American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card – 2,000 AIR MILES Sign-up bonus, No Annual Fee

So I signed up for yet another American Express card. Currently the American Express AIR MILES Platinum card has a new bonus offer of 2,000 Bonus AIR MILES when you charge $500 in purchases for the first three months of Card membership.

You also do not pay no annual fee for the first year  ($65 value).

This is a great way to get introduced into AIR MILES and potentially get a free flight!

The 2,000 bonus AIR MILES can be worth up to 2 return flights depending on where you live in Canada.

For example, in BC, just 950 AIR MILES is required for a flight in our beautiful province in low season.

This is a great deal as our province is quite large and expensive to get to the mainland from the Island or to drive from Prince George to Vancouver.

Also, to neighbouring state like Washington State is only 1125 AIR MILES during low season. To get to California is just 1600 AIR MILES during low season.

If you and a spouse each get the card, you can quickly earn enough miles to start planning a Disneyland trip but just take a close look at the award map for your province.

If you see the AIR MILES North America Rewards chart, it gets complicated as they have so many zones (not like Aeroplan which considers Alaska part of North America).

They also have the benefit of no fuel surcharges on the flights (even though the miles requires is increased).

Here are some of the benefits of the American Express AIR MILES Platinum card:

• Earn 1 reward mile for every $10 in Card purchases at AIR MILES^®* Sponsors²
• Earn 1 reward mile for every $10 in Card purchases at other eligible grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores in Canada²
• Plus, earn 1 reward mile for every $15 in Card purchases everywhere else.
• Complimentary Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance Take advantage of this coverage by simply declining the Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) or similar option offered by the car rental company, and fully charge your rental to the American Express^® AIR MILES^®* Platinum Card. There’s no additional charge for this coverage, and you save yourself the daily insurance fee charged by the car rental company.
• Buyer’s Assurance^® Protection Plan – Automatically doubles the manufacturer’s original warranty up to one additional year when you charge the full purchase price to your Card.
• Assured Reservations – Your room will be held until check-out time the day following your scheduled arrival or comparable accommodation will be provided at no charge. When making reservations at participating hotels or motels request an American Express Assured Reservation and be sure to ask for a confirmation number.

I am not a heavy AIR MILES user but I am interested in using the flights within BC as my reward as I don’t see a big value in the flights to Australia/Europe/Hawaii. Flights can cost up to $400 return in our province so AIR MILES can be quite valuable!

I previously wrote a post on some AIR MILES reward secrets (showing 20 ways to collect AIR MILES faster) on our sister website, Grocery Alerts.ca.

Disclosure: For referring you to this card, I would receive a referral bonus of 500 AIR MILES for each approved referral. I appreciate your support of the blog!

Remember that once you sign up for this card, you can also refer your friends and family to receive the 500 AIR MILE referral bonus.

Here is the sign-up link.