Despite the eye-watering $895 annual fee, the American Express Platinum Card® is a great choice for most frequent flyers. Get the card for its welcome bonus, keep the card for its perks, and justify the cost with its many valuable credits. The card won’t be a fit for everyone, but I think that many will find that it deserves a spot in their travel wallet.
The mighty “free after rebate” travel card
The Platinum card offers valuable perks for frequent flyers, including lounge access, emergency medical transportation assistance, hotel and car-rental elite status, cruise benefits, and more. The card also comes loaded with valuable credits.
Usually, I recommend evaluating a card’s benefits one by one and estimating how much you would be willing to pay for an annual subscription to that benefit. If the total matches or exceeds the annual fee, then the card is a keeper (see: Which Premium Cards are Keepers?). You can do that with the Platinum card, of course, but for me, there’s an easier way to think about it. With this card, I ask myself: Does the card offer enough easy-to-use credits to make the card “free after rebate”?
Credits I find easy to use won’t necessarily align with the ones you find easy to use. But, my bet is that there are enough varied credits in the super-Platinum-coupon-book to fit most people’s needs.
If you can easily identify credits that make the card “free after rebate,” then you can think of the rest of the card’s coupons and perks as extras. You don’t have to use any of those extra perks to justify keeping the card, but they can be great to have when you need them. For example, since there are none in my home airport, I rarely visit Centurion Lounges, but it’s awesome to have the option when one is convenient.
The Platinum coupon collection
The following credits are available at least once per year. I recommend perusing the list to see which ones you can use with minimal effort.
| Benefit | Benefit Description |
|---|---|
| $200 airline fee credit | Registration required. Amex will automatically reimburse up to $200 per calendar year for airline fees for your selected airline only. Eligible fees include: baggage fees, flight-change fees, in-flight food and beverage purchases, and airport lounge day passes. For tips on using this benefit, please see: Amex airline fee reimbursements. What still works? |
| CLEAR® Plus credit | Get up to $209 per year reimbursed for CLEAR® Plus subscriptions. See also: 5 ways to get CLEAR® Plus for less. |
| $600 Hotel Credit | Up to $300 back in statement credits semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings through Amex Travel™. The Hotel Collection bookings require stays of 2 nights or longer. |
| $400 Resy Dining Credit |
Enrollment required. Earn up to $100 back each quarter after making eligible purchases directly with Resy or for dining purchases at any U.S. Resy restaurant. |
| $120 Uber One Membership Credit |
Earn up to $120 in statement credits each calendar year with an auto-renewing Uber One membership in the U.S. |
| $200 in Uber / Uber Eats Credits | Get $15 in Uber credits per month ($35 in December) simply by adding your Platinum card number to your Uber account as a payment method. This benefit also includes Uber VIP status. Important: when requesting a ride, select Uber Cash for payment to use your credits. |
| $300 Digital Entertainment Credit |
Enrollment required. Earn up to $25 back each month after paying for select digital subscriptions: Paramount+, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal. |
| Free Walmart+ Subscription | Get back the full cost, including taxes, for a Walmart+ monthly subscription. In addition to its standard benefits, Walmart+ also includes your choice of Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium streaming, at no extra cost. |
| $300 lululemon Credit |
Enrollment required. Earn up to $75 back each quarter in statement credits for eligible purchases at Lululemon stores or Lululemon.com in the U.S. Enrollment required. |
| $100 Saks Fifth Avenue Credits | Enrollment required. Earn up to $50 back each January through June, and July through December for purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue online or at locations in the US and US Territories. |
| $300 Equinox Credit | Enrollment required. Earn up to $300 back per year in statement credits for a digital or club membership at Equinox. |
| $300 SoulCycle Credit | Must join Equinox first. Charge the full price of a SoulCycle at-home bike and get $300 back in statement credits. |
| $200 Oura Credit | Enrollment required. Earn up to $200 back each calendar year in statement credits when purchasing an Oura Ring through Ouraring.com |
Coupons that offset the annual fee (for me)
I expect everyone to have their own list of credits that work well for them. For me, I know that I can use the following credits in full each year, with minimal effort:
- $200 airline incidental fee credit: I fly Delta often, and I find it super easy to earn this credit in full year after year (see this post for ideas).
