The Platinum Card from American Express

Note: American Express is a Frequent Miler advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don't earn a commission. Please see our Advertiser Disclosure.

Card Details and Application Link
The Platinum Card® from American Express
150K points after $8K spend in 6 months. Terms apply.
$695 Annual Fee

Click Here to Apply
This is a friend-referral offer. A member of the Frequent Miler community may earn a referral bonus if you are approved for this offer
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 150K after $6k spend (referral only, expired 10/23)
FM Mini Review: This card is absolutely loaded with high end perks. Depending upon your situation, those perks may be worth the annual fee or much more.
Earning rate: 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel ✦ 5X points for prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel
Base: 1X (1.55%)
Travel: 5X (7.75%)
Card Info: Amex Pay Over Time Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Noteworthy perks: Up to $200 a year in statement credits for incidental fees at one qualifying airline per calendar year ✦ $200 prepaid hotel credit per calendar year valid on Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection bookings ✦ Up to $20 per month rebate for Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and/or The Wall Street Journal ✦ $15 monthly Uber or Uber Eats credit ($20 in December, use it or lose it each month) ✦ $189 CLEAR fee reimbursement per calendar year ✦ $12.95 (+tax) monthly credit for Walmart+ monthly membership subscription credit when you pay with Platinum card ✦ Up to $100 in credits annually for purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue (up to $50 in credits semi-annually) ✦ Priority Pass membership (Lounges only) with 2 guests and other airport lounge benefits (Centurion and Delta) ✦ Rental car elite status ✦ Marriott Gold status ✦ Hilton Honors Gold status Enrollement required for some benefits. Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees)

Introduction

The Platinum Card from American Express comes loaded with high end perks: Hundreds of dollars per year in various credit reimbursements, access to multiple types of airport lounges, hotel and car elite status, and much more. All of this goodness comes at a steep price, but many find it worth it.

There are multiple versions of the consumer Amex Platinum card.  For a complete roundup of the various flavors of Platinum, along with advice of which is best, see: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.

In this post, you’ll find information specific to the generic Platinum card from American Express…

Application Tips


Amex Application Tips



  • Safe to Apply: Amex is the safest bank for trying your luck at earning a new welcome bonus offer. They don’t usually issue a hard pull when denying your application, and if you already have an Amex card, they won't usually issue a hard pull when approved for another one. Plus, they’ll now warn you during the application process if you’re not eligible for the bonus.

  • Lifetime Rule: If you've ever had the same card before, you are most likely prohibited from earning a welcome bonus offer for the card if you apply now. Fortunately you'll be warned during the application process if this is the case. Amex is known to "forget" that you've had a card after about 7 years.

  • 90 Day Rule: You can get at most two credit cards within 90 days. This rule does not apply to Pay Over Time (charge) cards.

  • 5 credit card max: Amex usually won't approve applications for new credit cards if you already have 5 or more Amex credit cards or 10 or more charge cards.

  • Better Offers: You may be able to get a better offer than the best available public offer. Details here.

  • Hard inquiries combine into 1 when approved same day


Check application status here.
If denied, call reconsideration: 877-399-3083 (new accountholders); 866-314-0237 (current accountholders)


Should you apply?

Platinum card welcome bonuses are usually worth considerably more than the card’s annual fee. So, as long as you can make use of some of the card’s perks, and as long as you can meet the offer’s minimum spend requirements, it makes sense to apply and, if successful, keep it for at least one year. You can always cancel (or downgrade to a less expensive card) once the annual fee comes due in year 2 so as to avoid paying for the second year. You’re only eligible for a welcome offer on the Platinum card if you’ve never held it, the Morgan Stanley Platinum or the Schwab Platinum previously.

Amex Platinum Reconsideration

If denied, call reconsideration: 877-399-3083 (new account holders); 866-314-0237 (current account holders)

How to Meet Minimum Spend requirements

In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus offer. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:
Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.
That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information):

Annual Fee

  • Primary cardholder: $695 per year
  • Optional Authorized Users:
    • $195 per year for Platinum authorized users.  Platinum authorized users get lounge access and elite benefits.
    • Free “Companion Platinum” authorized users.  These authorized users are effectively stripped-down Gold cards and do not get lounge access benefits.  Plus, these authorized users do not get any of the perks available to Amex Gold Card cardholders.

