I’ve long held off adding one of the American Express Platinum credit cards to my wallet due to the hefty annual fee and the fact that United doesn’t participate in the lounge access benefit. But as my nearly exclusive flying on United is coming to an end soon by locking in million-miler status, I took the plunge and applied for a card. And the annual fee will pay for itself each year in travel benefits on other airlines, specifically lounge access and $200 in annual airline fee credits.
Link: The Platinum Card® from American Express: The current standard offer provides 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $2,000 within 3 months, $200 in airline fee credits (more on that below), access to American, Delta, US Airways and Priority Pass airport lounges, plus a host of other Platinum perks. The annual fee on this card is $450.
Link: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN: The current standard offer provides 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within 3 months, access to American, Delta, US Airways and Priority Pass airport lounges, plus a host of other Platinum perks. The annual fee on this card is $450.
Link: Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz: The current offer provides 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 in 3 months, access to American, Delta, US Airways and Priority Pass airport lounges, plus a host of other Platinum perks. The annual fee on this card is $475.
American Express has recently been mailing targeted offers out for the Platinum card with 100,000 Membership Rewards points, which is the best deal of course. But if you’re not lucky enough to get one, the above cards can still pay for themselves.
While not officially stated as a benefit of the Business or Mercedes-Benz cards, they do reportedly get $200 in airline fee credits. The credits are advertised as being for incidentals, such as checked bag fees, in-flight purchases (not Wi-Fi), change fees and the like. But airline gift card purchases have been widely reported as being successful.
My Plan
As my flying on American Airlines will increase in the coming months, I’ll designate them as the carrier for the $200 credit. Then, I’ll purchase gift cards (probably in $50 increments) under their program to capture the statement credit and use those cards for future flights.
And I’ll be able to avoid purchasing an Admirals Club lounge membership ($400 at my current AAdvantage Platinum status). So, the $450 annual fee will certainly pay for itself this year given my travel habits and patterns. Oh, and if you don’t already have Global Entry, American Express will reimburse the $100 application fee if you pay for it with your Platinum card.
I’m probably one of the few people who has held off for so long getting an AMEX Platinum card. And I only recently started getting targeted offers with the more generous Membership Rewards points, so never thought the previous 25k or 50k offers were worth the trouble as I focused predominantly on Chase and Citi cards.
Application link: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Application link: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN
Application link: Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz
For other airline, hotel and flexible credit cards that earn miles or points, click here.
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The MBZ card also gives a whole host of befits to MBZ owners – a 2000 mile overage waiver on your lease, $1000 repurchase incentive and $100 a year parts and service credit – its a pretty good deal for the $25 more, if you own an MBZ
There are far better options for those who aren’t lucky enough to be targeted for a better Plat offer than those 25K affiliate links. For example, AMEX frequently runs a 75K offer for the Biz Gold, so better to wait for it, then upgrade to the Biz Plat. Similarly, I believe there is currently a 50K offer for the Personal Gold card. By signing up for either the Personal or Biz 25K Plat you are excluding yourself from a 50-75K Personal or Biz Gold bonus. Someone would really need to be desperate for the Plat card to use those 25K links.
If upgrading the Business Gold to Business Platinum, do you have to pay the annual fee upfront? I just received my Biz Gold with 1st year annual fee waived. What is the highest Biz Plat bonus point sign up that you have seen offered in the past?
I disagree with this statement:
“Then, I’ll purchase gift cards (probably in $50 increments) under their program to capture the statement credit and use those cards for future flights.”
This is against Amex policy of incidental charges. Gift cards are excluded!
So that brings up a good point – what are the criteria for getting Platinum in the first place? Are there effective minimums for credit score, income, etc? Should some people consider applying for gold and upgrading later, versus applying for platinum and potentially being rejected? I’ve been wanting a platinum card, but I’m not sure whether I qualify or not.
@TV: I’m unfamiliar with the Gold to Platinum upgrades, honestly. And likewise, I haven’t been following AMEX offers all that long, but believe the highest I’ve seen for the Business card was 50k.
@jason: Many others have been successful in purchasing airline gift cards and have been reimbursed under the $200 credit… I’m hoping that’s still the case! If not, I’ll have to buy a lot of snack boxes (or rather… I’ll use it for an upcoming $200 rebooking fee for an international flight I had to cancel).
@E: The criteria are certainly proprietary. And I’d have to bet if someone applied for a Platinum and was rejected, that a call to the reconsideration line might trigger a Gold offer.
I bought 2 100 aa gift cards in January and was reimbursed a few days later. So, it worked 2 months ago
The amex Plat.card has come in handy for traveling and the use of the lounges.. also to be able to transfer membershio miles(it is cheqaper than using delta miles to transfer)
I also bought 4 AA gift cards and was reimbursed in 2 days, then used the gift cards to buy a plane ticket. You can also change the carrier every year and get the credit again. ie: I got my platinum card in Oct and used AA as the carrier to get the credit. After Jan, I can change airlines (still deciding who to go with) and will get the $200 credit again. Nice perk.