Review of the Platinum Card® from American Express

The Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the top travel cards for individuals looking for a host of travel benefits, such as premier lounges access, Global Entry, hotel and rental car status, and solid purchase protections. The Platinum Card® comes with a pretty hefty annual fee, so many potential applicants wonder if it’s worth it to apply. Here’s a review of the Platinum Card® from American Express that will shed some light on whether or not this card is for you.

Charge card vs Credit Card

I’ll start off with the basics.

The Platinum Card® from American Express is a “charge card,” which means that it must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. The benefit to a charge card is that you’re not restricted to a credit limit and so you have a little more flexibility — you just need to be able to keep yourself in check to make sure you’ll pay off your balance in full each month.

PLATINUM CARD

American Express will often offer you the opportunity to “pay over time,” however. This essentially turns your charge card into a hybrid credit/charge card and allows you to carry a balance. Typically, American Express will monitor your spending habits for approximately one year and then offer you this option (though sometimes it comes sooner).

In addition to being able to carry a balance, there are two benefits to the pay over time option. One, American Express does not conduct a hard pull on your credit when they check your eligibility. They run a soft-check in conjunction with their own internal credit check system. Second, American Express will usually offer you some kind of incentive and reward you with Membership Rewards for opting into pay over time.

American Express Transfer Partners

American Express cards like the Platinum Card® earn you Membership Rewards. They are generally considered one of more valuable reward currencies and these points can be transferred to several different airline and hotel partners. Below is a list of the eligible travel partners.

Airlines

Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners

These partners do not have all have the same transfer ratios as you can see below:

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways (250 points = 200 Avios)
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America (200 points = 100 Elevate points)
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

Membership Rewards Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors (1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors points)
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) (1,000 points = 333 Starpoints)

There are a few things to keep in mind about Membership Rewards:

  • Bonus transfers are occasionally offered allowing you to transfer your points to partners for higher ratios. Check this thread for a history of these transfer bonuses.
  • Your Membership Rewards cannot be freely transferred between you and any friend or family members
  • They don’t expire as long as you remain a cardholder

Redeeming Points

If you don’t decide to transfer your Membership Rewards to other travel partners you can always utilize them for travel redemptions or purchases.

Membership Rewards can be redeemed in the following ways:

  • Between .5 and 1.0 cent per point for gift cards
  • 0.6 cent per point for a statement credit/charge
  • 1.0 cent per point on air fare
  • 0.7 cent per point on hotels, cruises, and vacation packages.

Aside from maybe using them for air fare to earn or maintain elite status, I personally do not think these are good redemption rates. I just wrote a post on booking airfare on Aeroplan (a transfer partner of Membership Rewards) and showed how you can redeem points on a round trip from the U.S. to Paris in business class with stopovers in Geneva and Brussels, with a redemption rate of over 10 cents per point. That means you could get over 5X the value when transferring your Membership Rewards to Aeroplan for that particular redemption. Compare that value to the above redemptions worth at most 1 cent per point and you can see why it’s usually discouraged to redeem in that way.

Caribb
Aeroplan can be an extremely valuable transfer partner of Membership Rewards

Photo by Caribb via Flickr. 

However, depending on the circumstances (no availability with travel partners, short on cash, etc.), it might make sense for you to redeem your points through the Amex travel portal, so don’t rule out the possibility entirely. Just make sure you consider all of your options before redeeming at what will usually be a sub-optimal rate.

Sign-up Bonus

There are several different sign-up offers for the Platinum Card® that appear for this card.

Here are the main offers:

  • 40,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. This is the current main public offer.
  • 75,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $5,000 to $7,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. This is a targeted offer with a pretty high spending requirement, so it’s not recommended for everyone. 
  • 100,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. The best Platinum offer but it is a highly targeted offer usually only received by people who do not currently hold any Amex cards. 

Amex Platinum Card

One bonus per lifetime

You need to know that American Express has a once per lifetime rule for receiving sign-up offers for its cards. There are some exceptions to this and you can read more about them in the American Express application rules article.

Bonus Category Earning

The Platinum Card® does not have any bonus categories for spending. This is probably the biggest weakness of the Platinum Card® compared to cards like the Citi Prestige.

There are a couple of ways to earn bonus rates on certain categories, however. For example, you can earn 2X on purchases made through Amextravel.com. In addition, with Amex Offers, you can often earn 2X at certain retailers, such as Target, Amazon, etc.

Amex Offers
Not exactly bonus categories, but still something!

Benefits

You can read more in-depth about the American Express Platinum Card benefits here, but here’s a run down on some of the top benefits.

