Should YOU get the Amex Platinum Card? And why I haven't. Entertainment, not advice!!!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- I wasn't going to make this video.... But I did!!!
The American Express Platinum credit card is a benefit laden credit card issued in a number of countries around the world. It offers some significant benefits to frequent travellers and for many people, getting this card is a complete no-brainer. For me, it isn't....
I am not giving advice on whether you should get this card or on whether it is right for you. This video is solely for entertainment purposes. But in the video I will go through the benefits and will share how much value I place on each of them.
▶ If you'd like to apply for an American Express card? Email me for a referral ◀
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Note - the referral will land on the Amex card which comes with the BA Companion voucher, as that is the card I have... You will easily be able to navigate to the Platinum card to apply and the referral bonus will still work.
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1.07 - My 2022
2:09 - The Costs
4:29 - Welcome Bonus
5:54 - Membership Rewards
6:42 - Insurance
8:37 - Lounges
11:53 - Statement Credits
13:28 - Hotel Status
16:00 - Other Stuff
18:42 - A Case Study
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you. This video may not be copied or reproduced without written permission.
And of course! A week after posting this, Amex announces a change to the annual fee. It's increasing to £650, and I think that change is already in force. Really annoying for something to change so soon after locking a number into a video, but there you go.... The benefits of the card and the logic of getting it remain the same.....
I'm watching this video for entertainment purposes only.
As everybody should.... Cheers Steve! Not sure this gives access to the executive lounge on the Scilly Isles ferry...
Thanks Matt. As Paul Weller (The Jam) once sang: "That's Entertainment"... It's made me ponder whether my 7+ years as a Plat holder will be over come year-end - or maybe the Amex bods can offer me a sweet retainer to keep me happy lol. Great content as always - you're easily my best find of the year so far (written 1/1/24 🤣)
ps, props to taking the time to respond to all the comments - that's champion-sound man👍
Always worth giving them a loyalty call! Still reply to every comment - it'll have to stop one day, but not yet!
I have the US version and ❤ it! Thanks for the info + video!
Cheers Jimmy... I gather the US one is even juicier....
Entertained, as per usual.
Correct response!
I was very entertained by this video, thanks! I also have held this card for some time now and value it greatly. Great video as always mate.
I am pleased it entertained!!!
Well, I was thinking about it and I have say, breaking it down has brought me to the conclusion that it's not for me! Thank you so much!
It works for many, but not for all! Including us it would seem!
Thanks for the sensible and rational entertainment. The lifestyle that justifies this card is one to aspire to, but in the meantime I'm enjoying pleb life with points when I can earn them. 👍
There are some for whom £575 isn't a huge deal and the benefits are a great addition to the lifestyle... I am currently not one of those people!
Matt I really apreciated the non advice here and came with not hearing any advice which is fantastic ;) keep up the fantastic work
I hope it was entertaining!! Thanks for watching
You watch a video and sometimes there is no advice ;) Indeed it was@@MattsPlanet
Great video as always Matt, I’ve just taken the card with a 75,000 plus 25,000 as an intro, free wine from Harvey Nicks plus even a couple of lounge stays and travel insurance for the family are definitely cost plus for me for now 👍🏻
Glad it worked for you! Quite handy a bonus sign up incentive was launched a week after I released this video!!
Another great piece of (entertaining) analysis! Regarding your Mum, it’s probably worth noting that the Amex Business Platinum’s age limit for travel insurance is 80 years, rather than the 70 years for the regular platinum. The overall benefits package varies slightly from the regular card (e.g no Eurostar lounge access, annual Dell statement credit, etc).
Thanks for that - I didn't know that so its a good data point to file away. Mum is 81 so it doesn't help, but useful nevertheless!!!
just got this card after they increased the signup to 75,000 if spending 10k within 6months. Got a referral in so should get 80 plus 10 from the spend as well and 5 for my referee also in household account. Also getting a family of 4 into lounges on 4 separate trips coming up so that's great value imo. Great video thanks matt, really useful info.
