Originally Posted by
OUTraveling
So lets review what I get as an AMEX Plat cardholder:
-$550 Annual Fee: Highest of all the cards.
-Centurion Lounges: Often Crowded. This will make it worse as people who may go to restaurants (e.g. Timeberline in Denver, P.F. Change @ LAX) will now crowd the lounge.
-Hotel Program: Bonvoyed! and Hilton
-PP Lounges: Amex Plat make up a significant percentage of PP membership. Now, instead of being able to use restaurants to alleviate pressure on lounges or get a bite to eat when PP lounges are at capacity, either we crowd the PP lounge more or we are left in the cold.
-Uber: $10 per month. Enough for perhaps one ride.
-Airline credit: That I can only use for incidentals.
-Saks Credit: Useful for some but I shop at Banana Republic and find Sak's overpriced.
Seriously, we are paying for an upper tier premium product, I would expect to be treated as such.
The Amex Platinum works best if you are a Delta flyer (SkyClubs). If you aren't, the value of the card declines. Aside from the SkyClubs (which I use often), I still like the card due to the NSPL, Uber and Saks credit (full value for me), Airline Credit (I use these to buy into the occasional AAdmirals Club), various benefits (concierge, FHR, etc), Amex Offers, 5x on Airfare, etc. I am spending less and less on it though (Chase gets most of my spend these days)