Priority Pass

Here’s a detailed breakdown of my favorite benefits of the Platinum, but in a nutshell this card confers a host of benefits to you making it worth it including:

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access (worth $400 per year)
  • Centurion Lounge Access (including free access for two additional guests); Delta Lounge Access (when you fly with Delta)
  • $200 annual airline credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $250)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check (a Godsend that’s good for 5 years!)
  • Add up to 3 authorized users for only $175 per year (for all 3)
  • Gold status with Hilton and Starwood
  • Free Boingo Wifi subscription (worth $120 per year)
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts with status.
https://flic.kr/p/qfAvYn
Comfy seating at an Amex Centurion Lounge

Photo by Mighty Travels via Flickr 

The Priority Pass lounge access along with Centurion lounge access are some of the most valuable benefits of the Platinum Card®. If you’re interested in relaxing in comfy lounge areas and enjoying complimentary meals and adult beverages, you should definitely look into these benefits.

The other benefits add up in value pretty quickly, too. The $200 annual airline credit, $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check, along with elite hotel status, free Boingo, and rental car status, all combine for a substantial amount of value that more than pays for the annual fee when all things are considered.

And don’t forget about the authorized user policy. For only $175 you can confer the full benefits (minus the $200 airline credit) of the Platinum Card® to up to three additional cardholders, that’s easily $1,500 worth of additional benefits for only $175!

Other Benefits

Some other highlights of the Platinum Card® include:

Amex Offers

Amex Offers are promotional offers that are available to all Amex cardholders. Some of these offers will essentially provide you with free money, often giving you back $5-$15 off purchases at different online retailers. If used consistently and effectively, you can easily save yourself $100-200 a year on items you would’ve likely purchased anyway.

Foreign Transaction Fees

  • No foreign transaction fees
https://flic.kr/p/d8vJdq
No foreign transaction fees for the Platinum

Photo by Jesús Pérez Pacheco via Flickr

Annual Fee

  • $450, not waived the first year

The annual fee is basically reduced to $250 with the annual $200 airline credit, so it’s really not quite as high as it might seem. And as seen above, the benefits this card can confer on you are far, far more valuable than $250, so always consider the return in value you are getting when looking at paying a high annual fee for a premium card like the Platinum Card®.

Travel protection

For damaged, stolen, or lost baggage, Amex may cover:

  • Replacement cost of carry-on baggage up to a maximum of $3,000
  • Replacement cost of checked baggage up to a maximum of $2,000 for each covered person on a Covered Trip

Car rental coverage is “excess,” which  means that Amex may reimburse the Cardmember only for losses/expenses not covered by plans, such as personal auto insurance or other sources of insurance. A Cardmember must first seek payment or reimbursement and receive a determination that other plans do not provide coverage before excess coverage will reimburse the cardmember.

This excess coverage may cover:

  • The cardholder for 1) the actual cost to repair the Rental Auto, 2) the wholesale Book value minus salvage and depreciation costs, or 3) the purchase invoice price of the Rental Auto minus salvage and depreciation costs.
  • Certain necessary covered medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident by the Cardmember or a Passenger are payable up to a maximum of $5000 per person.

Purchase protection

The Platinum Card® has some of the best purchase protection since it protects up to $10,000 per claim — that’s much higher than many other credit cards.

Here are some of the highlights of the protections:

  • Covers your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
  • Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of five years or less.
  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $300 per item, $1,000 per year.

Final Word

The Platinum Card® from American Express can bring you exceptional value while providing you with a range of travel benefits. The lounge access to hundreds of lounges around the world, $200 annual statement credit, Global Entry, elite hotel status, and authorized user policy all are premier benefits that help set the Platinum Card® apart from many other cards.

 

 

The American Express Platinum vs The Citi Prestige

[Offers contained within this article may no longer be available]

The Citi Prestige and the American Express Platinum cards offer some of the best travel benefits in the credit card game. However, with those valuable benefits come high annual fees. With such high fees, a lot of people struggle to decide which card to apply for. So here’s a comparison of the two cards with a final verdict at the end.

July 25, 2016 UPDATE: Big changes have just been announced to the Citi Prestige and this article has been modified to reflect those changes. 

Charge card vs Credit Card

First, don’t forget that the Citi Prestige is a credit card the American Express Platinum is a “charge card.” A charge card must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. The benefit to a charge card like the Platinum is that you’re not restricted to a credit limit and so you have a little more flexibility — you just need to be able to keep yourself in check to make sure you’ll pay off your balance in full each month. 

Transfer Partners

The American Express Platinum earns Membership Rewards, which transfer out to several partners. Here are the transfer partners of Membership Rewards.

