New Cardmembers of The Platinum Card can earn:
Continue reading: Canada: Winners And Losers With The New Amex Platinum Earning Structure
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Hello American friends!
Great run down Tiffany, I think you very comprehensively summarized the Personal Platinum card and the state of the Membership Rewards program in Canada. Something else to note is that Canadian MR can be transferred to US MR at the prevailing exchange rate which unlocks a bunch more transfer partners for us.
It's a tough call between Business Platinum and Personal Platinum now, however the welcome bonus is higher on the Business Platinum. Everything else is the same except for now the point earning rate, Hilton Gold status on the Personal Platinum and the metal card now.
If anyone's interested in the Canadian Platinum card, using my referral link is always appreciated: http://amex.ca/share/aNDREZLkSJ?CPID=100200329
And Business Platinum for good measure: http://amex.ca/share/andrezjeqy?CPID=100200329
The Canadian version of the platinum card is several levels below the US version.
Canada's credit card market has no hope.
It's nice the blog starts covering overseas credit cards. I am based in Mexico and can say the credit card market is starting to become more competitive with banks recently introducing welcome bonus offers...
Citi Bank merged with the National Bank a while ago and introduced cards like the Citi Prestige in Mexico. The cool thing is that here the annual fee is free when you're part of the private banking, and the 4th-night benefit isn't going away any soon. It also has a fixed-points redemption program for airfare and although they excluded first class about a year ago, it is still a great value. The award chart is pretty much like AA's but it is valid for travel on any airline and any date not subject to availability, providing you book 21 days before the date. There are no taxes added.
If only there were bonus categories! Here, the card earns 1.5 (Mexican) thankyou points per dollar spent.
Well, this comment was now very long, but it is really interesting to see how credit cards (even from the same issuers) differ from country to country.
Use Referral Link for 60,000 points after $5,000 CAD spend in 3 months:
http://amex.ca/share/hONGJJMQQZ?CPID=100200329
(You get an extra 10,000 points for $2,000 CAD more spend in 3 months over the public offer)
Great article Tiffany!
This is indeed a great card that should be part of your wallet if travel is important for you. What i like the most about this card are the very solid insurances you're getting from it (now even better thanks to travel earnings 2X points). And not to mention it but the Priority Pass unlimited is a great benefit too.
Otherwise, this card is frequently getting interesting offers from American Express throughout the year.
All in all, I'd say that the yearly pricepoint is indeed scary at first but all benefits factored in, you definitely get more from it (at least in the 1st year) 😉
Should you'd like to give it a try, as suggested from Tiffany, you'll get an even larger bonus upon subscription with a referred link.
Here's mine: http://amex.ca/share/gautilxfo5?XLINK=MYCP
This will allow you to continue using contactless payments — something that isn’t really widespread yet in the States.
Note that the completely metal card from the States can support contactless payments, just call Amex and ask for a contactless version of your card. It's still completely metal—there's no need for the Canadian version to be "kinda metal" with a veneer on the front.
Thank You Tiffany for the detailed info!
For the Amex travel chart one may want to think of whether it is better to use Amex travel chart or transfer to a frequent flyer program. If ticket price is high then it may be worth transferring points to a frequent flyer program like Aeroplan, transfer is instant.
Below is my Amex referral link anyone is feel free to use it.
http://amex.ca/share/kingtnG9Ep?XLINK=MYCP
First the SPG points earning rate going down the toilet, now the platinum... 99% of my spend if "other" categories...I will stick to the 2% cash back.
We don't get many benefits (other than status) or statement credit offers up here in Canada, no airline credits, Saks Fifth or Uber credits. There's a shop small offer each year which gets you $5 credits at 5 different merchants and the occasional special offer, but not much in terms of ongoing credits.
http://amex.ca/share/eMMANLLt5Y?CPID=100200325 My referral link comes with cookies.
Certainly a great news. A few points of add:
1. I was proactively sent the new card which comes in a nice package so it looks like existing cardholders don’t have to do anything
2. I spend a lot of time abroad and typically the bonus on restaurants gets credited even outside of Canada. My understanding is that Amex cannot guarantee the bonus for stores outside of Canada.
As other commentators suggested above, you’ll get an additional 10k using a referral link. If you’re interested, my link is http://amex.ca/share/gaspasMA6K?CPID=100200325
Good breakdown of the changes and anxiously awaiting the metal-ish card!
Love the blog and read it every day!
Happy to share my referral link as well - 60,000 points for $5k spend in first 3 months.
http://amex.ca/share/steveg2dol?XLINK=MYCP
There is a 2.5% fx fee on this card, so no go. For any charges in foreign currencies or any travel, I am using HSBC MasterCard. It's no fx fee, and effectively 3% cash back on travel and 1.5% cash back on everything else. Or transfer points to Singapore and a couple of other airlines.
Be mindful of refunds that posted following the changeover.
I found that a purchase which was made prior to the changeover, and refunded after the changeover, that the refund could end up debiting at the new earning rate then was originally credited with the old earning rate.
If you find this, call in for a adjustment.
