The Ultimate Card
Written: Sep 11 '07
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Pros: Lounge Access, Companion Tickets, Consumer Protections, Gold Card Events, MR points, Hotel benefits
Cons: Annual Fee, Agents sometimes not as knowledgeable as they should be
The Bottom Line: If you know the benefits and make use of them, the AMEX Platinum is worth every penny.
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| Chewy3's Full Review: American Express Platinum |
As someone who has worked in the credit card industry (not for AMEX) I can tell you that despite its hefty $450 annual fee the benefits of the American Express Platinum card are unparalleled. The key is knowing all the benefits that the card provides--many of them are seldom used but can be worth thousands of dollars to some people. I will describe the most useful benefits and my experiences with them.
AIRLINE BENEFITS
Lounge Access
This card allows lounge access to many carriers' airport lounges which feature such things as internet access, free drinks, dedicated airline staff (big benefit when a flight is cancelled or you need special services), internet access, and a quiet place to sit. The carriers that currently participate are American, Continental, Delta, and Northwest. It is rumored that it costs Amex about $15 per entry into the lounge.
This is one of the primary benefits of the card since lounge access typically costs $300-400 a year or $25-50 for a day visit (almost the cost of the annual fee itself). So if you fly a lot, the Platinum card is already worth it.
There is one cautionary note with this benefit; if you are flying on Continental for example and there are only Northwest Clubs around you cannot use it with Amex. You can only use the club with the corresponding airline you are flying.
4 Companion Air Tickets per year
This is a new tangible benefit that allows a cardholder the ability to book a free companion air ticket on most of the US major carriers if the price of the ticket is $299 or more (without taxes 48 US), Hawaii and Alaska are available for a higher base price. Unlike other companion certs that I've encountered this service actually works and the companion ticket acts as a paid ticket meaning it earns miles and is eligible for upgrades. If you ticket falls below the 299 threshold they can just charge you that amount to get the companion ticket (i.e. if it were $289 it would be worth it to charge 10 more to get the companion ticket free).
2 for 1 international business or first class tickets
This is not a very useful program unlike the above benefit because you must purchase one FULL FARE ticket in business or first class (F or J/C fare basis depending on the airline) and that typically costs twice as much as a discounted ticket is to begin with. The companion doesn't earn miles either and the full fare ticket is booked into a discount fare category (usually A for first and D or Z for business).
HOTEL BENEFITS
Fine Hotels and Resorts program
An awesome program that allows you to book certain 4 and 5 star properties around the world and you are given additional perks on arrival. Usually it will include free breakfast for 2, 4 PM checkout, guaranteed room upgrade if available at check-in and an extra amenity. For example, I stayed at the W Hotel Times Sq in Manhattan and received a $100 spa credit. I was also given an amazing room with great view on the 43rd floor overlooking Times Sq. Other amenities I've seen include free lunch or dinner for 2 or special tea service for 2. The rates are usually competitive with what the hotel is charging (often times less than the lowest rate available).
If you stay at high end hotels often this perk can pay the annual fee after only a couple stays.
Free Gold Membership in Starwood
You get upgraded membership in Starwood Hotels (Westin, Sheraton, W Hotels, et al.) which entitle you to late check out, bonus points, and a possible room upgrade. A nice perk that usually takes requires 10 stays at a Starwood hotel.
CONSUMER PROTECTIONS
A very important feature of the card is that it protects many of the things that you buy. Here are the different programs.
Purchase Protection Plan
You are covered for 3 months from theft, damage (including accidental), or even loss of an item up to $10,000 per occurrence (up to $50,000 a year) -- Jewellery is capped at $2,500 per occurrence. If you lost a $2000 watch for example you will get reimbursed after submitting some paperwork. An amazing coverage.
Buyer's Assurance
Automatically doubles the Manufacturer's warranty on an item up to one year. Great for electronics.
Product Return
If a merchant won't take an item back you can send it to Amex for a full refund minus shipping up to $300 per item ($1000 total per year). Great for final sale items that have no return policy.
Event Protection
In case of medical emergency, stolen, damaged, or lost tickets to an event you are covered up to $2000 per occurrence for up to 2 times per year. I personally have used this program for a concert and was reimbursed only a week after I filed the claim. This alone saved me $1000.
OTHER PERKS
Concierge Service
Call the 800 number on the back of the card for almost any kind of request. Get tickets to sold out events, hard to get dinner reservations, or ask for the phone number of a business etc. They are usually pretty helpful although sometimes the agents aren't that knowledgeable and a quick google search would have been preferable.
Membership Reward Points
Not the best reward program out there but pretty decent since you can convert them into miles in many programs. This allows you to top off miles that you already have (i.e you need 1000 more miles in Continental to get that trip to Europe you can transfer them from AMEX). You can also get gift certs and other products that, in my opinion, are not worth using your points for. The other little known thing is that you can transfer points into miles for friends’ accounts as well. Although it's not officially sanctioned, I have done it successfully. I was given 25k points for signing up for the Platinum card and they often send these offers out.
One of the most useful redemptions that I have seen (and only available to Plat and Centurion cardholders) is the EOS RT ticket to London. For 45k pts + $500 you can get a RT JFK-Stansted on EOS which is an all first class seating airplane (business class service). Most mileage programs require 80-100k RT business class to Europe so that is a great value.
Gold Card events on Ticketmaster
I use this feature often -- it gives you presale access to many major concerts and events. I love going to the U.S. Open Tennis Final every year and this card makes it possible without paying over face value for tickets.
Car Rental Insurance
Self explanatory.
3 Additional Cards for $175
A good deal for a spouse or friend who travels a lot as well since it comes with all the same perks as the main cardholder including 4 additional companion air tickets and lounge access. All MR points get funneled into the main account.
These are the major features that I have found useful -- there are many other features that I haven't covered which, in my opinion, are less useful and I didn't have any personal experience to describe. Please visit www.americanexpress.com/platinum for more details.
Also, some may find it more useful to sign up for the Platinum Business card since the annual fee is $50 less and mostly has the same features.
Many will find the $450 fee just too much to justify, but for me, the benefits have paid for the fee over and over again. Just using the consumer protections once can save you thousands of dollars.
Getting the card is not as difficult as it used to be. In years past, you had to be invited to the AMEX Platinum card and prove that you had $100k+ in annual income. That is no longer a requirement and you can apply for the card online. I would however recommend you wait until you get targeted for an offer in the mail since there have been offers as high as 100k MR points to join (roughly worth $1000).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Chewy3
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Member: Omar Halabi
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 42 members
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