The American Express® Green Card is Amex’s answer to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Both cards offer 3x for travel & dining. Both earn points transferable to many different loyalty programs. Both have no foreign transaction fees. Both offer a form of airport lounge access. Chase’s card, though, costs $550 per year while the Amex card is only $150 per year. So, is it a slam dunk? In my opinion, no.
Current Welcome Offer
| Card Offer |
|---|
40K points ⓘFriend-ReferralThis is a friend-referral offer. A member of the Frequent Miler community may earn a referral bonus if you are approved for this offer 40K after $3K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. See Rates & Fees$150 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 60K after $3K spend in first 6 months + 20% off travel and transit purchases for first 6 months. [Expired 8/21/23] |
Amex Green Card Review
For a travel card, the Amex Green card offers competitive points-earnings with 3x for travel & dining. Plus it includes some perks to make airport travel better (like CLEAR statement credits). Unfortunately, the card suffers from a fatal flaw: it’s an Amex card and as such it isn’t as widely accepted internationally as a Visa or Mastercard.
- Annual Fee: $150
- Foreign Transaction Fee: None
- Card Issuer: American Express
- What points are worth: This card earns Membership Rewards points. Our current Reasonable Redemption Values pegs them at 1.55 cents each.
- Best Use for Points: Membership Rewards can be transferred to travel partners, usually at a 1:1 ratio and this will almost always yield the most value. There are three hotel partners (Choice, Hilton, Marriott), but the transfer ratios make them unappealing much of the time. On the other hand, airline partners are excellent, and include Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, ANA Mileage Club and Avianca LifeMiles.
- Earning Categories:
- Earn 3 miles per dollar on travel & transit (including flights, hotels, taxis, and rideshares)
- Earn 3 miles per dollar on dining
- Earn 1 miles per $1 on all other purchases
- Perks:
- $199 CLEAR® Plus Credit per calendar year: Simply pay for your CLEAR Plus membership with your Green card.
- Who’s this card for? Unclear. Those looking to earn points for dining would do better with the Amex Gold Card (4x dining). 3x for all travel is competitive. Ultimately the audience is limited due to the fact that Amex isn’t as widely accepted as other cards.
- Is this card a keeper? For most people I think that this card is only worth getting for the welcome offer and then I’d recommend cancelling when the second year annual fee comes due.
Amex Green Card Pros and Cons
Pros
- Reasonably priced for a card that earns 3x for all travel (although you can also get 3x travel with the $95 Ink Business Preferred card).
- CLEAR credits are nice if you can make use of them.
Cons
- It’s an Amex card and so it’s not accepted as widely as a Visa or Mastercard
- It doesn’t have any killer features to make it a must-have
- 3x dining is no longer noteworthy since many fee-free cards now offer the same
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IMO green is mainly worth it if one gets the $75 corporate card discount. It’s a good card at a net $75 but is too expensive otherwise.
I have this card, and with a free AU it has been very rewarding for me. Why? We cruise at least once or twice a year (mid 70s couple), and since getting the card 2 years ago, we have both gotten very lucrative AMEX offers for our cruise line of choice. Last year the bonus amounted to 80,000 MR and $200, and we currently have a similar offer that will net an extra 100,000 MR. That’s like getting a SUB each year.
I originally got this card in anticipation of the day I cancel my Morgan Stanley Platinum with free AU, and got it during the higher sign up bonus. While I agree this card is not for everyone, it works for us quite well, especially since we don’t have the CSR and are not eligible for it for another 18 or so months.
I product changed the Amex Gold for the Green for the 3X in travel. I booked a Greek cruise with a local line and wanted the points. I have many cards, but none with the general travel multiplier. Can’t get a Chase card right now.
Aside from getting a SUB and/or downgrading from Gold/Platinum (maybe with hope of getting an upgrade offer back), it just feels like most people interested in a general travel/dining card will be much better served with Wells Fargo Autograph (no fee) or CSP (1.25 CPP Chase portal bookings).
If we put a slavish devotion to Hyatt to the side, if someone doesn’t need yet another Priority Pass membership, and if someone doesn’t value a certain level of travel protections as “must-have,” the Citi Strata Premier and the WF Autograph Journey might be better choices. My sense is that if Hyatt becomes less rewarding, many opinions change.
Autograph maybe (especially since you can have 3x return on broad travel spend with no AF) but Premier’s travel category is too limiting for catch-all use. To me, the CSR is still the premier points-earning travel card and it’s not particularly close.
Agreed- Citi Premier doesn’t include transit and certain other types of travel/transportation, while CSP/CSR, Amex Green, and WF Autograph definitely all do.
