Is the Amex Platinum Still Worth It? (2025 Check In)

Gaudy status symbol or metal coupon book? Honestly, a bit of both. I have a love hate relationship with this card. But for most people reading this blog, short answer: yes, it’s still probably worth it, despite the $695 annual fee (there are $1k+ of statement credits available to offset this fee).

This is definitely a card that makes you put in a bit of effort to make it work (more on that later), but can be super rewarding. If you want a simple premium travel card, this one is NOT for you. If you’re willing to put in a bit of time to maximize the perks or if there’s a good sign up bonus, this card can yield outsized value.

If you’re new to the credit card game, see my intro post (HERE) and how to get started on specific cards (HERE).

In this post:

1. Quick Checklist – Is It Worth It?
2. Maximizing The Intro Bonus and “Testing” the Card
3. Statement Credits & Cost
4. $200 Annual Airline Fee Credit (I value this at $150)
5. $200 Annual FHR / Hotel Collection Credit (I value this at $150)
6. $200 Uber Credit (I value this at $200)
7. $1,000+ In Random Other Credits (I value these at $100)
8. My General Thoughts on Credits & Effective Annual Fee
9. Lounge Access (Centurion and more)
10. Other Important Perks
11. Earnings Structure
12. Conclusion

Quick Checklist – Is It Worth It?

Here’s a quick checklist you can go by to see if this card is worth it to you:

1. Do you travel at least 3x per year?
2. Do your home airport(s) have a Centurion lounge?
3. Do you use Uber / get take out at least 1x per month?
4. Do you subscribe to Disney, Hulu, New York Times, Peacock, ESPN, or Walmart+?

If you answered yes to 3 of them, then the card is worth it. 2 is borderline, and 1 or below, it’s not for you. But the most important by far is question #1 – if you don’t travel with some amount of frequency, this card is simply not for you.

The reality is, Amex is targeting frequent traveling, upper / upper-middle income consumers for their Platinum card. You should not get this card if you’re going out of your way to use all the associated credits and far from a metropolitan area. It’s just a waste of time.

If you’re a professional / retiree who frequently travels and live in a urban / semi urban area near a major city, this card is suited towards you.

If you want a simple, no-hassle card, this card is also not for you. Part of recouping the value of the $695 fee does require a bit of work to scoop up the credits. If you’re not interested in that and want simplicity, don’t get this card.

If you want a simple but premium travel card, I’d recommend the Capital One Venture X, which is the best user-friendly premium travel card on the market (see HERE).

At the end of the day, you want your cards (especially those with fees) to be working for you – you shouldn’t be working for them.

Maximizing The Intro Bonus and “Testing” the Card

One thing I recommend specifically for folks on the fence about this card is to just get it, as long as there is a good intro bonus offer when you apply. This is because the introduction bonus will likely more than offset the first year’s annual fee, so if you don’t like it after a year, you can just cancel (or ask for a retention offer), with no real financial cost to you. The first year is your dating period – no serious commitment is required.

Important Note: As a general policy, Amex won’t allow you to get an introduction bonus on the Amex Gold card if you get the Platinum first.

I’ve seen exceptions to this, but if you’re looking at entering the Amex ecosystem, it’s best to move up the ladder and not start at the most expensive card. Here’s the steps I’d take if you’re new to Amex cards:

1. Get the Amex Gold (anything above 60k points is a good offer. Highest I’ve seen is 90k)
2. Get the Amex Platinum (anything above 100k points is a good offer. Highest I’ve seen is 175k)

Note there are even lower “tier” cards in the Amex ladder like the Amex Green, but I don’t think those are worth it if you’re in this for travel, but the same idea applies to those if you want to start at the bottom of the Amex card ladder.

Also, note that your intro offer to the Amex Platinum can change depending on when you pull up the application. There’s no seeming rhyme or reason to this. When I was applying for the card, I’d find the application link on the Amex page or through other blogs and would consistently get offers for 100k to 150k. If you’re not having any luck, I’d recommend using a different personal device, different browser, or even a VPN.