Airlines

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue Air France/KLM
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Hawaiian Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest)

Citi Thankyou Points

The Citi Prestige earns Thankyou Points and Citi has fairly recently added a lot of new travel partners. These partners are:

citi-logo

Airlines

  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
  • EVA Air
  • Eithad Guest
  • Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
  • Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Virgin America Elevate (Get 500 Elevate points for 1,000 pts)
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

  • Hilton HHonors (Get 1,500 HHonors Bonus Points for 1,000 pts)

Typically, the transfer partners are one of my first considerations when considering a travel rewards card but with two cards like these, which are heavy in the benefits department, more weight should probably go to which benefits will fit better into your travel lifestyle.

Still, although I’d give more consideration to the benefits, I would have to say that Membership Rewards edges out Thankyou Points here since at the very least they boast the better hotel selection and offer better airline transfer options. And for someone like me who lives near a United hub, it’s great having both ANA and Aeroplan (along with Singapore Krisflyer) to transfer to and book Star Alliance flights with. 

Redeeming Points for Travel

Membership Rewards can be redeemed in the following ways:

  • Between .5 and 1.0 cent per point for gift cards
  • 0.6 cent per point for a statement credit/charge
  • 1.0 cent per point on air fare
  • 0.7 cent per point on hotels, cruises, and vacation packages.

Thankyou Points can be redeemed for cash back and gift cards at one cent per point but you can get more for air travel. With the Prestige, Thankyou Points can be redeemed at a rate of 1.33 cents per point for airlines and 1.6 on American Airlines. With the new changes, Thankyou points will be able to be redeemed for 1.25 cents on all airlines. 

Sign-up Bonus

AMEX Platinum

  • 40K to 100K (currently 40K) when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
Amex Platinum Card

The 40K offer is the standard offer available to the public, and the 100K offer comes around in three forms but there’s no guarantee that you will ever get it. The three forms it comes in are:

  • 1) Targeted mailings (if you’re already an Amex cardholder your chances of getting this offer in the mail are slim to none).
  • 2) Pre-approval links: Some sites (including the Amex site) that allow you to view your pre-approved credit card offers will show this offer.
  •  3) Incognito/Private browser windows sometimes show this offer (rare)

Tip: When applying for bonuses with Amex cards always remember that bonuses for personal cards are only given once a lifetime (although not 100% enforced).

Citi Prestige

  • 40K to 100K (currently 40K) when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.

Most value Membership Rewards more than Thankyou Points so with an even bonus of 40,000, the Platinum likely is offering you more value when you consider the value of cents per point.

There’s really no telling when the higher 100K offers will (if ever) return. Amex sometimes sends out targeted 100K offers and a couple of times those offers have leaked to the public. However, your odds of receiving (or taking advantage of a leaked offer) are probably not very high. Also, Citi’s recent trend towards eliminating or reducing sign-up offers makes it feel like the Prestige 100K offer isn’t coming back any time soon. 

So, unless you get a little lucky, you’ll probably be stuck with 40K offers for the time being in which case, I’d give the Platinum the edge. 

Bonus Categories

AMEX Platinum

  • 1X on all purchases
  • 5X on airfare purchased directly with the airline

Citi Prestige

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 2X on dining and entertainment
  • 1X on all other purchases
Citi Prestige Bonus Categories
Citi Prestige Bonus Categories

One of the biggest knocks against the Platinum is that it doesn’t have any bonus categories for spending. While the Amex PRG and the Everyday Preferred cards can assist with earning MR points, the Citi Prestige has earning capability built in and won’t require you to pay an annual fee for an additional Citi card just to be able to earn more points.

Benefits

AMEX Platinum

Priority Pass

Here’s a breakdown of my favorite benefits of the Platinum, but in a nutshell this card confers a host of benefits to you making it worth it including:

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access (worth $400 per year)
  • Centurion Lounge Access/Delta Lounge Access (when you fly with them)
  • $200 annual airline credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $250)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check (a Godsend that’s good for 5 years!)
  • Add up to 3 authorized users for only $175 per year (for all 3)
  • Gold status with Hilton and Starwood
  • Free Boingo Wifi subscription (worth $120 per year)
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts with status.
  • Concierge service
Amex Centurion Lounge at IAH.

Also, while not exclusive to the Platinum, Amex Offers (which are special discounts and rebates given to Amex cardholders) can add up quickly if used efficiently and can certainly act as a considerable benefit to having the Platinum.

