AMEX Platinum Business Card packs 150,000 frequent flyer point bonus

Business owners can get their hands on a whopping 150,000 bonus frequent flyer points for Qantas, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and seven other leading airlines by taking out a new American Express Platinum Business charge card.

That's enough for:

• two round-trip business class trips between Perth and either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane with Qantas or Virgin Australia, or
• up to 15 one-way upgrades from economy to business class on the same routes with the same airlines when booked on flexible fares, or
• four return business class trips or nine return economy class trips between Sydney and Melbourne on Qantas or Virgin Australia, or
• a staggering 30 one-way upgrades from flexible economy to business class on the same popular Sydney-Melbourne route, or
• an indulgent one-way Singapore Airlines first class ticket from Sydney or Melbourne to London or Europe, including Airbus A380 Suites Class first class flights as reward availability allows, when converting your Ascent Premium points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles

This is one of the most generous sign-up deals we’ve ever seen, and it's an easy way to turbocharge your points balance, so here's what you need to know.

AMEX Platinum Business Card: the 150,000 point sign-up offer

Get things started by applying for the Platinum Business Card before March 29 2018, and charge at least $5,000 worth of business expenses to the card within the first three months to earn your bonus points – whether that’s spent on stock, travel costs, entertaining clients or anything else is up to you.

That unlocks 150,000 bonus Membership Rewards Ascent Premium points, which can then be converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer, Virgin Australia Velocity, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and seven more frequent flyer programs at a 1:1 rate.

This flexibility means you can either trim your business’ travel costs – such as by booking flights using points, instead of paying full fare – or could use points to book or upgrade to business class on a paid ticket, to make your next business trip more enjoyable. The choice is yours!

Note: As of March 29 2018, the sign-up offer has been reduced to 120,000 Membership Rewards Ascent Premium points.

You’ll continue to be rewarded when spending on this card, by earning two frequent flyer points per dollar spent with airlines, hotels, advertisers, couriers, selected computer retailers (including Apple, Dell and IBM), and at AMEX-accepting Australian restaurants.

Most other purchases attract one frequent flyer point per dollar spent, except for utility, insurance and government charges (including payments to the ATO), on which you can earn one point per $2 spent.

AMEX Platinum Business Card: the perks

Don’t have an assistant to help make your travel arrangements? With the Platinum Business Card, AMEX’s dedicated Platinum Business Concierge team can take care of that for you, along with other tasks such as delivering gifts to clients and planning corporate events.

You’ll also enjoy unlimited access to Virgin Australia lounges when flying domestically with Virgin Australia, and to American Express Lounges when flying with any airline – including the AMEX Lounge at Sydney Airport (and soon, at Melbourne Airport), and Centurion Lounges in places like Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York and Dallas/Fort Worth.

There’s a complimentary, unlimited Priority Pass membership included for the business owner too, offering access to over 1,000 lounges globally – again, when flying with any airline – and which also provides $36 of dining credit at selected restaurants when jetting through Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Airports.

For a full list of perks and privileges attached to this card, read our review.

AMEX Platinum Business Card: how to apply

To qualify for this card and apply, a business owner needs to have a personal pre-tax income of at least $75,000/year.

In most cases, AMEX also favours businesses that have been trading for at least two years and are registered for Australian GST.

An annual fee of $1,500 is payable per business – but because you can add up to 99 supplementary cardholders onto the account at no extra cost, the ‘cost per card’ can be as little as $15/year, for which your business earns points from all your employees’ spends.

All cardholders, including supplementary cardholders like business partners or employees, can also be protected by travel insurance on business trips at no extra cost, even if the cost of the trip wasn’t charged to the card: handy if a client is covering those travel expenses, or you’re using points to fly.

For more information about the Platinum Business Card’s features or the nifty 150,000-point sign-up bonus (now 120,000 points), head to the American Express website.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.