Amex Platinum Referrals In Canada

The American Express Platinum Card offers exceptional value for any Canadian traveler. There’s a 25,000 Amex MR points welcome bonus—which we show you here how to turn into $1,500 worth of travel rewards—worldwide airport lounge access with Priority Pass, a $200 annual travel credit, upgraded hotel memberships, extensive purchase coverage and travel insurance, all included with your card. Here’s a quick breakdown of the card benefits.

Amex Platinum: Basics & Benefits

Welcome Bonus Points	25,000
Annual Travel Credit	$200
Points Earned Per $1 Spent On Dining	3
Points Earned Per $1 Spent On Travel	2
Points Earned Per $1 Spent On All Other Card Purchases	1
Upgraded Hotel Statuses	✔
Travel Insurance	✔
Metal Card	✔
Annual Fee	$699

The card also comes with additional American Express benefits that come with all of their cards. These include Front Of The Line, which offers cardholders advanced access/tickets to concerts, sporting events and shows across Canada.

How To Maximize Your American Express Platinum Points

As good as 25,000 American Express points sounds, 32,500 points sounds even better. Later in this post, we show you exactly how to turn your 25,000 points welcome bonus into 32,500 Avios or Aeroplan miles.

Let’s look at a few different examples of what those points can do for you whenever you please. This isn’t magic – it’s just smartly-applied knowledge.

Route	Points Needed	Taxes & Fees
Roundtrip: Toronto to Hong Kong	70,000	$100
Roundtrip: Vancouver to Hong Kong	60,000	$90
Round-the-world: Toronto to Hong Kong to Dubai to London to Toronto	74,500	$761
Round-the-world: Vancouver to Hong Kong to Dubai to London to Vancouver	74,700	$742

The Amex Platinum’s $699 Annual Fee

The Platinum Card comes with a $699 fee.

It’s true. And no, there’s no getting around it.

But here’s the magic in it.

It’s nearly impossible not to make money by having this card, even after paying the fee.

Huh? Sounds confusing, right?

Here’s how it works.

If you use the 25,000 points in the worst way possible, they’re worth $450 to you. Why? Because American Express allows you to apply your points against your statement balance at a value of one cent per point, which means 25,000 points = $250. Add in your annual $200 travel credit and you’re at $450.

The only catch with that is that you can only apply these points toward travel expenses, but you’d be surprised how widely that term applies. Flights and hotels are obvious, but Amex even categorizes a variety of other expenses like Uber rides as a travel expense, meaning they can be paid using your points as well.

Plus, that’s not even considering the other benefits you get from the card. The travel/baggage insurance and additional purchase insurance (for theft/damage of your items), the worldwide airport lounge access, the platinum hotel memberships, and everything else you see here are all just cherries on top.

So even if you use your points in the worst way you could – by applying them to your statement balance as a cash equivalent – you nearly cover the annual fee from that alone.

But still, wouldn’t you rather do better than the absolute worst? I thought so.

Let’s Book Some Cool Flights

If you prefer to double or triple the value of your points, it’s actually quite easy. Every flight suggestion you see on our blog gets you at least 2 cents per point – double the value you receive when using your points as cash – and often that value is much, much higher.

3-4 cents per point is completely attainable once you start to know what you’re doing.

In fact, the round-the-world trips I mentioned above offer a value of well over 4 cents per point, meaning the $699 fee you paid just saved you several thousand dollars on flights.

And here’s the secret to turning your 25,000 points into 32,500: at least once per year, American Express offers a 25-30% transfer bonus when you transfer your points to a program like British Airways Avios. Just by transferring your points smartly, 25,000 points all of a sudden become 32,500 points.

You just gained another 7,500 points – worth at least $150 if you use them at a value of 2 cents per point or above – just for being in the loop.

Here are 3 realistic scenarios of the value you could achieve by getting the Platinum Card, from least valuable on the left to most valuable on the right.

	Very Easy	Very Easy	Moderate Difficulty
Redemption Type	Cash (against statement balance)	Flights	Flights with creativity
Redemption Value Per Point	1 cent	3 cents	4 cents
Total Value Of 32,500 Points	$325	$975	$1,300
Less: Annual Fee	($699)	($699)	($699)
Profit From Points	-$374	$276	$601
Additional Benefits	Yes	Yes	Yes

Most of you will find yourselves in columns 2 or 3 in the $276 – $601 profit range, since you can just read our other blog posts to find tons of flights that get you 3-4 cents per point of value.

But if you’re ambitious and want to push your points even further, it’s completely possible to surpass what’s listed above with a value of 5 cents per point or more, and we’d love to help you get there. Just send us an email and we’ll help you sift through your options to ensure you get a great bang for your buck.

And since I alluded to them earlier, here’s a partial list of some of the benefits you get with the Platinum Card (most of them are also offered with the American Express Business Platinum Card, and some with the Marriott Bonvoy™ Card and the American Express Cobalt Card): 

Worldwide airport lounge access with Priority Pass Select ($399 USD value)	$200 annual travel credit	Upgraded hotel memberships (Marriott International, Radisson Hotel Group, etc.)
Platinum rental car memberships (Hertz Club Gold, Avis Preferred)	Sleek metal card	Emergency travel medical insurance
Extended purchase insurance	Theft/damage insurance on your possessions	Trip cancellation insurance

In Summary

The Amex Platinum Card for Canadians offers truly exceptional value for its $699 annual fee. This makes it a great vehicle for referring friends, making them happy with the great value and bringing in up to 225,000 additional points for you.

We haven’t included all of the card details on this page, so if you want to learn more, read our full Amex Platinum review.

Amex Platinum FAQs

How many friends can I refer to the Amex Platinum Card for Canadians?

Once you’ve successfully activated your Amex Platinum Card, you can refer up to 15 friends for 15,000 Amex Membership Rewards points each, bringing your annual referral limit to 225,000 points.

How many friends can I refer to my other American Express cards?

Here’s a list:

• American Express Platinum: 15 friends at 15,000 points each = 225,000 points
• American Express Business Platinum: 15 friends at 15,000 points each = 225,000 points
• American Express Marriott Bonvoy Card: 15 friends at 10,000 points each = 150,000 points
• American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Card: 15 friends at 10,000 points each = 150,000 points
• American Express Cobalt: 15 friends at 5,000 points each = 75,000 points
• American Express Business Gold Rewards Card: 15 friends at 5,000 points each = 75,000 points
• American Express Gold Rewards Card: Currently not offering referral bonuses

How do I refer a friend to the Amex Platinum Card?

1. Once you’ve activated your Amex Platinum card, log in to American Express and click “Refer A Friend.”
2. Enter your friend’s email address, or copy the link and share it with them directly.
3. When your friend’s application has been approved, you’ll receive 15,000 points!

Will I receive a referral bonus for inviting friends to the American Express SPG Card?

Yes. Amex’s SPG Card has been re-branded as the Marriott Bonvoy™ Card, but you’ll still receive a 10,000-point bonus for each friend you invite, up to an annual maximum of 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy™ points.

Here’s our full post on SPG American Express referrals in Canada.