American Express has been rolling out really good spend based offers for the last 6 months. These look to be an incentive to make cardholders spend more as overall spending on credit cards has dropped ever since the COVID-19 situation started in India.
The first offer from Amex in 2021 is here. Here are the details:
Offer Details
- Offer 1: Spend Rs 1.5L and get Air India vouchers worth Rs 8000. Return – 5.3%
- Offer 2: Spend Rs 1L and get Air India vouchers worth Rs 5000. Return – 5%
- Offer 3: Spend Rs 50000 and get Air India vouchers worth Rs 3000. Return – 6%
- Offer 4: Spend Rs 30000 and get Air India vouchers worth Rs 2000. Return – 6.7%
- Offer 5: Spend Rs 2.5L and get Luxe vouchers worth 15000. Return – 6%
- Offer Period – 6th January 2021 to 5th February 2021
- T & C – Offer 1 for Air India GV || Offer 2 for Air India GV || Offer 3 for Air India GV|| Offer 4 for Air India GV || Offer 5 for Luxe Voucher
- Enrollment Link has been sent to cardholder’s email
Our Take
With the minimum bonus return at 5%, this is a good offer from Amex. This is over and above the regular rewards, that Amex will give based on the card variant. If you have spends left to get the fee waiver from Amex on cards like MRCC, then can be another good reason to participate in this offer.
However, the tricky part would be the utilization of the Air India vouchers. They don’t cover many domestic routes in India. Even, the terms and conditions (links provided above) for the vouchers are too strict as below:
- Validity is 3 months from the date voucher is sent to the Cardmember.
- The Voucher code once entered on Air India website for redemption will be considered redeemed and cannot be redeemed thereafter, even if the transaction/booking is not completed.
- The Voucher can only be redeemed against base fare
It would have been better if Amex would have had an option for Flipkart/Amazon vouchers even if that meant a reduced reward rate.
If you don’t have an Amex card, then the MRCC card is available as First Year Free for a limited time along with reduced annual fees of Rs 1500 second year onwards. Apply through this link. You also get a Rs 500 Amazon voucher on card approval.