Amex Platinum cardholders – are you getting mysterious double and triple points?

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When three people email me about something, then something is definitely ‘up’! For the last few weeks, some American Express Platinum card holders have been mysteriously receiving bonus Membership Rewards points on transactions.

Travel (of any sort) is going through at 2 points per £1

Bars and dining is going through at 3 points per £1

Annoying, I haven’t used my Platinum card for a while so I haven’t seen this in action myself. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Amex has given bonus points for ‘secret’ promotions!

Has anyone had an Amex Plat email announcing any promotion on travel or dining?!

If not, is it possible that Amex is actually changing the earning rules on the Platinum card? It would make sense, since at the moment the Gold card gives 2x points on travel, supermarkets, petrol and foreign spend, whilst Platinum only gives the usual 1 point. (See here for full details of the card.)

Giving 2 points per £1 on travel would also help placate Platinum card holders – many are annoyed about having to pay for airlines and hotels with an Amex card in order to qualify for the full Platinum travel insurance package.

Or, of course, is it all a big mistake by Amex?

If you’ve got any experience of these new bonuses, or you’ve spotted any other categories of transaction which are giving bonus points, please post below.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus.

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Category

American Express Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

James67 says:

29 Jul29 July 07:09

Dad is getting 3x points on supermarket spend on his new gold card. I just assummed this was limitted time promotion as new cardholder? He’s a happy bunny though and is kept busy in his retirement at moment visiting tesco for 3V and homebase giftcards, banking 3x MR, cc and nectar points at rates of 1000s per week. His only grumble is the labours involved in crediting his 2V cards to NS&I.
- Sideysid says:
  
  29 Jul29 July 08:10
  
  Can you confirm that getting the Homebase giftcards from Tesco work for 3V? I had been planning on trialling this out, but was unsure if Homebase would accept gift cards to pay for gift cards?
  - Mr Bridge says:
    
    29 Jul29 July 08:44
    
    one poster did say that they tried this at homebase, and after a debate with the supervisor they said no. But we know not all branches of shops or even staff follow the same rules, just buy 1 card and give it a try, if not stock up on light bulbs
  - James67 says:
    
    29 Jul29 July 08:46
    
    I think it is not supposed to work according to T&C. Seems to be down to individual staff in individual stores from what I read here earlier so treat carefully.
  - Rob says:
    
    29 Jul29 July 10:23
    
    Homebase gift cards say on the back ‘cannot be used for gift cards’. I know some people have got away with it, and some have not. Too risky in my view unless you would buy other stuff in Homebase as a fallback.
Jack says:

29 Jul29 July 07:18

I have Amex Gold, and most of my travel spend is going through at triple points (posting as 2 pts per pound, plus 1pt per pound bonus for travel spend) – for once this is an anomaly which I will be keeping quiet about as it works in my favour!

Was very helpful when I booked some stuff through Amex travel to make the most of their 2500 bonus points as well, making for 4 pts per pound (includimg 1pt extra per pound for using Amex Travel) plus the 2500 on top.

Long may this continue!
v8gaz says:

29 Jul29 July 07:25

Just got this months statement, and I’m showing 2011 points on a 1900 pound spend, most of which is travel. So it looks li,e I’m not getting any special deals. Not happy!
Phillip says:

29 Jul29 July 07:27

What I have been noticing on my Gold card is how the bonus travel spend seems to be added on as base points instead of double. So any travel purchase automatically shows double points and zero bonus.
stoph says:

29 Jul29 July 07:38

what i am seeing is that the couple of bars/restaurants i visited up to about the 20/21 july have not credited bonus points – HOWEVER the “Shop Small” statement credits have been posted BUT are taking off 15 membership rewards rather than only 5? These have posted to the statement around the 24th onwards so perhaps it is an auto glitch and spending since this point would have attracted the increased earning? Either way i need to chase this one down – only 20 points but daylight robbery nonetheless!
- YL says:
  
  29 Jul29 July 10:15
  
  It has happened to me, too! Some random shop small restaurant spent got me 3x points, but not all of them..then when the credit hit, I got 15 points taken off.
  However another shop small £10+ spent that I was only given 1x points, but the £5 credit took of 15 points….
MW says:

29 Jul29 July 07:41

I’ve noticed that since June I’ve been getting double MR points on my Amex Corporate card for travel expenses. Which is fantastic because I’ve been traveling almost continuously since then 🙂
Alan says:

29 Jul29 July 08:02

I’d love to think they’d decided to change the earning rate to offset the forex fee or to match gold, but sadly I doubt it. More likely a promo they forgot to tell us about! Not had any increased points for BA bookings, although I have for train tickets.
claire says:

29 Jul29 July 08:07

I just hit the 3000 in 3months spend on my ba amex prem plus card on a £103 hotel spend. So attributed to the hotel spend is the 25000 avios bonus, 115 for the hotel spend and then a mysterious 12,000 which I have no clue what for….happy days!
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jul29 July 10:21
  
  This is a common bug with new BA Premium Plus Amex cards!