- $400 Resy Dining Credit ($100 per quarter): I used this quarter’s $100 credit on January 1. We happened to eat at a restaurant listed on the Resy platform that night, so I made sure to pay with my Platinum card. In future quarters, I may have to choose to dine at a Resy restaurant instead of another option to use up my credit, but that doesn’t take much effort. If you happen to live somewhere without any good Resy restaurants nearby, though, it would be reasonable not to value this credit at all.
- $200 in Uber/Uber Eats Credits: I order from Uber Eats and ride Uber often enough to use up these credits every month. The fact that the card also offers an Uber One Membership rebate makes it even sweeter.
- $300 Digital Entertainment Credit (Up to $25 per month towards Paramount+, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal): I subscribe to a number of these services, but my YouTube TV subscription, alone, easily and automatically earns the $25 rebate every month.
With the coupons I identified above, I easily earn $1,100 in rebates per year! That more than offsets the card’s $895 annual fee.
Free after rebate (for me)
Now that I’ve identified the coupons (above) that offset the Platinum card’s annual fee, I can think of all of the other coupons and perks as being “free after rebate”:
Free after rebate travel perks
- $600 Hotel Credit (Up to $300 per 6 months)
- Emergency medical transportation assistance
- CLEAR® Plus Credit
- Global Entry or TSA Pre fee credit
- Earn 5x on flights
- Airport Lounge Access: Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (10 day-visits per year), Airspace Lounges, Escape Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, Select Lufthansa Lounges, Priority Pass
- International Airline Program
- Hotel Elite Status: Hilton & Marriott Gold, LHW Sterling
- Car Rental Benefits: National Car Rental Executive status, Hertz Rental Car Privileges, Avis Preferred status
- Cruise Benefits
Other free after rebate perks
- Cell Phone Protection
- $120 Uber One Membership Credit
- $300 lululemon Credit ($75 per quarter)
- $100 Saks Fifth Avenue Credits ($50 per 6 months)
- Free Walmart+
My most valued free after rebate perks
The “free after rebate” perks that I value the most from the lists above are:
- Airport Lounge Access: Delta Sky Club access is the most valuable to me, but I also love having access to other airport lounges when the opportunity arises.
- $600 Hotel Credit: The option to earn a $300 rebate twice per year on Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings is awesome when my plans align with qualifying, reasonably priced hotel bookings.
- Emergency medical transportation assistance: You don’t have to pay for travel with your Platinum card to be fully covered for emergency medical evacuation. This is a perk that I hope to never use, but I love knowing that it’s there.
Coveted but rarely swiped
I rarely ever use my Platinum card for purchases. The card only earns 1 point per dollar for most purchases. That’s an awful return, given that several cards on the market earn 2 transferable points per dollar on all spend. I pay with my Platinum card only to earn rebates, where applicable (such as at Resy restaurants). It would be reasonable to use the Platinum card to pay for airfare (where it earns 5x), but I rarely do that. As long as I have the Sapphire Reserve® card (see: Is the $795 Sapphire Reserve® coupon card a keeper?), I’d prefer to earn 4x on airfare with that card since it also offers best-in-class travel protections.
Conclusion
Four of the Platinum card’s credits are easy for me to use in full every year. Taken together, I earn more than $895 in credits each year, so I can easily think of the Platinum card as “free after rebate”. For me, it’s worth the small effort to chase these credits because of the card’s many other excellent perks.
Some readers will find that the Platinum card doesn’t have enough easy-to-use credits to justify its annual fee. That’s fine. If you value the card’s other features (airport lounge access, for example), it might still be a keeper, but that will require more thought. If you’re in that camp, I recommend using the spreadsheet in this post: “Which Premium Cards are Keepers?” No doubt, some will find that the card isn’t worth keeping. Cool. If that’s you, cancel the card when the next annual fee comes due. My bet, though, is that many frequent flyers will find enough there to make the card a long-term keeper.
