My argument for this card, and the reason I continue to carry it, is because of the benefits and not

The American Express Platinum is one you get primarily for the benefits, but that you can also do well putting spending on. I personally use the Starwood American Express, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and American discount car rental phoenix airport Express Premier discount car rental phoenix airport Rewards Gold for most of my spending. But American Express will allow the largest charges on the Platinum card for me, and that s where those go.
Access to American Express Centurion Lounges . The location at Dallas Fort-Worth is the best lounge in the United States in my opinion. Las Vegas is outstanding. And several new lounges are set to open.
$200 airline incidentals credit . You get to select one airline for the year where Amex will credit you back minor fees like baggage fees, change fees, lounge day passes, telephone booking fees, and inflight food or beverage purchases. Some folks have succeeded in just buying airline gift cards, but American Express has cracked down on that a bit, though some do still have success if they keep it to lower denominations. Eligible airlines to choose from are Airtran, Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Spirit, Southwest, United/Continental, and US Airways.
Platinum Concierge . The last time I checked, the same company (Circles) provided concierge discount car rental phoenix airport service for the Platinum card as for the Centurion (Black) card. It s not a high-end $20,000 a year concierge service, but better than VIPdesk or similar services that you ll get through other credit cards in my experience.
Fine Hotels and Resorts Program . Extra amenities, upgrades, late checkout at hotels booked though the program, bookable online . In many ways similar to what a Virtuoso travel agent can get for you.
Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status . Good for 4pm late checkout (except discount car rental phoenix airport at resorts and conference discount car rental phoenix airport centers where it s subject to availability), a 50% bonus on points-earning at Starwood hotels, and helps you avoid being assigned that room above the hotel s HVAC system.
It also doubles as a pretty good card for spending, since Membership Rewards points are among the better currencies out there. I like Starwood points for their even greater flexibility and transfer discount car rental phoenix airport bonuses, but Amex runs frequent transfer bonuses as well (such as 50% recently to both British Airways and Delta) discount car rental phoenix airport and points transfer fast to most programs instantaneously usually to Aeroplan, Delta, and British Airways. It takes a couple of days to transfer to All Nippon and Singapore. But that s far faster than the turnaround on transferring Starwood points to miles.
And it has a pretty good signup bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points . That s not amazing in its own right, but the bonus is about worth the annual fee in my book and if that s true then the first year of lounge access is effectively free, and the $200 airline fee credit and $100 global entry credit is profit.
Is Amex asking you to spread the love? In general I agree with you, but soon I fear the Chase card will take over. Amex needs to woo US airways and Lufthansa to beef up the points transfers and lower foreign fees to 1-2% on the Gold Cards and affinity Plat cards.
Thought I was clear that I was talking about the personal card, though I happen to carry the business one. Was that unclear? Re-reading my post I think I m clear in saying additional cardmembers are $175 for 3 cards (personal card). Apologies if this is unclear!
And no, no spreading the love on Amex, as I say I have this card and have had it for about a decade. It s more about the BENEFITS of the card rather than the card for SPEND (which I outline clearly discount car rental phoenix airport in other posts, eg Sapphire discount car rental phoenix airport Preferred).
I ve given cards 3 and 4 on my account discount car rental phoenix airport to family members on strict orders not to actually spend money on the card (except for Global Entry) but to use them only for lounge access and the FHR hotel benefits.
Hard to believe that you still see the MR points as so valuable given the devaluations that have hit recently. The number of partners is worse than it was and those that remain are generally less valuable than they used to be.
@Seth I think I m pretty clear in my post. This is a card to get for the BENEFITS not for putting spend on. Though I *do* put spend on the card, very large charges that Amex will approve but that is beyond my credit limit from Chase. I think I am very explicit about this in my post.
I believe this card is a good value for lounge access. Then add in a signup bonus and it s certainly worthwhile the first year. And I believe it s also worthwhile on an ongoing basis when you get $200 of the fee rebated back through airlien fee reimbursements.
My argument for this card, and the reason I continue to carry it, is because of the benefits and not because of the Membershio Rewards program per se. Although I do find Membership Rewards to be valuable, but I still privilege spending on my Chase Sapphire Preferred and Starwood Amex, and I use this card to get into lounges, discount car rental phoenix airport etc.
In November 2011 I signed up for this card under the targeted 100,000 miles with $10,000 spend in 5 months. So, for spending $10K I ended up with 110,000 miles and will hold them until I can get a 50% bonus to Delta thus making it 165,000 Skymiles. Even better would be if they offered an MQM bonus on the transfer!
