Deep dive: Is the Platinum Card Annual Fee Worth it?

If you’ve just discovered the enchanted world of free travel, the idea of opening a credit card that charges any annual fee at all is jarring.

I remember the days when I thought annual fees were for total suckers.

The Platinum Card® from American Express has the two main things I’m looking for in a travel card: It’s both dope and fly.

But it’s got an underwear-soiling $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).

Who would pay $695 for the privilege of swiping a shiny rectangle at checkout???

Alright, forget the dollar amount for a minute and ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I use food delivery services?
• Do I rideshare?
• Do I pay for multiple streaming services?
• Do I fly a handful of times each year?
• Do I pay for airport food and alcohol?
• Do I rent cars at least a few times each year?
• Do I want a free round-trip ticket to nearly anywhere on earth?

If you answered “yes” to like…..three of those, the Amex Platinum is worth a test drive for a year or two. You’ve just gotta do some simple arithmetic to figure it out.

You’ll also want to make sure you can earn the card’s welcome bonus without spending more than you normally would. You’ll earn 80,000 bonus points (that’s a lot) after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months from account opening. A thousand bucks per month shouldn’t be difficult if you funnel all your expenses through it.

You can stay on top of important travel news and learn how to travel for (almost) free by signing-up for our morning newsletter, the Daily Drop.

Pour a glass of red zin and get comfortable. We’re about to examine this card in detail — from its thousands of dollars in annual statement credits to its elite travel memberships — to help you decide if the card is for you.

It’s built like a brick house

I can’t help but touch on something eye-rollingly superficial before getting into the ACTUAL benefits of this card: The dopamine hit you get when pulling it out of your wallet to make a payment is something that doesn’t go away.

It’s made out of GLEAMING STAINLESS STEEL for crying out sakes!! And it’s unexpectedly heavy. Casually toss it on the table when the check comes, and heads will turn like you just mic dropped a pipe wrench.

I love whipping it out at Waffle House — you’re guaranteed to receive a comment.

Statement credits worth thousands of dollars each year

If we’re being TECHNICAL, the card comes with over $6,000 in potential statement credits each year. But that’s because the card is filled with stuff that’s so niche, almost nobody can use it. The average cardholder is more likely to get around $1,500 in value.

Total yearly savings: -$55. I Get the full $200 in value from this perk each year.

Up to $200 in hotel credits each year

When you book prepaid hotel stays via Amex Travel, you’re eligible for up to $200 in statement credits. Your hotel must be a part of Amex’s proprietary hotel collections:

• Fine Hotels & Resorts
• The Hotel Collection (you must stay two nights to qualify for the credit)

The credit automatically triggers after you book your travel. You should see a reimbursement on your statement within a few days.

This credit is awarded each calendar year. That means you can use it twice before you pay the card’s annual fee a second time. If you don’t use it by December 31, it will disappear— so you should at least make a speculative hotel booking into the next calendar year if you don’t think you’ll use it this year, just to preserve it.

Total yearly savings: $45. I use this credit each year (last year at the Park Hyatt Bangkok), but it’s for hotel stays I probably wouldn’t otherwise book. Therefore, I value this perk at half its face value ($100).

 

Up to $155 in Walmart+ credits each year

When you pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership, you’ll receive a statement credit to reimburse you for the cost (enrollment required).

Walmart+ comes with perks like free grocery delivery on qualifying orders, free shipping, discounts at select gas stations, etc. It also comes with free Paramount+, which is the reason I enrolled my card.

Total yearly savings: $45. I enjoy Paramount+, but I wouldn’t otherwise pay a dime for it. And I don’t use Walmart+. I value this perk at $0.

 

The obscure stuff

 

Up to $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue credits each year

This perk is actually borderline useful.

Each year between January and June, you’re eligible to receive up to $50 in statement credits when you use your card at Saks Fifth Avenue — in-store or online. You’ll then receive up to $50 in additional credits between July and December (enrollment required).

Saks is an expensive store, so it’ll take some hunting to find something useful for under $50. But it can be done! I’ve used my credits to decorate our guest bedroom incrementally with small accents like shelving, a bamboo laundry hamper, a shoe rack, etc.

Plus, if you have multiple Platinum cards and live near a Saks Fifth Avenue, you can also split tender at checkout to combine multiple $50 credits. I did this at the (now closed) Saks in Honolulu a couple years ago, and walked out with a $150 shirt, on sale for $99.42, wielding two Amex Platinum cards.

