rewards Gold, the only other bonus you would normally qualify for is British Airways Premium Plus with its 40,000 Avios.

(This HfP article is the definitive guide to which American Express sign-up bonuses you qualify for, based on the cards you have or recently had.)

What are the benefits of The Platinum Card?

The card has substantial benefits – easily the best package of any UK loyalty card.

You receive travel insurance for yourself and your family. You can insure five other people and their families by giving them supplementary cards on your account. Some benefits require you to pay for your trip with an American Express card, but the core medical benefit is automatic. There is an age limit of 70 on the travel insurance.  For legal reasons, you need to opt-in to the travel insurance benefit by ticking the relevant box on the application form.

You receive full car hire insurance – with no requirement to pay with your card.

You and your main supplementary cardholder will each receive a Priority Pass card. This gets the cardholder plus a guest into 1,300 airport lounges across the world for free, including the Aspire lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 reviewed here. As you get two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows a free guest, you can get a family of four into a lounge – as I do on a regular basis.

You can also access the pleasant Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5. This is not part of Priority Pass but American Express Platinum cardholders can get in, with a guest, by showing their Platinum card at the front desk.

You can also get into Amex’s own network of high quality ‘Centurion’ airport lounges for free, with a guest. This includes the new Centurion Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 which has just opened.

You will also receive permanent status in various hotel schemes:

• Gold in Marriott Bonvoy
• Gold in Radisson Rewards
• Gold in Hilton Honors
• Gold in MeliaRewards

Other benefits include Eurostar lounge access in London, Brussels and Paris whatever your class of travel. (The Amex website does not mention Brussels but it does work there.) You also receive lounge access when flying with Delta although any guests must pay $29.

You receive a £10 Addison Lee taxi credit each month

You receive £100 per year to spend in Harvey Nichols, either in-store or online. You receive £50 to spend between January and June and a further £50 between July and December. No minimum spend is required.

You receive $200 cashback on every onefinestay house rental – a benefit you can use an unlimited number of times, with no minimum spend

There is also an exclusive hotel booking scheme called ‘Fine Hotels & Resorts’ which offers valuable additional benefits on your stays. If you are a regular visitor at five star hotels then you can recoup your entire membership fee via FHR bookings. I wrote more about Fine Hotels & Resorts here – for me, the guaranteed 4pm check-out on every stay is invaluable, especially for weekend breaks.

What is the annual fee on American Express Platinum?

£575.

Under this offer, you will be paying your fee monthly (£48) so the total is £576.

You can cancel your card at any time. The Priority Pass airport lounge card is cancelled immediately if you close your Platinum card. However, the hotel status cards will continue to work until they expire naturally.

If you are self employed, remember that you could offset the card fee against tax as long as you used it exclusively for business-related expenses.

What do I earn per £1 spent on the card?

You receive 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on the card. This is the same as you are currently earning on your Gold or Green card.

If you are upgrading from the Preferred Rewards Gold charge card, please note:

• you will no longer receive double points on airline spend
• you will no longer receive double points on foreign spend
• you will no longer receive 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points each year for spending £15,000
• you will lose your £10 of monthly Deliveroo credit

Conclusion

If you have an existing Gold or Green American Express charge card, this offer is well worth considering if you can meet the spending target.

Full details are on the American Express website here.

The offer runs until 28th February.

PS. If you are interested in applying for Platinum from scratch, without upgrading, the application page is here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2023 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:

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.