What about you? Is the Platinum card a keeper for you? Please comment below.
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I appreciate the (ongoing) emphasis by Greg to {run the calculation for yourself and your own situation}. Doing so continues to show that this card does not make sense for me to keep. No streaming services, very little restaurant spend, and current ride-share credits already go unused ~3/4 of the time (if they were valid internationally, I would use more). And finding ways to use FHR feels a lot more like work than value-add for the types of places I go. I can easily use the flight incidentals credit, but that is just a small fraction of the AF.
I like the perks, and I am happy to continue to churn and double/triple-dip the benefits on NLL offers of the various Platinum types, but if those dry up then I do not expect to be hanging on to a Platinum with this combo of costs/benefits. Our spending & traveling habits could certainly change and it could start to make sense, but by then they will have probably revamped it to a new combo of costs/benefits anyway.
<sarcasm>
Oh wait, it is a metal card … with a mirror finish! Sign me up!
</sarcasm>
I agree. I called to cancel my card about a week ago, hoping for a retention offer, but got none. It was interesting that the agent (salesperson) “reviewing the benefits” with me, entirely ignored the multiplier on air tickets, the lounge access or the value of transferable MR points – the traditional features – but instead mentioned Lululemon, Saks and Resy, coupon stuff I hardly value at all. Still very much worth signing up for at a nice welcome bonus, but not a keeper.
Any idea why AMEX has NEVER incentivized Platinum cardholders to regularly put spend on the card? Is it because most cardholders are too oblivious to understand the card is bad for everyday spend? Wouldn’t it make sense for them to do something like give 3x at restaurants to get the card out of the sock drawer and get their affluent base to spend, spend, spend with Platinum?
I wonder if it is because some wealthy people have it for status and will spend on it anyhow because they don’t care or understand how earning points work.
That is essentially correct. Amex knows most people will use the card regardless of whether it is optimal to do so given that the Platinum has such strong brand equity/perception.
You would think they would at least target with special incentives those clients who, say, put lots of 5x airfare on the card but otherwise keep it in the sock drawer. I assume this is a material percentage of cardholders.
Because if one goes to AMEX offers there are plenty of earning extra points are available. Did Amazon 1200 points for $100 spend, 3 times last quarter. Bought gift cards.
Has anyone on the FM team compared real life scenarios between CSR & platinum travel protections? I had terrible experiences with the CSR which is why I transferred all of my airline spend to the platinum which has been leagues above what CSR offered when it came down to submitting and paying out claims. On paper, the CSR seems better but amex actually pulls through from my experience.
What was your bad experience with Chase? I’ve never had to make an Amex claim, but I’ve done three with the CSR (all rental car damage) and they were very easy and paid out fully.
I’d like to hear your comparison since you’ve done both.
I had a valid claim during Covid and CSR paid nothing! They stated pandemics are not covered! Another canceled flight, they paid nothing! Whereas everything I have submitted to Amex under their various protection plans was paid each and every time. I am downgrading my CSR to CSP at renewal. My Edit hotel would not honor the terms of the reservation. Chase is just a money hungry greedy bank.
Dang, see my response above.. I had a very similar situation
The last time they screwed me was for a flight back from europe during COVID, the country required testing the day before your flight and i surprisingly tested positive and stayed positive for 5 days. Called chase and they told me to cancel the flight (flight ticket was no longer refundable as it was the return leg of a round trip). I did everything they said and they stated that my return flight that I had to miss was going to be reimbursed to an extent as well as my additional hotel stay + meals. When I called The airline, they told me to cancel and that I would get a voucher for booking a new return flight (never happened).
Chase never reimbursed a single $, even after submitting the documents they requested over and over for 6+ months. I even had an official doctor’s note with a plethora of documentation/ correspondence from The airline that according to chase’s T&C’s, guaranteed at minimum partial reimbursement. I went above and beyond with documentation every time they requested the same items to be sent over and over.
