UPDATE: The card has since added complimentary lounge access to Marhaba Lounge in NAIA Terminals 1 and 3 from July 1 to December 31, 2023
If you were in the BDO travel sale earlier this year you may have noticed a BDO booth offering you to sign up for their new credit card the BDO American Express Explorer card.
The spend-to-mile ratio was OKAY at best at ₱40 earning you 1 Membership Reward which was equivalent to 1 mile. What made it alluring was the 6 airline transfer partners and 2 hotel transfer partners namely
Airlines
Philippine Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Cathay Pacific
Delta
Thai Airways
Malaysia Airlines
Hotels
Marriott
Hilton
Most local credit cards will only transfer to 2-3 airlines and not including hotels. Only Citibank had as many transfer partners but has since been severely devalued and removed transfer partners.
Other perks include an anniversary bonus of 2,000 Membership Reward points if you spend at least ₱600,000 in a year with the card, travel accident protection of up to ₱10M, and discounts at some online stores, car rentals, and booking.com.
Related: BPI Visa Signature credit card
The annual fee is ₱4,000 for the principal card and ₱2,000 for the supplementary with the fee waived after spending ₱450,000 in a year.
There was a sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards for a minimum spend but it was only for selected cardholders who got a text or email. I didn't get one most likely because I don't have an account with BDO.
A basic travel credit card
To be honest the card is a bit of a letdown. First of all, Red by Dufry membership which grants you airport lounge access is only complimentary for 6 months with the card so that's a lot of minus points for a travel credit card, as well as no multiplier on category spend. So your earn rate is fixed at ₱40 a mile which isn't great but isn't bad either.
Secondly, American Express isn't widely accepted in the Philippines. I've had the card for a couple of months now and I've been to a few merchants that don't accept AmEx. Almost every merchant that uses Maya does not accept AmEx. So you can't just use it anywhere. The only sure places I can use the card are SM stores (or any store that carries a BDO terminal) and most airlines and hotels.
I'll most likely try the card out for the year and see if I can maximize it to redeem Cathay Pacific flights, if not I'll cut the card next year if no perks are added.
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