New deal: Earn 17,500 Amex Points with this ITA flights offer [Targeted]

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American Express has launched a new targeted offer in conjunction with Italy’s ITA Airways in which it’s offering card members the opportunity to earn an impressive 17,500 Membership Rewards points on spending made by the end of the year (this is a reprise of an offer that ran earlier this year).

For some, this will be a tricky offer to trigger thanks to the fact that ITA only serves six US cities. For others, however, this will probably look like a very tempting proposition.

Spend $1,000 and get 17,500 points with ITA

Headline Details

Get 17,500 additional Membership Rewards® points one-time by using your enrolled eligible Card to spend a minimum of $1,000 in one or more purchases online at ita-airways.com by 12/31/2023. Flight must originate in US and be charged in USD to qualify.

Key Terms

• Enrollment limited.
• Must first add offer to Card and then use same Card to redeem.
• Limit 1 enrolled Card per Card Member across all American Express offer channels.
• Your enrollment of an eligible American Express Card for this offer extends only to that Card.
• Your enrollment does not extend to any other Cards that may be linked to the same Membership Rewards program account (such as Additional Cards).
• Offer valid only on flights booked directly with ITA Airways online at US website ita-airways.com or through the ITA Airways US mobile app.
• Flight must originate in US and be charged in USD to qualify.
• Not valid for purchases made through partner sites, agents, affiliates, and third parties.
• Excludes tickets purchased by phone or in-person at airport ticket offices, event organizer purchases, charters, car rentals, transport to/from the airport, Mozio eSIM service, and purchases made on-board flights.
• Additional points will be credited to your Membership Rewards program account within 90 days after 12/31/2023, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase.
• Limit 1 enrolled Card per American Express Card online account.
• Limit of 17,500 additional Membership Rewards points per Card Member.

See your targeted offer for full terms and conditions.

Quick thoughts

The good news is here is that the spending target required to trigger this offer isn’t particularly high and that multiple purchases can be made to meet the $1,000 target.

The bad news is that, as is usual with Amex offers such as this one, the rebate is only available on trips originating in the United States and fares paid in USD (that rules out any cheap premium cabin fares originating in Europe).

Also, cardholders only have until the end of the year to book one or more trips costing $1,000 (in total) to trigger this offer so there’s a little bit of time pressure on anyone hoping to lock in this deal.

Having said that, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t actually have to fly by 31 December 2023 to lock in the bonus points – you just have to have paid for your fare(s) by then – so this deal should cover travel into November 2023.

As far as the value on offer goes…

I value Membership Rewards points at 1.5 cents each (that’s based on the value that I know I can get out of them with not much effort) and that means that this offer is effectively offering me a rebate of $262.50 … which is impressive.

Note: In the US, ITA Airways serves Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Targeted cards

Happily, I have this offer targeted to card_name which offers me 5 points/dollar on up to $500,000 of spending made directly with airlines or on flights booked through Amex Travel (1 point/dollar thereafter – terms apply) and for me, that represents a further rebate of 7.5%.

The deal also appears to be available on all my other Membership Rewards cards (including card_name) so that would suggest that this offer isn’t being restricted to a small number of card members and that Amex business cards (as well as consumer cards) are being targeted.

For anyone who doesn’t have card_name, the next best card to see this targeted to would probably be the American Express® Green Card which offers 3 points/dollar on most travel purchases (terms apply).

Note: All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by Traveling For Miles. The American Express® Green Card is not currently available through Traveling For Miles.

Bottom Line

If you’re considering booking a transatlantic trip for travel next year and if you’re based in or around a metropolitan area served by ITA, it’s probably worth logging into your Amex account to check to see if you’ve been targeted for this offer.

The opportunity to earn 17,500 bonus Membership Rewards points on just $1,000 of spending is one of the best Amex offers that we’ve seen this year so if ITA’s routes and schedule work for you, this could be an easy way to boost your Membership Rewards balance.

Featured image: ITA A330-900neo Business Class courtesy of ITA