A few weeks back, I wrote about rumors that Amex could make changes to the Amex Platinum Card soon. While we don’t have details yet, it really got me thinking about how people still perceive the card now. In my opinion, the card has been a slow train wreck since I initially got the card in 2014, with an annual fee of $450. That annual fee is now $695 and the card is stacked with a bunch of confusing credits.
Is the Amex Platinum Card still worth it?
When you go to the benefits page on Amex’s website, you’ll see a long list of benefits. However, not all of them are as good as Amex makes it out to be. When Amex initially started increasing the annual fee on the card, I jumped ship and canceled the card in 2018. After Covid-19, I started resuming my travel in early 2022 and got the Charles Schwab version of the Amex Platinum card and have carried it ever since.
Analysis
Here’s how I see my benefits. Now, this may vary based on your travel benefits and which ones you find useful.
At the moment, I love these benefits with the Platinum card for the following reasons:
- $200 hotel credit: I book 3-4 stays each year using fine hotel and resorts. I’m easily able to earn hotel points and elite night credits with hotel chains since these bookings are counted as cash stays.
- $200 airline fee credit: I find this benefit easy to use each year. I’ve written a detailed post about how I use the benefit each year.
- Hilton Honors Gold status: I love this benefit as Hilton Honors Gold status gives me extra bonus points and complimentary breakfast at non US locations.
- Centurion lounge access: This benefit is fantastic as it gives me lounge access at multiple locations in the US and worldwide.
- Trip delay, cancellation and interruption insurance: I’ve had to use this benefit back in 2022 for a canceled trip. The process for getting my airfare refunded was pretty seamless.
I’m not a great fan of trying to quantify subjective experiences, but for the purpose of our readers, here’s a chart of how much ‘value’ I assign to my benefits.
The Amex Platinum Card: Weighing the benefits
| Card Benefit | Frequency of Use | Ease of Use Rating out of 10 | Benefit Rating out of 10 | Perceived Monetary Value (2024-25) | Notes |
| $200 Airline Fee Credit | Max it out at the start of the year | 10/10 | 7/10 | $150 | United Travel Bank Reload |
| $200 Fine Hotels & Resorts Credit | 3-4 stays per year | 10/10 | 10/10 | $200 | Multiple stays each year at FHR properties |
| $100 Saks Credit | Low | 8/10 | 5/10 | $50 | Find it overpriced, difficult to use frequently for my style of shopping |
| Hilton Honors Gold Status | Medium, 2-4 times per year | 10/10 | 7/10 | $350 | Complimentary breakfast during non-US stays is very valuable |
| Centurion Lounge Access & Priority Pass | Multiple times each year | 10/10 | 10/10 | $150 | Very valuable for my style of travel, for solo work trips |
| Amex Referral Credit | $100 is awarded per referral | – | – | $500 | You can use the referral link to refer to any Amex card |
| Total | —————————————-> | $1,400 | |||
Ancillary Benefits
There are certain benefits on the card that I rarely use, which includes the Uber Credit, the Digital Entertainment credit and Walmart credit. However, there are certain things that I really like about this card in addition to some of the points mentioned above:
- 5x points on flights: I often book flights for family members or friends. Also, every now and then I have some corporate travel that is reimbursable, which makes it easy earn a lot of points on flights.
- I’ve used Purchase Protection in the past and the process was seamless. I got my claim processed in 48 hours. While this is not the only card that has it, it’s still well managed and the claims process is smooth.
- Speaking about claims, I had to use the trip cancellation and protection insurance benefit in 2022 when P2 fell sick before a trip. The process here was pretty easy and I was mailed a reimbursement check within a week of submitting all the documents.
The Pundit’s Mantra
While the metallic card and the sleek designs may be great for a marketing campaign, I don’t really find any of those things upscale or premium. In fact, when I tried using Amex’s conceirge service last year for a restaurant booking, it failed the test.
Overall, I still find the Amex Platinum Card worth the annual fee for my travel pattern. I love the Amex FHR benefit (especially for bookings in Asia where room rates are much lower) and I truly enjoy the lounge access and the complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status that comes along with the card. Since most of my travel is outside the US, Hilton Honors Gold status guarantees free breakfast for everyone in my party.