Citi Prestige

  • $250 airline credit (which can be used for broader expenses, such as airline tickets)
  • Priority Pass Select airport lounge access for you and up to two guests for free (the Platinum requires that you pay $27 per guest for this benefit)
  • Complimentary access with two guests to American Airlines Admirals Club® lounges (when you fly with them)
  • Complimentary night at any hotel of your choice after a minimum 4-consecutive-night booking (now calculated on an average nightly rate basis and taxes are not included)
  • $100 Global Entry credit
  • 3 free rounds of golf through GolfSwitch
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts with status.
  • Add authorized users for $50 each.
  • Concierge service

With the recent changes to the Citi Prestige, the contest between these two cards is a lot closer. The Prestige does offer more valuable Priority Pass lounge access but it doesn’t offer anything above that now. With the Platinum, you get Centurion lounge access, which are some of the best airline lounges in the U.S. (and you can bring up to two guests for free). You also get Delta SkyClub lounge access when you fly with them. Thus, if you regularly fly Delta or fly in and out of airports with Centurion lounges, the lounge benefits offered by the Platinum begin to surpass those offered by the Prestige. 

However, the Prestige still has the better airline credit, bonus earning potential, and the fourth night free benefit, so there’s still an edge that can be had with the Prestige. 

Protections

citi-prestige-card
The Citi Prestige

Protections for purchases and travel aren’t usually a priority for many but these protections can be extremely valuable when things go wrong. The Amex Platinum has a number of quality protections but not as many as the Citi Prestige. Specifically, the Citi Prestige offers protections on baggage delay, trip delay/cancellation, and price protection. 

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

Citi Prestige

  • $450, not waived* (more like $200/year with airline credit)

*If you are a Citigold member, the annual fee should be reduced to $350. In addition, some have had success with getting the $350 annual fee when they apply in-branch.

AMEX Platinum

  • $450, not waived (more like $250/year with airline credit)

Highlighting the Differences 

So overall, here are some of the key differences between the cards that I would consider when making a decision between the two cards.

The Citi Prestige

  • Offers a $250 airline credit that can be used even for airfare tickets
  • Earns a very respectable 3X on airfare and hotels, and 2X on dining and entertainment
  • Offers a fourth night free when booking hotels
  • Allows two guests to visit Priority Pass lounges for free
  • Citi Prestige offers Admirals Club access to the primary cardholder when flying on American Airlines.
  • Allows you to add each authorized user for $50.

The American Express Platinum

  • Offers a $200 airline credit that is meant to be utilized for fees and incidentals (although there are ways around this)
  • Earns no bonus category points
  • Offers gold HHonors and SPG status
  • Allows no free guests with your Priority Pass and you must pay $27 per guest
  • Offers access to Centurion Lounges with free access for up to two guests
  • Offers access to Delta SkyClub lounges when you fly with them
  • Allows you to add up to three authorized users for $175 total
  • Gives you access to Amex Offers

The Verdict

The most widely used benefit conferred by these type of cards is lounge access. Now, with the recent changes, the Platinum Card offers better lounge access to a lot of travelers. Some may still be able to get more value out of the Prestige with its airline credit, 4th night free benefit, and more expansive Priority Pass membership but it all depends on your travel habits and goals. Before, I stated that the Prestige was the clear-cut winner in this comparison but now I have to say it’s much more a of a toss-up and that it really depends on how you’ll be taking advantage of the benefits. 

The American Express Platinum vs The Premier Rewards Gold Card

[Offers contained within this article may no longer be available]

A lot of people seem to ask which AMEX card is best for them: The American Express Platinum or the Premier Rewards Gold Card (PRG). Both are great cards that I enjoy using but for very different purposes. This article will show you the important differences between the cards that will make your decision easier when applying for these cards. Ultimately, you will see that the  Platinum is all about the travel benefits while the PRG is all about earning Membership Rewards (and a little about the benefits).

Both are charge cards

First, don’t forget that both of these two cards are “charge cards.”

A charge card must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. Sometimes, after you’ve used a charge card for about a year, Amex will then offer you the option of carrying a balance (this usually comes with a MR bonus as well). However, you cannot initially carry a balance on a charge card like you can on a credit card.

Transfer Partners

Both cards earn Membership Rewards that transfer to travel partners. There’s no difference here but just for a refresher, here are the transfer partners of Membership Rewards.

Airlines

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue Air France/KLM
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest)

Sign-up Bonus

AMEX PRG

  • 25K to 75K when you spend $1,000-$3,000 in the first 3 months
Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 8.22.49 AM

In my opinion you should hold out on the PRG until you can get the 50K offer. It’s different for everyone but pretty much every other time I check credit cards on the Amex website, I am invited to apply for the “special offer” of 50,000 points. Some people hold out for the 75K offer but that is known to be an extremely rare offer that could leave you waiting months and months and possibly even years to see (if ever).

