Fantastic news! Through January 25, 2017, the welcome bonus on The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN has increased to up to 100,000 bonus AMEX Membership Rewards points after meeting tiered minimum spending requirements.
This is the highest public offer I’ve seen for this card. But you’ll have to spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your account to earn the full bonus.
Plus, folks with the AMEX Business Platinum card will now effectively get 2 cents per point when using Pay With Points for ticket purchases through the AMEX travel portal. That makes the welcome bonus worth $2,000 in paid airfare!
I’ll explain the details of the AMEX Business Platinum Card. And help you decide whether you should apply!
American Express Business Platinum Bonus
Link: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN
Link: My Review of the American Express Business Platinum Card
With the increased welcome bonus on The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN , you can earn up to 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points.
You’ll earn 50,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. And an extra 50,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after you spend an additional $10,000 on qualifying purchases within the same timeframe.
Meaning you’ll have to spend a total of $15,000 ($5,000 + $10,000) on the card within the first 3 months of opening your account to get the full 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards point bonus.
That’s a substantial amount! So don’t forget to check out my post about ways to meet high spending requirements.
With the AMEX Business Platinum Card, you’ll also get:
- Earn 1.5X AMEX Membership Rewards points on single purchases of $5,000+
- Get 50% of your points back for ALL First Class or Business Class flights booked through the AMEX travel portal using Pay With Points
- Get 50% of your points back for all flights, including coach tickets, booked with your selected airline through the AMEX travel portal using Pay With Points
- $200 in statement credits per calendar year for airline incidentals with your selected airline (luggage fees, in-flight food & drink, etc.)
- Access to airport lounges (Delta, Priority Pass, Airspace, and American Express Centurion Lounges)
- Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
- Free Hilton HHonors Gold elite status (free breakfast and upgrades when available)
- $450 annual fee is NOT waived
- Terms & limitations apply
That’s a terrific deal, because you can get LOTS of Big Travel with Small Money with the welcome bonus alone. But you must apply by January 25, 2017.
Is the AMEX Business Platinum Worth It?
If you can meet the $15,000 minimum spending requirement and earn the full 100,000 bonus AMEX Membership Rewards points, it’s definitely worth considering the AMEX Business Platinum card.
The $450 annual fee seems like a lot. But because you can earn the $200 airline incidental fee statement credit each calendar year, you are effectively paying only $50 ($450 annual fee – $400 total in statement credits) in the first year you have the card.
And $50 is an excellent deal for 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points, lounge access, and a statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck!
AMEX Membership Rewards points also give you a lot of flexibility with your travel plans. Because you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to airlines and hotels like Air Canada, Delta, and Hilton.
Here’s a full list of the AMEX Membership Rewards airline and hotel transfer partners:
| American Express Membership Rewards Airline Transfer Partners | ||
|---|---|---|
| AeroMexico | Air Canada | Alitalia |
| ANA | Asia Miles | British Airways |
| Delta | El Al | Emirates |
| Etihad | Flying Blue (Air France / KLM) | Hawaiian Airlines |
| Iberia | JetBlue | Singapore Airlines |
| Virgin Atlantic |
| American Express Membership Rewards Hotel Transfer Partners | ||
|---|---|---|
| Choice | Hilton | Starwood |
Just remember, AMEX only allows folks to get the welcome bonus ONCE per person, per lifetime on ALL their cards. So if you’ve already had the business version of the Platinum card before, you can NOT get the welcome bonus again.
However, if you have the personal Platinum card, you can get the bonus on the business version.
What Can You Do With 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points?
With the AMEX Business Platinum card, 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points is worth $2,000 towards Business and First Class airfare on ANY airline when you use the Pay With Points feature through the Membership Rewards portal. And $2,000 towards coach tickets on your selected airline when using Pay With Points through the portal.
It’s also more than enough points for a round-trip award ticket from the US to Europe.
Check out these posts for more ideas about using the welcome bonus from the AMEX Business Platinum Card:
- What to Do With 75,000 to 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points?
- The Best Ways to Use AMEX Membership Rewards Points to Fly to the UK
- How to Use AMEX Membership Rewards Points to Fly to India
- How to Use AMEX Membership Rewards Points for United Airlines Award Flights
Bottom Line
With the increased welcome bonus on The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN, you can earn up to 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after meeting tiered minimum spending requirements.
But you’ll need to spend $15,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account to get the full bonus.
If you can earn the full welcome bonus, this is a great deal, because 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points is worth up to $2,000 towards air travel booked through the AMEX travel portal when you have the AMEX Business Platinum card.
And it’s more than enough points for a round-trip award ticket to Europe, which can be worth much more!
Do you plan on applying for the AMEX Business Platinum card now that it has a better welcome bonus?