Save money by sharing

If you have family or friends that you trust, consider sharing the cost of renewing your Platinum card each year by adding them as Platinum authorized users. Your friends won’t get airline fee or other credit reimbursements, but they will get lounge access, elite status, and more. The trick is to make sure they use the card only for the perks and not for spend since you will be responsible for any payments made with the card.

A Delta SkyClub membership alone costs $545 for 12 months. You can give friends the same access when flying Delta by adding them as authorized users. How much would your friends pay you for this benefit?  You can restrict the card so that your friends can’t actually use it for spend.

Amex Platinum Perks

Access to high end perks is the reason to hold an Amex Platinum card.

Perks for all Platinum cards

The following perks apply to all Platinum cards:
Benefit How to access or enroll Available to Platinum Authorized users?
5X points at amextravel.com: Earn 5X points for prepaid hotel and airline bookings at Amextravel.com This benefit is automatic. Yes. Points and bonus points are added to the primary card holder's account.
$200 airline fee credit: Amex will automatically reimburse up to $200 per calendar year for airline fees for your selected airline only. Eligible fees include: baggage fees, flight-change fees, in-flight food and beverage purchases, and airport lounge day passes. Log in and go to Benefit page and click “Select a Qualifying Airline”. For tips on using this benefit, please see: Amex airline fee reimbursements. What still works? No. Spend on authorized user cards does count, but only $200 per year will be reimbursed altogether.
Airport Lounge Access - Centurion Lounges, Airspace Lounges, Escape Lounges: Cardholder is allowed free in Centurion Lounges. In most cases guests will be charged $50 each (details here). Cardholder plus two guests are allowed free in Escape and Airspace Lounges. No need to enroll. Simply show your Platinum card when visiting a Centurion Lounge. Yes
Airport Lounge Access - Delta Sky Clubs: Cardholder is allowed free when flying Delta same day. Extra charge for guests. Starting Feb 2025: limited to 10 Sky Club visit-days per year (unless cardmember has spent $75K in a calendar year) No need to enroll. Simply show your Platinum card and same day boarding pass when visiting a Delta Sky Club. Yes
Airport Lounge Access - Plaza Premium Lounges: Cardholder plus one guest are allowed free when flying the same day. No need to enroll. Simply show your Platinum card and same day boarding pass when visiting a Plaza Premium Lounge. See full list of lounges here. Yes
Airport Lounge Access - Priority Pass Select Lounges: Priority Pass Select member plus two guests are allowed free entrance. Unfortunately, this membership does not include Priority Pass restaurants. You must sign up for Priority Pass Select. Go to benefit page and click “Enroll in Priority Pass”. You will receive a membership card by mail. Present Priority Pass card and boarding pass at lounge entrance. Yes. Each authorized user must sign up for Priority Pass Select.
Airport Lounge Access - select Lufthansa Lounges Free access to Lufthansa Business Lounges (with confirmed ticket) or to Senator Lounges (with Business Class ticket) in the satellite building of Terminal 2 at Munich Airport and in Terminal 1, Departure Area B, at Frankfurt Airport.  Valid only when flying Lufthansa, SWISS or Austrian Airlines.  Yes
Cell Phone Protection: Max $800 per claim, $50 deductible. No need to enroll. Pay your cell phone bill with your Platinum card. Yes
CLEAR credit: Get up to $189 per year reimbursed for CLEAR subscriptions. No need to enroll. Pay for CLEAR with your Platinum card.  See also:  5 ways to get CLEAR for less. No. Spend on authorized user cards does count, but only $189 per year will be reimbursed altogether.
Global Entry or TSA Pre fee credit: Full reimbursement for signup fee once every 5 years, per card. Note: signup for Global Entry since that includes TSA Pre. Sign up for Global Entry here. Pay with your Platinum card. Reimbursement should happen automatically. Yes. Pay with the authorized user card in order to get reimbursed. Terms state “Additional Cards on eligible Consumer and Business accounts are also eligible for the $100 statement credit”. This works with no fee Green and Gold authorized user cards too.
Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance Call the Premium Global Assist Hotline: 1-800-333-Amex (toll free), or 1-715-343-7977 (direct-dial collect) Yes
Hilton HHonors Gold Status: Hilton Gold members receive free breakfast, room upgrades when available, and other perks at Hilton hotels. Go to benefit page, find the Hilton HHonors Gold benefit, and click “Enroll Now”. Yes. Authorized users may have to call Amex to enroll.
Marriott Gold Status: Marriott Gold members receive a points welcome gift with each stay, room upgrades when available, 2pm late checkout, and other perks (details here). Go to benefit page, find the Marriott Gold benefit, and click “Enroll in Marriott Gold”. Yes. Authorized users may have to call Amex to enroll.
International Airline Program: Save money when booking premium cabin international flights originating in the US or Canada. Book your flight on amextravel.com. Make sure to log into your Amex account to see flight discounts. Yes
Fine Hotels & Resorts: Book high-end hotels through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts and get: room upgrade, daily breakfast for 2, 4pm late checkout, noon check-in, free wifi, and unique property amenity. Also: Earn 5X Membership Rewards for prepaid bookings. Browse to www.americanexpressfhr.com and log into your Platinum account. Yes
Fiesta Rewards Platinum Status Use the Spanish language page: http://www.fiestarewards.com/inscripcion and enter code: AMEXPLATINUM Yes
National Car Rental Executive status: Book midsize cars and select any car from the Executive Aisle for no extra charge. Enroll here. Yes
Hertz Rental Car Privileges: President's Circle Status, discounts, plus four hour grace period for rental car returns. Details and enrollment form found here. Yes
Cruise Benefits: Pay for your cruise with your Platinum card and receive $100 to $300 per stateroom shipboard credit plus additional amenities unique to each cruise line Detailed terms can be found here. Yes
Premium Private Jet Program: 20% off plus one time $500 credit towards Wheels Up Connect or 40% off plus one time $2K towards Wheels Up Core memberships. Sign up here. Yes
ShopRunner: Free shipping at a number of merchants. Sign up here. Yes
Neiman Marcus In-Circle Call 1-800-525-3355 to enroll Yes

