Life of Les

The year is 2024. Every big bank and financial institution has their own brand credit card and pushes it as the best “cashback” or “point accumulation” card out there. A number of cards come with some great benefits – either statement credits for specific purchases or privileges in various places of society (airport lounges, early access to entertainment events, etc.). One of the most well-recognized and notorious credit cards out there is the Amex Platinum card. This card also comes with one of the steepest annual fees in the industry: $695! In this blog, I’ll discuss if this annual fee is still worth paying in 2024 considering the current benefits that come with being a cardholder.

I’m going to run through the big benefits of the card in this blog and the list is not all-inclusive. Ground Rule: Just because the card has a benefit, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to “count it” as having value for me against the annual fee. In other words, if a benefit is providing credit towards something that I otherwise would not be paying for or spending money on without the card, I don’t really count it as a value item to justify the cost. If I did, I wouldn’t be determining if the card was worth the annual fee – I’d just be justifying increasing my spending habits to begin with (which I don’t want to do). 

$200 Airline Fee Credit: Based on the website’s description of this benefit, this airline fee credit can be used on miscellaneous travel fees (baggage, in-flight wifi or refreshments, cancellation fees, to name a few). However, one trick of the trade that I use along with many others is buying United Airline Travel Bank credit in increments of $50. This triggers the $200 in statement credits and since United Airlines has plenty of direct flight options from our local airport to places we fly to often for family, this $200 credit has value since we already spend that money on flights. The travel credit that you can buy and be reimbursed for lasts for five years, which is plenty of time for us to use. New Annual Fee Cost: $495 ($695 – $200)  

$155 Walmart+ Credit: My wife and I don’t regularly shop at Walmart for groceries, so this benefit doesn’t have as much value to us as it does for others. However, Paramount+ is included with Walmart+. I am an avid football (soccer) fan, and the UEFA Champions League and Europa League contests are streamed on Paramount+. Therefore, this is a streaming service that I’d pay for without the card, and it would cost me $6/mo. That’s $72/year. New Annual Fee Cost: $423 ($495 – $72)

$200 Hotel Credit: This credit is only eligible on a specific set of hotels within the Amex Travel Portal. These brands of hotels are normally very expensive, but the benefit does come with some nice perks to make it worth it (when you can find the right price and location). When my wife and I stayed in Edinburgh, Scotland in the Fall of 2022 as part of our Honeymoon, we used this credit to stay at the Waldorf Astoria. The nightly rate was $350/night and we stayed for two nights. The $200 statement credit lowered the total stay down to $500 ($700 – $200). In addition, we got early check-in and late check-out, free breakfast each day ($30/person/day… $120 total), $100 credit to be used at on-site amenities (we each both received a free leg massage at the on-site spa), and another $100 property credit that we used on room service both nights. In this case, we got a total of $520 ($200 + $120 + $100 + $100) in credits from this card. However, this is the one and only time that we have used this benefit as we aren’t heavy spenders and we only stayed at the Waldorf as a special occasion for our Honeymoon. So based on my rule above, I value this credit at $0, as we normally don’t use it and I’m not going to likely spend $700/night for a hotel room to justify saving the $200 in credit. However, if you regularly stay at luxury hotels, this credit might be worth it for you. New Annual Fee Cost: Still $423

$240 Digital Entertainment Credit: If you currently subscribe to any of the following services: Peacock, Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, a Disney Bundle, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and SiriusXM, this credit would be value-added towards justifying the annual fee. As I mentioned prior, I watch a lot of soccer. The English Premier League is found on Peacock, and the German Bundesliga, English Football League (Championship), and Spanish La Liga are found on ESPN+. NCAA basketball is often on ESPN+ as well, which I watch a fair amount of. Since I’d be paying for these services without the card, the $20/mo in statement credits that the card offers adds value towards justifying that annual fee. If you pay for SiriusXM or any of the other previously listed services, it would likewise provide value to you as well. New Annual Fee Cost: $183 ($423 – $240)

