Amex Platinum Year Four Review: Did We Get Our Money's Worth?
Four years ago we decided to acquire a premium credit card to improve our travels and possibly save us some money. All of the top cards come at a steep price, and we weren’t sure that we would want or need all of the perks, so each year I’ve kept semi-careful records and done an analysis of whether it was worth it to us. Your mileage may vary so before you consider this card or any other, see what you’ll use and whether it’s a true addition of value.
I considered Year 2 to be a “mild failure” but things perked up enough in Year 3, enough to convince me to keep the card.
We continue to be on a July through December annual plan. In this particular year, that promised to provide additional benefits because we thought our travel would increase. I retired on December 31 and Hanna left her gig of 20+ years on May 15.
More travel? Well, kind of. In the latter half of 2025 I decided to curtail my discretionary trips beyond what I otherwise might have done in order to cash out leave when I retired. Starting January 7th, I was on the road seemingly non-stop, but most of that was driving around the United States, which didn’t allow me to use lounges or utilize other credits. Still, as you’ll see from the analysis below, I think we did well.
The Fee
Shortly after our mid-2025 renewal, AmEx raised the annual fee from $695 to $895. We were grandfathered in at the old rate. Similarly, the rate for up to three additional users was $175 (I was the sole additional user on Hanna’s account) but that will go up to $195 on this renewal. Thus, the number we will be working against will be $1,090, but for this cycle it was $870.
The Biggest Change
The biggest change for us was the addition of a $100 credit per quarter for dining on Resy-affiliated restaurants. We had no trouble finding restaurants that we wanted to eat at and paying there with our AmEx. That’s an easy benefit for us of $400, making the $895 lift a little bit lighter.
Airport Lounges
It’s hard to quantify the benefit of having an airport lounge because it means different things to different people. For example, at the Punta Cana airport, the food was mediocre at best, but utilization of the VIP lounge during a long delay allowed us to get away from brutal crowds, utilize reliable internet and enjoy better air conditioning (worth a lot in times of stress).
As a general rule, I don’t apply a singular fee to our lounge visits. I try to estimate what we would have spent at an airport restaurant (usually $10-15 per person for breakfast, a little more for lunch, and $20-30 for dinner) and use that in my calculations. If all we have is a drink or a light snack, my estimate might be as little as $5 per person.
The biggest benefit for us has been the addition of a the Centurion Club at DCA, one of the two airports we use most frequently. It consistently has quality food and in our experience rarely has a wait as long as other Centurion Clubs we’ve visited. We ended up using the DCA Centurion Club less than expected, a total of 10 meals combined, for an estimated value of $155.
We also used Centurion lounges in Dallas, Charlotte and Lax for a total of seven combined meals and an estimated value of $140.
Furthermore, we used Priority Pass lounges (sometimes bringing in guests/clients) in Palm Beach, Cabo, Panama, Washington-Dulles and Guatemala City for an estimated value of $150.
That’s a total of $445 in estimated lounge usage, not including the benefit of Wi-Fi, quiet and occasional privacy.
Uber Credits
The card continues to provide a monthly benefit of $15 on Uber. We used that in July, September, October, November, December (Uber eats instead of a taxi), February, March and June, a total of eight times for a value of $120.
Miscellaneous Credits and Benefits
The AmEx Platinum provides several other benefits that we used in various capacities.
We continue to love using CLEAR+ at the increasing number of airports that provide it and the card provides a $199 credit toward our annual subscription. On several heavy travel dates it cut our security time by an estimated 30-40 minutes. That’s worth something, too. We were not eligible this year for the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck renewal credit of $120, which is good only every 4 years.
We kept our WalMart Plus status active (estimated value: $155) and used it for free shipping a couple of times, but I’m not sure that provides any meaningful value – we likely could have gotten the same products via Amazon Prime.
We did make use of the monthly entertainment credit of $20, for a total value of $240. I do think we will be examining this one in the coming months to deploy it even more effectively of different services (renegotiating a subscription price so we can get more for our $20).
Credits I’m Not Precisely Sure How to Value
We rented cars on multiple occasions this year and the AmEx Platinum provides some sort of status with Hertz, Avis and National. The upgrades were nice, but what really mattered for us is that on several occasions when one overworked clerk was dealing with a long line of impatient customers we were simply able to walk up and grab our car.
The card also provides a credit of $50 at Saks Fifth Avenue every six months and a credit of $75 each quarter at Lululemon. The former is going away this year, but Hanna made use of them while she could. In theory, that’s a benefit of $400, but I have no idea if she would have spent money at those two shops without the credit. I’d like to think she wouldn’t have but I can’t be sure. Let’s value that at $200 total because she did.
Credits We Did Not Use
Once again, we did not use the hotel credit – now raised to $600 -- for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings. However, the Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite and Hilton Honors Gold status did get me some benefits during my weeks of road travel (upgraded rooms, late checkout, etc.). I’m not sure how to value those, so I’ll just say zero. I’m not sure they are difference-makers to me.
Furthermore, I’m not sure, but I don’t think we used the $200 airline fee credit for incidentals.
Conclusion: Still Worth It to Us (For Now)
That’s an estimated value of $1604 – or $1404 if you take off the $200 guesstimate I provided for Lululemon and Saks. I feel like I was pretty conservative with the value of the lounge visits, but again — if you wouldn’t spend in airport restaurants/bars, then the value might not be the same to you.
That easily beats the $870 we spent on card fees, as well as the $1090 we would have spent under the new fee structure. We will spend that amount this year, especially since our travel schedule promises to get more packed, and more dependent on air travel. As long as we’re living here and in the travel business, this one seems like a no-brainer. I really like the Centurion Lounge in particular (not so much some of the others, like LAX, where we experienced long waits and crowds).
If our travel does not meet expected frequency that could change, but all of our past 8-5 office time freed up, we could also find ways to maximize some of the benefits we’ve missed. The big question for us is whether and where we move – if the most oft-used airports have no Centurion Lounge, or are hubs for particular airlines, it might weigh in favor of a different card, or none at all.