AMEX Platinum

  • 40K to 100K when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
Amex Platinum Card

The 40K offer is the standard offer available to the public. The 100K offer comes around in three forms and there’s no guarantee that you will ever get it. The three forms it comes in are:

  • 1) Targeted mailings (if you’re already an Amex cardholder your chances of getting this offer in the mail are slim to none).
  • 2) Pre-approval links: Some sites (including the Amex site) that allow you to view your pre-approved credit card offers will show this offer.
  •  3) Incongnito/Private browser windows sometimes show this offer (rare)

Tip: When applying for bonuses with Amex cards always remember that bonuses for personal cards are only given once a lifetime (although not 100% enforced). The main exception I see with this are reports of others being approved for the same card a second time and receiving the difference between their first bonus and the later bonus. For example, if you applied for the Platinum for the 40K offer your first go around and the 100K offer for your second, Amex would grant you a total of 60K additional points for your second bonus.

Bonus Points Potential

The PRG puts the Platinum to shame in terms of bonus earning potential.

AMEX PRG

  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining
  • 2X Groceries
  • 2X Gas
  • 1X on all other purchases

AMEX Platinum

  • 1X on all purchases (*crickets*, I know)

This is the first key difference between the cards: the Premier Rewards Card is primarily for earning points to transfer to travel partners. In my opinion, it is one of the best earning travel cards along with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Citi Thankyou Premier.

A quick aside: If you are highly concerned with earning a lot of MRs through bonus category spending I would definitely consider the Amex Everyday Preferred. Under the average consumer’s spending habits, more points can be earned with this card than the PRG.

Amex EveryDay Preferred

Benefits

AMEX PRG

Outside of the $100 airline statement credit and no foreign transaction fees, there aren’t really any more benefits that come with the PRG.

AMEX Platinum

Benefits is where the Platinum really proves its worth.

Priority Pass

Here’s a breakdown of my favorite benefits of the Platinum, but in a nutshell this card confers a host of benefits to you making it worth it including:

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access (worth $400 per year)
  • Centurion Lounge Access
  • $200 annual airline credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $250)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check (a Godsend that’s good for 5 years!)
  • Add up to 3 authorized users for only $175 per year (for all 3)
  • Gold status with Hilton and Starwood
  • Free Boingo Wifi subscription (worth $120 per year)
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts

These benefits easily pay for the value of the card and much, much more when considered in conjunction with the sign-up bonus.

However, the key question is whether the benefits are useful to you. Answering this question is the simplest way to decide if you even wan’t anything to do with the Platinum.

If you only travel about 2 times a year domestically and don’t really care for lounge access or other perks like hotel status, the Platinum is really only useful to you for the sign-up bonus (and in that case maybe you want to wait around for the 100K offer). On the other hand, if you travel frequently (especially internationally) and/or highly value comfort and convenience when you travel then the Platinum is definitely worth to consider.

If you fall somewhere in between then it’s a little less clear-cut for you. If you find yourself in this group don’t knock the benefits without trying them. For example, if you’ve never spent time in an airport lounge you could always pay for a day pass to a lounge like the Centurion or similar and see if that’s something you’d value having access to each time you visit the airport. I think a lot of people will realize if the “lounge life” is worth it to them after just a visit or two and will be able to more accurately gauge how much they really value lounge access. 

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

AMEX PRG

  • $195, waived the first year (more like $95/year with airline credit)

AMEX Platinum

  • $450, not waived (more like $250/year with airline credit)

A lot of people have an instant  “yikes” reaction to annual fees like this and almost immediately discount the card. But don’t do that because the Platinum can be worth so much more than $450 (and as you’ll see the annual fee is more like $250 per year).

You can read about getting the Priority Pass with the Amex Platinum here, where I talk about why I think the benefits of the Platinum more than pay for themselves. The Platinum is not for everybody but for many people, the $450 is more than worth it for this card.

Downgrading

Because these are both charge cards you can only “downgrade” or “product change” them to other Amex charge cards without incurring a hardpull. Unfortunately, there’s really no charge cards that are worth to downgrade to. You can read some about the Green Card and the standard Gold Card in my article, Which American Express Card is best for you?, but you’ll see that’s it’s not worth it to product change to those cards if you’re still interested in earning significant rewards.

If you ever decide to cancel the Platinum or the PRG then I recommend applying for the Amex Everyday if you are still carrying a balance of MRs. It has no annual fee and earns a decent amount of points via bonus spending, but most importantly, it will preserve your MRs while you decide how to best use them.

Amex EveryDay

Tip: Don’t let the customer service reps from Amex confuse you by using the term “product change” — if you change from a charge card to a credit card there will almost always be a hard pull on your credit regardless of how the rep “phrases” it.

