American Express says the Platinum Card offers more than $3,500 in annual value. That sounds impressive for a card with an $895 annual fee, but reaching that number requires combining everything from airport lounges and luxury hotels to restaurant credits, streaming services, fitness memberships and retail purchases.
The American Express Platinum Card used to be relatively easy to explain. You paid a high annual fee in exchange for airport lounge access, hotel status and several travel credits.
That’s no longer the whole story.
Amex now separates the card’s benefits into four categories: Premium Travel, Dining & Entertainment, Shopping & Wellness, and Earn & Redeem Points.
That presentation makes it look like the Platinum Card offers something for everyone. However, most cardholders won’t use every benefit, and a statement credit is only worth its full amount when it replaces money you would have spent anyway.
I think there’s a simpler way to evaluate the card. The Platinum Card now offers two main sets of benefits: travel and lifestyle.
Either group may provide enough value to justify the annual fee for the right person. However, people who can naturally use both sides will get the most from the card.
American Express Platinum Card
Annual Fee
The American Express Platinum Card has an annual fee of $895.
Each Additional Platinum Card costs $195 per year. Additional Platinum Card members receive their own access to several travel benefits, including eligible airport lounges, but they don’t receive a second set of most statement credits.
Amex also offers Companion Platinum Cards with no additional annual fee. These cards allow someone to make purchases on the account but don’t include the full set of premium benefits available with an Additional Platinum Card.
We pay the additional fee for my wife, Sharon, to have an Additional Platinum Card because her own lounge access is useful when we travel together. That calculation will differ for someone who rarely travels with another person or already has guest access through another card.
Welcome Offer
Through our current referral link, eligible applicants can receive an offer of up to 175,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $12,000 on purchases during the first six months of Card Membership.
The exact number of points offered can vary, and you may not be eligible for a welcome offer. American Express will show the offer available to you before you accept the card.
Amex also allows you to find out whether you’re approved without affecting your credit score. If you decide the Platinum Card makes sense for you, we’d appreciate it if you considered applying through our American Express referral link. You may receive an offer of as many as 175,000 Membership Rewards points, and we may receive Membership Rewards points if you’re approved. The offer available to you may vary.
How The Amex Platinum Earns Points
The Platinum Card may have more travel benefits than most credit cards, but it isn’t an especially good card for everyday spending.
The card earns:
- 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 in eligible airfare purchases per calendar year
- 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on eligible prepaid hotel reservations booked through American Express Travel
- 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar on most other purchases
The 5X airfare category is excellent, particularly because it applies to bookings made directly with an airline. However, earning only 1X on most other purchases makes the Platinum Card a poor choice for unbonused everyday spending.
I use the Platinum Card when the airfare bonus, travel protections or an Amex Offer make it worthwhile. I don’t put ordinary purchases on it simply because it is Amex’s most expensive personal card.
Membership Rewards points can currently be transferred to 19 airline and hotel partners. That flexibility remains one of the program’s strengths, although some partners are much more useful than others.
Amex Platinum Travel Benefits
For many cardholders, the travel benefits remain the strongest reason to pay for the Platinum Card.
These include airport lounge access, a hotel credit, Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits, hotel and rental car status, CLEAR+, an airline incidental credit and several travel protections.
Airport Lounge Access
The Platinum Card provides access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes more than 1,550 airport lounges worldwide.
Depending on the airport and how you are traveling, that may include:
- American Express Centurion Lounges
- Priority Pass Select lounges
- Delta Sky Clubs
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- Select Lufthansa Lounges
- Escape Lounges – The Centurion Studio Partner
- Other participating partner lounges
Each lounge network has its own access and guest rules, so having a Platinum Card doesn’t mean you can enter every participating lounge under every circumstance.
For example, Platinum Card members generally have to pay to bring guests into Centurion Lounges unless they meet Amex’s annual spending requirement.
Delta Sky Club access is limited to 10 visits per year when traveling on an eligible same-day Delta flight unless the cardholder unlocks unlimited visits through qualifying spending. Travelers with Delta Main Basic tickets aren’t eligible for Sky Club access through the Platinum Card.
Enrollment is required for Priority Pass, and the Amex version doesn’t include Priority Pass restaurant credits.
