The American Express Platinum Card

When it comes to premium credit cards, the American Express Platinum product is a top contender in it’s class of competition. While other Credit card companies like Chase and Citi bank have beefed up their products to compete, the Platinum Card from American Express is what set the standard and still holds extreme value today. While it there is a hefty annual fee, the benefits can easily outweigh the cost and the fact that is it a heavy metal card. (Feels really good to hold in your hand).

Amex Platinum Basics

This is a card that comes with a lot of benefits, which we will get to later. For now, lets discuss some basics. The Amex Platinum card comes with a hefty annual fee of $550, but can be easily off-set by the benefits.

Welcome Bonus 60,000 MR Points

Currently the welcome bonus offer is 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months of opening an account. Membership rewards are valued at 1.7 cents per point. This makes the welcome offer worth about $1,020. Some people have seen a 100k point welcome offer using CardMatch Tool.

Bonus Spend Categories

You earn 5x the points on flights booked directly through airlines, not through OTAs like Expedia, or Kayak. and 5x the points on hotels booked through Amex Travel. You earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.

Zero Foreign Transaction Fees

The Amex Platinum has ZERO Foreign transaction fees, so you can use it in other countries wherever American Express is accepted.

Who Is Eligible?

If you are thinking of signing up for The Amex Platinum, check your credit score. When signing up for new cards its important to note that card issuers are looking for more than just a high credit score. Amex definitely looks for you having a score that is considered excellent. Above 750. This is a “Charge Card” and not a credit card per say. So there is no spending limit associated with the Amex Platinum. American Express expects you to pay off your balance in full and will accept charges based on what they feel you can pay off. So if you want to make a big purchase, it is wise to use their spend calculator or call and make them aware of a large purchase.

Eligibility Restrictions

The welcome bonus on the Amex Platinum Card isn’t available to those who currently have the card, or those who have had the card in the past. If you’ve had the card in the past you’re still eligible to be approved, you just won’t get the bonus. American Express only allows you to earn the bonus on a credit card once in your lifetime.

There is currently NO amount to cards you can have from American Express. If applying for multiple cards, be safe and space it out at two every 90 days.

Authorized Users

AMEX allows up to three authorized users to the Amex Platinum Card for a total of $175. Authorized users receive the same benefits as the original card holder with exceptions. The things that authorized users aren’t getting are some of the additional credits, including airline fee credits, Uber credits, and Saks credits.

The Benefits Of The Amex Platinum

This card has massive benefits that help alleviate the high annual fee.

1. $200 annual Uber Credit.
2. $200 annual airline incidental credit with the airline of your choice. (Airline tickets, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty-free purchases, and award tickets are not deemed to be incidental fees.) There are some rules that don’t apply to some airlines.
3. $100 credit for Saks 5th Ave. (I don’t shop here but I’m sure I can find a nice gift for someone in my life…MOM);
4. $20 monthly credit for streaming services, like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
5. $20 monthly credit towards wireless phone services.
6. $100 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check.
7. Access to AMEX Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass Lounges, Escape Lounges, Delta Sky Club Lounges (when flying a delta flight). That holds extreme value in itself.
8. Hotel elite status with Marriot Bonvoy and Hilton Honors. (This gets you room upgrades, early check-in and late check-out, and free breakfast);
9. Lost baggage insurance;
10. Trip cancellation and interruption insurance;
11. American Express Concierge services, which gets you access to events, restaurants, etc.
12. Purchase protection, return protections, and extended warranties;
13. Car rental protection plan;
14. American Express Airline and Hotel Partner programs that you can transfer Membership Rewards to in order to book flights and hotels.

AMEX Platinum Airline Partners

This is absolutely where i find the most value of the card. I am not a big hotel guy since I like to spend most of my time exploring outside of my hotel room. But getting to a destination for cheap or next to nothing and in luxury is where I find a lot of value. Using Membership Rewards with Amex is how you do it. Here is a list of Travel partners Amex uses and their transfer ratio:

1. Virgin Atlantic 1:1
2. Air Canada AeroPlan 1:1
3. Avianca Life Miles 1:1
4. Alitalia 1:1
5. British Airways Avios 1:1
6. ANA 1:1
7. Cathay Pacific 1:1
8. Delta Airlines Sky Miles 1:1
9. Emirates 1:1
10. El Al 50:1
11. Aero Mexico 1:1.6
12. Ethiad Airways 1:1
13. Flying Blue Air France/KLM 1:1
14. Hawaiian Airlines 1:1
15. Jet Blue 1:0.8
16. Iberia 1:1
17. Qantas 1:1
18. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1:1

Sweet Spots Of Airline Partners

You can use these programs to find some very niche spots in business and first class. Iberia, Aer Lingus and British airways are all in the Avios program and are basically the same. Do remember though that British Airways passes on the High Carrier impose fuel charges for your ticket. So avoiding flights to London would be wise. ANA and Emirates just got rid of all Carrier Imposed Fuel Surcharges which makes them a very worth while programs to use.

