Not as good a bonus as it has been, but this is still a great deal.
You will receive 50,000 bonus Membership Rewards points (in the Amex Gateway Program) when you apply online, are approved and spend $1,500 on your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
Or, you will receive 60,000 bonus Membership Rewards points if you use a referral link. Please note, you must not hold an Amex (apart from bank-issued ones), or have held one in the last 18 months.
Membership Rewards points are well recognised for the great value they have when transferred to airline and hotel programs. For example, each MR point in the Gateway program converts to 0.75 points in the Virgin Australia Velocity, Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines Krisflyer programs.
It's especially good value to transfer to Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) at a rate of 2 MR points to 1 SPG point. Once in SPG they can be converted to many airline programs or used to book hotels - some great savings!
Benefits:
$400 Travel Credit every year to use on flights, hotels, experiences or car hire booked online with American Express Travel. You can use this credit to book travel for anyone you choose.
Earn up to 2 Membership Rewards points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases.
Smartphone Screen Insurance for up to $500 for screen repairs to your Smartphone when you pay for your phone or contract with your card.
Travel insurance, buyers advantage, purchase protection, and refund protection.
2 entries per year to the American Express Lounge at Sydney International (Kingsford Smith) Airport T1.
0% p.a. on balance transfers for the first 12 months — A one-off credit plan establishment fee of 1% applies to any balances transferred.
The $400 travel credit more than offsets the $395 annual fee.
My referral link is http://Amex.com.au/refer/rossgN0v1 , or use any of the others for the Explorer Card on the referral list below.
Picked up one of these in the recent 100,000 point promo. To answer a question that often gets asked, yes, they do appear to be strict with existing cardholders. I also have a Velocity Platinum, and didn't get the 100k. (I got a 30k referrer bonus though, which was nice).
So far I'm finding the $400 travel allowance a bit more difficult to utilise than say, the domestic flight offered by other cards. I'm heading to Uluru in a couple of months, flight is already booked and there is no accommodation via the Amex portal. Next trip involves taking my car across to Tassie. No accommodation or hire car is needed for that, so it would only be useful if I can use it for the boat trip - I need to call them about it.
I might have to plan another little getaway just to use it (along with the ruddy lounge passes which are piling up). Which is all good. Just something to keep in mind if you're weighing it up.