Because the complete list of lounges and access rules is too extensive to repeat here, we maintain a separate guide to the airport lounges you can access with the Amex Platinum Card.
Lounge access remains valuable to us, but not every visit feels luxurious. Some Centurion Lounges have waitlists, Priority Pass lounge quality varies dramatically, and Delta has placed more restrictions on Sky Club access.
The benefit is most valuable when your usual airports have lounges. An enormous worldwide network doesn’t help much if none of the lounges are convenient for your normal flights.
$600 Hotel Credit
Platinum Card members can receive up to $600 in hotel statement credits each calendar year.
The credit is divided into two parts:
- Up to $300 from January through June
- Up to $300 from July through December
It applies to eligible prepaid reservations for Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection booked through American Express Travel. The Hotel Collection requires a stay of at least two nights.
We recently used one of our credits for a stay at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch in Salzburg, one of our favorite hotels.
That’s the ideal way to use this credit. We wanted to stay at the hotel anyway, and the statement credit reduced the cost of a reservation we were already planning.
However, I wouldn’t automatically value this benefit at $600 for everyone. Fine Hotels + Resorts properties can be expensive, and the semiannual structure may require planning two separate stays.
The value drops quickly if you book a hotel you wouldn’t otherwise choose simply because the credit is about to expire.
Fine Hotels + Resorts Benefits
The hotel credit is only one part of the value available through Fine Hotels + Resorts.
Eligible reservations include:
- Daily breakfast for two
- A room upgrade when available
- A property-specific credit, usually worth $100
- Guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout
- Noon check-in when available
Amex says these benefits have an average value of $550 on a two-night stay. Your actual value will depend on the hotel, room rate, available upgrades and whether you use the property credit and late checkout.
The guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout can be particularly useful when you have an evening flight or train. Breakfast for two can also be valuable at luxury hotels where the normal price may be substantial.
Still, I compare Amex’s rate with other booking options before making a reservation. Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits don’t automatically make an inflated room price a good deal.
$200 Airline Fee Credit
The Platinum Card provides up to $200 in statement credits each calendar year for qualifying incidental charges from one selected airline.
Eligible expenses can include items such as:
- Checked baggage fees
- In-flight food and beverages
- Flight-change fees
- Overweight or oversized baggage fees
- Pet fees
- Some airport lounge day passes
This isn’t a general airfare credit. You must select one qualifying airline, and Amex relies on the airline to code the transaction correctly.
I don’t value this benefit as highly as a flexible $200 travel credit. It can be useful, but it has become more difficult for us to use naturally as airline status and credit card benefits cover many of the fees we might otherwise pay.
$219 CLEAR+ Credit
Cardholders can receive up to $219 per calendar year toward a CLEAR+ membership after paying with the Platinum Card.
Whether this has meaningful value depends on your airports and how often you travel. CLEAR can save time at some checkpoints, while at other airports the CLEAR line may be no faster than the regular TSA PreCheck line.
It’s valuable when it works, but I wouldn’t assign the full cost of membership to the card unless I would otherwise pay for CLEAR.
Global Entry Or TSA PreCheck Credit
The Platinum Card will reimburse one eligible Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee under the applicable schedule.
You can receive:
- A $120 Global Entry application credit every four years
- Or up to $85 for an eligible five-year TSA PreCheck membership through an official enrollment provider
Global Entry also includes TSA PreCheck when approved, so it is generally the better choice for someone who travels internationally.
This is a useful benefit, although it only provides value once every several years. It may also be duplicated by other travel cards in your wallet.
Hotel Elite Status
After enrollment, Platinum Card members can receive:
- Hilton Honors Gold status
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
- Leaders Club Sterling status with The Leading Hotels of the World
Hilton Gold is the most useful of these for us because it can provide upgrades and a breakfast or food-and-beverage benefit, depending on the hotel and location.
Marriott Gold is less compelling. It can provide some upgrades and bonus points, but it doesn’t include the stronger benefits available to Marriott Platinum Elite members.
Leaders Club Sterling status is useful mainly for travelers who stay at participating independent luxury hotels. Benefits include a points bonus and five pre-arrival upgrades each year, subject to availability.