The Verdict

As is often the case the answer to this is “it depends.” Again, it’s all about whether your goals are to earn the most MRs or to obtain all of the travel benefits and/or a hefty sign-up bonus.

Don’t rule out applying for both of these cards, either. As already mentioned, it’s absolutely possible to be approved for both the Platinum and the PRG at the same time. That means that if you caught it at the right time you could earn 150-175K of MRs for spending about $4,000 in 3 months. An outstanding gain.

Tip: Keep it nice and slow when applying for Amex cards. If you quickly obtain 4 or more approvals within the span of a couple of months there’s a good possibility you might be financial reviewed. It’s not a death sentence by any means but it’s something that can often result in reduced credit limits (rarely closure) for those who misrepresented their income so it’s best avoided. So just pace yourself with these applications.

Gold Premier Rewards vs Platinum

 

Top Benefits of the American Express Platinum Card 2017

The American Express Platinum card is an ideal travel card for those travelers interested in travel benefits and perks. These are people who typically fly at least a handful of times a year and value comfort and convenience when waiting around in airport lounges, going through security/customs, connecting to wifi, booking rental cars, hotels, etc. The Platinum is not really the card you want if you’re solely interested in racking up points with bonus category spending (although now it comes with 5X on airfare and hotels booked through the Amex travel portal). So with that in mind, here are my favorite benefits of the American Express Platinum card and why it might be worth it for you.

Priority Pass

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The Priority Pass benefit for the Amex Platinum card is the #1 benefit in my opinion. With the Platinum, you get “Prestige” level lounge access which would otherwise cost you $400 per year. This pass grants you access to over 900 airport lounges where you can often indulge in complimentary drinks, food, wifi, and magazines all while relaxing in a comfortable work or sitting area. See my write up on the Priority Pass here.

With the Platinum’s Priority Pass, you can also bring a guest each time for an additional $27.

Update: The Platinum Card now allows you to bring two guests for free.

Centurion Lounge and Delta Lounge Access

The Centurion Lounges are Amex’s new product that have been rolling out all across the country the past few years. They are often considered to be some of the best lounges in the U.S. and with a new lounge coming to IAH in the very near future, this puts this perk high on the list for me. One good thing about the Centurion Lounge is that you can bring up to two guests per visit for free, although this had led to some crowding issues in some of these lounges.

The Platinum Card also offers access to Delta’s SkyClub lounges when you’ve booked your flight with Delta.

IAH Centurion Lounge.

$200 Airline Credit

Many travel cards are now offering $100-$300 in airline credits. The Amex airline credit is a bit more limited compared to some of these cards like the Citi Prestige in terms of what is covered by it, but it still offsets almost 50% of the annual fee for this card (per primary cardholder).

$200 Uber credit

The Platinum Card is now offering $15 a month in Uber credits ($35 offered for the month of December) which comes out to a total of $200 a year. This credit is offered in addition to the annual $200 travel credit, meaning that it effectively knocks down the annual fee to $150 for people like myself who regularly use Uber/Uber Eats.

Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit

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You can choose to use this credit for either Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check. TSA Pre-Check allows you to breeze through the security lines in US airports and Global Entry allows you to breeze though customs upon your arrival to the US (in addition to granting you TSA Pre-Check).

I think you should definitely go with Global Entry, since that program includes TSA Pre-Check. Global Entry is $100 compared to TSA Pre-Check at $85, but since Amex offers up to a $100 statement credit for this benefit then why not take advantage of the better more inclusive program (assuming you can pass the more “demanding” background check?)

Gold Status with HHonors

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Gold status with Hilton Honors offers several benefits:

  • With Gold elite status, you automatically receive a 25% bonus on all the HHonors Base Points you earn
  • Silver, Gold and Diamond elite members will receive every 5th night free on Standard Room Reward stays of 5 nights or more.
  • Digital Check-In: choose your room, and customize your stay from your mobile device up to 24 hours in advance.
  • Complimentary in-room and lobby Standard Internet access during stays at Waldorf Astoria™ Hotels & Resorts, Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton™, Canopy™ by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels™ and Hilton Grand Vacations™
  • Quick reservations and check-ins based on your room preferences
  • Late check-out (another one of my favorite benefits)
  • Express check-out
  • 2nd Guest stays free
  • Complimentary access to fitness centers and health clubs
  • Two complimentary bottles of water per stay

Gold Status with SPG (and Marriott)

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The benefits for Gold SPG status with the Amex Platinum aren’t too shabby, either.