Total yearly savings: $95. Saks tends to price many things higher than other stores, but I’ve gotten some useful things from there. I value this perk at half its face value ($50).

 

Up to $300 in Equinox credits each year

If you work out at Equinox gyms, congratulations — you’re independently wealthy and have little need for award travel. It’s totally cool that you still read Fare Drop, though!

Equinox is a brand of “luxury clubs” (they literally get annoyed when you call them gyms) that aren’t for the average blue collar laborer. There are two reasons for this:

1.    The membership prices are enough to induce the dry heaves — we’re talking thousands of dollars per year.
2.    You’re not going to find them unless you live in a city large enough to warrant the protection of a Marvel superhero.

The Amex Platinum gives you up to $25 in monthly statement credits toward Equinox membership (enrollment required). To be fair, you can use this credit for the Equinox fitness app, Equinox+ — but even that costs $39.99 per month.

Starting in 2023, you’ll be able to use your $300 in annual credits all at once (they won’t be distributed in monthly increments). I’ve previously asked them about paying for a single month of membership (in which case you could at least use the credit to access the clubs for a month), but I was told that you can only buy memberships in yearly increments.

Total yearly savings: $0. Useless perk for me (and I’m guessing you).

 

Up to $4,500 in credits with SoulCycle each year

If you’re a part of the stationary bike craze, the Amex Platinum will reimburse you up to $300 each year for a SoulCycle at-home bike. You can even use it up to 15 times per year, which means you can finally open that SoulCycle studio you’ve been hatching since you were a child!

Don’t kid yourself — these SoulCycle credits are nothing but fluff to just about everyone.

Total yearly savings: $0. Infuriating perk.

 

Exclusive memberships and statuses

 

The BEST airport lounge access

There’s one thing the Amex Platinum does better than anyone: Airport lounge access. It’s not even particularly close. You’ll have access to an astonishing 1,500+ lounges around the world. That makes this perk very easy to use — no matter which airport you’re at, there’s probably a lounge with your name on it.

With this card, you’ll have access to the following major lounge networks (among other smaller ones):

• Centurion Lounges — These are among the highest-quality lounges in the world. You’ll get free hot meals (borderline gourmet), free mixed drinks, and tons of comfortable chairs. Depending on which lounge you visit, you’ll have use of a spa with free massages, a pool table, and a wine tasting wall (if you’ve never played tipsy billiards with complete strangers, the Centurion Lounge in Denver is a must).
• Delta Sky Clubs — In 2023, Delta Sky Club membership will cost $695 per year. But you can get in just by waving your shiny silver card at the check-in desk. The only stipulation is that you must have a same-day Delta boarding pass.
• Priority Pass lounges (enrollment required) — There are more than 1,300 Priority Pass lounges worldwide. Admittedly, they are of varying quality (I’ve walked into Priority Pass lounges that made reentering the bustling terminal a respite). But they almost always have free snacks and self-serve alcohol.
• Plaza Premium Lounges — Daily Drop writer Mike considers access to these lounges one of the best perks of the Amex Platinum card. It’ll give you access to lounges in a handful of domestic cities and more than 30 countries worldwide. These airports almost always have multiple Priority Pass lounges, but it never hurts to have more options to choose from!

If you’ve never experienced an airport lounge, you’ve got zero idea what you’re missing. They are travel game-changers.

Total yearly savings: $495. Yes, I would reasonably pay $400 per year for access to all the lounges the Amex Platinum comes with.

 

License to (practically) skip airport security

The Amex Platinum comes with two statement credits that can help you to pass through security without hardly altering your gait.

 

Up to $189 in annual CLEAR® credits

CLEAR® is a program that effectively lets you do something your parents have spent years grooming you to avoid: Cut in line

 Just walk up to a CLEAR® kiosk, enter some biometric data (fingerprints, iris scan), and a representative will literally escort you past the serpentine TSA line all the way to the conveyor belt scanner thing. If your home airport is a busy one, this could save you hours during a single trip.

Total yearly savings: $614. I value this credit at $119, because anyone with a Delta or United loyalty number (which are both free) gets a $70 discount.

 

Up to $100 Global entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement

TSA PreCheck stacks well with CLEAR®. It prevents you from participating in the latently erotic matinee that has become TSA checkpoints.

TSA Pre gives you license to keep your shoes, jacket, and belt on — and you can even keep your laptop and compliant toiletries in your bag. You’d be surprised how much time this saves.