As with many Platinum benefits, the value depends on whether you use the program. Status with a hotel chain you never visit is worth nothing.
Rental Car Status And Benefits
Platinum Card members can enroll for premium status with Avis, Hertz and National.
That includes:
- Avis Preferred Plus
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle
- National Emerald Club Executive
These programs can provide access to expedited pickup, vehicle upgrades and larger selection areas.
The card also offers additional Hertz benefits when using the applicable Amex discount code, including an extended grace period that can sometimes prevent an additional day’s rental charge.
That’s a benefit I’ve found genuinely useful. However, several other premium cards also provide high-level rental car status, so it may be a duplicate benefit for people with multiple cards.
Travel Protections
The Platinum Card includes several protections when an eligible trip is purchased with the card.
These include:
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Trip delay insurance
- Car rental loss and damage insurance
- Premium Global Assist Hotline
Trip delay insurance can reimburse up to $500 per eligible trip when a covered delay exceeds six hours, with limits on the number of claims.
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance may cover up to $10,000 per eligible trip and up to $20,000 per eligible card during a consecutive 12-month period.
The included rental car coverage is generally secondary and doesn’t provide liability insurance. Amex also offers optional Premium Car Rental Protection for a separate flat fee per rental.
These protections are useful, but I don’t assume that the most expensive card automatically provides the best coverage. Depending on the trip, I may choose another card with stronger or more appropriate protections.
Can The Travel Benefits Alone Justify The Annual Fee?
The right traveler can.
Someone who uses both $300 hotel credits, visits airport lounges regularly, benefits from Hilton Gold, uses CLEAR and can naturally spend the airline fee credit may receive more than $895 in value without counting most of the lifestyle benefits.
That calculation changes quickly for someone who stays mainly at limited-service hotels, books hotels with points, rarely visits airport lounges or already receives many of the same benefits from another card.
Travel benefits that look valuable on paper only matter when they fit how you actually travel.
Amex Platinum Lifestyle Benefits
The Platinum Card is no longer strictly a travel card. A significant part of Amex’s advertised value now comes from dining, entertainment, shopping, fitness and subscription benefits.
Some of these have become surprisingly useful to us. Others have little or no value unless they match purchases someone was already planning to make.
$400 Resy Credit
Platinum Card members can receive up to $400 in statement credits each calendar year for eligible purchases with Resy, including dining purchases at participating U.S. Resy restaurants.
The benefit is divided into four $100 quarterly credits, and enrollment is required.
This has become one of the more useful new Platinum benefits for us.
We’ve used Resy credits at restaurants in Miami, New York and Austin. I initially thought this benefit would require seeking out expensive restaurants specifically to trigger the credit. Instead, we’ve found enough participating restaurants in places we were already visiting that the credits have been easier to use than expected.
You generally don’t need to make the reservation through Resy for the dining charge to qualify. However, the restaurant must be an eligible Resy restaurant, you must pay with the enrolled Platinum Card and the restaurant must process the charge under an eligible merchant account.
For someone who regularly eats at participating restaurants, this credit may be worth close to its full $400. For someone who doesn’t have qualifying restaurants nearby, it may be difficult to use.
$200 Uber Cash
After adding the Platinum Card to an Uber account, cardholders receive:
- $15 in Uber Cash each month
- An additional $20 in December
The credit can be used for eligible Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the United States. You must select an American Express card as the payment method for the transaction.
The monthly credits don’t roll over. Any unused amount expires at the end of the month.
We use the credit in most months, sometimes for Uber Eats and sometimes for a ride. However, the value is reduced when delivery fees, menu markups or other charges make an Uber Eats order more expensive than ordering directly.
Someone who already takes Uber rides regularly may value this near its full $200. Someone placing an unnecessary food order every month to avoid losing $15 probably shouldn’t.
$120 Uber One Credit
The Platinum Card also provides up to $120 in annual statement credits for an auto-renewing Uber One membership purchased with the card.
This is separate from the monthly Uber Cash benefit.
Uber One can provide discounts on eligible rides, delivery fees and food orders. Its value depends on how often you use Uber and Uber Eats.
Be careful when enrolling, particularly if you already have a promotional or discounted membership. The membership must be charged in a way that qualifies for the Platinum credit.