Additional Consumer Platinum Perks

The following perks apply to all consumer Platinum cards (including the regular Amex Platinum, Morgan Stanley Platinum, and Schwab Platinum):
Benefit How to access or enroll Available to Platinum Authorized Users?
$200 in Uber / Uber Eats Credits: Amex will reimburse $15 per month ($35 in December) for Uber charges. You will also get Uber VIP status. Add your Platinum card number to your Uber account as a payment method. You do not have to pay with the Platinum card in order to get this benefit. Important: when requesting a ride, select Uber Cash for payment in order to use your credits. No. Authorized user cards do not receive their own $200 in Uber credits or VIP status.
$200 Hotel Credit: Get $200 back per calendar year towards prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings No need to enroll.  Book through Amex Travel and pay with your Platinum card. Hotel Collection bookings require a minimum two-night stay. No. Spend on Authorized user cards does count, but only $200 per year will be reimbursed altogether.
$240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Up to $20 per month rebate for select digital entertainment services (Disney+, The Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal) Enroll here. Enroll in any of the listed services and pay with your Platinum card. No. Spend on Authorized user cards does count, but only $20 per month will be reimbursed altogether.
$100 in Saks Fifth Avenue Credits: Up to $50 in credits each year from January through June; and another $50 July through December. Enroll here. Pay with your consumer Platinum card at Saks Fifth Avenue online or at locations in the US and US Territories. No. Spend on Authorized user cards does count, but only $50 per 6 months will be reimbursed altogether.
Free Walmart+ Subscription: Get back the full cost, including taxes, for a Walmart+ monthly subscription. No need to enroll.  Use your Platinum card to pay for a monthly Walmart+ subscription. No. You can use an Authorized user card to pay, but you won't get more than one credit per month.
$300 Equinox Credit: Get $300 back per year in statement credits for a digital or club membership at Equinox. There is a yearly option for Equinox+ (the app) membership that is $300 annually. Enroll here. Use your Platinum card to pay for a digital or club membership at Equinox. No. Spend on Authorized user cards does count, but only $300 will be reimbursed altogether.
$300 SoulCycle Rebate: Charge the full price of a SoulCycle at-home bike and get $300 back in statement credits. Must join Equinox first (see above). Sort of: Each Platinum account can get $300 back on each of 15 bikes purchased per year.
5X points on flights booked directly with airlines. With business cards you must book through Amex Travel to get 5X. Automatic benefit Yes. Points and bonus points are added to the primary card holder's account.
Active Military Fee Waiver: Amex will waive consumer card fees (including annual fees) for US active military personnel. Call the number of the back of your card and tell them you are serving on active duty military and had heard that AMEX offers to handle your account in accordance with the Military Lending Act (MLA) Yes (primary user must call and can get fees waived for additional cardholders)

