Travel interstate in Australia once a year as a minimum? Keep reading for an offer from Amex that almost everyone that  is too good to be true, but is 1000% the real deal. Over the last 5 years since I’ve been using this card & getting 1 free return flight every single year (not needing any frequent flyer points, no taxes to pay and includes 23KG baggage)  everyone I told about it has without a fail asked ‘Whats the catch?’ right away. – When you have finished this and you’re ready to grab it – click this link to get the American Express Platinum Edge Card.

So what is the catch?
Just like with everything in life, there is a catch.

But is nowhere near as big as what you might assume. The catch is that the credit card carries a $195 annual fee per year.

If you fly often and do the math, an average interstate flight Perth – Melb or Sydney is usually around $500 on average + by the time you select a seat and add on credit card charges it usually comes to around $550-600.

That covers 1 FREE Domestic flight every year.

What about International flights?

American Express rewards members who refer friends & family. Seriously though, how hard is it to get someone to jump onboard to get a free flight for cost of an annual fee that they likely pay with their current credit card anyway?

This is where American Express offers is a gold mine. 

Currently they are offering 30,000 referral points to existing members who refer an Amex credit card to a friend who uses their own referral link (available from the American Express online baking portal).  The new member that uses their friend’s link to sign up, gets 15,000 bonus points (if they use generic link on website they only get 10,000 so it is more beneficial to get referred) on top of the FREE Flight every year and then has their own referral link to send. Most people I’ve shown this offer have gotten at least 2 others straight away to enroll – claiming an additional 60,000 Rewards Points, bringing their total to 75,000.

What Frequent Flyer partners can you transfer points to?
 Just about any major airline operating out of Australia (plus their partners). My tip is to get Asia Miles membership and transfer to Asia Miles for your future bookings. Asia Miles is the Frequent Flyer program of  Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airline BUT with AsiaMiles membership you can book flights on Cathay, Qantas, Qatar,  British Airways, Air NZ, American Airlines – list goes on.

How do you Redeem Asia Miles for Qantas or Qatar Flights?
To redeem your points for a free flight on a partner airline is done by logging into Asia Miles account online, searching for flight as you normally would, and list of every partner available flights on those routes will show up to choose from.

QR: Qatar Airways | CX: Cathay Pacific | QF: Qantas | BA: British Airways

Which Airline is the best to fly with?
I would suggest doing some research online when you decide where you are going and see which airline flies the routes etc. Below is list of previous year’s overall rankings, safety record & also Business class rankings.

Global Airline rankings 2014 & 2015.

So where does 75,000 points get you to if used with Asia Miles??
Just about anywhere!

30,000 pts – Free return flight Perth to anywhere on the East Coast or Singapore.
60,000 pts – Gets you from Perth to Hawaii or Sydney to Los Angeles
Tip: You can use your FREE Domestic Flight to fly Perth – Sydney then use 60,000 pts to get a return flight to Los Angeles :)

If you want to know more about other perks of this card (there are DOZENS!!) read my previous post from earlier this year!

Give me this card already!