[OFFER EXPIRED] Increased sign up bonus for the American Express AIR MILES Reserve Credit Card - now earn up to 3,800 AIR MILES

THIS OFFER IS NOW EXPIRED - PLEASE SEE THE CARD DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR THE MOST CURRENT OFFER BEING FEATURED.
 
Earlier today we brought you the details of the new welcome offer for the enhanced American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card. Of course with that card getting a higher welcome bonus American Express had to also boost the offer on the American Express AIR MILES Reserve card since the new Platinum offer eclipsed the old Reserve offer.  The new bonus on the Reserve cards sees new cardmembers being able to earn 3,800 AIR MILES Reward Miles. To my best recollection this is the highest sign up bonus for an AIR MILES Credit Card ever seen. We've seen 3,000 before on competing AIR MILES cards and earlier today the 3,500 for the Platinum Card but never have we seen the potential to earn 3,800 miles.

• New American Express AIR MILES Reserve Credit Card Cardmembers earn a welcome bonus of up to 3,800 AIR MILES®* Bonus Miles – here’s how:
• Earn 1,400 Bonus Miles when you charge a total of $3,000 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership.
• Earn up to 2,400 Bonus Miles - In your first 6 monthly billing periods as a new American Express AIR MILES Reserve Credit Card Cardmember, you can earn 200 Miles for every $750 you spend in purchases in each monthly billing period (up to a maximum of 400 Miles per monthly billing period). Welcome bonus offers end January 20, 2020.

As we mentioned earlier this morning with the new offer on the Platinum AIR MILES card, this card also continues the trend where card issuers are rewarding ongoing spend over and above the initial welcome bonus. Looking at this new welcome bonus we see the old offer of 2,400 miles for $1,500 in spend actually being lowered to 1,400 for the same spend over 3 months. However they are now adding in the potential to earn 2,400 more miles for 3,800 miles in total. To earn those 2,400 additional miles you have to spend $1,500 per billing cycle for the first six billing cycles. That bonus is broken down at 200 miles per $750 spent in each cycle up to 400 miles in each of those periods. If you take an average value of 13 cents per AIR MILE Reward Mile you can see that the 3,800 mile welcome bonus is worth around $494 and ultimately $195 when taking the annual fee into account. This is a limited time offer that runs until January 20, 2020. This valuation actually puts the welcome bonus of this card below the Platinum card - and the Reserve actually earns less miles for everyday spending than the Platinum card. So the question to ask is why get this card instead of the Platinum card? The answer is for the benefits the card provides beyond the rewards. It gives you automatic AIR MILES Onyx status, it has a decent insurance package with out of province medical coverage, flight delay and baggage insurance. It also provides Priority Pass membership along with four lounge passes per year. That last benefit is worth US$227 alone. The card also has its exclusive AIR MILES FlexFly feature where you can redeem 770 AIR MILES for $100 in travel, this means you can actually use your AIR MILES Reward Miles for business class flights and so on.

Still as I write this piece I think the Reserve card may need some enhancements soon seeing how the Platinum AIR MILES Card has better earn rates and other cards that compete with it have insurance benefits and features that match or exceed what this card offers.

You can apply for the American Express AIR MILES Reserve Card here.