Thanks! Hope the entertainment this video provided helped in some small way!
UK version - for me it works, especially with supplementary card . Had 2 x £100 Trailfinders cash back this year , the Harvey Nicks is £100 of free wine delivered to my door( which I would buy anyway) and have used both meal credits for an additional £300 . Especially pleased to hit exactly £150 in Sydney so a meal for 2 cost only the 3% fx fee. Add in two hire car insurance covers which I value at £30+ each and it’s a no brainier. The Centurion lounges are just good places to be irrespective of travel class if there is one, and Plaza Premium also allows access I believe. The hotel status does have value - I get the guaranteed comment but late checkout between 2pm and 4pm is worth having if you have an evening flight and hasn’t been difficult to date.
Thanks Andrew - good work on hitting the spend bang on - especially in a foreign currency!!!
The Eurostar business lounge access is a great perk for business travellers to Eurostar cities...but idk would be better if you got business lane access too, so you can skip the big queues
Thanks George - I peered into the lounge and it did certainly look better than the general area!!! And you can't use it to skip the line sadly....
I have this card and enjoy the hotel perks and dining discount. I used H Nicks online to get a bottle of premium rum for £2 in effect. I Love the card and didnt know about the retention bonus. However, have been turned away mant times from lounges with the priority pass....and some airports like Cardiff don't have a lounge that is part of the scheme. Car hire status is great, I sped past the queue at Malaga and in the USA they have go straight to your car arrangements. I heard that you may not get a welcome bonus if you have another amex card, it's worth checking. But overall, a good card for me. Love your channel Matt, thank you.
Thanks Richard - hopefully helpful to others!
Yes you need a break from owning most Amex cards of 24 months to get the bonus
Some excellent entertainment and not advice here Matt!
Thanks for the shout out! You're absolutely right I would never be ordering 3 doubles at an airport if it was not free in the lounge! But even so, between myself and the guests I've taken in, I think the superfluous drinks orders aside I would still get the annual fees worth in the lounges alone. As per my email to you I don't think the lounge benefits make much difference to you, but the statement write offs for airlines like the ones I sent you in my follow up email are amazing value and one you would definitely take full advantage of.
If you do get the card I hope to see you in the Heathrow Centurion lounge some day!
Cheers KP. This video proved how hard it is to make content about a card you don't have so your input was most helpful!!! Pleased to hear you were entertained!!!
Hey KP, solid advice would possible to email you? Be great to see your breakdown on this card. I tend to travel in economy only.
@@MattsPlanet yes it's quite an unenviable task you had here especially given AmEx don't release many details about the card itself. It's the least I could do to help out seeing as you videos have saved me in past! I must say, I was surprised to hear lounges aside that you don't think holding the card is worth it to you. Assuming you run this channel through a PLC I think a business platinum could be a good idea for you, the welcome bonus is higher and the write offs you'll get will be better than the personal card. Hopefully I bump into you at Heathrows T3 in the not too distant future and I can show you the centurion lounge first hand!
@@usmanmahmood4344 as Matt says, I'm also not authorised to give financial advice I just sent Matt my analysis to help him make this video. By a rough synopsis is as follows:
From my first 12 months of having the card I estimate I have saved/made myself a surplus of £2245. Next year without the welcome bonus', I still estimate myself to be in surplus by over £1000. The numbers are as follows:
annual fee (-£575)
lounge orders (+£790)
statement write offs (+£410)
Welcome bonus travel voucher (+£200)
Harvey Nicholls vouchers (+£100)
Dining credit (+£300)
Hotel benefits (+£150)
Welcome bonus @ 1p per point (+£600)
Points earned @ 1p per point (+£150)
Global travel insurance (+£120)
I think the b.a premium card is the best I love the companion voucher just booked first class to lax and business back for me and the wife
Thanks Dean - tell everyone about that redemption! I get so many comments from people claiming you can never actually use the voucher for anything worth having but you are proof it is possible!!!!
