A killer vacation, here's how to take advantage of the American Express Platinum welcome megabonus
Very often I am asked about the best way to use American Express membership rewards points, here is an example
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One of the easiest ways to accumulate points, many for free each year, is to convince friends and relatives to become American Express cardholders. In fact, as many as 300,000 can be put in your pocket each year. Membership Rewards points through the Introduce a Friend promotion.
To be rewarded, however, is not only the person who introduces the client, but also the new owner. It is a classic win/win situation, where both players win.
The offer is usually much more generous than to the standard promo available at, right now gives 180k MR points to the new starter and 50k points to the presenter. Today I want to tell about how I convinced Luca, a friend of mine, to become an American Express Platinum holder on one condition: arrange for him to take a dream trip in early 2023 without paying anything or almost anything, using the points from the welcome bonus.
How the welcome bonus works
It doesn't matter what the offer is, almost all American Express cards promise new cardholders a bonus upon reaching a minimum spending threshold, which varies depending on the offer and the type of card. In this case, the reward was 180 thousand Membership Rewards points in exchange for a minimum spend of 4,000 in the first 90 days after card issuance.
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No matter how high the minimum spending is, it is important to calculate well when to apply for the card precisely in view of a number of "safe" expenditures that one will have to face and thus can effortlessly help achieve the first goal. Because, on the contrary, missing the minimum expenditure is one of the Capital mistakes not to make in this game.
In my friend's case, he applied for the card when he was close to renewing his car and motorcycle insurance and, more importantly, when the washing machine at home began to show signs of failing. The first two expenses were expected, the second was highly likely and, given the amount, decided to send the request using my submission link.
When the bonus is given
From the moment you receive the paper, Countdown to meet minimum spending requirement kicks off From the signed offer. I always recommend putting the Due date and the amount to be achieved, so that there are no problems whatsoever. From the moment you activate the card every valid expenditure allows you to accumulate Membership Rewards points. Obviously activate the various offers and take advantage of any bonuses that allow you to accumulate bonus points without spending anything more.
In contrast if you introduce your friend the bonus to the presenter is given immediately as soon as the new credit card is granted. No conditions.
At the exact moment when the spending that allows the goal to be reached is accounted for, the points provided by the welcome bonus will also be credited. In my friend's case, through spending and a couple of well-taken promotions, he found himself, After less than 2 months, with over 200,000 points in the account.
How we reinvested the accumulated points
My friend's goal was to fly to Southeast Asia., taking advantage as much as possible of opportunities for long stopovers and stopovers to visit more places, card benefits to spend as little as possible and have the best conversion.
A one-way ticket can cost 45k Avios points with Finnair, or 56,250 MR points, to which should be added just under €32 in taxes, or 35 thousand Asiamiles points (45k thousand MR points) and just under €350 in taxes and fly with Qatar also to Thailand.
The choice fell on the Finnish company, for the lower tax outlay and the nearly 18-hour layover. Thanks to this long layover, it will be possible to spend an evening with friends in Helsinki.
In Bangkok, Luke will sleep at the DoubleTree Sukhumvit to take advantage of the benefits associated with the Gold status in Hilton Honors loyalty program included in the Platinum card, and discount the 150€ voucher from the total booking amount. Not forgetting the promotion that gives away 10 MR points for every euro spent on the American Express travel site, a promo that earned nearly 3,000 bonus points.
After Bangkok, it will be the turn of Bali, but not before spending a few days in Singapore. Luca definitely wanted to Diving into the pool at the Marina Bay Sands and pay a visit to Universal Studios since he is a big fan of amusement parks. The rest of the stay I booked the brand new Hilton Singapore, with the points earned in 4 nights. Thanks to promotions and bonus points, I predict that Luke will accumulate no less than 15 thousand Hilton Honors points.
To fly to Bali, I booked a ticket for him using the points Krisflyer of the Singapore Airlines loyalty program. The final cost for tickets from Bangkok to Singapore and Singapore to Bali. Was 25k points, or 37,500 MR points To which should be added about 50€ tax. It was possible to buy tickets separately, saving 2500 Krisflyer points, but in this case the fees would be almost doubled.
The beauty of Bali, as in all of Asia, is that you can spend from a few euros to thousands of euros per night. Being single and not having great needs, I explained that one of the best ways to sleep on the island was to use the Hilton Honors Points combined with Gold status that gives breakfast and, often, even a room upgrade.
Booking at Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai costs an average of €40 per night, stay using points and taking advantage of one free night for every 4 booked costs even less, which is nothing.
For the 10 nights the cost is then only 40 thousand Hilton Honors points. Points that Luke will accumulate in these months by exploiting, for example, the 4500 point new member bonus or the possibility of Making triple points throughout the summer. In any case, it will always be possible to transfer MR points to the Hilton Honors program, But I doubt that Luke will have to "waste" them in this way..
The next flight with Cathay Pacific will be from Bali to Hong Kong, at a cost of 10 thousand AsiaMiles points (or 12,500 MR points) plus €55 in taxes. At the moment this is the only unknown of the trip ,as the borders of the former British protectorate are still virtually closed. There are still 8 months to go so there is hope that in the meantime things will change.
The last stop before returning home will be Japan. Again, the borders are not yet open, but the beauty of award tickets is that Are superflexible and therefore it is possible to delete them With minimal penalties, if any.
A ticket from Hong Kong to Tokyo costs 10 to 15 thousand Asia Miles (or less than 20k MR points), plus about 70 euros in taxes. In this case we opted for a ticket with a stopover in Seoul and from there depart for Haneda. If desired, it was also possible to include a free stop-over or fish for a direct flight at the same price.
The last leg, the return home leg, will be operated aboard two British Airways flights, at a cost of 35k Asiamiles points, or 45k MR points and 350 euros in taxes and surcharges. Wanting here there are many options to fly with different airlines such as Finnair, JAL, Cathay in addition to BA, I chose this one to also respond to the desire to fly with the largest number of airlines.
Summarizing costs and itinerary
- Milan/Bangkok with Finnair 56,250 MR points and 32 euros tax
- Bangkok Singapore and Singapore Bali with Singapore Airlines 37,500 MR points and 50€ tax
- Bali Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific 12,500 MR points and 55€ tax
- Hong Kong Tokyo with Cathay Pacific and JAL 20 thousand MR points and 70€ tax
- Tokyo Milan with British Airways 45k MR points and 350€ tax
There are still about 30,000 points left over if desired, in addition to those that will be earned in the meantime. Points that could be used to pay for hotels or simply kept in the safe for the next trip.
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- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back