The worst part about that particular claim is that it was open for 18 months before it just disappeared from the system. I sent over 50+ pages of documentation throughout the course of 6 months and I kept getting the same generic reply. Every-time i called in versus email, they just said that the higher up escalation team was reviewing it and that they would get back to me.. never did though. I was never allowed to speak to anyone higher up when requesting to. Some of the agents over the course of my attempts were even confused as to why I kept getting the same request for documentation as my submissions were plenty.
Nothing but great experiences with
Amex claims so far. I was 0/2 with chase throughout the course of 8-10 years.
@Ivan
Yup, I was treated the same way. Here’s another Chase situation. I retired and was looking for a place to rollover my 401Ks. My local Chase branch has a Private Client officer. I gave them all my statements, investments of multiple 7 figures that I had been doing for 48 years. Before the funds were transferred, I finally get their investment plan. They were going to put 2/3rds of my funds into an annuity and the other 1/3rd into a Chase mutual fund that was paying 2.38%. I literally ran out of their office. The commission to the bank, for the annuity, was over $150K. I was taught investing as a youngster by my father. I was buying stocks at age 12. Chase thought I was stupid. They even had an investment manager from NYC call me to ask why I did not make the transfer. I blasted that pompous corporate idiot a new ear. People need to be very careful of Chase. They did not become the biggest bank in the world by being honest.
A good question, so far the few times I used travel protection on CSR it went ok but it was easy ones. Same for purchase protection, CSR was great, amex have use it besides cell phone protection
I want to get this card but the signup bonus has been terrible for me – 0 or 50,000 :(. I think I have opened too many cards recently and Amex thinks I’m not worth it.
Yeah, they’ve also at least temporarily suspended upgrade offers to Platinum (for those who already got a SUB on it previously) so I’m not rushing to pay $895 without a bonus even though I might get more than that back! I do believe Amex is making an even more concerted effort to micro-target people for SUBs across their cards and keep maximizers away since they/we don’t make Amex any money.
Greatest in. I’d love to switch over to this. I have had an Amex Delta card forever and rarely have any points on it I do fly Delta. How would I go about canceling the Delta Amex and getting this card. It’s up for renewal next month?
James
My 2 cents. The Resy $400 and digital credits $300 are no brainers since we already use streaming and Resy is affiliated with most restaurants we use.
$200 Uber? Zero value since i’ve been forced to stop using them. Why? Last three rides the drivers proceded to cruise around, make stops,then after 20-25 mins disapear. Use Uber eats? Why would I spend on delivery that charges at least 10% more than the restaurant charges and pay these $8-$10 delivery fees?
Lululemon? I get a gift card every quarter when I am already going to the mall. I guess I give it $300. So, there. I dont need the UA travel bank purchse.
Sorry, wanted to mention lounge access or lack thereof. Access to the centurian product is, well not useful. When we do get into one (I’m talking to you PHL) they can be dirty.
So lounge access is $0.
Use Uber eats pickup. We do it every month at a local participating liquor store.
I use any remaining monthly Uber cash for Uber Eats pick-up at my local 7-11. Still paying convenience store prices but at least I get a couple pints of ice cream, a few Gatorades, or a 6-pack out of it. I literally drive past my local 7-11 minimum of 2X daily.
I find it funny everyone whines about the BILT Palladium complexity while keeping a monthly spreadsheet to track each Amex coupon lol. Cardless/BILT’s crappy CS aside (which is admittedly a big deal) the BILT card is legitimately more user friendly than this
With the exception of the awesome streaming credit, all of the BILT cash complaints about small cap monthly credits are just similar to all the monthly credits on this card.
I don’t deny this card can be great for a good number of people, but by no means is a 900 AF a no brainer for everyone. I’m a medium spender who travels 5-6 times a year and it’s just not worth it for me.
It seems like the real place the rubber meets the road if you aren’t living in a Resy city taking Uber all the time is with the Resy and Hotel credits, and I am not willing to pay cash for those even if technically the returns are better
Regarding Bilt, in a year, we will see how it plays out. As it stands, my wife and each expect to *net* $1000 to $1500 above the annual fee. Not that tough.
I never meant to imply it’s a bad card. Just that I think people are very selective about what counts as “complexity” in a card. IMO it’s pretty high maintenance for way too many people for the title of this article to be accurate.