I have the US version of the Delta Platinum card, which doesn't include lounge access - that is the Reserve card. As you may be aware, Delta is messing with success and will limit lounge access for Reserve card holders because the SkyClubs are packed. The 'best" benefit is the accruing of Skymiles through the use of the card - easily 3 or 4 RT for me per year, so it is worth it. I travel for business primarily, and then let me family travel using the Skymiles. Great content as usual. I have heard that Delta has received push back on the proposed changes and "may" do something about it, but I don't have high hopes on that.
Thanks - the US landscape is quite different - much more competition and generally higher welcome bonuses.... Keeping track of how to get into a lounge is a bit beyond me though as its so complicated!
@@MattsPlanet UK Commuter Example here
Signed up July 2022
Put Season Ticket through it (6k - ridiculous i know) - 6000 Avios
Sign Up Bonus (Enhanced Offer) - 60000
Offered Retention offer - 50000 to keep the card
Kept Card 1 more month; triggering the spend (international and UK spend in London)
And got £50 of harvey nicks wine.
116,000 avios, £300 in food (both were not going out of my way) and £50 in wine; and I got the a pro rata refund of £431 - not bad for £143 worth of spend!!!
Another objective and well analysed piece of ‘entertainment’-just interested whether the retention bonus might be worth a try with my BA Amex Premium Plus?
Hi James - I thing another commenter said that they did get something - it wasn't huge though.... Thinking about it - as people rarely use the platinum card (as they get more avios elsewhere) the questioning over whether to keep it probably looks extremely plausible to Amex - they haven't used the card much all year so why would they keep it??? If you use the BA Amex every hour through the year then try to blag a retention bonus, Amex quite rightly may not be so sympathetic....
Similar entertainment in South Africa on this card😂. The Dinersclub benefits similar but at 25% of the cost plus unlimited secondaty cards so all my kids have one with the benefits. Not advice😂🇿🇦
Great work Peet - you're comment greatly entertained me!!! No personal Diners Clubs in the UK these days...
Thanks Matt-offered 10,000 avios if I spend £3000 in 3 months-should be achievable with the cost of supermarkets, petrol and BA holiday instalments
Thanks James - good data point
Excellent presentation, I took explorer
Thanks!
Had it for years even use to get the BA Amex card free for many years, but ditched it when we passed 70 and lost the medical insurance. Asked them if I could pay a supplement but there was no such facility.
Thanks Howard.... Getting old is really annoying!
I have the US version. It seems to be quite a different card than the UK version, sort of. We pay for the extra card member, and of course, our yearly cost is more. But the crap I get each month does cover the cost pretty much. As you say it stays at home since the use of the card is not great. We also get Delta lounge access in addition to the priority pass. And with that, I am thinking of getting rid of the card. The hotel collection I have found is not really advantageous as I can get the same room including the upgraded room and the 100 bucks spending and the 200 bucks off of the price and still come out spending less if I book directly with the hotel. Not every time but often enough to make it seem a rip-off.
Thanks Mikie - full marks for critically evaluating whether the card is value for you!
I have the German version of the card and I would say I benefit/recoup about 75% of the fees by using kickbacks or airfare bookings. one really nice benefit is that Amex is basically a travel agent having the software for travel agents (no amadeus😢). I was able to book a flight through them that was not offered anyware not even the airline (at least online - airline does not have a hotline to make bookings - Skol to that). Therefore, if used appropriately the card has a lot of hidden value.
Thanks - interesting about the power of Amex travel - its rare that the airline direct isn't the cheapest place for a ticket these days but it does happen and it sounds like Amex could be the solution...
@@MattsPlanetIt was not the cheapest option but the option that give 100% miles with the smallest price increase. Price per mile ratio was maximized so to speak.
Great entertaining video! And thanks for your analysis, I would say do you not attribute a value to the welcome bonus of 1p/MR point which helps get closer to justifying it? Re the Harvey Nics credit, whilst I wouldn’t normally shop there I’d buy stuff using it that I would have purchased anyway but Harvey nics pricing is a bit inflated to the same thing elsewhere so would rate this about £80 opposed to the £100 given. I don’t value the travel insurance or lounge access even though I have accessed a centurion lounge which was very very good.
