New targeted 50K / 100K offers appearing for some [Expired]

Note that the offers mentioned in this post were accurate at the time of writing in 2018 but have since expired. For current offer information, see our Best Offers page.

Last month, we reported that some people were seeing a targeted offer for a welcome bonus of 100,000 Membership Rewards points after making $5,000 in purchases on the Platinum Card from American Express via the via the Card Match Tool at CreditCards.com. Recent reports at Doctor of Credit indicate that a new round of people have been targeted for that offer and some are additionally / alternatively seeing a targeted offer for 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months on the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card.

Note that reports indicate that these offers include lifetime language — so the welcome offer will not be available to you if you have or have had these cards before.

While the personal Platinum card carries a $550 annual fee, it comes with a number of great benefits:

• 5X points for prepaid hotel bookings at Amextravel.com
• 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel
• $200 Uber credit annually ($15/month, $35 in Dec). Credit can be used for Uber or Uber Eats (meal delivery).
• Up to $200 a year in statement credits for airline incidental fees
• $100 Global Entry fee reimbursement.
• Airport lounge benefits.
• Rental car elite status.
• SPG Gold status (which also confers Marriott Gold status when you link your SPG and Marriott accounts)
• Hilton Gold status
• Free Boingo wifi
• Access to Fine Hotels & Resorts
• Cruise Privileges
• Transfer points to participating frequent flyer programs

Remember that there are many different versions of the Platinum card — See: Which is the best Amex Platinum card? for comparison of the various versions, though note that the current targeted offer is only available on the standard Platinum card.

This offer matches the best we’ve ever seen on the consumer version of this card. Based on our Reasonable Redemption Values of 1.82 cents for Membership Rewards, 100K points are worth about $1,820 — though you could certainly get more value than that out of them.

At the time of writing, the Premier Rewards Gold card comes with the following benefits:

• 3X points for flights booked with airlines
• 2X points at US gas stations, US supermarkets & US restaurants
• 1X points on other purchases
• Up to $100 a year in statement credits for baggage fees and more with one qualifying airline

While not as rewarding as some other cards in the Membership Rewards portfolio, the Premier Rewards Gold certainly does yield a decent first-year value, and the 50K Membership Rewards points can certainly be a valuable haul as noted above. It’s worth noting that a few months ago, some people saw a targeted offer for the Premier Rewards Gold card that didn’t include lifetime language (in other words, it was possible to earn the welcome bonus even if you had previously held the card in the past). See: American Express Premier Rewards Gold: 50k Signup Bonus W/ No Lifetime Language (Targeted) for more on that targeted offer and how to check for it as you never know when that type of offer may come around.

For just a few ideas on how to get a lot more value out of transfer partners, see these posts we’ve written in recent weeks about Iberia Avios, British Airways Avios, and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (all Membership Rewards transfer partners):

Searching for business class sweet-spots in Iberia’s OneWorld award chart
From 11K RT on American: A sweet spot for North American flight redemptions
Hacking Avios
Toward hacking Asia Miles: the unified oneworld award chart

H/T: Doctor of Credit

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