Great points. It’s worth noting that the Premier does get 10X on hotels and 5X on rental cars booked via its travel portal, which matches the CSR. I’m not a big transit guy. The Premier does get 3X on gas and groceries. Regarding the last two points, the overall category coverage and the simplicity of fewer cards might be attractive to some . . . but certainly not everyone.
Amex has several problems. Their bonuses categories are often limited to US spending. Amex doesn’t grandfather in card benefits and their travel insurance is weak.
The Wells Fargo Autograph has more comprehensive 3X categories for no annual fee. The Citi Premier has more comprehensive 3X categories and transferable points for $95.
Got the card in 2022 for the Resy 50k + $150 dining credit, and pinned a 10k retention bonus in year 2. However, I picked up the Bilt Mastercard and the Altitude Reserve within that time, so the Green card is now redundant.
1) Had the Chase Sapphire Preferred for 4 years now, and this is my go-to internationally, with broader travel categories, unlimited 3x on groceries (Publix), primary rental car coverage, and a net $45 annual fee.
2) Altitude Reserve offers Priority Pass, 3x everywhere (Apple Pay), 1.5cpp through RTR, primary rental car coverage, and a net $75 annual fee.
3) Bilt Mastercard has better transfer partners, insane transfer bonuses (125%…what?!), great international acceptance, primary rental car coverage, and no annual fee.
The effective annual fee on all three is less than the Green, yet the benefits far outweigh the cost. I hardly use CLEAR enough to justify the $30 I still have to pay out of pocket after the credit, LoungeBuddy was mid. I got the bonuses on the Platinum, then Gold, then Green, and IMO those cards are only good for the SUB. The Green’s strong point is the 3x on travel, but paying a fee for another 1x that I can easily MS elsewhere put the Green on the chopping block.
Taking into account each issuer’s transfer partners (which is key) and all-around earn rates, I’d say that the Amex Green and Citi Premier are good non-premier single-card plays. For those seeking simplicity.
3x travel and transit is good because the category is expansive. Only Chase and Wells Fargo offer such a broad travel category. As others mentioned, cruises are listed, but also campgrounds, transit, parking, etc. If you liked the Chase Sapphire Reserve for the spending categories and ability to use transfer partners, but cared less about lounge access, this makes sense. If you want lounges, the CSR is better. If you don’t care about lounges or transfer partners (at least for now), the WF Autograph is more of your card.
I’ve been intrigued by this card. If the credits were a little better, I might bite. I would not value Lounge buddy or Clear that highly. Both are nice perks, but I would not spend a dollar with either service absent the credits. But even with the CSP, you get a $50 hotel portal credit.
I got the sub and then an offer to change to another plat and 100k MR for $6k spend in 3 months. I thought this was great. I will probably change back to green again next renewal.
About how long after opening the Green until you were given the Plat upgrade offer?
For those spending a lot of money on cruises who want Membership Rewards I don’t think there is a better card. So whose is this card for? Cruisers.
Exactly! The CSR and this card are the only major travel cards I’m aware of that give 3x on cruises. I keep the Green Card just to have it if something changes on my CSR (Chase blackballs me for some reason, they change the 3x rewards to exclude cruises, etc….). Otherwise I’d agree there is no reason to keep the Green. Especially shocking since the current incarnation was a big improvement over the classic Green card that all my relatives had for so long.
Responding to a year old comment, but wanted to add US Bank Altitude Reserve also gets 3X on cruise spending (have received it both buying gift cards directly with Carnival and onboard spending).
Could be a gateway too (product change) to the Amex Gold (for those who are locked out of the Amex Gold SUB due to having received the Amex Plat SUB) and don’t want to waste a 5/24 slot
Can you clarify pleasel? Do you mean that if you have the Platinum (and are ineligible for Gold SUB), you can get the green, then get an offer to upgrade it to Gold?
Yes- there are data points of people with Amex Green getting upgrade offers to Gold or Platinum once they’ve had the card for a year (or sooner if downgrading).
When the ~1yr old comment was originally made, you could sign up for the Green, get the sign-up bonus, and probably get an upgrade offer afterwards.
Since then, the Green Card was added to the “family” language. Meaning that if you have the Platinum, you will probably be ineligible for the Green sign-up bonus, but probably still get an upgrade offer to the Gold.
It used to be two bonuses, but now it’s only one. One is still better than zero, but there’s time, effort, and a year of annual fees involved.
@Paul
If you downgrade the Platinum to a Green, you will get offers to upgrade back to Gold. Sometimes soon after downgrading. The scenario you imply, applying for the Green and getting no SUB because of family language? Yes, you may get offers to upgrade to Gold.