Thanks Nick. The welcome bonus certainly does help in the first year but to keep things simple I excluded it as I'd generally look at a card like this over the medium term. And you're spot on re Harvey Nicks - I could buy 3-5 times as many socks from Primark as you could get from HN, but there would be some value in that benefit one way or the other. I hope you were entertained!
@@MattsPlanet You could wait for the 60k MR sign up, try it for a year and then cancel (or try your luck with retentions) if you're not getting value?
Also, from your other videos you seem have an appreciation of some of the more expensive food and drink items. So even if you wouldn't pay for them at full price £75 seems quite a low value to put on the statement credits. If you'd value a bottle of Moet at £20 and could find restaurants you'd eat at if they were 67% off, that's £120.
I suspect they're expecting people to rack up a bill over £150 to recoup some money. But since you eat alone in some of your videos, and you can also split the restaurant credit over multiple visit and venues, I think you'd save more than £75.
@@MattsPlanet But the HN socks might last 3-5 times longer!
I have an Amex Gold (the old charge card, not the newer credit card) and a BA Premium Plus card. Amex have offered to swap my Gold card for a Platinum card in the past but I’ve declined because I decided the extra fees were not worth it for me. I get travel insurance from my bank account, lounge access through my BA status etc. I collect Avios on my BA card and often choose where I want my MR points from my Gold card to be awarded (usually in my BAEC account or in my Marriott Bonvoy account). I also don’t need the hotel membership the Platinum card offers as I’m already a Lifetime Gold member with Marriott Bonvoy with a Titanium Elite being my main status. It’s also worth pointing out that if anyone chooses to go for the business version of the Platinum card then the fees are a little higher from memory.
Oh and I get a few lounge vouchers each year with my Gold card in the off chance I travel with a non-oneworld airline (it’s not often though).
Thanks! Glad you've analysed it all! Charge cards are a blast from the past for sure!
I’m on my second year of Platinum and I rolled over the 1st year because of the travel insurance (but you must book the holiday on the Platinum-or am I wrong?)
Have used all the Harvey Nicks, dining etc benefits including one abroad this year!
Use the lounge access all the time we travel - but yes it can be full if you don’t book.
Using it to pay as my BA Amex is due to roll over in Jan 24 and I want hit the spend target as late as possible so to max the time on the 241 voucher
Best video / explanation yet of the card benefits - watch out HFP!
I believe you can book travel on any amex and that some of the core health benefits apply regardless - honestly don't know what happens if you book travel with someone that doesn't accept amex... I don't think HFP has much to worry about!
@@MattsPlanet I really need to get to the bottom of the exact rules on Amex insurance qualification
PS new offer on Platinum Card released yesterday-mega 100,000 points deal
Not to forget in my experience that many businesses refuse to accept American Express
Excellent point - although there is a cheeky workaround in some venues using paypal....
Yep, i got 50K coming out of covid when i called to cancel, not sure if they still offer it, but if you don’t ask
I've heard of that level being offered in the last year or so... And I've heard of people being offered something smaller if they call about the BA Amex - if you don't ask!!!
I called for a retention offer on all my cards - was given 30k for The Platinum Card! 7,000 Avios for a £1,000 spend on the BA Black Card & 1% extra cashback for 3 months on the Platinum Cashback Card.
You don't ask, you don't get eh??? Thanks for sharing
@@MattsPlanet right you are haha!
Current offer (13 Oct 23) of 75,000 bonus sign up points is very tempting
It's 80,000 with a referral... Just saying!
@@MattsPlanetfee is now £650!!