Redeem Points

In general, Membership Rewards points are worth up to 1 cent each when redeemed for merchandise or gift cards. Fortunately, there are three ways in which it is possible to get more value: redeem points for flights, transfer points to hotel or airline partners, or invest rewards. More on each below…

Travel

Those with Amex Platinum cards automatically get 1 cent per point value when redeeming points for travel. That's not particularly good, but it's much better than the value that people get without an Amex Platinum card. Currently, the only way to get better than 1 cent per point value when redeeming points for travel is with the Business Platinum Card.
The Business Platinum Card offers a 35% Airline Bonus: Get 35% of your points back when you redeem points through Amex Travel for either a First or Business class flight on any airline, or for any flights with your selected airline.
After you receive the 35% rebate, the value works out to 1.54 cents per point. That's very good, but it does require owning this ultra-premium card.

Transfer points

The best use of Membership Rewards points, in my opinion, is to transfer points to airline and hotel partners in order to book high value awards. Your best bet is usually to wait until you find a great flight or night award before transferring points. One exception: Amex often offers 30% or higher transfer bonuses to certain programs (Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are two recent examples). If you’re confident that you’ll use the points for good value, it may make sense to transfer points when those bonuses are in effect.

For specific examples of great ways to use points transferred to airline miles, please see: Amex Membership Rewards sweet spots.

Current Transfer Bonuses

Here are the currently available transfer bonuses from Amex Membership Rewards (this table will update automatically when new offers are found):

Transfer Bonus DetailsEnd Date
[Targeted] 20% transfer bonus from Amex to Etihad Guest2024/04/04

Points can be transferred to the loyalty accounts of the primary cardholder or any authorized user or employee on the account.

Transfer Partners

It is free to transfer Membership Rewards points to foreign airlines. For transfers to US airlines, however, Amex charges an “excise tax offset fee” of $0.0006 per point (with a maximum fee of $99). Airlines subject to this fee are noted below.

Rewards ProgramAmex Transfer RatioBest Uses
Aer Lingus Avios1 to 1Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus (Avios.com) rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar.  See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
AeroMexico ClubPremier1 to 1.6AeroMexico is a SkyTeam partner. Club Premier points can be used to book flights on AeroMexico, SkyTeam alliance members (such as Delta or Korean Air), or on select partner airlines. Unfortunately many have reported that awards are extremely difficult to book through AeroMexico so we do not recommend transferring points to this program. If you want to fly AeroMexico, look to transfer points to another SkyTeam partner (such as Air France) and then book AeroMexico with that program.
Air Canada Aeroplan1 to 1Redeem for Star Alliance flights and/or flights with Air Canada partners (such as Etihad). No fuel surcharges; $39 CAD award booking fee; 5,000 points to add stopover on one-way award. See: Air Canada Aeroplan: Everything you need to know.
Air France KLM Flying Blue1 to 1Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel.
ANA Mileage Club1 to 1Redeem for Star Alliance flights. Multiple stopovers allowed. ANA offers many great sweet-spot awards, including flying around the world in business class for as few as 115K miles! See also: ANA - a terrific Membership Rewards gem.
Avianca LifeMiles1 to 1Avianca LifeMiles can be great for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable award prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. They also offer shorthaul awards within the US (for flying United, for example) for as few as 7,500 miles one-way. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details.
British Airways Avios1 to 1While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles1 to 1Cathay Pacific has a decent distance based award chart, but they no longer allow stopovers longer than 24 hours. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can be a good option for booking American Airlines flights with a distance based award chart, especially if other OneWorld Alliance miles aren't available. For long distance flights, it is possible to reduce the cost of a premium cabin award by adding on a lower cabin segment. See this post for details.
Choice1 to 1Choice Privileges points seem to be randomly valuable within the US, but dependably valuable internationally in expensive locations such as Scandinavia and Japan. Points can sometimes offer great value when used towards participating Preferred Hotels of the World.
Delta SkyMiles1 to 1 plus excise taxDelta no longer charges change or cancellation fees on awards originating in North America. Flash award sales and flights to/from locations other than the U.S. or Canada can offer great value. See: Best uses for Delta miles.
Emirates Skywards1 to 1The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be steep. See: Emirates Sweet Spot Awards - First class from 30K miles round trip.
Etihad Guest1 to 1Etihad offers a distance based award chart for flying Etihad and another for its partners. Points may offer good value for expensive but short-distance flights.
Hawaiian Miles1 to 1 plus excise taxHawaiian Airlines’ award prices tend to be quite high, but there are some not-terrible uses: fly to neighboring islands for 7.5K miles, fly first class round-trip from Hawaii to South Pacific islands for as few as 95K miles, fly first class round-trip from Hawaii to Australia for as few as 130K miles, or use miles to upgrade paid flights.
Hilton1 to 25th Night Free awards. Best value is usually found with very low end or very high end Hilton hotels. Bonus: award nights are not subject to resort fees.
Iberia Avios1 to 1On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
JetBlue250 to 200 plus excise taxJetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards.
Marriott Bonvoy1 to 15th Night Free awards. Opportunities to get outsized value exist but can be hard to find.
Qantas Frequent Flyer1 to 1Best use is probably for flights on El Al with no fuel surcharges. Also useful for short AA flights. Qantas offers distance based award charts similar to Cathay Pacific. Both are OneWorld Alliance members. I recommend comparing award prices across both programs before transferring to either. Qantas offers round the world business class awards for only 280,000 points (but with many restrictions)
Qatar Privilege Club Avios1 to 1Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer1 to 1Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines).
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club1 to 1Virgin Atlantic offers a few great sweet spot awards including US to Europe on Delta One business class for 50K points one-way. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight).

