I've had the Platinum Card for about 20 years. Perhaps others have received retention bonuses; I haven't. When the 50,000 point promotion came up, I requested a similar benefit for a similar spend. Rejected.

Platinum has plenty of really good benefits that I use, including lounge access, the $200 airline credit, elevation to Gold elite level at SPG, the Membership Rewards program, the recent elimination of foreign transaction fees, and the rebate for the Global Entry fee. I don't think it's likely Amex is going to waive annual fees for too many members when they're offering that roster of benefits.

Further information can be found in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nnual-fee.html. As noted by one of the posters, his annual fee has been comped in the past, based on his level of spending. Although not specified, I suspect his annual level of spending exceeds $100,000. That's speculation on my part, but somewhat informed by my own experience with an annual spending level at about half that and discussions with others whose spending either matches or exceeds mine but not above $100,000. No one I know with that level of spending has gotten a waiver of the annual fee.