Global Entry gives you an expedited immigration experience when you’re coming back to the US from abroad. These lines can take literally hours to negotiate, but Global Entry members can simply head to a kiosk, enter some biometric data, and walk straight out of the airport. Half the fun is seeing the confused and resentful looks from the queue of hundreds of weary travelers you pass on the way out.

Global Entry comes with TSA PreCheck benefits, so it’s the better one to apply for. Both are valid for five years.

This reimbursement isn’t unique to the Amex Platinum (several travel credit cards offer it), but it’s one of the best ways to strengthen your travel game in a hurry.

Total yearly savings: $634. Global Entry costs $100 for five years. That’s $20 per year.

 

Free elite status benefits

Just for holding the Amex Platinum, you’ll automatically receive elite status with both Marriott and Hilton.

Hilton Honors Gold status comes with:

• Room upgrades, when available
• Daily Food & Beverage Credit at domestic hotels (free breakfast internationally)
• 80% bonus points

Marriott Bonvoy Gold status comes with:

• Late checkout, when available
• Room upgrades, when available
• 25% bonus points
• A varying amount of bonus points awarded upon arrival

I’ll admit, Gold elite status hasn’t done wonders for my trips — but I’ve had a few great experiences with it. During my trip to St. Regis Maldives, I was notified that my garden villa had been upgraded due to my Marriott Gold status. It absolutely made the experience. If you don’t stay in an overwater villa, did you ACTUALLY go to the Maldives??

On top of these statuses, you can also access Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts — something only Platinum and Centurion cardmembers can do.

Fine Hotels & Resorts is a curated list of luxury properties. The Amex Platinum will give you elite-like benefits at these hotels such as:

• Room upgrades, when available
• Daily breakfast for two
• Guaranteed late checkout
• A unique property credit ($100 food credit, free spa treatment, etc.)

Sometimes, you’ll even see offers for the third or fourth night free.

Access to Fine Hotels & Resorts is a big reason many keep the card year after year.

Total yearly savings: $634. For anyone who pays cash for luxury hotels regularly, the Fine Hotels & Resorts benefit could be worth thousands — it’s just not enough for me to place any value on it. And while Gold elite status can help you get things like free breakfast and bonus points, it’s extremely easy to earn in other ways.

 

Solid travel insurance

The Amex Platinum isn’t the god king of travel coverage, but a couple insurance benefits make it uniquely awesome.

First, while the card doesn’t come with automatic primary rental car insurance (which you’ll find on loads of other travel cards), you have the option to pay a flat fee ranging from $12.25 to $24.95 per rental period for up to $100,000 in “premium” car rental protection. That’s the highest coverage you’re going to find — making this card the best option if you’re renting something expensive.

Second, the card will cover you, your spouse or domestic partner, and your legally dependent children for expenses regarding emergency evacuation. There is no maximum amount you’re entitled to — meaning if your bill was theoretically $3 million, Amex would still pick up the tab. All other cards that offer this benefit stipulate a firm cap.

The Amex Platinum also comes with the following benefits, making it competitive with most other travel cards (again, you’ll only get these benefits if you use the Amex Platinum to purchase your travel):

• Trip delay insurance — Receive up to $500 per ticket for “reasonable expenses” such as meals, lodging, and transportation when your flight is delayed by at least six hours — or requires you to stay overnight.
• Lost luggage reimbursement — Receive up to $2,000 per person for checked bags and up to $3,000 per person for carry-on bags which are lost or damaged by the airline, cruise ship, or other carrier with which you’ve booked your travel.
• Trip cancellation/interruption — Receive up to $10,000 per trip (capped at $20,000 per card per 12 months) for any prepaid, nonrefundable travel you booked that you aren’t able to use due to things like illness, weather, severe injury, etc.

The Amex Platinum even comes with automatic cell phone protection when you pay your monthly phone bill with the card, giving you up to $800 in coverage per claim. All you’ve got to do is pay a $50 deductible. You can submit up to two claims per 12-month period.

Total yearly savings: $834. We’ve had more than $3,000 in reimbursements for dinged rental cars, delayed baggage, and canceled flights over the past few years — not to mention the money saved by waiving rental car agencies’ insurance. I value this at $200 per year.

 

Earning points

Here’s the truth: The Amex Platinum is hot garbage when it comes to earning points.

Yes, it offers a whopping 80,000-point welcome bonus after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months from account opening. But after that, it’s only good for select travel purchases. You’ll earn:

• 5 Amex points per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly with the airline or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 per calendar year)
• 5 Amex points per dollar spent on hotels reserved through Amex Travel
• 1 Amex point per dollar for all other eligible purchases

This card is almost certainly not worth its annual fee if your main intent is to rack up points from everyday spending. Loosely speaking, you’d have to spend circa $5,000 on airfare and hotel stays via Amex Travel just to earn enough points for a round-trip domestic flight.

