The Best Travel Offer In Canadian History: The American Express Business Platinum Card
10x your investment and see the world at the same time.
This post is written by Jordan Bishop, perpetual traveler and founder of Yore Oyster. The principles applied are universal, though the recommended tools are available only to Canadians. 
"$1,875 worth of travel for $499? Sign me up!"
The more I speak with Canadians about the American Express Business Platinum Card, the more responses like that I hear.
The conversations always start the same way: an aspiring Canadian traveler wants to know how I’ve been flying around the world for the past four years for next-to-nothing. And the answer is always the same: while I had a strong handle on how to travel in style extremely cheaply before that—think roundtrips to Asia or Europe for under $100 total—it wasn’t until I got
And since then, thousands of Canadians have joined me in capitalizing on the best travel opportunity available to Canadians right now. My only question is…
Will you be one of them?
The Biggest Welcome Bonus In Canadian History
I’ve already written about the relevant benefits of the
And yes, that’s after accounting for the $700 annual fee.
If you use the points smartly, of course, you can do much, much better than that. For example, with the 75,000 points you’ll get with the Platinum card, here are some of the trips you can take:
| Roundtrip Toronto to Hong Kong 70,000 points $100 total taxes/fees |
Roundtrip Vancouver to Hong Kong 60,000 points $90 total taxes/fees |
| Round-the-world Toronto to Hong Kong to Dubai to London to Toronto 74,500 points $761 total taxes/fees |
Round-the-world Vancouver to Hong Kong to Dubai to London to Vancouver 74,700 points $742 total taxes/fees |
The Platinum card is a truly exceptional offer that I can’t recommend highly enough. It’s been my ticket to flying in business and first class all over the globe, not to mention staying in some of the world’s nicest hotels for a fraction of the regular price.
But that said, American Express’ Business Platinum card is the new offer in town, and it’s one that every Canadian traveler needs to know about, too.
Though the Platinum and Business Platinum cards are extremely similar in their benefits and features, there are a few crucial differences. Here’s how the two cards compare:
Differences Between The Platinum And Business Platinum Cards
| American Express Business Platinum Card | American Express Platinum Card | |
| Welcome Bonus | 75,000 points | 60,000 points |
| Annual Fee | $499 | $699 |
| Annual Travel Credit | No | $200 in 2018 plus $200 more in 2019 |
| Worldwide Airport Lounge Access With Priority Pass Select ($399 USD Value) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Worldwide Centurion Lounge Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complimentary flight upgrades and companion tickets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hotel Upgrades & Extras | ✓ | ✓ |
| Comprehensive travel, medical and purchase insurance | ✓ | ✓ |
| 24/7 Platinum Travel Concierge | ✓ | ✓ |
| Earn 1.25 Points Per Dollar Spent | ✓ | ✓ |
| Employee Card Misuse Protection | ✓ | |
| Disability Plan for Small Business | ✓ | |
| Application Link |
As you can see, the two cards are pretty similar. For 99% of people, the top three rows are what matter most.
The Business Platinum card costs $499 and comes with a welcome bonus of 75,000 points, while the Platinum card costs $699 and comes with a welcome bonus of 60,000 points plus the $200 annual travel credit.
Of course, if you’re smart, you’ll use the annual travel credit that comes with the Platinum card twice in your first 12 months of membership (once in 2018 and once in 2019), dropping that annual fee down to just $299. For 60,000 points, which I value at between $1,200-$1,800, that’s an absolute steal.
How to transform 75,000 points into 93,750 points
This one is dead simple: several times per year, American Express offers a 25% transfer bonus when you transfer your points to a program like British Airways Avios. Just by transferring your points at the right time, 75,000 points all of a sudden become 93,750 points. As we’ll see next, that little trick is worth at least $375 to you.
How much are the 93,750 points really worth?
As I outlined in my post on the Platinum card, I value these American Express Membership Rewards points at between two to three cents per point. That means that your 93,750 points are worth between $1,875 and $2,813!
Why isn’t there an exact value for the points?
Because every flight you use them on holds a different value. Here’s an example.
This week I booked a direct Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to London, and a direct British Airways flight from London to Istanbul a few days later. I have plenty of points laying around thanks to my Business Platinum card, so I booked both of them using British Airways’ Avios program.
I also took screenshots on the same days I booked the flights to compare the prices between what I paid and the cash price. Here’s how it all shakes out.
Flight 1: Hong Kong to London — Economy Class
On March 27th, I fly from Hong Kong to London on Cathay Pacific in economy class. I paid 30,000 Avios points plus $52.50 CAD for my ticket. If I had bought my exact same seat with cash, it would’ve cost me $3,911 CAD, but since the cheapest direct flight on that day is $1,194 CAD, we’ll compare with that instead.
$1,194 - $52.20 = $1,141.80 saved by using points
÷ 30,000 points paid
= 3.8 cents per point
This is a really good redemption. At this rate, your 93,750 points would be worth over $3,500!
