A member of our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group has reported finding an interesting referral offer on their Amex Gold card. Targeted cardholders can refer a new cardholder and the person making the referral will earn both the usual bonus points and an additional 5 points per dollar spent on travel and transit for 3 months on up to $25,000 in purchases. If you have upcoming travel to purchase, it can obviously make sense to take advantage of the opportunity to refer someone for a new card.
We have seen Amex run offers like this in the past where they added this additional incentive for those referring new customers.
For the sake of clarity, the offer pictured above works like this: Let’s say that Georgia has an Amex Gold card and sees the offer above for referring a new customer. Georgia has a friend named Adam who is interested in applying for a new Amex card.
- Georgia shares her referral link with Adam
- Adam applies for a card using that referral link and gets approved (doesn’t have to be the same card, they just have to click through from the referral link and then apply and be approved)
- Georgia earns a referral bonus of 20,000 points and Georgia also gets an additional 5 points per dollar on travel and transit purchases for 3 months on up to $25,000 in purchases on his Gold card
- Adam gets the welcome bonus on whichever card he applies for (if he is eligible)
To that final point, it’s worth noting that Georgia earns the referral bonus if Adam gets approved whether or not Adam qualifies for or earns a welcome bonus.
It is important to note that this promotion appears to be targeted. It isn’t available on any of the business cards in my household. A family member has an Amex Platinum consumer card and didn’t see this offer on her card. We aren’t sure whether this is limited to Gold cards or to specific cardholders. However, if you have some upcoming travel for which you’ll be paying in the next 3 months, it certainly might make sense to find a friend or family member to refer given the big increase in potential rewards.
The flip side is that Amex does not offer the best travel protections. I rarely book travel with my Amex cards because I generally prefer to do so on cards with excellent trip delay / cancellation protection. Still, I could imagine making great use of this offer to pay for stays at hotels at checkout or for onboard purchases on a cruise or perhaps for other prepaid charges for a near-term trip where travel protections are not important to me. I’m sure that many people will be happy to see this offer as we head into popular travel periods.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I thought Amex Platinum travel protection was pretty good?
I thought so too, maybe he meant on the Gold card?