Amex Platinum Card (outdated, 2022 version)

Having discussed the Amex Green Card and Gold Card, the natural next card to discuss is the Amex Platinum card, which is one of the most expensive publicly available credit cards.  Amex works hard to market it as a luxury, premium lifestyle card.  Does it succeed; is it worth its $695 annual fee? Let’s see.

Welcome Offer

The Platinum Card currently has a welcome offer of 100 000 bonus points after spending $6 000 in 6 months.  Welcome offers as high as 125 000 bonus points have been offered with the same spend requirement; you may get targeted for this bonus depending how/when you apply.  Amex also sometimes offers targeted upgrade offers to existing Green Card and Gold Card holders.  In February, Amex targeted my Green Card with a 75 000 bonus point offer, which I jumped on.  100 000 Amex Membership Rewards points are worth a minimum of $600 when redeemed as a statement credit for general expenses, or they can be used for travel (directly for $1 000 of value), or they can be transferred to partners where more value can potentially be gotten.

Earnings

The Platinum Card is not designed to be about earning bonus points but rather about using the benefits it offers (see below) because almost all purchases on it earn only 1x point/$.  The card has only a single bonus category: airfare booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel.  However, the card offers 5x points/$ on up to $500 000/year spending on airfare.  I was initially reluctant to upgrade my Green Card to a Platinum Card due to the more restrictive bonus category.  However, in my case, airfare is a substantial spending category for me and the extra points I’d earn on airfare would more than offset the lost points on other travel categories.  I additionally lost the 3x points/$ on dining, but both my Chase Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited offer 3x points/$ on dining, as does The Ritz-Carlton Card, but these points aren’t as valuable.

Benefits

Historically, the biggest benefit of this card is the lounge access it confers: cardholders get access to Amex Centurion and Plaza Premium Lounges and around the world and a Priority Pass membership (that includes unlimited lounge access but no restaurants, unlike The Ritz-Carlton Card or the Sapphire Reserve.  It also offers Gold Status with both Marriott and Hilton hotels.

More than lounge access, however, the Amex Platinum is all about its credits to offset the annual fee.  First, it offers a $200 annual hotel credit when booking hotels through the Amex portal.  Second, it offers $20/month as a digital entertainment credit (good for Audible, Disney+/The Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, and the New York Times).  Third, it provides a free Walmart+ membership ($12.95/month).  Fourth, it offers $15/month in Uber Cash (+$20 in December). Fifth, you can get $200 per year to cover incidental travel fees on a single airline.  Sixth, you can get $25/month for Equinox (but only one of the most expensive memberships).  Seventh, you can get $50 at Saks Fifth Avenue twice per year. Eighth, you can get $189 back to offset the cost of a Clear membership.  In total, there are over $1 500 worth of statement credits available to offset the $695 annual fee.

How to use the points

There are two primary ways to use Membership Rewards Points.  The first way is to redeem them for flights at a rate of 1 pt = 1¢.  Redeeming the points this way has the big plus of the tickets counting as revenue tickets for the purpose of earning redeemable and tier qualifying points on the airline.

The second way is to transfer them to a partner to redeem them for reward travel.  Amex sometimes has transfer bonuses to partners, which is a great way to get even more value out of the points.  Based on how I’ve redeemed transferrable points in the past, I peg the value of Amex points at around 1.4¢/pt on average when used to book travel. 

Examples of using the card
These examples exclude any credits that come with the card.  For example, the Airfare budget excludes the $200 airfare credit offered by the Platinum card to help offset the annual fee.

Spend per month

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (5x)	$700	3 500	$200	1 000	$0	0	$400	2 000
Hotels (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$200	200	$0	0	$300	300
Gen Travel (1x)	$400	400	$0	0	$300	300	$100	100
Dining (1x)	$600	600	$300	300	$300	300	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	6 800	$1 500	2 300	$1 700	1 700	$1 700	3 300
Average points/$		1.70		1.53		1.0		1.94

The Platinum Card’s narrow airfare category but big bonus means that the average points earned ranges widely from 1 – 1.94 points/$, which is worth 1.4 – 2.72 ¢/$, with the valuation of 1.4¢/point for Amex Membership Rewards points.

Specific examples

Card	World Traveller ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	$37.10 / $17.60
General 1% cashback card	2 728 + $7.50 (5.9%)	2 200 MP + $2.30 (8.3%)	$44.60 / $19.90
Chase Sapphire Preferred	2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%)	$59.60 / $24.50
Amex Platinum Card	2 728 Avios + 3 750 MR (11.9%)	2 200 MP + 230 MR (8.7%)	$89.60 / $20.82

Is this credit card right for you?

The Platinum Card potentially offers substantial value to a card holder.  However, that value is extremely strongly tied to 1) being able to use the many credits effectively and 2) traveling by plane often.  The card’s clearest benefits of bonus points on airfare and lounge access can only be effectively used if you travel frequently.  The lifestyle perks offered in the form of the various credits are great to offset the annual fee, but I’m not sure how easy it’d be to justify the card based solely on the credits offered.  In my case, I’ve tried to use as many credits as I can, but most of them I haven’t been able to use completely naturally, except for the Uber credit and the Saks credit. For example, I wouldn’t have the Disney+ bundle or Walmart+ or Clear without the card. I haven’t been able to use the airline incidentals credit or Equinox credit at all.