Great card for many people out there
I do think the Bilt 2.0/Cardless issues (to put it kindly) are a big turn-off to a lot of people, as well as figuring out how to optimize the Bilt Cash (until they change the rules again LOL).
With Amex Platinum, I think many people that are inclined to have at least one premium travel card won’t squint too hard to imagine naturally spending on at least one of the streaming services (or more), as well as going to one or more restaurants that are on Resy every month or two. Then maybe at least one or two of the other coupons fits them perfectly. If so, then they are ahead and everything else is gravy.
I do think the coupons are now worse with Amex Gold and the Delta/Hilton/Marriott co-brand cards because so many of them are monthly drips (not every quarter, 1/2 year, or full year). That definitely feels like a lot more work to manage, and I’m gradually moving away from it as annual fees hit.
FHR $600, Airline credit $200, digital entertainment credit $300. That is an easy $1100. No Uber, no Resy! Bilt is NOT user friendly at all!
The following credits require little to no effort:
– $300 digital entertainment (set and forget)
– $200 Uber (just take a ride)
– $400 Resy (just go out to dinner)
and the annual fee is recovered. And, lounge access is free. And, it’s up up you whether to pursue any other coupons. As another reader commented to another article somewhere: it’s so easy that a GEICO caveman can do it.
Other than for airfare, FHR bookings, all the various coupon credits, and an occasional Amex Offer, you’re absolutely right… we can all do better than just 1x MR on everyday purchases.
Here’s Amex’s thinking. One needs to have all their cards-Green, Gold, Platinum. Green for travel, Gold for dining and groceries, Platinum for airfare and benefits. If Amex was wiser, they would make Platinum the catch-all card. Amex needs to survey their users more. Because I am sure we all feel the same about the Platinum for everyday use.
Never have I gotten the Amex Platinum and don’t plan to in the near future (especially since they’ve now raised the minimum spend to 12K).
I’m a Delta flyer, but the Ritz-Carlton card priority pass + Sapphire lounge access for $450 and just one $300 credit to worry about works great for me. No other coupons beyond that to worry about.
(I got the Delta Reserve Business card end of last year, and half the times I’ve tried to access Delta SkyClub’s or Centurion Lounges, there are waitlists, so totally not worth the couponing effort when I’m personally already happy just sitting and working at an empty gate)
Most frequent flyers? Um, no. If you regularly fly out of an airport with a centurion and it’s convenient to the terminal you usually fly out of,then ok. Otherwise, welcome to coupon hell. Clear is next to useless, the noose is tightening around the airline credits, and hotel credits are just a way to spend more on hotels you otherwise wouldn’t. Oh but those yoga pants!
Pimping cards, pimping cards…. why don’t you guys go back to analysis amd finding sweet spots instead of pimping cards so much these days. Between that and the numerous excessive pop up ads on the site amd now ads on the podcast, you guys have basically become the typical credot card shill blog!
If this is the case, then why are you even on this blog and reading this article? It’s like eating a poop sandwich and saying you don’t like the taste . . . yet you order another one.
Separately, you are so (stinkin’) self-absorbed that you can’t conceive any person in the world could possibly benefit from this card. Because you can’t, no one can. Me me me. Are you a Millennial or Gen Z? Get over yourself.
Maybe you simply don’t have the brain power to figure out how to extract value from the card. Like so many (people) who haven’t figured out the Bilt card.
My wife and I each have the card and we *net* over $1300 per year after clearing the annual fee. We’re each going to pick up a second one.
not agreeing or disagreeing on your take, but ublock origin would help with the ads
There shouldn’t be any pop-up ads on our site. Please email us with screenshots when you see them. There’s a constant battle to eliminate rogue ads that do so.
Further, as a regular reader, you should know very well that we do not pimp credit cards. We always write about what interests us without any consideration of whether we’ll earn affiliate revenue or not. I would have written this exact article even if we had no way to earn commissions for this card.
No brainer for me
For Wall Street Journal you should include Barron’s, which is what I subscribe to. I love love love Barron’s. And I get it as a perk.
Now about that $200 airline credit…