Not with standing your position re. chain hotels, if you do want to stay with them. The plat card brings two very useful, guaranteed hotel benefits, gold status in Hilton, which provides 5 nights for 4 on reward stays. Conrad Rangali redemptions springs to mind. And melia gold provides 3 x 20% off cash rate vouchers. Obviously horses for courses, these will be very valuable perks for some and utterly useless for others
Thanks Ed... I'd challenge how much you'd have to spend to get enough points for a 4 night stay to then get the 5th night... But as you say very pertinently - horses for courses!!! I sometimes think my brain might explode if I suddenly developed an affection for hotel schemes and decided to invest the time in understanding all of the nuances!!
Very informative, i run my calculations every year and most times the fee covers itself, with regards to getting miles othen then avios you can get the regular amaex, no?
Thanks - I think the regular amex will earn membership rewards which you can push to other schemes.... I'd still prefer to get 50% more and bung them into my BA scheme....
@@MattsPlanet I also have the BA card but use it only to get the companion, in my case I prefer to be able to use other airlines
You run your channels through a company?
I know this is a bit of a diversion from your videos, but I would love to hear about the set-up and benefits of running TH-cam channels as a company.
Does that mean you get to offset the travel and channel costs as an expense etc?
Are there other benefits?
Not a bad idea... Briefly here, there's a cost of running a company which means you need to have some scale to make it worthwhile - I already had one from when I was consulting but it means I can reclaim vat as I was already registered... if you run a channel as a business as an individual you can still deduct costs - it's just a bit less transparent and the taxman may not love it....
It's a tremendous product, if you can exploit it.
That was almost exactly draft one of this script!! I ended up padding it out a bit, but this is the essence!!!!
@@MattsPlanet Travel insurance in Australia is really expensive, so if you have a loved one there, this would really work nicely.
I do, but they do bugger all travel!
Had it for years but just ditched it. Just not worth the money anymore
Not had many commenters who've ditched the card so thanks for the comment!
What’s the difference between this and a BA one? And do you have any airline cards?
The BA Premium Plus card gives 1.5 avios per & (and 3 avios on BA spend) and if you spend £10k over the year you get the companion voucher. The platinum gives all the travel benefits but no voucher and only 1 membership reward point per pound. I have the BA Premium Plus, the Virgin credit card and I have the avios barclaycard too... I think 3 is one too many for me so the current dilemma for me is which one to drop....
the kids have to be dependants...which means they need to be in education,,,i checked this with them, my daughter is 18 and not in education, she is not covered
Good clarification. I did double check that a dependent can be up to age 25 - I'm not sure how many get away with keeping that status until that age!!!
Do you get the welcome bonus if you already have an Amex card e.g. the BA companion voucher card?
Yes. For the purposes of welcome bonuses consider UK Amex cards as having three streams: those which offer rewards in other schemes (Nectar, Marriot), Amex Membership Rewards (Green, blue, gold, platinum) and the British Airways avios cards.
Check headforpoints for the full details but yes; if you have an Amex Gold or Platinum (membership rewards cards) you CAN get a BA Amex sign up bonus IF you have not held a BA Amex card within the previous 24 months.
GG's answer was better than mine was going to be!!!
But only if you don’t have an existing Amex card
Some existing Amex cards.... Another commenter explained it better than I can but there's 3 types of Amex card and applying is only limited if you've previously had a card in the same family.... Its unnecessarily complicated!!!
@@MattsPlanet ok…
Is getting an airline’s card worth it?
It certainly can be... If you're spending on a credit card anyway you might as well earn points.... The fee is probably going to be higher so it only works if the value of the points exceeds the extra fee but for most people it will be worth it.... Not advice though!!!
You need to earn 35k a year for the card
Thanks Mark - I believe you are spot on.... I didn't include it in the video as I try really hard to not say things that can easily change and make the video inaccurate... Although I do say lots of things in there which could very easily change!!!
All credir cards are issued to make profits for whoever issued them. At the expense of the holder. That's why you don't want one.
You are on to something here!!! I know Amex fees are far higher than Visa and Mastercard so there is money being made on the Amex side of the fence....
maybe I should get it, but can't. its for the priveledged few.
The privileged few earning over £35k a year (or something equivalent I assume in other countries....)
WINTER BEARD
It's back!!!!