$300 Digital Entertainment Credit
Cardholders can receive up to $25 per month in statement credits for eligible subscriptions with participating providers.
Current options include:
- Disney+
- Eligible Disney bundles
- ESPN streaming services
- Hulu
- Paramount+
- Peacock
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- YouTube Premium
- YouTube TV
Enrollment is required, and the credit doesn’t roll over from month to month.
This can be close to a full-value benefit when it covers subscriptions you would pay for anyway. It’s worth much less if it causes you to maintain services you rarely use.
$155 Walmart+ Credit
The Platinum Card provides a monthly statement credit of up to $12.95, plus applicable taxes, toward one monthly Walmart+ membership.
Walmart+ includes benefits such as eligible shipping and delivery, fuel discounts and a Paramount+ subscription under the applicable membership terms.
We don’t value this based solely on Amex’s annual total. The question is whether Walmart+ replaces a membership or service you would otherwise pay for.
$300 Lululemon Credit
Cardholders can receive up to $75 per quarter in statement credits for eligible purchases at U.S. lululemon stores, excluding outlets, and at lululemon.com.
Enrollment is required.
This is a straightforward benefit for someone who already shops at lululemon. It is much less valuable to someone buying an $80 shirt every quarter solely because a $75 credit is available.
The credit’s face value and its value to you may be very different.
$200 Oura Ring Credit
The card provides up to $200 per calendar year toward an eligible Oura Ring purchase made through ouraring.com.
Enrollment is required.
This can be useful if you already planned to buy an Oura Ring. However, it’s primarily a one-time purchase for most people. Once you own the ring, receiving another $200 purchase credit each calendar year doesn’t necessarily provide continuing value.
The credit also doesn’t automatically cover an ongoing Oura membership.
$300 Equinox Credit
Cardholders can receive up to $300 per calendar year after paying for an eligible Equinox club membership or Equinox+ digital subscription with the Platinum Card.
Enrollment is required.
This has significant face value but limited usefulness. It’s valuable to someone already paying for an eligible Equinox membership and close to worthless to someone who isn’t.
I wouldn’t join Equinox merely to recover part of the Platinum Card’s annual fee.
Dining And Entertainment Access
The card includes several additional benefits that are difficult to assign a fixed value.
These include:
- Global Dining Access by Resy
- Platinum Nights by Resy
- Premium Events Collection experiences
- Amex presale and reserved ticket access
- Benefits at participating American Express Venue Collection locations
Eligible cardholders can also enroll to receive 10% back on qualifying concessions purchases at participating venues, up to $250 per calendar year.
These benefits can be useful when they provide access to a reservation or event you genuinely want. I wouldn’t include speculative access in my annual fee calculation.
Cell Phone And Purchase Protections
The Platinum Card includes several protections that don’t receive as much attention as its statement credits.
Cell phone protection may reimburse eligible repair or replacement costs up to $800 per approved claim, with a limit of two approved claims per 12-month period and a $50 deductible. The prior month’s eligible wireless bill generally must have been paid with the card.
Other benefits include:
- Purchase protection for eligible items that are accidentally damaged, stolen or lost within the covered period
- Return protection when an eligible seller won’t accept a return
- Extended warranty coverage on eligible purchases
These aren’t benefits you hope to use, but they can provide more real value than a retail credit that encourages an unnecessary purchase.
Amex Offers
Amex Offers provide statement credits or additional Membership Rewards points for eligible purchases with participating merchants.
We’ve saved a meaningful amount through these offers over the years. However, they are unpredictable, targeted and often available on other American Express cards.
I treat Amex Offers as extra value rather than part of the calculation when deciding whether to pay the Platinum Card’s annual fee.
Can The Lifestyle Benefits Alone Justify The Annual Fee?
For some cardholders, they may.
Someone who regularly visits Resy restaurants, uses Uber, pays for eligible streaming services, has Walmart+, shops at lululemon and belongs to Equinox could receive more than $895 in lifestyle value without using airport lounges or the hotel credit.
However, this version of the card can feel like work when those purchases aren’t already part of your routine.
No one should build a new lifestyle around a credit card merely to prove that its annual fee is worthwhile.