See screenshot for a example.
https://ibb.co/JmHJdWq
WOW you are so lucky. In Australia the annual fee is $1500 for Platinum and yes you do get a $400 travel credit. However from 01 Apr the earn rate has been cut. Now 1 point for every AUD. plus the distressing news of transfer rates. For all airlines it was 1 AMEX point = 1 airline mileage point. From April this will move to 2 AMEX points = 1 airline mileage point. It was about 3 years ago that AMEX move to the newly announced Canadian earn rate. So all of you in Canada are very lucky compared to us in Australia
In Canada, we don't get the AMEX offers, which in the US seem to be quite interesting and valuable.
I don’t really like the changes made to the card unfortunately given that using AMEX is already a struggle at most establishments, let alone restaurants. You’ll be lucky if your restaurant pick does take AMEX, more likely than not you’ll need to use their locator tool in order to find which restaurants take the care. 3x on an almost unusable category save for your morning coffee does nothing for me.
Have any Canadian platinum holders used the airline discount benefit program? Do you know if WestJet is included? Can’t seem to find much online about that benefit.
Be careful when charging non USD-denominated foreign purchases to Canadian AmEx. We are robbed twice, as the purchase is converted to USD first, and only then to CAD at heavens know the spread they hammer us with...
Furthermore, the C$200 travel credit is given once in a calendar year nowadays, rather than based on a twelve-month period from the yearly card issuance anniversary...
Happy to share my referral offer for the 60,000 membership rewards sign up offer.
http://amex.ca/share/kevinko1ia?CPID=100200325
Happy to refer to the 60,000 bonus membership rewards points offer.
Lots of value with this card especially in the first year. Unlimited priority pass lounge entry for yourself and a guest. Access to the amazing Amex centurion lounges and also Delta lounges. $200 annual travel credit.
Perhaps one of the best features is the fast track offer to Star Alliance GOLD status via the Shangri La JADE status that is included with the card. Simply register and fly three segments on Singapore airlines and you have Kris Flyer Gold status for a year.
http://amex.ca/share/kevinko1ia?CPID=100200325
@Paul
American Express only charges the foreign exchange commission once. In my experience their exchange rate is competitive, but not consistently the best or the worst which makes it hard to compare. Obviously any card with no FX fee is probably a better choice since you'd get the 2.5% savings plus the reward earnings of 1-2%.
@James
Yes, WestJet is included in the airline discount benefit program. My travel agent mentioned it to me when i was getting a quote. Unfortunately I don't know the amount of the discount since it was a complex itinerary but I don't think it was very significant. WestJet has general discount codes available which I'd use since I prefer to to have more control over doing bookings.
I find it interesting that I saw this on the FB Plat group (this article) and that AMEX didn't email me as a Plat card holder about any of these changes. They have emailed me consistently about the SPG card changes.
I think it is a real shame that we don't have an AMEX card that doesn't charge 2.5% fx fee. I would have thought the SPG would be perfect for that, as it is a travel card and AMEX should be aiming for people to use it at Marriott properties world wide.
I'm glad about the 2 points for travel, I'll move my regular spend to my other cards I guess, and I don't really eat out that much but I guess I can use my plat card for dining out.
Did not know contactless payment was not a thing in US. In any event, most of the time, the machines here in Canada reject Amex contactless payment often while MC and VISA don’t get the same issue. If anyone is looking for 75k MR sign up bonus, here is my referral for AMex Plat Business http://amex.ca/share/markl71bh?CPID=100200325
Great work Tiffany, I would love to see your take on the massive changes to Amex card holders coming for Australia.
@Canadian Platinum, they sometimes has some pretty good offers. There was one a bit over a year ago where if you spent over $200 at Pearson Duty Free you would get a $200 credit to your account. Conveniently, I was traveling through Pearson at the time of the offer. So, basically I got $200 worth of liquor for free. They had a similar promotion recently but you only received a $50 credit on a $200 purchase; not bad but not as good as the previous one.
@Aztek. Amex has marginally better offers if you live in Toronto. (your example of the great Pearson Airport offers).
For the rest of us plebes since we don't live in "Toronto the good" we don't exist as far as Amex is concerned. No offers outside of YYZ!
For that reason I cannot see any value in any AMEX product so will be cancelling SPG and Gold in the next year!
Still value in the Platinum Card as well as the ability to get occasional transfer bonus to Avios (Great for West Coast flights on AA or Alaska, especially to Hawaii).
Here is my link:
http://amex.ca/share/colinmSTfz?XLINK=MYCP
Would really appreciate if you could use my referral link!
Plat: http://amex.ca/share/sHAFALmatg?XLINK=MYCP
60k Bonus!!!
@Andrew
Do you have any more details on how to transfer Canadian MR to US MR? Thanks!
i only put hotels and flights on this card because of its travel insurance. so i'm happy with this news.
otherwise the only reason i get the card is because of priority pass and amex lounges, and because i can get this for others for $175 a year.
points go into avios, when gets me cheap toronto-new york flights on long weekends.
anything else is just gravy.