Whatchawhosit

I have a corporate credit card that I already pay $99.00 for the membership rewards program on. I saw that I could upgrade it for a total of about $450 and they would take the $99 off that fee. So, for an additional $350 I would get the benefits of the platinum card.

I fly about every other week (if not more) and I'm currently a Gold Medallion on Delta. I buy my tickets on the corporate card, so I would get access to the crown room on all my flights.

Are there any other benefits I should consider? For a frequent flyer, do you all think it is worth it?

igopogo

I'm not *that* familiar with corporate card benefits, but it seems like the personal card might make more sense, if you don't already have one. If you just keep it one year you'll have $200 x 2 travel expense credits on one airline, leaving $50 which is more than justified by the bonus MR you get in your first year.

FlyerChrisK

I got my Platinum Amex in November. I used it in December for the fee waiver ($200) and again in January ($100 so far). I'll presumably use it for another $100.

I fly AA quite a bit, so having lounge access for order $50 (or, from the calendar year perspective, $250, since you only get one fee waiver per calendar year), is a reasonably good deal to me. It lets me come off a redeye, take a quick shower, and head straight to the office rather than taking a detour to my apartment.

pokeable

As a fellow DL Gold, choose another airline for your $200 credit if you get the plat.

I had to get 10 day-passes for the SkyClub because I got everything else via Medallion benefits.

Drinks? 70% av in F.
Food? If not in F, I seem to always get the "Have One on Us" coupon
Bags? Mostly carry-ons only
Giftcards? PITA to use with DL; may be only purchased, used at airports, ticket offices. No phone, online use
Buy/transfer miles/Milebooster: Not reimbursed

Hming and hawing between United and Airtran for 2012 credit

mia

Note that the $200 reimbursement is a feature of the personal and Business Platinum cards, but not the Corporate version. igopogo's point is well taken, the $200 credit is better than the $99 fee reduction.

The Deal Mommy

YMMV, but last year I got plat delta credit for flights if they were under $150 or so. I cleaned up on that 5K MR rebate promotion on a bunch of cheap one way flights.

redtop43

Everyone values different benefits. Apparently you won't get the $200 airline credit. Do you need a GOES card? The Plat concierge? Do you charge a lot outside the USA? In general I would say that if you don't need lounge access, the Plat card is probably not worth it. I will not be getting a Plat card anymore because I found a card I can get for free that has Priority Pass membership (only available for free because I have a lot of money in Fidelity) and I can find other cards to replace the no international transaction fee benefit, so I think Plat isn't as worthwhile anymore.

mia

Priority Pass Select does not include any Delta lounges, includes only a few American Airlines lounges, and excludes the US Airways Charlotte hub lounges. While this may still be a good fit for your travel pattern, Platinum's lounge access is superior to Priority Pass alone for many travelers. (No access to United clubs is available either way.)

WORLDWIDE TRAVELER

American express platinum card anual fee went up from 540 us to almost 1000 us after 15 years with them I'm thinking i go to cancel my card as it has much less benefits as the usa or europe platinum cards which are also much much cheaper.I dont see so much benefits for an almost 100% hike in anual fee.


Sorry I forgot to say it is an Mexican Platinum card and now the I think so the most expensive Platinum card worldwide, what a joke.

allinone

Redtop - what Fidelity card are you talking about?

mia

Probably:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ient-amex.html

jsn55

I need some advice. I finally upgraded from my gold to a platinum card with the mind-numbing $450 annual fee. My gold card gave me 1.5 points per $1 and I'd had it for years. There were several reasons to upgrade: nice point bonus, complimentary first/biz class companion ticket annually, $200 airline fee credit, but primarily for me was airport lounge access. When the platinum card arrived, information on the various benefits was practically non-existant. When I called, AmEx told me that I could just look up each benefit on their website. Uh ... OK. Then I tried to visit a United lounge at DEN. This card is no good there. I started to sign up for the $200 fee credit, but it's for domestic airlines only and I fly first class so no baggage fees; I wanted it for flying coach in Europe and that it won't cover. Haven't had the opportunity to check out the companion ticket yet. I'm ready to give my platinum card back ... what am I missing here? Aren't I better off with 1.5 points per $1 at $150 or whatever annual fee? I'm not one of those people who wants to impress a waiter or store clerk with my platinum card, so that's not a factor here. Is this platinum really worth the huge fee?

Simpleton

What PRG gives 1.5 ppd?...

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

1. American Express Platinum has never provided access to UA lounges. It does provide access to lounges operated by US Airways, plus lounges operared by AA and DL when flying the same airline as operates the lounge. The primary discussion thread is here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...arge-card.html

2. American Express Platinum also includes membership in Priority Pass which provides access to many other lounges, but United (and Continental) airlines are specifically excluded (their choice). Primary discussion thread is here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ss-select.html

3. The $200 airline fee reimbursement program can be used to purchase giftcards or similar on most domestic airlines, or to buy day passes to UA clubs, there's no need to use it for a checked bag fee. Read at least the first post of this thread for a link to the separate thread for each airline:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...e-posting.html

4. The International Airline Program is not limited to one companion ticket per year, but does require purcase of an unrestricted full fare business class ticket. On most routies such a ticket will cost more than twice as much as an advance purchase discounted business class fare, but it can provide good value if you need to travel on short notice, require flexibility to cancel or change, or fly to destinations that are not competitive. See discussion herre:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...rnational.html

Preferred Rewards Gold offers 1 point per dollar on general spending plus 15,000 point threshold balance at $30,000 calendar year spend. This is effectively 1.5 points per dollar, plus the category bonuses. No question this American Express's best card for earning points, if your spend is in that range.

reft

Addition benefits that may be of use to you:

$100 GOES application reimbursement, Enrolling can save time on country reentry and may line things up in the future for TSA Trusted traveler status.

The limits on purchase protection / warranty extension are higher for the plat than the gold card.

As far as I know, it's still a no FOREX card - vs 3% on other cards. The value of that would depend on the amount of your overseas spend.

There are some hotel and car rental benefits.

As always, the value of these and other benefits is going to be in the eye of the card holder, and are subject to change at any time.