The Best Value Comes From Using Both Sides
You don’t need to use every Platinum Card benefit.
A frequent traveler may justify the card primarily through lounges, Fine Hotels + Resorts, the hotel credit, CLEAR and elite status. Someone else might get most of the value from Resy, Uber, streaming subscriptions and shopping credits.
The card is easiest to justify when meaningful value comes naturally from both groups.
Someone who books one or two Fine Hotels + Resorts stays, visits airport lounges several times, uses Hilton Gold, eats at participating Resy restaurants and already pays for Uber and eligible subscriptions may recover the annual fee without chasing every last benefit.
That is very different from waiting until the final week of every month, quarter or six-month period to find something to buy before a credit expires.
Why We Still Have Amex Platinum Cards
I’ve gone back and forth on the Platinum Card over the years.
I previously gave up on the card when it became too difficult to use enough benefits to justify the annual fee. I later upgraded after receiving an offer for 75,000 Membership Rewards points.
Since then, several benefits have aligned better with our spending than I expected.
On the travel side, we use airport lounges, the Fine Hotels + Resorts credit, hotel status and rental car benefits. Using the updated hotel credit at the Goldener Hirsch was exactly the type of redemption that makes the benefit worthwhile.
On the lifestyle side, we use the Resy credit, Uber Cash and digital entertainment credit for expenses we frequently would have anyway.
We also pay for Sharon to have an Additional Platinum Card. The main reason is that she has her own lounge access rather than relying on guest privileges, which may cost extra or not be available.
That doesn’t mean we value every benefit at its advertised amount. Some credits provide little value to us, and I wouldn’t buy something merely because Amex has attached a statement credit to it.
That’s the standard I use when deciding whether to keep the card. Breaking even on paper is no longer enough. The benefits need to save us money, improve our travel or replace purchases we would otherwise make.
Who Should Get The Amex Platinum Card?
The Card Makes Sense If…
- You travel often and can use the lounge network. Lounge access is still one of the card’s strongest benefits, particularly when your usual airports have Centurion, Delta or useful partner lounges.
- You can use the hotel credit without forcing a stay. Receiving $600 toward hotels you genuinely want to visit can offset a large part of the annual fee.
- You already spend money with several lifestyle partners. Resy, Uber, eligible subscriptions and other credits are much more valuable when they replace existing expenses.
- You know how to use Membership Rewards points. Transferring points to the right airline program can produce significantly more value than redeeming them for ordinary statement credits.
- You don’t mind tracking benefits. Many credits expire monthly, quarterly or semiannually and require enrollment.
- You can receive meaningful value from both travel and lifestyle benefits. This is where the card’s value proposition is strongest.
You Should Probably Skip It If…
- You want a strong everyday spending card. Earning 1X on most purchases is underwhelming for a card costing $895 per year.
- You rarely use airport lounges or luxury hotel benefits. Those are major parts of the travel value.
- You would have to change your spending to use the credits. Buying something solely because a credit is expiring isn’t the same as saving money.
- You dislike tracking monthly and quarterly benefits. The Platinum Card requires more attention than simpler travel cards.
- You already have overlapping premium cards. Lounge access, hotel status, trusted-traveler credits and protections may be duplicated elsewhere in your wallet.
- You are keeping the card only because Amex says it offers more than $3,500 in value. Your personal number is the only one that matters.
Final Thoughts
The American Express Platinum Card is no longer simply an airport lounge card with a few travel credits. It is an $895 collection of travel perks, luxury hotel benefits, restaurant credits, subscriptions, fitness offers and retail discounts.
That can make it an excellent value, but only when the benefits match expenses you already have.
Frequent travelers may justify the card through airport lounges, hotel credits, elite status and travel benefits. Other cardholders may receive much of their value from Resy, Uber, streaming subscriptions and shopping or wellness credits.
The strongest case belongs to people who can use both sides without forcing purchases simply because a credit is about to expire.
For us, the value doesn’t come entirely from travel or entirely from lifestyle credits. It comes from a combination of both. We use enough of the benefits naturally that the Platinum Card continues to fit our overall card setup.
But if you have to work through every line of Amex’s benefits page and assign full value to each one to make the math work, the Platinum Card probably isn’t worth $895 for you.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