  • Earn three Starpoints® for every U.S. dollar spent on eligible stays — a 50% bonus over Preferred.
  • 4 p.m. late checkout, subject to availability at resort and conference center hotels.
  • An upgrade to an enhanced room at check-in — corner room, higher floor, or better view.
  • Your choice of welcome gift upon arrival – choose from bonus Starpoints, complimentary premium in-room internet or a beverage on us.
  • Complimentary in-room, premium Internet access when you book on SPG digital channels. This is in addition to your welcome gift.

What’s fantastic is that now you can link your SPG account to your Marriott account so that your status transfers, too. This means that the Platinum Card also provides you with Marriott Gold and Ritz-Carlton Gold! 

Rental Car Benefits

Once you’ve enrolled, you’re eligible to receive benefits with car rental companies like Avis, Hertz, and National Car Rental. These benefits usually include express lines, eligibility for free upgrades, and special discounts on rentals.

Here are some examples of those benefits.

Avis Preferred®

  • When arriving at Avis, you can skip the line and paperwork and go straight to your car at over 1,400 locations.

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards®

  • Provides fast and easy car rentals.
  • Enjoy fee-waived enrollment and a one-car-class upgrade at Gold locations when you rent a Intermediate through Full-Size car, based on availability.

National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive

  • Platinum Card® Members receive complimentary Emerald Club Executive membership and up to 20% off on rentals. Executive members are able to choose their own car from the Executive SelectionSM area, guaranteed upgrades a fullsize through luxury car is reserved, and an accelerated earning schedule toward a free rental day, or opt to receive airline miles or hotel points from one of National’s partners.

Boingo Wifi

The Platinum offers you a free Boingo Wifi subscription ($120 value per year). There are over 1,000,000 hotspots around the country and you can search here to see if any of these destinations will be located near you anytime soon.

Authorized Users

This is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of the Platinum card as well. You can add up to 3 authorized users for only $175 per year. Each of these cardholders will receive all of the above benefits, too! The only exception being that the primary cardholder and all authorized users are cumulatively allocated only one $200 airline statement credit. But still, getting Priority Pass, Global Entry, status at Hilton/SPG and the number of additional benefits are definitely worth $175 per year for three additional people!

That’s $1,200 worth of lounge of access each year for only $175! If you factor in the Global Entry credit x 3 that’s $300 worth of credit, which means that together you and/or your authorized users are getting a steal if they are interested in these benefits!

Conclusion

As mentioned, the American Express Platinum card is not really the card you want if you’re looking to earn points or miles with spending on bonus categories like restaurants, gas, etc. If that’s your goal, then look into the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Amex PRG.

However, if you’re interested in these benefits and perks that make life a lot easier and more comfortable when traveling, then I think the American Express Platinum is definitely a card that you want to consider.

Priority Pass Lounge Access with The Platinum Card® from American Express

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Perhaps my favorite benefit of The Platinum Card® from American Express is the Priority Pass membership that attaches to the card. It’s a great benefit for those who travel like crazy but sometimes people wonder if getting the Priority Pass via The Platinum Card® from American Express is worth it? After all, there is a hefty annual fee of $450 (now $550)for the card. I’m going to show you why it’s worth it to me as well as explain some features of Priority Pass.

What is Priority Pass?

It’s a program that offers members access to over 850 airport lounges worldwide. You can enter into any of these lounges with a boarding pass for that same day, even if your boarding pass isn’t for that particular airline, too.

There are three different tiers of Priority Pass:

1) Standard

  • You pay $99 per year and each time you enter into a lounge you pay a $27 fee

2) Standard Plus

  • You pay $249 per year for 10 visits

3) Prestige

  • You pay $400 per year for unlimited visits.
Priority Pass Pricing

The Prestige plan is the plan that is offered through the Priority Pass Select with The Platinum Card® from American Express. (The “Select” label on the Priority Pass just indicates that you’ve obtained your membership through a financial institution.)

Your membership is good for three years and will automatically renew free of charge if you remain a Platinum Card® from American Express cardholder. (If you ever cancel your card you will lose your Priority Pass Select membership.)

What’s so great about Priority Pass?

It’s great because of the flexibility and widespread access to airport lounges around the globe. Most of the lounges provide complimentary alcohol, refreshments and/or meals, free wifi, comfortable and quiet spaces to relax, a selection of magazines, power outlets, and some even have showers, spa, and bed facilities.

If you’ve never been into an airport lounge before, it can really enhance your travel experience. Personally, I’m always arriving early to the airport, usually 2-3 hours before my flight. I never want to take any chances. With access to lounges, I can relax in a quiet setting, get a bite to eat, something to drink, and not have to worry about staking out space and claiming an outlet. It just makes for a much more pleasant experience. This is especially true if you have long layovers at certain airports.