After about a week of random refreshing on my laptop and phone, I lucked out and got an offer for 175k points after 8k in spend which was the highest I’ve seen, and immediately applied and was approved.

Anecdotally, the Amex cards are easy to get approved for, which has been the case in my experience as long as you have good credit. Chase on the other hand…

I redeemed my intro bonus for a ride in Air France’s new business class suites, with still miles to spare after that.

Statement Credits & Cost

The perks! This is why we’re here. As one of the most premium travel cards on the market, the Amex Platinum comes with a host of perks. It’s not cheap, though: the card has a $695 annual fee, which is not waived the first year.

So is it worth it? I’m going to split the perks into two buckets: (1) statement credits and (2) other perks. Both are important in deciding whether or not this card is worth it to you.

Statement Credits

The card comes with $1,000+ of credits to offset this fee. I’d recommend going down this list to see what you’d realistically use, though, as a lot of these credits are fluff you’d probably never use. If you can get to $500 or above, you’re more than likely going to get value in keeping this card for the long term while paying a moderate net fee. Here’s the full list and how I value this card:

$200 Annual Airline Fee Credit (I value this at $150)

This credit is incredibly annoying. It’s technically only for incidental fees incurred with airlines and NOT actual fares (intended for baggage fees, seat selection fees, lounge day passes, wifi, etc). However, I’ve had luck just buying United TravelBank credit and getting the full credit for that so I can use it on airfare with United. However, knocking off $50 in value because it’s a waste of time trying to get around the rules to maximize this credit.

If using this for United TravelBank, I’d cut the purchases up into smaller payments of $100 or less to make sure the statement credit posts. All eligible airlines include:

Alaska / American / Delta / Hawaiian / Jetblue / Spirit / Southwest / United

Note you have to select what airline you want via the Amex portal at the start of the year, so you’re mostly locked after selecting (however, there are reports of folks having luck asking customer service midyear to switch if needed).

$200 Annual FHR / Hotel Collection Credit (I value this at $150)

This credit is interesting – the official rules state the $200 statement credit is eligible for:

1 night minimum stays booked through Amex FHR (Fine Hotels and Resorts)

2 night minimum stays booked through the Hotel Collection

Both options will show up when booking through the Amex travel portal, which is fairly easy to use. The rates here generally match what’s on hotel websites, but only for standard (non-saver rooms). So you might end up paying more than just booking the same room vs. directly with the hotel, so I’d just check for any significant prices gaps.

However, when booking through FHR / Hotel Collection, you generally get a $100 credit that can be used on hotel food, beverages, or experiences (spa, etc). This varies by hotel but food and beverage is the most common.

Furthermore, you get upgrades if availability to the next best room, as well as early check in (generally 12pm) and late check out (3pm / 4pm in most cases).

Finally, with FHR specifically, you’ll also get free breakfast most of the time incremental to the $100 credit, which is awesome.

The annoying thing is that most FHR hotels are obscenely expensive places I’d never stay at with cash ($500+ / night), although these can get more reasonable in cheaper locales like Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Hotel collection hotels are generally a bit cheaper but still can average ~$250/night, depending on region.

The way I think of this credit is for on any vacation I take once a year, I can splurge a bit and stay somewhere super nice, and get some value out of it via free food, beverages, etc. What’s the point of saving money if you’re not going to buy cool experiences? That’s what I tell myself at least. Your mileage may vary on this credit, though.

I used my credit recently for the Hyatt Regency Da Nang, which was an awesome experience:

$200 Uber Credit (I value this at $200)

This is split up as $15 per month, with an extra $20 on top for December. I live in the NYC area so this one is extremely easy to use. Note this counts for rides or uber eats. I use one or the other at least one time per month. Uber eats pickup orders count as well, which don’t have delivery fees so I usually can get at least one free takeout meal with this credit.