@toomanybooks (1) FINALLY you do get internet access systemwide when using an Amex Plat, that s new as of just a few weeks ago (2) you must fly American same-day to access the lounge with Amex Platinum, that s not a restriction with a club membership.
discount car rental phoenix airport Gary, your post is about signing up for the card. What is probably more interesting to your readership is whether or not we should RENEW our existing Plat card. This is exactly the time that many of us signed upf or the card last year, so some advice here would be appreciated .one specific question I have: if I cancel now, when would be the earliest I can sign up again for the bonus (if ever)?
Regarding the Mercedes platinum card which I have had for about 5-6 months: discount car rental phoenix airport (1) I can confirm it definitely behaves just like a non-MB platinum card , that is, I have gotten my global entry credit, my $200 airline credits, I ve used priority pass, I ve made an FHR booking (a little bit of a hassle for them to determine my eligibility the supervisor said I was literally the very first MB user they had ever had but it all got sorted and should be running smoothly discount car rental phoenix airport now); etc. and (2) I leased a new MB (two actually, discount car rental phoenix airport with two certs from two MB plat cards), discount car rental phoenix airport and I was able to do just what they said negotiate my absolute best deal and whip this thing out at the end for an extra $1K off the gross cap cost. Another benefit is you get 2K extra miles per lease we did a couple of 24 month low mileage leases discount car rental phoenix airport so this is a great benefit (increases miles allowed by like 15-20%). Very good card so far!
@PAX the lounge uses with the Priority Pass are free for the card holder and $27USD per Guest/per Visit. discount car rental phoenix airport When flying AA or Delta and using their lounge 2 guests are free (at least with the Business Platinum).
That s what you wrote above and that s the part I was questioning. I have the card. I ve had it for years. I get value out of it, though less and less in each passing year it seems. And the points are absolutely, without a doubt, worth less now than they have been at any point in the past 5 years IMO. Your statement seems to disagree with that quite a bit.
On the Starwood Gold benefit, does anybody know if additional cardholders also get this for their own Starwood account, or does it just work for the primary cardholder s own SPG account? I m trying to weigh the pros and cons of adding my wife as an add l cardholder, and so far it s -$175 for the fee, +$100 for Global Entry, +some value for lounge access, for a slight net negative based on how much/little she ll be flying without me and DL or AA work requires specific fares, so she will likely be on Airtran/Southwest for most of her work flights.
@Seth I also wrote: discount car rental phoenix airport I personally use the Starwood American Express, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and American Express discount car rental phoenix airport Premier Rewards Gold for most of my spending. But American Express will allow the largest charges on the Platinum card for me, and that’s where those go.
I beleive both statements are true Membership Rewards is far less value than it used to be. But it s still one of the most valuable currencies. I like my Starwood points more. I like my Ultimate Rewards discount car rental phoenix airport points discount car rental phoenix airport marginally more (because I have a preference for United and Hyatt!). But I d argue that Membership Rewards are still the 3rd best currency.
discount car rental phoenix airport @bluecat I believe that among all cards, Platinum is the one they will give the bonus on in future years. I m not sure how long you have to wait to get it again. I d call and ask (apply by phone) and see what they offer you to get the commitment discount car rental phoenix airport of a bonus for signup.
Thanks, Gary. For me, an infrequent flyer, I believe it makes sense to cancel the card for now. It s possible the PriorityPass card will still work for the remainder of this year (to be determined), but, even if it does not, I would prefer to save the $250 for the lounge discount car rental phoenix airport access and start the clock again for another sign-on bonus. Perhaps the Mercedes Benz card.
[...] Now, you say what about the annual fee on the card—it is $450, is it not?  The value of the card outweighs this cost.  In fact, I would go as far as saying it even pays dividends. discount car rental phoenix airport It is not only a card you keep for accruing points, it is also a card you also keep for its benefits.  Below are the travel benefits, which Gary of View From the Wing recently outlined: [...]
This card has been the mother of all boondoggles for me. I got a 50k sign up bonus last year. I successfully bumped the bonus to 100k before they shut that down. I got an extra 5k for adding pay over time. And for some strange reason, they waived discount car rental phoenix airport the first year annual fee. I frequently use the lounge access. I received $200 in travel reimbursement last year. I will get another $200 this month. I will get the $100 global entry waiver fee. The concierge hooked me up in NYC over