Hi everyone

Been lurking for a while - just wanted to start by saying thanks to the other posters for the valuable insights :-)

I recently got a Platinum Amex. At the time I thought it sounded like a reasonable deal and that, although the £450 was hefty, the benefits would (broadly) make it worthwhile.

Having received the card and done some more reading into the benefits, it strikes me that the card actually isn't very good value. A lot of the benefits that Amex sell as part of their marketing either seem to have very little value, e.g. SPG Gold and other hotel memberships (where the consensus is that you're lucky to get anything of any real value such as a room upgrade), the concierge service, etc or are limited in nature (e.g. CX Marco Polo, which is a nice perk but may only last a year).

As far as I can tell, the only real ongoing benefits are the travel insurance and the lounge access, which can't be worth much more than £200 - £250 a year at most.

Perhaps I'm just coming to the same realisation as a lot of other members did when Amex hiked the fee to £450 - that it no longer represents value. I'd be happy be happy to keep the card but I need to feel it offers some sort of value. The US card seems a much better proposition - $450 and a $200 flight credit IIRC, which basically means the fee is $250, doesnt it? In the UK, the BA PP Amex seems like much better value - 1.5 Avios for every £ spent and a companion ticket at £10k spend (which I would easily hit).

I'd love to hear from other UK platinum cardholders - what are the benefits that provide value to you and what makes you keep paying the fee every year?