$1,000+ In Random Other Credits (I value these at $100)

Here’s a table of the remaining credits on the Amex Platinum:

Credit	Description	How I Value This
$240 Annual Digital Entertainment Credit	Up to $20 monthly for: Disney+, ESPN, Hulu, New York Times, Peacock, or the Wall Street Journal.	I use this for WSJ, but I’d only ever pay $50 total for WSJ so valuing this at $50
$155 Annual Walmart+ Credit	Statement credit covers monthly cost of Walmart+ ($12.95)	I occasionally order from Walmart, and note Walmart+ gives you access to Peacock. I value this at $0 (conservatively)
$199 Annual Clear Plus Credit	Annual credit covering Clear Plus Membership	I don’t use this; Precheck is good enough for me, never waited more than 15 minutes
$100 Annual Saks Credit	$50 semi-annual credit for purchases at Saks Fifth Ave	I’ll buy socks or underwear 2x per year with this; valuing at $50 total because I’d never shop at Saks otherwise
$120 Global Entry / PreCheck Credit	Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck	I already have this; but is worth face value to me every 5 years for Global Entry renewal – $0 for now
$300 Equinox Credit	Up to $300 back on Equinox+ subscription or club membership fees	I don’t go to Equinox – $0

My General Thoughts on Credits & Effective Annual Fee

The credits are very annoying, but I do get value out of them. Amex banks on consumers not using all of these to make money, and I’d assume that some people don’t even know they exist (Amex’s favorite customers!).

Adding them up, I get $600 of annual value from these credits, so the net effective fee for this card for me is $95. I value the credits conservatively, but mostly because they are annoying and time is money here!

But for net $95 a year, I get all of the associated perks listed below, which makes this card an awesome deal for me.

Lounge Access (Centurion and more)

One of the biggest perks of this card is lounge access.

With this card, you get access to a couple of different lounge programs.

Front and center, you’ll get access to Amex’s network of Centurion Lounges. In general, I’ve found these good “utility” lounges, with decent food and drinks. None of these lounges are spectacular or over-the-top, but where Amex Centurion shines is how big their network is.

Read my reviews of the LGA centurion lounge (HERE) or DCA centurion lounge (HERE).

They currently have lounges in the following airports, with more to come:

US Centurion Lounges:

Atlanta (ATL)	New York (JFK)
Charlotte (CLT)	New York (LGA)
Dallas (DFW)	Philadelphia (PHL)
Denver (DEN)	Phoenix (PHX)
Houston (IAH)	Salt Lake City (SLC) – Opening 2025
Las Vegas (LAS)	San Francisco (SFO)
Los Angeles (LAX)	Seattle (SEA)
Miami (MIA)	Washington DC (DCA)
Newark (EWR) – Opening 2026

International Centurion Lounges:

Buenos Aires (EZE)	Mexico City (MEX)
Delhi (DEL)	Monterrey (MTY)
Hong Kong (HKG)	Mumbai (BOM)
London (LHR)	Stockholm (ARN)
Melbourne (MEL)	Sydney (SYD)

Other Important Perks

There are almost too many other small perks to list, but I’m highlighting the ones with the most value below that I find valuable.

Travel Insurance

This ancillary perk alone is worth a significant amount to me. The Amex platinum comes with multiple forms of trip insurance. Note to gain access to the insurance, you must book your flight / rental car with the card in order to be covered. Also, this is only partial insurance coverage – the insurance only kicks in if you have an unexpected interruption / cancellation, not if you choose to cancel your trip.

There are two key types of flight insurance that come with the card:

1. Trip delay insurance. If your round-trip flight is paid with your Platinum card and your trip is delayed more than 6 hours, you can get eligible expenses (hotel, food, ubers) compensated, up to $500 per trip. Covered delay reasons include inclement weather, terrorist action, equipment failure and lost travel documents. This perk valuable to me because it’s good to know you’re covered if your flight gets delayed due to weather and you’re not on the hook personally for a hotel that night
2. Trip cancellation / interruption insurance. This one is a bit more complicated and hopefully one you don’t have to use, but good to have. Coverage limitations here are $10,000 per covered trip and $20,000 per eligible card in each 12 month period. Basically, Amex (via New Hampshire Insurance) will cover any non-refundable prepaid costs OR an economy class flight to rejoin your original itinerary in case of covered losses from injury, sickness, weather, jury duty, emergency housing issues, quarantine, and a few more.

