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Special bonuses launched for adding free Amex supplementary cards to your account

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We often get questions on American Express supplementary cards in our forum or emailed to us directly, so I though it was worth taking a proper look at how they work. There are often misconceptions and confusion about them.

Today I want to talk about the benefits of adding a supplementary cardholder to your Amex account and what bonus you will earn if you do. A second article tomorrow will explore the topic in more detail.

American Express is offering special bonuses on many cards if you issue a supplementary card in the next few weeks – full details are below.

How do American Express supplementary cards work?

Why should you add a supplementary cardholder to your Amex account?

Reason 1 – it is easier to hit spending bonuses

The obvious first reason is that, by giving your partner a supplementary card on your American Express account, you can both focus your spending onto the same card.

This is especially useful if you are working towards a spend-based bonus, such as:

It also makes it easier to trigger a sign-up bonus, such as the £3,000 in three months of spending required on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card to receive the 30,000 Avios bonus.

How do American Express supplementary cards work?

Reason 2 – you can share card benefits with other people

If you have The Platinum Card from American Express, it is crazy not to allocate your one free Platinum supplementary card.  The person who gets it will receive:

  • a Priority Pass for airport lounge access for themselves and a guest
  • full travel insurance for themselves and their immediate family (do check the pre-existing conditions list first, age limit of 70 applies)
  • Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium, Melia Rewards Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold hotel status
  • Eurostar lounge access (no guests allowed)

Even if you are single, you might want to issue a supplementary Platinum to a trusted friend or relative purely for the benefits.  My Mum had a supplementary Platinum on my account until she hit 70 purely for the travel insurance.

You can issue further supplementary Platinum cards for £285 each per year.  This could be very good value for the right person given the travel insurance, Priority Pass and hotel status card benefits.

Note that not all Amex cards give all of their benefits to supplementary cardholders, so check the small print.

The Platinum Card dining and Harvey Nichols credits are NOT doubled up for supplementary cardholders for example. Similarly, Preferred Rewards Gold supplementary cardholders do not receive the four airport lounge passes or the £120 of Deliveroo credit.

How do American Express supplementary cards work?

Reason 3 – you can double-up on ‘statement credit’ cashback deals

Many people do not know that the holder of a supplementary card can register it as a stand-alone card on the American Express website.

If my wife logs in to her Amex online account, for example, she can see her own Preferred Rewards Gold and British Airways Premium Plus cards as well as the supplementary card she has on my Platinum account.

Importantly, the supplementary card receives its own batch of statement credit offers.  This means that, if an offer appears on both your main card and the supplementary, you can register for it twice and earn it twice.

This can make a major difference to justifying your annual card fee. I am in a Hyatt hotel for two nights this week, for example, and the new ‘£100 cashback on a £250 spend’ offer appears on both my Platinum card and my wife’s supplementary card. This means, by splitting the bill, I will get £200 back instead of just £100.

How do American Express supplementary cards work?

Reason 4 – you get bonus Membership Rewards or Avios for issuing a supplementary card

American Express has a dedicated page on its website which you can use for issuing supplementary cardsYou can find it here.

The bonus is only paid on the FIRST supplementary card issued.  You will receive:

  • 6,000 Membership Rewards points for issuing your first Preferred Rewards Gold supplementary card (special offer to 20th October)
  • 10,000 Membership Rewards points for issuing your first Platinum supplementary card (special offer to 20th October)
  • 3,000 Avios for issuing your first British Airways Premium Plus American Express supplementary card
  • 2,000 Avios for issuing your first free British Airways American Express supplementary card (special offer to 12th November)
  • 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for issuing your first free Marriott Bonvoy American Express supplementary card
  • 3,000 Nectar points for issuing your first free Nectar American Express supplementary card

The link for issuing supplementary cards is here.

Note that you WILL receive the bonus for issuing a supplementary card even if you did not qualify for a sign-up bonus when you originally applied for the card.

If you are planning to apply for a new American Express card soon, do NOT add a supplementary card during the application process as it does not trigger the bonus. Wait until you have received your card and then order a supplementary for your partner via the link above.

In Part 2 ….

In the second part of this short series, click here, we will look at the rules on getting American Express sign-up bonuses if you are already a supplementary cardholder.


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – February 2025 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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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 when you spend at least £2,000 per month.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

Get 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month* Read our full review

Comments (53)

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

  • Harrier25 says:

    Looks like there is no supp bonus on the free Membership Rewards card?

  • Ray says:

    Is the supplementary card holder billed directly for charges?

    Is the primary card hole holder privy to the purchases of the supplementary card holder?

    • memesweeper says:

      No
      Yes

      • memesweeper says:

        the supp card holder can see their total spend online, so if they want to pay the primary for their spending they can

  • Charlieface says:

    What happens if an existing first supplementary is cancelled and then re-applied, does it still qualify for the bonus? Asking for a friend…..

  • Simon says:

    Does the supplementary card need to make a minimum amount of purchases a month?

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

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