Amex Platinum Card: Updated for 2025

In this post, it’s time to update the Amex Platinum Card’s review. This is a card that is frequently mentioned on this blog because I frequently use it to pay for flights, but I haven’t published a post about it since 2022. Earlier this year, the Platinum Card got a small refresh that was timed to coincide with (and steal some thunder from) the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s update. This card coexists in the Amex eco system with the Green Card and Gold Card, but the Platinum Card now carries an extremely high $895 annual fee. The question now is, of course, is it worth $895? Let’s see.

Welcome Offer

The Platinum Card currently has a welcome offer of up to 175 000 bonus points after spending $8 000 in 6 months; 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.  To give you a point of reference, 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 found ($1 400 on average).

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. That is to say, there’s not a lot of reason to put much spend on this card outside of airfare, unless you have a targeted reason (e.g. an Amex offer).

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, which is now the same as other premium cards like The Ritz-Carlton Card or the Sapphire Reserve).  It also offers Gold Status with both Marriott and Hilton.

More than lounge access, however, the Amex Platinum is all about its credits to offset the annual fee.  First, it offers a $600 annual hotel credit when booking hotels through the Amex portal (2x $300, up from $200 annually).  Second, it offers $25/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. 

Newly, you also get UberOne for free, $100 off at Resy restaurants and $75 off at Lululemon each quarter, and you also can get $200 off an Oura ring once per year. So for the extra $200 annual fee, the card added $175 in quarterly credits, more hotel credits, and the Oura ring credit. On the one hand, leaning even more into the coupon book is annoying, but on the other hand, these are pretty solid new offerings, especially compared to the old ones.

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 or $600 hotel credits 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 huge value to the primary card holder. I would argue, at least for my spending patterns, that this update is a huge improvement. The improvement in hotel credits is good and might actually make them useable for me sometime.

The updated digital entertainment credit is great and basically a free $60/year in value, but that’s largely wiped out by the fact that streaming services only keep getting more expensive. The new Resy credit is great because it’s pretty easy to find Resy restaurants in major cities, and it’s super easy to use.

At this point, I don’t get a ton of value out of the Centurion Lounges because most of my travel recently has been to airports (or from terminals) that don’t have these lounges. From my perspective, I’m able to get good use of the Resy credits, the Lululemon credits, and the digital entertainment credits. Those credits combined are able to wipe out the annual fee sufficiently for my taste (and spend patterns). The additional perk of having Hilton Gold Status is worth it for the bonus points and dining credits the two or three times per year that I stay at Hilton Hotels.