Big Boy Club……Amex Gold & Platinum Discussion

[ball15life]

Just got something in the mail regarding the Gold and Plat...80,000 point bonus if I get the card...can someone give me a quick rundown on the benefits of the card?


Currently have Sapphire Preferred as my main card

Plan on reading through the thread tomorrow

 

[humminbird]

Just got something in the mail regarding the Gold and Plat...80,000 point bonus if I get the card...can someone give me a quick rundown on the benefits of the card?


Currently have Sapphire Preferred as my main card

Plan on reading through the thread tomorrow

Gold

• Earn 4x Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, including takeout and delivery, and earn 4x Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x).
• Earn 3x Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
• The Hotel Collection
  Delight your senses when you book The Hotel Collection with American Express Travel. Get a $100 experience credit1 to use during your stay.‡
  

• Up to $120 in annual Uber Cash — Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month once you add your card to your Uber app. Enrollment required.
• Up to $120 in annual dining credits — Up to $10 a month at the following merchants: Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed and participating Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.

Platinum

• 5x points per $1 spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with American Express Travel (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel

• Up to $200 airline incidental credit — Not valid for the purchase of airfare, but you can use this credit for incidental charges like seat selection, bag fees, lounge access, etc.*
• Up to $200 in annual Uber cash (for U.S. services) — Up to $15 a month with a $20 bonus in December when you add your card to your Uber account.*
• Up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit — $50 valid for purchases made between January and June, and another $50 for purchases made between July and December.*
• Up to a $200 annual hotel credit — Valid on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel when you pay with your Amex Platinum.*
• Up to $179 annual Clear credit to cover your annual membership.*
• Up to $240 annual digital entertainment credit — $20 in monthly statement credits when you pay for eligible purchases with the Amex Platinum at eligible partners.*
• Up to $300 annual Equinox credit —$25 in monthly statement credits on select Equinox memberships of Equinox+ app.*
• Up to a $155 statement credit that covers the cost of an annual Walmart+ membership when paying with their Amex Platinum.*
• Up to $300 statement credit when you purchase a SoulCycle At-Home Bike (must have a membership with Equinox get purchase a SoulCycle at-home bike)

 

[ball15life]

Gold

• Earn 4x Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, including takeout and delivery, and earn 4x Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x).
• Earn 3x Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.

• Up to $120 in annual Uber Cash — Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month once you add your card to your Uber app. Enrollment required.
• Up to $120 in annual dining credits — Up to $10 a month at the following merchants: Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed and participating Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.

Platinum

• 5x points per $1 spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with American Express Travel (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel

• Up to $200 airline incidental credit — Not valid for the purchase of airfare, but you can use this credit for incidental charges like seat selection, bag fees, lounge access, etc.*
• Up to $200 in annual Uber cash (for U.S. services) — Up to $15 a month with a $20 bonus in December when you add your card to your Uber account.*
• Up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit — $50 valid for purchases made between January and June, and another $50 for purchases made between July and December.*
• Up to a $200 annual hotel credit — Valid on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel when you pay with your Amex Platinum.*
• Up to $179 annual Clear credit to cover your annual membership.*
• Up to $240 annual digital entertainment credit — $20 in monthly statement credits when you pay for eligible purchases with the Amex Platinum at eligible partners.*
• Up to $300 annual Equinox credit —$25 in monthly statement credits on select Equinox memberships of Equinox+ app.*
• Up to a $155 statement credit that covers the cost of an annual Walmart+ membership when paying with their Amex Platinum.*
• Up to $300 statement credit when you purchase a SoulCycle At-Home Bike (must have a membership with Equinox get purchase a SoulCycle at-home bike)

this is some good stuff


Which one do you have/recommend?

 

[humminbird]

this is some good stuff


Which one do you have/recommend?

If you travel or are traveling for 2022 then the plat is the better choice
The annual fee is steep now though $695
I don’t have gold but if you eat out a lot and use the card for groceries it’s the better choice because of the points accumulation
Gold’s fee is $295

 

[Spence]

So I just got approved for a American express platinum card and it says I have no preset limit...is that a good or bad thing?

Mine is at $50k but it’s because it’s newer. I’ve already ran $60k through it I’m trying to hit the $75k spend thresholds for those free centurion guest passes for 2022/23

 

[MustafaSTL]

How much travel and other purchases would you say is worth it to get the platinum considering the annual fee?

 

[Young]

How much travel and other purchases would you say is worth it to get the platinum considering the annual fee?

