Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - "Invitation à découvrir l'excellence" - Amex Platinum

All,

For the 2nd year in a row, Amex is "offering" me the possibility to switch from their Gold to their Platinum. Last year, I thought the fee for it was way too high. This year, I still think it is, but maybe I'm missing a couple things. So I'd love to get your opinion.

I spent last year about 30k EUR with my gold Amex, I'm a platinum member with AF. Last year, i qualified with miles, and a bit less than 90k miles, including the 30k I got thru the Amex. I hope to be able to qualify again this year with miles, but without the the Amex bonus, it'll likely be right at the limit.
I "live" in the US.

In an nutshell, the card is described with these features :
- 570 Euros/year, vs 140 for Gold (ouch!)
- 20,000 miles (I'm pretty sure these are non status)
- 8 qualifying flights.
- 15 Miles for 10Euros (vs. 10 for 10 with the Gold)
- 20 Miles for 15Euros for AF (vs. 15 for 10 with the Gold)
- Concierge (but I can't think of a recent time where I would have used it...)
- a better insurance (I don't think I ever been in a situation where i was limited by the Gold insurance. Have you?)
- Platinum for 2 (my spouse would also have a plat card, but she doesn't travel as much as I do... )

Feedback?

All,

For the 2nd year in a row, Amex is "offering" me the possibility to switch from their Gold to their Platinum. Last year, I thought the fee for it was way too high. This year, I still think it is, but maybe I'm missing a couple things. So I'd love to get your opinion.

I spent last year about 30k EUR with my gold Amex, I'm a platinum member with AF. Last year, i qualified with miles, and a bit less than 90k miles, including the 30k I got thru the Amex. I hope to be able to qualify again this year with miles, but without the the Amex bonus, it'll likely be right at the limit.
I "live" in the US.

In an nutshell, the card is described with these features :
- 570 Euros/year, vs 140 for Gold (ouch!)
- 20,000 miles (I'm pretty sure these are non status)
- 8 qualifying flights.
- 15 Miles for 10Euros (vs. 10 for 10 with the Gold)
- 20 Miles for 15Euros for AF (vs. 15 for 10 with the Gold)
- Concierge (but I can't think of a recent time where I would have used it...)
- a better insurance (I don't think I ever been in a situation where i was limited by the Gold insurance. Have you?)
- Platinum for 2 (my spouse would also have a plat card, but she doesn't travel as much as I do... )

Feedback?

The 20000 miles are nice, but not a reason to switch to AMEX plat imho.
I identify four reasons:
-If you qualify FB Plat just, and not by number of miles but by number of segments this could be interesting.
-Do you spend a lot with your AMEX card? If so it can be worth considering to "buy" the extra miles the platinum card makes by paying the difference between plat and gold. Only you can answer if that's worth it for you.
-Do you rent cars a lot? If so the extra insurance options on the plat card can save you considerably on car rental insurance options.
-Is it worth it for your wife to have FB Platinum as well? Is it worth it to pay the difference between gold an platinum? Only you and your wife can answer that.

If none of the above applies to you it's a no-go imho.

I looked at the cost for buying 20k miles, and well, the closest I could get is 14k + 5.6k as a bonus for 364.00EUR, so spending 430.00EUR for the card just to get the miles wouldn't cut it. (416EUR would bring in 16K + 6.4K or 22.4miles).

Also, take into account for the AMEX gold the subscription waiver when your spending exceed 20k euros.

I do see a huge difference: health insurance!
While the gold card gives you only an advance (... Meaning you have to reimburse), the platinum card pays everything at the real cost!
This explains the difference in my eyes.

Olivier