ANA is an excellent program to use as you can get great deals for business and first class seats. The caveat is ANA will only do Round Trip Itineraries. However the amount of MR points needed are roughly the same as many programs one-way prices for using points.

Aeroplan can be used as one of your best options for booking Star Alliance flights. While Virgin Atlantic and The LifeMiles program can offer you premium discounts for transferring miles and then using them to book business and first class flights that aren’t segmented.

It should be noted that once you transfer MR points over to a program, they cannot be transferred back to Amex MR points. If you pay for your trip using the bank points through a travel portal like Chase Reserve, you have 24 hours to cancel and have your points refunded.

AMEX Platinum Hotel Partners

Amex partners with three hotel chains. Two of which you can earn elite status with just by having The Platinum card.

1. Hilton Honors (Elite Status Available) 1:2
2. Marriot Bonvoy (Elite Status Available) 1:1
3. Choice Privileges 1:1

If you are keen on having the best rooms wherever you are staying, or looking to book something like the St. Regis in the Maldives. Amex Membership rewards can be used for luxury properties in lieu of cash for each night of your stay. Booking these works the same as you would through and airline rewards program. You need to find availability for your dates.

Earning AMEX Membership Rewards

Membership Rewards points are extremely valuable. There’s no question about that. The question you might have is “how do I earn those points?”

This Is Probably For Die Hard Points Enthusiasts

The Amex Platinum isn’t a card I do a lot of spending on, simply because it’s diversity in spend categories is limited To 5x points per dollar booking directly with airlines. While this is great for buying points with airlines to top off a balance, paying for baggage, or paying to book award travel, it doesn’t compare to the Citi Prestige or Chase Reserve that include all travel purchase or booking travel through OTA’s.

Same rule applies when booking hotels. You can find great deals with AirBnb or an OTA hotel booking site for cheaper rates many time than what Amex Hotels is offering for 5x the points.

Bonus Offers for MR Points

Many times, Amex will put out offers for for bonus spending, like 10x the points at Starbucks or wherever else as an example. The point is (no pun intended) these offers that are found on the Amex App or website can be activated to earn you more than 1point per dollar which should be your goal when spending on any credit card.

Rakuten.com

Rakuten.com is a superb way to earn MR points with the Amex Platinum. Rakuten was known as Ebates.com. They have recently added the ability to earn the cash back you once earned but in the equivalency of MR points. This method is especially solid for those people who are big time online shoppers. You will need to link your Amex account to your Rakuten account to do this.

Referral Bonus

Another easy way to earn 15,000 MR points is to simply get your friends to sign -up for the card. Or people you know. You just have to convince them that the annual fee is worth it. I honestly feel that it is, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about this card and would probably not have ever signed up for it.

Bottom Line

The AMEX Platinum card is a superior product with the amenities and luxuries it offers. It holds some extreme value if use correctly and taken advantage off. This card requires doing homework to unlock its true potential. Recommending the Amex Platinum to a beginner in the points and miles game is something I could get behind. Provided the benefits would be utilized efficiently and correctly.

Again, there is a lot of value you can get out of this card. Making it your everyday spending card is not something I would use to earn MR points. Combining the Platinum card with the Amex Gold card, Amex Green Card or Amex Everyday Preferred card. Similar to combining Chase Cards to earn Ultimate Rewards.

If you can find a welcome offer of 100k MR points, you just need to make sure you can justify the annual fee of $550 and hit the spend limit of $5,000 in the first three months. Is this a card I will keep in my wallet? Absolutely!

Card	Welcome bonus & minimum spending requirements
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express	Earn 75,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on qualifying purchases within your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
American Express®️ Green Card	Earn 30,000 Amex Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in your first three months of account opening. Terms Apply.
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express	No welcome bonus
The Platinum Card® from American Express	60,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. Terms Apply.
American Express® Gold Card	35,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $4,000 in purchases in the first three months of account opening. Terms Apply.
American Express® Business Gold Card	Earn 35,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first three months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express	15,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first three months of opening your account. Terms Apply.
Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express	15,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. Terms Apply.
Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express	10,000 Amex Membership Rewards® points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account. Terms Apply.