This is my beginners guide to the Amex Platinum Charge Card that I posted over on the Amex board but may be useful if you are considering getting one:

1. Apply for the Priority Pass, Radisson, Sofitel and SPG Gold cards ASAP

2. Do NOT apply for the Hilton Gold if you don't think you will use it in the next 12 months. This is really a once-only offer, so wait until you have a few stays planned. It is especially useful because it gives a free upgrade to the Club floor if rooms are available.

3. Ring them and ask for the "Fine Hotels & Resorts" book (and it is a book - a big, fat, perfect-bound, bigger-than-A4 catalogue). It doesn't always work, but you can get some excellent hotel discounts by booking through this scheme - this year I got no discount but a 2-level upgrade at the MO Chiang Mai (plus a free lunch) and Euro 50 / night (plus a $100 spa credit) off next Easter's trip to the FS Provence. FHR benefits can also be found here: www134.americanexpress.com/travelfhr/PlatCCSGServlet?request_type=fhr&action=1&lang=en& ctry=us&pdtyp=ccsg&cdtyp=plat

4. Ask what other hotel booklets they are still doing. There used to be a nice "Luxury Small Hotels of the World" directory and the "Amex Select Hotels Directory" (a bit useless this last one, offers a few $ off rack-rate at prime business hotels). There is also a City Breaks brochure, I think.

5. Sort out your supplementary cards. The key is that ALL five supp card holders get the free travel insurance, so get one for your partner and then consider giving the others to your parents, brother etc. Just make sure they don't buy anything on the card or it gets charged to you!

6. Give the one Platinum Supplementary Card to someone who travels a lot, either flying or on Eurostar, as only Plat cards get free lounge access with bmi, Delta, Continental or Notherwest. This is also the only other person who gets a free Priority Pass as well.

7. Make sure Amex has your email address - you will get the monthly Platinum Life email which has OK offers and occasional invites, usually around Christmas, to cocktail parties at top stores. These are usually in London but not always. There is usually a goodie bag included! My office spam filter used to block this email on a regular basis, so now I have it sent to my Yahoo account.

8. Sign-up for the Priority Pass website. The annual directory goes out of date quickly, but the website is always current and is easy to search and print from.

9. Don't expect anything useful from the concierge service. In the age of the web, you can usually get better yourself if you have time to search. However, the restaurant booking line can be useful because Amex holds 1 table per night at many top London restaurants. My success in using this has not been great, but often because the table they hold is for four people (ie they want to encourage a high spending business group) and not two (low spending couple).

10. Don't forget that your BA Amex is free when you have had a UK Plat card for six months

11. Membership Rewards is pretty useless, EXCEPT for topping off accounts in other programmes. If you have a corporate Amex, you can usually link it to your MR account so you earn points on your corporate spending.

12. If possible, do NOT voluntary agree to FlexSelect being set up on your card (the option that turns your charge card into a credit card). I was eventually offered a bribe of 3,000 MR points to turn on FlexSelect, at which point I agreed!

Oddly, I never actually use my Platinum Amex on a regular basis - I stick with the BA card and my BMI Mastercard. However, I keep paying the fee because the benefits are worth having. I try to make one charge to the card every two months so they send me a statement each month, as the statement envelopes often contain special offers or promotions that you won't otherwise receive.


The key to the PLat charge card is the free travel insurance for you and the other four supplementary card holders and their families. If you can cover your card fee with this then you are quids in.

The Quidco sign-up deal is still available for all Amex cards except Red. I'm not sure if the 6,000 BA Miles bonus for signing up to the BA card is still going - I think not. No referral bonuses recently either.