There are far better cards to channel your spending towards, like the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4 points per dollar on common purchases like at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year, then 1x).

All this to say, the Amex Platinum’s value is in its ongoing benefits — not its earning rate.

 

Spending points

Amex Membership Rewards are arguably the most valuable travel currency in existence. After you meet the Amex Platinum’s minimum spending requirement, you’ll have at least 86,000 points. This bonus alone is enough to at least give the card a shot for a year to see if it’s a good fit for your wallet. Here are a couple ways you can use it.

 

Redeem for travel through Amex Travel

When you redeem points through Amex Travel, you’ll get a value of 1 cent per point towards airfare, hotels, cruises, etc. If you’re not a distinguished mathematician, just know that 86,000 points is worth $860 — considerably more than the annual fee.

While this is not the best way to use your points, it’s a guaranteed way to recoup your initial $695 investment in case you decide the card isn’t for you.

 

Transfer your points to airline and hotel partners

The undisputed best way to use Amex points is by converting them into airline miles or hotel points. If you know what you’re doing, it’s possible to get 3+ cents in value from your points.

Here are a few examples of what you can do:

• Fly to Europe in lie-flat United Airlines business class seats by transferring 88,000 points to ANA, a major carrier of Japan. This ticket can cost many thousands of dollars, depending on your route.
• Fly round-trip to Israel in coach by transferring 50,000 points (and much less during fare sales) to Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France and KLM.
• Book two round-trip coach flights to Hawaii on United Airlines by transferring 78,000 miles to Singapore Airlines.
• Book an eight-stop trip around the world on various airlines by transferring 65,000 points to ANA.

If you read The Daily Drop with regularity, you’ll quickly learn how to book these types of sweet spots.

 

PSA: Amex points aren’t great for everything

You’ve got a mind-numbing amount of redemption options for your Amex points — and lots of them aren’t good.

Anything that’s not travel related is guaranteed to be a poor value. Here are some examples:

• You can use them to buy stuff on Amazon at a rate of 0.7 cents each.
• You can reimburse yourself for credit card charges at a rate of 0.6 cents each.
• You can trade them for gift cards at varying rates (usually below 1 cent each).

One big Achilles heel is that the super cheap flight deals FareDrop finds are often not bookable through Amex Travel. Frustratingly, the site tends to hide the lowest fare bucket.

 

Who is the Amex Platinum NOT for?

You don’t need to be the chairman of Mensa to squeeze more value from the card than you’re paying in annual fees. But that doesn’t mean the card is a fit for you.

Before you open the card, make sure the below scenarios don’t apply to you.

 

You have a credit score below 700

Don’t get me wrong — I personally know people who have been approved for the Amex Platinum with credit scores in the high-600s. It’s not impossible. But even if you CAN be approved, blindly follow my instruction and wait until your credit score is above 700 to apply.

You need to be completely sure that you can responsibly handle credit when getting into the travel credit card game. Cards like this come with murderous interest rates. That means if you carry a balance month-to-month, you’ll pay out the sphincter in fees.

If you’ve got a 700+ credit score, you’ve proven to yourself that you’ve got good credit habits and don’t have the proclivity to overspend.

Fun fact: Amex gives you the ability to see if you’re approved for a card “with 100% certainty” before actually opening the card.

You don’t travel more than once or twice per year

Be reeeeally honest with yourself before you make the $695 investment in this card. If your lifestyle doesn’t effortlessly blend with the benefits that the Amex Platinum offers — namely, travel-related stuff — you’re probably not going to get your money’s worth.

 

The verdict: $834 in value

For me personally, I receive about $1,529 in value per year from holding this card. That’s a net value of $834 after paying the annual fee.

If you’re one of the folks who spit-taked (spit-took?) all over your screen at the prospect of paying a $695 annual fee, do me two favors:

1.    Pop your phone in a mason jar filled with rice.
2.    Find a calculator and crunch some numbers.

If you travel with regularity, this card could legit be one of the best things that’s ever happened to you. Honestly, it’s baffling how Amex was able to cram so many benefits into a 1mm-thick slab of metal. Maybe that’s why the card is so heavy.

Let me know your thoughts on the Amex Platinum! Do you think it’s worth making an initial investment for all the travel upgrades and the coupon book of statement credits?