Cash back (invest with rewards)

You can redeem points for cash back at a reasonable rate with the Business Platinum Card, the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab or the Platinum Card for Morgan Stanley.  With the Business Platinum card, you need an Amex Business Checking account to cash out points for 1 cent each.  The Schwab and Morgan Stanley cards, meanwhile, offer the option to "Invest with Rewards." With the Schwab benefit you can deposit Membership Rewards points into a Schwab account at a value of 1.1 cents per point. For example, 60,000 points becomes $660.  With the Morgan Stanley benefit, each point is worth 1 cent each.  For example, you can redeem 60,000 points for $600.

Other options

You can also redeem points for gift cards or merchandise. At most, with this approach you’ll get 1 cent per point value, but usually you’ll get quite a bit less.

You can also use points to pay some merchants directly (Amazon.com, for example). Don’t do this. These options offer very poor value. Further, they may compromise the security of your account (i.e. if someone hacks into your Amazon account, they might spend your Ultimate Rewards points – causing you a headache in getting your points reinstated).

Manage Points

Combine Points

Amex automatically pools all of your points together. When you earn points with different cards, the point total shown when viewing either card is the total across cards.

Share Points

Unlike Chase and Citibank, Amex doesn’t allow members to move points from one person’s account to another. That said, it is possible to transfer one person’s points to another person’s loyalty program account. The key is that the person who receives the points must be an authorized user or employee on the other person’s account. For example, my wife can transfer Membership Rewards points to my Virgin Atlantic account as long as I’m an authorized user (or employee) on any of her Membership Rewards cards.
An authorized user card must be active for 90 days before it will unlock the ability to transfer your points to the authorized user’s loyalty program account.

How to Keep Points Alive

Thankfully, it is very easy to keep Amex Membership Rewards points alive. Simply keep any Membership Rewards card open. For example, if you are about to close your one and only Membership Rewards card, then open another Membership Rewards card account first in order to preserve your points. Amex offers some no-fee Membership Rewards cards, such as the Blue Business Plus and the Amex Everyday, so this shouldn't be much of a burden.

Amex Platinum: Keep or Cancel?

Deciding whether to keep or cancel Amex Platinum cards can be a tough decision. Given the card’s very high annual fee, it’s a significant investment to keep the card year after year. If you make good use of the card’s perks and rebates, though, it can be well worth it. For example, a Delta SkyClub membership alone currently costs $545 for 12 months, but you get the same access when you’re a Platinum cardholder. Plus, the Platinum card gives you access to many other lounges including Amex Centurion Lounges and Escape Lounges, both of which are arguably the best domestic airport lounges in the US.

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