Now, sometimes the lounges can become very busy and you may not even be allowed access to them but that’s the beauty of having a pass like this because you can hop around to different lounges (assuming there’s more than one lounge in the airport where Priority Pass offers you access).

Signing-up for Priority Pass

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First thing’s first, once you receive your Platinum Card® from American Express, make sure that you go online to the Amex website and select “benefits” and then click enroll. Your Platinum Card® from American Express card will not be enough for you to gain access to these lounges; you must activate your Priority Pass membership so that you receive a little black Priority Pass card in the mail!

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It took me about 10 days to receive my Priority Pass in the mail after I enrolled in the program. When you receive your card, don’t forget to activate it either! There’s a pin number that comes with it and all you have to do is go to the Priority Pass Website and select “register” and enter in your card number and pin, and just like that, you’re ready to go.

Keep in mind that you’ll always need to bring your card with you to have access to the lounges. You can download the Priority Pass App and have the digital pass on hand but it’s probably always a good idea to have the actual card with you as well.

Is Priority Pass worth it?

In the context of the The Platinum Card® from American Express, I think that obtaining the Priority Pass Select membership definitely adds significant value to the card that can make the card worth the investment in many cases, depending on how often you travel and your spending habits when you travel.

Here’s a look at the factors I considered when determining if Priority Pass and The Platinum Card® from American Express card were worth it to me.

The value of the benefits

Over the last year I made about 12 visits to different airports. As mentioned, I usually arrive about two to three hours before my departure time. This leaves a void where I’m usually in search of seating in a quiet area, wifi, food and drinks.

The most often purchased items are probably food and drinks. Brad and I pretty much established a tradition of grabbing a meal and a beer before our flights at different airports. Unfortunately, this usually added up to  $35-45 pretty easily. We’d each also be in search of a couple of snacks and usually a nice magazine or two to read, which adds up to at least another $15 for us. So it wasn’t hard to spend $50 or more each time I arrived at the airport on things that we wanted to make our travel experience a little more comfortable.

So $50 x 12 airport visits = $600 or $300 per person.

With Priority Pass Select, I can now get by without paying for most of those things by taking advantage of what is offered in the lounges so I essentially save $300/year based on my own spending habits. But there are additional benefits as well, including but not limited to:

  • Free wifi
  • Quick access to usually knowledgable customer service reps in the event of unexpected events
  • Comfy seats in a quiet setting and even ability to take a nap
  • Ability to indulge in adult beverages if I feel up for it
  • Having a comfortable area to relax in in the event of a delayed flight or a long lay-over
  • The “VIP” feeling/treatment

Having a place to relax and get free food and drinks for a few hours also makes planning trips easier in my opinion because layovers don’t sound nearly as bad with lounge access, especially if you can get into a really nice lounge and take advantage of things like shower facilities. The more open to layovers you are, generally the more options you have for flights….

Thus, I save around $300 and obtain a host of other benefits each year that make traveling much more comfortable and less stressful starting from the planning phase of travel to the actual flying phase.

The costs

I got this membership with The Platinum Card® from American Express and thus have to pay $450 annually for this card. Now, each year I get a $200 airline credit which I uses to recoup almost half of that so I in effect only pay $250.

So, if one were to not even consider all of the the other benefits like HH Gold status, SPG Gold status, Boingo Wifi etc. not to mention the hefty sign-up bonus which easily is worth way more than $450 (more on that below), one could say I’m paying $250 annually for Priority Pass Select. This is obviously cheaper than the $400 a year I would be paying without it so I’m saving around $150 on the price.

Remember, though, I’m saving close to $300 a year during my airport visits by not eating at the restaurants and buying drinks, too. So $300 minus the $250 I’m spending for the pass, and it looks like I’m netting $50 each year by utilizing this pass. So based on my spending habits, I’m actually coming out on top and spending less money in the future while utilizing this membership.

So even though I’m spending $250 a year now on fees, it actually still is an overall savings for me each year.

And that’s not even considering the 100,000 points I got for The Platinum Card® from American Express sign-up bonus (you can get it when you’re targeted or when it randomly appears). Even assuming a conservative redemption rate of 1 cent/per point, I’m also getting $1,000 in travel costs on top of my other benefits.

So I’m basically not spending more for the annual fee and getting this $400 benefit and by doing so am saving around $50 each year and enjoying the hell out of comfy couches, free food, drinks, etc. And don’t forget, the card (along with having a clean criminal history) also earned me TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry, so I usually breeze through security and customs, which is invaluable and worth way more than $20/year to me.

As you can see, it’s really a no-brainer that the Priority Pass Select, via The Platinum Card® from American Express, is worth it to me.

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