Moreover, since I have the Charles Schwab version, I always have the version to ‘pay’ for a trip using my points at a rate of 1.1 cents per point, when there’s no better alternative available.
Have you been a long time Amex Platinum card holder? How do you still perceive the value of the card compared to the hefty fee that it charges? Tell us in the comments section.
With two of us (my wife has a subsidiary card)we rotate, clear, global entry and tsa precheck. Also we use 70% of our uber credits. So yes, you have to be organized, but it more than pays for itself, adding in the other benefits discussed above, especially if you are in a Delta hub city.
That’s nice! Yeah the benefits work out differently for different people, based on your location and travel patterns
I got my Amex Platinum last March and have already earned 175K welcome points, plus points that I earned from my spending.
Long story short, Amex recently offered a points transfer for Hilton with 2.5 Hilton points per Amex point.
I transferred all my points and was able to book the hotel rooms with a value of almost $3500 for my 10-day summer trip with my family.
Technically, all my hotel stays will be free on the upcoming trip.
Plus, in the last three months, I have been taking advantage of the Uber credit, Walmart+, streaming service credit, rental car premium protection, and other services.
To me, it’s worth it so far.
Just wanted to share my opinion.
That’s fantastic! Yes, the transfer bonuses are indeed amazing.
Stayed at an Accor property (Fairmont) last week and that was booked via Amex. The hotel policy was not to honor Accor member status, so points/benefits from
ALL loyalty program would not apply (more value than $100 stay credit from Amex and I would still get Amex points).
This is not what is stated above. Worth checking with hotel before booking if hotel loyalty is important
That’s definitely an exception. I’ve largely had no issues having my elite status honored at most of the Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt properties that I’ve stayed at, even at international locations like the UAE, India, Thailand.
Stayed at an Accor property (Fairmont) last week and that was booked via Amex. The hotel policy was not to honor Accor member status, so points/benefits from
ALL loyalty program would not apply. Not what is stated above.
I use it to pay our suppliers and negotiated that they do not charge the merch fees for early payment. The points account for alot now. So the value is huge as a result of only that. I found the lounges pretty average in comparison to the airline lounges. I have just signed up for Hilton and Accor. Hopefully I will get some other value. Already Accor Vacation member however I believe they are different Accor hotels. I have stayed at some of the Hilton Honor hotels and found them quite nice.
Looking to optimise the card. So you can order $200 of uber eats a year at no cost. Is that correct?
Yes. but the credits are split monthly, so you have to keep that in mind.
I would like to see if I can be approved
You can log in and check out Amex’s pre-qualified offers to see if you are targeted
The $695 is absolutely not worth it to me. I was spending much more money trying to take advantage of these “benefits”. The real benefits are for Amex and the companies with which it partners. This is corporate psychological manipulation at its finest. I cancelled my card last month after many years of being a part of that game.
Yeah, would’ve been a much better value prop if the credits were for a category as opposed to forcing customers to do business with a particular brand. But it is what it is.
The platinum card has been amazing as a traveler and my lifestyle. The $695 annual fee is covered by credits I use: Clear Credit($199), streaming of Hulu($240), Uber/Uber Eats Credits($200), Airline Credit($200), Hotel Credit($200) and I use Walmart+($180+). That’s already $1200. On top of that the Car Rental, Trip Delay and Purchase Insurance that are all free with the card. Me being a Loyal Delta Flyer, I get 10 SkyClub Lounge stays. There is a lot more that I use. Long story short, the annual fee is worth it if you cater to a traveling lifestyle.
That’s amazing, glad you find good use of it each year!
Sucks, service from them is horrible as well. For 695 you would think they could answer the phone, nope.
Forget getting a lounge, 45 min wait every time. Pay an extra 110 for the rest of the family and wait. I dont thi k so.
No value whatsoever.
Plus a 200 dollar limit on a card really isn’t a 200 limit. Screwed me out of 1600 dollars.
Yes, lounge overcrowding and wait times has been a huge issue off late.