$200 Uber Cash Credit: Both my wife and I work. We’ll admit to going out to eat probably more than we should because some days we’re just too tired to cook. This card will give $15/mo in statement credits for Uber or Uber Eats, and $35 in December ($200 total, annually). Because I am really cheap, I will use the credit for pickup orders in Ubereats. In doing this, I avoid delivery fees, service fees, and needing to tip. However, I still pay the elevated price of the food due to the Uber Eats markup. My wife and I will get chipotle once a month with Uber Eats pickup where we’ll end up only paying just a few dollars after the $15 credit is applied. Because of the Uber Eats markup, I’m not going to count all $200 against the annual fee , instead I’ll count $160 against the annual fee because that is around the cost of food that we’d be getting without the Uber Eats markup. New Annual Fee Cost: $23 ($183 – $160)

$300 Equinox Credit: We don’t live in a big city, so we’ve never touched this credit. However, if you live in a city where Equinox is present, this might be a credit that adds value towards justifying the annual fee. New Annual Fee Cost: Still $23 

$189 Clear Plus Credit: The AMEX Platinum already covers TSA Pre-check reimbursement every 4 years, so this is a bit of a redundant benefit. I know that Clear does work in other venues across the world, but we’ve never encountered a time in which this benefit added value for us. Therefore, it doesn’t add credit to justify the annual fee for us. New Annual Fee Cost: Still $23. 

$100 Shop SAKS Credit: The Platinum card gives two $50 statement credits to SAKS Fifth each year, to be used between January and June for the first credit and then July and December for the second credit. Because my wife and I are not heavy spenders, SAKS is a store that we would regularly not be shopping at. Few items there are priced under $50, so it doesn’t add value towards justifying the fee. However, this is a benefit similar to the hotel one where it is a bit of a
“bonus” and there’s a trick to give it some value. The trick to get around the $50 cap is to buy a gift card in-store every 6 months. You have to buy the card in-store, so if you don’t live by a SAKS Fifth, this trick might not be as much of a bonus for you. We’ll stack the $50 gift cards and then buy something later that costs $100-$200 with the gift cards that we accumulate. In a separate article, I’ll explain how we do it with Rakuten so we get another 10-15% cash back from our purchase. However, like I said, these $100 in gift cards each year don’t really “add value” against the annual fee, so it doesn’t change once again. New Annual Fee Cost: Still $23.

So after all the statement credits, this card effectively costs us $23 per year as we’d be spending the other $672 regardless of whether we had the card or not. However, I have not discussed one of the best benefits of the card quite yet: Airport Lounge Access. If you travel a few times a year, this benefit very likely covers the $23 and much more. Many people travel for work and even if you’re a government employee traveling with a Government Travel Card (GTC) for your booking or if your company makes you book with their Company Card, having a Personal Amex Platinum card will get you access to the most premium airport lounge collection in the world. In these lounges are food buffets, open bars, and rest and relaxation areas. When my wife and I returned from our Honeymoon in Europe, we had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta. We were able to take showers in a Delta lounge due  to our platinum card, which was extremely refreshing after a long flight across the pond. Furthermore, you save more than $23 the first time you go to an airport lounge for a lunch or dinner during a layover instead of going to an airport restaurant (often times even a fast food one). Since the food buffets and open bars are included in your lounge access, this is a premium benefit that I personally would value at several hundred dollars due to the frequency that I travel. At this point, the Annual Fee pays for itself and more!

So the short answer to the question of the blog: is the card worth having in 2024? The answer is Yes! Like I said earlier, this is not an all-inclusive list of the benefits included with the Amex Platinum card. However, you can see with just what I discussed above that the annual fee can very easily pay for itself based on your current spending profile. You can apply for the card with an elevated sign-on bonus (SUB) here. If you apply for the card through the Amex website, your SUB will be 80k Membership Reward (MR) points. The elevated SUB pinned here and above will offer you 125k MRs, a difference of 45k points (~$500 cash value). This 125k MR offer has a cash value of about $1400, so even if you don’t end up getting as much value from the card as you’d originally have thought you would, the SUB pays for the annual fee for the first two years! MR points are extremely easy to use and don’t expire. 

I hope this blog has been helpful in deciding whether or not to apply for one of the most well-recognized premium credit cards on the market. It’s worked well for my wife and I, and I’d recommend it to anyone who travels at least a few times a year. 

Footnote: I am not sponsored my American Express nor am I a certified financial planner. Credit cards come with risk of potential overspending for certain individuals. If you have a history of overspending and accumulating credit card debt, this credit card might not be right for you. I am not liable for any debt incurred due to overspending.