American Express Business Platinum Card Raises Sign-Up Bonus to 40,000 Membership Rewards Points

American Express has made another move to step up its reward offerings and make their cards more attractive in 2014. The American Express Platinum Business card has just raised its sign-up bonus to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, up from 25,000 points. The 40,000 points require $5,000 spending within 3 months and a $450 annual fee, but that annual fee can be almost entirely offset with airline credit reimbursement within the first year, as I’ll explain in this post.

Membership Rewards points are quite valuable and transfer 1:1 to more than 10 different airline partners, including British Airways, Delta, Jet Blue, Virgin Atlantic, etc. They also sometimes offer transfer bonuses of 25-50%, which is when I personally prefer to make my transfers! I like to use British Airways miles for short flights and flights to the Caribbean, which can cost as little as 4,500 miles each way!

(In the interest of full disclosure, I receive a referral for approved applications through the links on this page. I always include the best offer I can find regardless of referral. As always, thank you very much for your support!)

New Offer Details

Application Link: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN

• Welcome Offer: Get 40,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $5,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.†
• 20% Travel Bonus when using Membership Rewards® Pay with Points
• A Premium Card with access to over 40 benefits to help power your business
• Complimentary access to 600+ participating airport lounges through Priority PassTM Select
• Business Platinum Concierge is like your own assistant, ready to help you with just about anything personal or professional, 24 hours a day
• Purchasing power that can adjust as your business evolves
• Terms & Restrictions Apply*

Offsetting The Annual Fee

The annual fee for the Business Platinum Card card is $450, which is definitely not low by any means. However, it may be a good card to try out for a year since the annual fee can be almost completely offset by the $200 annual airline fee credits and you can actually get the airline fee credit twice in your first membership year. While the $450 annual fee is charged every year on your membership anniversary, the airline fee credit can be redeemed every calendar year. That is, you can get a $200 airline credit for 2014 and another airline credit once 2015 hits in the early part of the year. Afterwards, you can decide how you like the benefits, which are definitely plentiful.

Some people do keep the Platinum Business Card for all the benefits that come with it, including:

200 Annual Airline Fee Reimbursement.
Lounge access to American Express Centurion Lounges
Lounge access to Delta Club for same day of travel.
Access to American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts.
Global Entry fee reimbursement of $100 or statement credit for TSA Precheck.
Starwood Gold Status.
Business OPEN Savings for 5% off at Hyatt hotels, etc.
Free Boingo Internet Access.

$200 Annual Airline Fee Reimbursement

With the American Express Platinum Card, you get to select your airline of choice once a year and you get up to a $200 automatic reimbursement of certain fees by just charging them to your card. These include checked baggage fees, change fee, phone reservation fees, pet flight fees, airport lounge day passes and annual memberships, seat assignment fees, in-flight amenity fees (beverages, food, pillows/blankets, etc) and in-flight entertainment fees (excluding wireless internet). While these do not cover award ticket taxes or gift cards, some people have reported occasional success getting small gift cards reimbursed, though this is not stated.

Remember, you get to collect your $200 airline fee every year. You get to use it once before December 31, 2014 and once after January 1, 2015. This lets you offset $400 of the $450 annual fee for the first year.

Potential value: $400 a year.

Lounge Access to American Express Centurion Lounges and Delta Lounges

Previously only open to American Express Centurion cardholders, American Express Centurion Lounge network has expanded lounge access to its Platinum Cardholders as well. These top of the line airport lounges are currently available in Dallas Airport and Las Vegas. They are also planning to open new lounges in San Francisco and La Guardia Airport in New York. Delta flyers also receive lounge access in airports on the same day as their flights and this can be a great benefit for Delta flyers.

Potential value: $100-$200 a year.

Access to American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts

The American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts program is a booking channel that allows us to get additional benefits at certain luxury hotels in various cities. Benefits typically include free breakfast, late checkout, a one-category room upgrade upon availability and a property specific amenity such as $100 on-site credit. I like to call it “a way to get elite benefits without being elite.”

When we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells last October for a night, we paid $200 for the room in total. With it, we received

• breakfast at the restaurant,
• a late checkout,
• an upgrade to a $650 a night two bedroom villa with private hot tub and butler service and a
• $100 on-site credit that we used for dinner and to visit the spa.

In addition, we still got our Hyatt Gold Passport points for the stay!

Starwood Preferred Guest Gold Status

Holders of the American Express Business Platinum Card receive automatic Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status simply by calling Starwood Customer Service. Starwood Gold benefits include a 50% bonus on Starpoints, complimentary internet, room upgrades, 4pm late checkout and general better service. Since I like internet when I travel and don’t like paying for it, this is a benefit I definitely enjoy.

Potential value: $10 a night for internet at Starwood hotels.

Boingo Wireless Internet

Starting in June 2014, all Amex Platinum Card members will receive complimentary access to more than 700,000 land-based WiFi hotspots worldwide in airports, retail and hotel locations through the Boingo American Express Preferred Plan, which does not include any data caps. A very similar Boingo Global Plan costs $59 a month. So for someone who uses Wifi on the road a lot, this can definitely be a great savings and another way to offset that annual fee.

Who Should Get The Card?

The annual fee is high and it’s true the benefits are not for everyone. But there are lots of people who can definitely benefit from all the benefits. So the people who would like the card the most are:

• Business traveler who fly through Dallas, Las Vegas (soon San Francisco and La Guardia) often for Centurion Lounge access.
• Frequent Delta flyers for Delta lounge access.
• On the road wifi users for Boingo internet access.
• Those who like to stay at American Express Fine Hotels & Resort properties and want to take advantage of “elite-style” benefits.

I have had this card for some time now and have really been enjoying the benefits, especially when I used to be able to access American Airlines Admirals Clubs with the card as I am now an American Airlines flyer. I do enjoy the lounge access and have replaced the American Express Platinum Card with the Citi American Airlines Executive Platinum Card. If I were a Delta flyer, however, I would certainly consider keeping the card.

A few people have also reported receiving targeted offers of up to 100,000 points. I personally did not get targeted and did apply for the Business Platinum Card some time ago through a publicly available offer – but you should always open any mail you receive from Amex just in case. Good luck!

Keep in mind the Business Platinum Card is a business card. In the personal cards arena, the Platinum Card from American Express similarly offers a 40,000 sign-up bonus and the same $450 annual fee and the Mercedes Benz Platinum Card offers a 50,000 sign-up bonus and a $475 annual fee. The three cards have similar benefits other than the business card offering business OPEN savings. That said, you are able to get a personal card and a business card and some people do carry both specifically to separate their business and personal expenses.

Application Link: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN

Summary

• The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN has raised its sign-up bonus to 40,000 miles for spending $5,000 within 3 months of account opening.
• The $450 annual fee can be almost completely offset in the first year with $200 airline reimbursement credits that will automatically reimburse a number of expenses charged to the card for an airline of our choice.
• The card comes with a number of attractive benefits such as Centurion Lounge access, Delta lounge access, Fine Hotels & Resorts, Boingo free internet, global entry reimbursement and Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status.