Check this calculator out for your exact numbers, but you're probably looking at min 7-8k in strictly flights and maybe 1-2k in other purchases to be safely in the green every year. If you put value Centurion lounge and all the side stuff then you can knock that number down a little bit...

I spend a lot on restaurants so I got the Gold.. been treating me well. Have already booked a few round trip tickets off the points

 

[null]

big boy charges more like. i had a gold one once. never used it, was paying the annual fee and so in the end i closed it down.

 

[MustafaSTL]

Check this calculator out for your exact numbers, but you're probably looking at min 7-8k in strictly flights and maybe 1-2k in other purchases to be safely in the green every year. If you put value Centurion lounge and all the side stuff then you can knock that number down a little bit...

I spend a lot on restaurants so I got the Gold.. been treating me well. Have already booked a few round trip tickets off the points

Cool. I have the gold as well and racking up on everything I eat at restaurants and grocery stores. Don’t think I’ll be traveling like that right now for the plat.

 

[CashmereThoughts]

big boy charges more like. i had a gold one once. never used it, was paying the annual fee and so in the end i closed it down.

More like that for you. Sounds like you bought into a credit card based on marketing. I think one of the main purposes of this thread is to help people understand the importance of selecting a program that suits your spending habits and lifestyle. AMEX has programs with no annual fee

 

[null]

More like that for you. Sounds like you bought into a credit card based on marketing. I think one of the main purposes of this thread is to help people understand the importance of selecting a program that suits your spending habits and lifestyle. AMEX plat/gold are not one size fits all.

Spoiler: long

i bought into it just because .. of an amex sales person in a train station. i got mine in germany. over here cards are not really a status symbol and most people just use debit based "ec-cards".

credit is generally seen as being bad and people don't swoon because you bring out a black/gold card. if anything the older ones will tut and mutter at the presumed "flagrancy" and hidden costs of using one.

Spoiler: ...

https://www.german-way.com/german-banking-and-credit-cards-for-beginners/

Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

Times change but German obsession with cash endures | DW | 10.05.2018

when i first came here some major department stores just refused to accept credit cards (due to merchant costs).

(older post from 2011) but it includes some updates and history too - Are there any issues with using credit cards in Germany? .

i move around a lot for IT projects and had gathered quite a few underused accounts in a number of countries so it was necessary to cut the fat.

 

[CashmereThoughts]

Spoiler: long

i bought into it just because .. of an amex sales person in a train station. i got mine in germany. over here cards are not really a status symbol and most people just use debit based "ec-cards".

credit is generally seen as being bad and people don't swoon because you bring out a black/gold card. if anything the older ones will tut and mutter at the presumed "flagrancy" and hidden costs of using one.

Spoiler: ...

https://www.german-way.com/german-banking-and-credit-cards-for-beginners/

Why Germans pay cash for almost everything

Times change but German obsession with cash endures | DW | 10.05.2018

when i first came here some major department stores just refused to accept credit cards (due to merchant costs).

(older post from 2011) but it includes some updates and history too - Are there any issues with using credit cards in Germany? .

i move around a lot for IT projects and had gathered quite a few underused accounts in a number of countries so it was necessary to cut the fat.

for me, a frequent traveler the platinum card is worth the $700 a year EASY. my whole intention on getting the card was to enjoy centurion airport lounges and the free food drinks. in addition to that there are a ton of perks worth about 1k a year that I take advantage of so the card is very profitable for me.

 

[The Radiant One]

amex plat is garbage..i barely use it...its all about chase sapphire reserve

I’m noticing that even for Amex gold I don’t really get that me rewards points. I’ll get 20000 points and it will be worth 20 bucks

With chase the same is easily 400 so I don’t use it as much at all if it weren’t my business I would probably would cancel it

 

[null]

for me, a frequent traveler the platinum card is worth the $700 a year EASY. my whole intention on getting the card was to enjoy centurion airport lounges and the free food drinks. in addition to that there are a ton of perks worth about 1k a year that I take advantage of so the card is very profitable for me.

i see that. i have another card which gets me the lounges without the costs (but i don't use them much these days. for me, it's only really important for long flights with long boarding times.).

one thing generally that EU / UK credit cards are definitely missing vs. US cards is automatic insurance for car rentals.

 

[CashmereThoughts]

i see that. i have another card which gets me the lounges without the costs

that centurion lounge is different. we all in it from different things, that's what it is for me