Flight 2: London to Istanbul — Business Class
Four days later, on March 31, I'm flying from London to Istanbul in business class. I paid 20,000 Avios points plus $40 CAD for my ticket, though as you can see below, the exact same ticket was priced at $1,001 CAD when I bought it. Let's do the value per point calculation again.
$1,001 - $40 = $971 saved by using points
÷ 20,000 points paid
= 4.9 cents per point
This is an even better value than the Hong Kong to London flight. If you could redeem all 93,750 of the points you get with the
How to book some amazing flights with your 93,750 points
We've already put together some mega-posts on how to book some seriously amazing flights all over the world, so I won't repeat those here. You can't go wrong with these three:
How to get $400 in annual travel credit (instead of just $200) with the Platinum card
There are two facts about the Platinum card that every cardholder needs to be aware of:
Your annual fee is always applied 12 months from when you apply for your card.
Your $200 annual travel credit always resets on January 1.
Let’s look at how this affects you.
If you were to apply today, you'd be able to use $200 of travel credit between now and December 31, 2018, and then $200 more between January 1, 2019 and today’s date in 2019.
This means that from a literal perspective, the best date to apply for the card is probably July 1, since that means you have a full 6 months in 2018 to use your first $200 plus a full 6 months in 2019 to use your second $200.
However, I don't recommend waiting until July 1 for one simple reason: this offer on the Platinum card is likely to be gone by then. The 60,000 points bonus you get with the card right now is truly a steal, so I'd be surprised if the offer is still around then.
"I always thought people who cared about credit card points were stupid. Now I’m kicking myself for not caring sooner."
It's not tough to spend the travel credit, since you can use it on flights/hotels/rental cars and more, and you don't need to do the traveling itself in order to spend it. If you're going on vacation in May, you can buy your flight or hotel in January and you're all set from there.
Side note: If you are planning on doing some international travel, you should definitely read our
Do I need to own a business to get the Business Platinum card?
Not at all.
Just as we've shown below, simply enter your first and last name on both the lines reading Legal Business Name (as registered) and Business Name to Appear on Card on the application. Anyone can own a sole proprietorship in their own name (and it doesn't need to be registered with any government agency), so it's totally fine to have your first and last name as your business name. American Express will never ask you to prove your business activities, such as revenues, taxes paid, etc.
My Recommendation
There’s a reason I mentioned above that the current offer on the American Express Business Platinum card is the most lucrative offer in Canadian history:
I don’t expect it to be here for long!
If the Platinum card—which used to also offer a 75,000 points welcome bonus—is any indicator, we’ll see the same things happen to the Business Platinum card.
The welcome bonus will decrease.
The annual fee will increase (in fact, it already increased from $399 to $499 as of mid-February, 2018).
The benefits to new applicants will decrease.
So while this offer still stands, I highly recommend you
While you’re at it, you should seriously consider the Platinum card as well.
I realize that paying $499 AND $699 in fees seems like a lot, and it is. (The
But when you compare the value you get out of the offer—more than double that amount in travel, free access to airport lounges around the world, complimentary flight upgrades, extremely comprehensive insurance, and on and on—it truly is a steal.
At the end of the day, it’s a small expense given the value you’ll extract, both today and for years to come.
If you have questions, feel free to
FAQs
Do you recommend the personal Platinum card or the Business Platinum card?
We actually recommend both of them! There are exceptional offers for both cards right now, and the differences are quite slight: the fee on the personal Platinum card is $200 higher than the Business Platinum card, though with it you can actually get $400 of travel credit ($200 in 2018 plus $200 more in 2019) within your first 12 months of having the card. For a full breakdown of the cards we recommend, take a look at the
How do you get two $200 travel credits in one year?
There are two facts about the Platinum card that every cardholder needs to be aware of:
Your annual fee is always applied 12 months from when you apply for your card.
Your $200 annual travel credit always resets on January 1.
Let’s look at how this affects you.
If you were to apply today, you'd be able to use $200 of travel credit between now and December 31, 2018, and then $200 more between January 1, 2019 and today’s date in 2019.
This means that from a literal perspective, the best date to apply for the card is probably July 1, since that means you have a full 6 months in 2018 to use your first $200 plus a full 6 months in 2019 to use your second $200.
However, I don't recommend waiting until July 1 for one simple reason: this offer on the Platinum card is likely to be gone by then. The 60,000 points bonus you get with the card right now is truly a steal, so I'd be surprised if the offer is still around then.
Do I need to own a business to get the Business Platinum card?
Not at all. Just enter your first and last name on both the lines reading Legal Business Name (as registered) and the Business Name to Appear on Card on the card application. Anyone can own a sole proprietorship in their own name (and it doesn't need to be registered with any government agency), so it's totally fine to have your first and last name as your business name. American Express will never ask you to prove your business activities, such as revenues, taxes paid, etc.
Oct 2018 Update: Right now we're recommending the
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