Fly further with the American Express Velocity Platinum

You could fly to Bali in business class with the bonus points, but do the perks outweigh the price?

The American Express Velocity Platinum is a frequent flyer credit card that caters to Velocity lovers who want to earn points for every dollar they spend. It offers cardholders 100,000 bonus Velocity Points when they meet the spend requirement and up to 2.5 Velocity Points per $1. But with a hefty annual fee and purchase rate, it’s suited to shoppers who can make sure the rewards offset the costs.

From bonus points and earn rates to the extras, we’ve analysed the details of the American Express Velocity Platinum and compared it with other cards to help you decide if this is the right Velocity card for you.

How many points can I earn?

Bonus points

The Amex Velocity Platinum credit card offers the highest bonus Velocity Points offers on the market right now. If you spend $1,500 in the first three months of card membership, you’ll score 100,000 bonus Velocity points.

Combined with the standard earn rate of 1.5 points per $1, that means you could earn a total of 102,250 Velocity Points once you meet that spend. That equates to roughly 68 Velocity Points per dollar spent, which is a significantly better earn rate than what you’d usually get.

You could fly return business class from Sydney to Denpasar, Bali (99,000 points) or one way in business from Sydney to Los Angeles (95,500 points) with this many points. These are just a few examples of where your points could take you, but you can also use the points tables on the Velocity website to calculate where you could fly with your bonus points bounty.

Earn rates

You can earn 1.5 Velocity Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases with the Amex Velocity Platinum card. This is one of the highest earn rates among the Velocity Frequent Flyer credit cards currently available on the market. Designed to suit loyal Virgin Australia customers, you’ll also earn an extra 1 Velocity Point per dollar you spend on eligible Virgin purchases.

There are no points caps or reduced earn rates either, so your points potential is determined by how much you can afford to spend and repay.

Velocity Status Credits

If you spend $50,000 on eligible purchases over the course of your membership year, you’ll be rewarded with 100 Velocity Frequent Flyer Status Credits. This is currently the only card on the market that offers bonus Velocity Status Credits, which could help set it apart from other products.

Unlike points, you can use Status Credits to climb the Velocity Frequent Flyer silver, gold and platinum membership tiers. As you ascend the tiers, you can enjoy benefits including priority boarding, complimentary baggage allowances and global lounge access.

You need to collect 250 Status Credits and have flown two eligible sectors to reach silver membership, so this bonus Status Credits offer could help you get some of the way there.

What are the extra features?

As a frequent flyer credit card, the Amex Velocity Platinum flaunts a number of travel-centric perks. Some of the benefits you can expect include:

Domestic return flight each year

After your first spend each year, you’ll be rewarded with a complimentary domestic return flight between select cities with Virgin Australia. This is one of the last cards that still comes with the complimentary domestic flight rather than a travel credit.

Airport lounge passes

You’ll get two complimentary single entry passes at Virgin Australia lounges at select airports each anniversary year. You just need to present your American Express Velocity Platinum and a valid boarding pass in your name at the participating lounge to enter. You can also enjoy two complimentary entries per year to the American Express Lounge at Sydney International Airport.

Complimentary insurance covers

If you use your card to pay for eligible travel, you can also take advantage of complimentary domestic travel insurance, international travel insurance and travel inconvenience insurance. Just make sure you check the eligibility requirements and ensure the policy offers the right cover for you before you travel.

0% balance transfer offer

The card also comes with 0% p.a. on balance transfers for the first 12 months. There’s a 1% balance transfer fee and the balance transfer rate will revert to 20.74% p.a. at the end of the promotional period. Remember that you can’t earn points on balance transfers. Plus, if you’re struggling to repay an existing debt, you may not want a card that could tempt you to spend to earn points when you should be concentrating on consolidating your debt.

How much does this card cost?

These perks come at the cost of a hefty $375 annual fee. However, with the 100,000 bonus points, complimentary flight voucher and lounge passes, it shouldn’t be difficult to outweigh the cost of the card against the perks if you're a traveller.

The card also has a high purchase rate of 20.74% p.a., so it’s suited to cardholders who can afford to pay their balance off in full each month. Otherwise, any interest you collect could drag you into debt and outweigh the value of your rewards. Plus, if you pay your balance in full, you can also take advantage of up to 55 interest-free days.The American Express Velocity Platinum card is packed with extra features to suit Velocity frequent flyers. As there are many competitive Velocity credit cards on the market, points chasers will benefit from comparing their options before they apply.

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