Another important insurance feature from the card is rental car insurance – note this is secondary coverage, so it only kicks in if your primary car insurance does not cover rental cars. However, this insurance will cover any damage done do your rental car, as long as you’re not renting a specialty vehicle (no ferraris or range rovers, stick to that Mazda or at most Tesla from Hertz). Also, note this does not include liability insurance, so I’d still purchase that if renting a car to drive worry-free.

Resy Global Dining Access

This is probably useless in most markets but is actually quite useful in New York. New York has a unique restaurant market where many top restaurants can primarily only be reserved on Resy, of which many are very hard to grab a table yet. I’ve had luck getting tables at moderately hard to get restaurants (Misi, Peter Luger, etc) using the “priority notify” feature reserved for Amex Platinum card holders.

Again though, this feature is only really useful if you’re in any large city, primarily NYC given how competitive getting some reservations can be.

Amex Shopping Portal

This shopping portal is nowhere near as crazy as Capital One’s shopping portal, but there are still often good deals for things I’d have spent money on anyways.

Once you have an Amex card, you’ll get access to a host of deals. A lot are for places I’d never spend money, but just looking at the list below, I’d probably spend at least $100 at lulu in the next year, so there’s a free $20 right there.

Amex Concierge

I get zero value out of this because I don’t use it, but the Platinum card does come with a special concierge line that some people have used for travel recommendations, booking event tickets, getting restaurant reservations, etc. I’ve never used this – YMMV here depending on what type of traveler you are.

Access to Transfer Bonuses

This one is a sneaky one, but one great thing about bank credit card points (Amex, Chase, Capital One, etc) vs direct airline points is that the banks often run transfer bonuses.

This is another way you can stretch the value of your points. For example, a recent Amex promo was to transfer 1 Amex MR for a 20% bonus to Qatar Airways (i.e 1 Amex MR for 1.2 Qatar Avios).

This would be a great way to “subsidize” a redemption booked through Qatar (or any of their partner airlines, like American Airlines), making your stash of Amex points go even further.

This is why I generally assign a premium to any bank credit card points, including Amex – I find myself often transferring them during bonuses. For example, Amex had a 20% transfer bonus to Air France Flying Blue in late 2024, for which I booked a business class award via Air France on both Air France and Vietnam Airlines from JFK to Hanoi for just 79,000 FlyBlue points.

Earnings Structure

This card has a 5x multiplier on any airline purchase, and 1x on everything else. This makes the card a terrible everyday spend card, but the best card on the market for airline purchases. Some other cards offer 5x for travel, but only if booking through their portal. Amex’s 5x earnings will post for any purchase even directly with an airline, for fares or fees.

For example, I had a bunch of recent airline charges for both flights and award ticket fees, and all posted at 5x earnings:

Conclusion

In summary, whether or not the Amex platinum is right for you depends on three things:

1. Will you use the credits
2. Are you willing to work a bit to maximize these credits
3. Do you travel frequently (ideally in / around airports with a Centurion Lounge)

If you want a simple, one-and-done travel card, this card is NOT for you. If you are able to leverage the credits to end up paying a small net effective fee (or maybe even get paid a little bit for having the card), then it’s absolutely worth it.

For me, I value the credits at $600 based on what I realistically use. Thereafter, I’m paying a $95 net fee for a ton of great perks (Amex points ecosystem, travel insurance, Resy Global Dining Access, shopping portal, centurion lounges, etc), which makes this card an incredible deal for me and my spending habits.

Again, whether or not this card is right for you depends solely on your personal spending habits and situation, so I’d make sure to do the cost benefit analysis before getting this card. However, the good things don’t come easy, and if used correctly this is one of the most lucrative rewards cards publicly available on the market for travel.