American Express will be offering bonus Membership Rewards points for international spends on American Express cards, for spends incurred between May 1, 2017 through June 30, 2017.

Essentially, you get 3 bonus MR points apart from the 2 MR points you get on INR 100 spent in foreign currency. For this promotion, you need to enroll, which can be done here by April 22, 2017. The promotion is only valid for Amex MR earning personal credit and charge cards, so the Amex Jet Airways co-brand cards are ruled out here.

You earn up to a maximum of 5000 MR points bonus, which will be credited to your account within 90 days after closure of the offer. Here are the full Terms & Conditions.

Worth it?

Not really, if you have a high-roller card such as the Citi Prestige. Let’s take an example of INR 10,000 spent in non-Indian currency. You would get 200 Citi Prestige reward points, which would be equal to 800 miles/points in most hotel and airline currencies. You pay a 3.5% foreign currency markup. Sometimes, Citi refunds it to you as in last year end promotion where they reimbursed INR 3500 as cashback on INR 100K international spend.

When you spend the same money with American Express, you get 500 Membership Reward Points, which would be equal to 250 miles/points on their transfer partners. And you still pay a 3.5% foreign currency markup.

Bottomline

It always helps to register for such promotions, since you never know when they come useful. But if I am paying for these foreign trips with Amex? Not the big expenses for sure.

What do you think about this promotion from Amex? Love it or hate it?