My Amex Business Platinum Retention Offer

A year ago I received 50k points to upgrade to an Amex Biz Plat

At the time, I actually held another Amex Biz Plat ( which I was going to cancel), but was targeted for an upgrade on an Amex Biz Gold card that I concurrently held. I bit at the upgrade offer, and not only did I receive the 50k points, I cancelled the other Amex Biz Plat, and then used my new Biz Plat to refer 5 people to the then, 100k offer. My 50k turned into 175k points, and I was a happy camper.  That upgraded Biz Plat was looking at an annual fee of $450 hitting mid December so I called into to inquire about retention offers. I was hoping to receive the 50k points, after $10k spend, many people had received during the summer, but alas, I didn’t. I was given two options:

1. $100 statement credit
2. 10,000 points

I went with the second option.

I value Amex points somewhere around 2 cents, so that’s like getting $200. Add in the $200 incidental airline credit, and my Gogo passes and I’m already ahead on another year of card membership. Not to mention Centurion lounge access, and a bevy of other perks.

A couple of other reasons.

I don’t hold another Amex that earns MR. Crazy, I know. I’ve been meaning to pick up an Everyday Preferred, and most likely will this year, but I either needed to downgrade the Amex Plat, or sign up for a card that would keep my points alive. I opted to keep my 5/24 number down, and enjoy another year of Amex Biz Plat perks.

I’ll also be flying through SFO more and more this coming year as my allegiance to Alaska/Virgin grows deeper. If I have more than an hour layover I’ll switch terminals at SFO and hang in the Centurion lounge during the layover. That benefit will get used more as I fly through there with more frequency. I’ll also fly through Seattle here and there, and accessing their lounge will yield residual benefits as well.

What would you have done?