Amex Platinum review (Including an incredible new bonus)

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Right now, you can earn 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points when you open The Platinum Card® from American Express and meet the minimum spending requirements. Plus, you’ll get 10x points on eligible purchases on your new card at U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets, on up to $15,000 in combined purchases, during your first six months of card membership. That’s a whopping 9 additional points on top of the 1 point you earn for these purchases.

It’s an incredibly valuable offer — one worth at least $1,500 according to our points valuations. With it, you’d have enough points for a business class flight to Europe, two or more round-trip flights to the Caribbean or a free stay at luxury Hilton hotels, all of which can be worth thousands of dollars.

Though the card comes with a hefty $550 annual fee (see rates & fees), it’s one of the best travel credit cards on the market. It also includes benefits that can more than outweigh the cost, even for a casual traveler. Opening the Amex Platinum may be worth it for many of you. Here’s our review:

Current bonus

With The Platinum Card® from American Express, you can earn 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. Plus, you’ll earn 10x points on eligible purchases on your new card at U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets, on up to $15,000 in combined purchases, during your first six months of card membership.

Benefits and perks

The Amex Platinum card’s benefits are second to none. With the Amex Platinum, you’ll earn:

• 5 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar on airfare booked either directly with the airline or through Amex Travel. Starting Jan. 1, 2021, earn 5x points on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.
• 5 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• 1 Amex Membership Rewards point per dollar on everything else
• Terms apply

Let’s take a look at what other benefits you’ll get with the card.

Tons of credits

Let’s talk about the credits you get with the Amex Platinum card (terms apply):

• Up to $200 annual Amex Platinum airline credit for incidental expenses on your selected airline
• Up to $200 in U.S. Uber credits per calendar year
• Up to $100 in credit for Saks Fifth Avenue
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100)

The up to $200 airline fee credit, Uber credits and Saks Fifth Avenue credits are available every calendar year. Enrollment required. You can also use the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four to four and a half years.

Temporary benefits upgrade: Amex knows that most of their Amex Platinum customers are travelers. That’s why the card’s features are so focused on airport and hotel perks, travel protections, etc. COVID-19 has sharply decreased your travel, but Amex wants you to hang onto your card. To that end, they’ve added new (temporary) features to the Amex Platinum:

• Up to $320 in statement credits on select streaming and wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers (up to $20 per month on each, from May through December 2020)
• Up to a $200 statement credit on qualifying purchases made through Amex Travel

To achieve the $200 travel credit, you must book travel between August 2020 and December 2021. Also, this is only available for those who renew their card between April 1 and December 31, 2020.

Airport lounge access all over the world

With the card’s extensive lounge access, you’ll have a lounge waiting for you just about everywhere. You’ll get airport lounge access with:

• American Express Centurion Lounges
• Delta Sky Club Lounges
• Priority Pass Select Lounges (enrollment required).
• Escape Lounges
• Airspace Lounges
• Plaza Premium Lounges
• International American Express Lounges

You can even visit an unlimited number of times. Just be sure to carefully check the guest policy if you travel with a partner or family. Read our post on how to find airport lounges you can access with the Amex Platinum.

If you’re near a Centurion Lounge, you can enjoy a full meal, drink and sometimes even a spa treatment – for free. Depending on how often you visit and if you have any guests, you can get real value from:

• Wi-Fi
• Food and drinks
• Showers
• More comfortable seating

Perks like these can make all the difference when you’ve come off a long flight and want to shower and grab a bite.

Elite status with two hotel chains

You can get free Gold elite status with Hilton and Marriott with the Amex Platinum Card. Depending on where you stay, anyone with elite status can get:

• Free breakfast (Hilton hotels only)
• Upgrades to bigger rooms where available
• Late check-out
• Better rooms (views, higher floors, etc.)
• More points for paid stays

Elite status can go a long way towards little comforts along your journeys.

Amex Offers

The Amex Platinum Card is eligible for Amex Offers, which are deals from Amex for all sorts of common purchases and services like online orders, eating out and travel. In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated perks of being an Amex cardholder!

MMS writer Jasmin has saved on snacks for her kids and her phone bill, for example. And team member Meghan has saved thousands over the years on everything from furniture to hotel stays to cases of wine!

They’re an extremely handy way to help offset the cost of the annual fee.

Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts

Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts offers competitive rates for paid luxury hotel stays. When you book this program, you’ll receive automatic perks like free breakfast for two and a spa or resort credit to use during your stay. You’ll even get a guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out. Plus, they have limited-time offers at certain hotels for complimentary nights with a paid stay.

For example, MMS editor Meghan used Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts to book a room at the Loews Regency San Francisco and received:

• Noon check-in
• A room upgrade
• $100 food and beverage credit
• Daily breakfast for 2 people
• Guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out

Travel insurance and purchase protection

If everything above wasn’t enough, consider all the travel protections your Amex Platinum comes with, like (terms apply):

• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• Extended warranty
• Return protection
• Baggage insurance plan
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance

All of these built-in perks are there for you if you need them. It’s great to have this extra insurance, but hopefully you’ll never have to use them. If you buy big-ticket items, or gifts that need return protection, you’ll have that should you need it. It would be great if every trip was free from mishaps like cancellations, missed luggage or an issue with the rental car.

There’s no way to put a defined value on any of these services. So consider them “extras” and look into them if there’s one you think you might really benefit from.

No foreign transaction fees

The card is excellent for swiping abroad because it has no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees). Many cards charge an extra 3% when you use them overseas. Always be sure you bring a rewards credit card like the Amex Platinum before you cross the border (I saved $71 on a recent trip from Asia from all the swiping I was doing over there).

Is the annual fee worth it?

Everyone will find a different value from the Amex Platinum because it offers so many different perks and benefits to the cardholder. That said, with the current increased 75,000-point offer (and the 10x on gas at U.S. gas stations and groceries at U.S. supermarkets), there’s almost no doubt that the annual fee will be worth it — at least for the first year. 

The more you can take advantage of the card’s great ongoing benefits, the more you can offset the annual fee and come out way ahead. And if you can use your points for the best Amex points redemptions the rewards you earn from spending with the card are much more valuable.

For example, you’ll receive $500 in credits annually (up to $200 for airline incidentals + up to $200 for Uber + up to $100 for Saks Fifth Avenue). If you use those, you’re effectively lowering the annual fee to $50 per year. You’ll get way more than $50 in value from the other perks of the card, like free food and alcohol at airport lounges, room upgrades and food credits through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, discounts with Amex Offers and complimentary hotel elite status. And that’s not even taking into account the $1,500 in value you can get from the intro bonus alone. 

Who is this card for?

The Amex Platinum is one of the most premium American Express cards, so I wouldn’t recommend applying unless your credit score is at least in the mid-700s. But I’ll say it again, with the increased offer, this card is almost a no-brainer regardless of your travel style.

This card is also great for anyone who values airport lounge access or likes staying with Marriott and Hilton.

Which cards compete with the Amex Platinum?

The only card that seriously competes with the Amex Platinum is the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. It’s got many of the same elements (think airport lounge access, travel credits, similar earning rates, etc.). It, too, comes with a $550 annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months from account opening. Chase points transfer to travel partners, similar to Amex Membership Rewards. We estimate Chase points value to be around two cents each, though they can be worth tons more if you know the best ways to use Chase points. You shouldn’t have trouble getting at least $1,020 in value from this intro offer.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with annual credits of its own – a $300 travel credit, which automatically triggers to refund you for the first $300 in travel you spend each calendar year and $60 in DoorDash credits each year (through 2021). The total value of these credits doesn’t amount to that of the Amex Platinum, but they’re much more useful in my opinion.

Read our full Chase Sapphire Reserve review for more information and our post dedicated to helping you decide if it’s worth paying the Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee.

Bottom line

You can earn 75,000 Amex Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening a new Amex Platinum card. That’s enough to travel nearly anywhere in the world with Amex transfer partners like Delta, Flying Blue, or Singapore Airlines. Plus, you’ll earn 10x points on eligible purchases on your new card at U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets, on up to $15,000 in combined purchases, during your first six months of card membership — a heck of a bonus given that gas and groceries are two incredibly popular categories.

 And, you’ll also get benefits like up to $200 in credit annually for airline incidental fees, airport lounge access, hotel elite status with Hilton and Marriott, and more! Perks like Amex Offers alone can save you hundreds of dollars a year.

As always, we recommend taking stock of your personal financial habits and travel goals to weigh the value you’ll get for paying the card’s annual fee. With such a valuable welcome bonus, it’s hard to imagine that the Amex Platinum wouldn’t make sense for a lot of you.

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, please click here.