Credit Card Offers Amex Platinum Card Benefits, Offers & Discussion

Enjoy a world of travel benefits and up to 200,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Premium Ascent points...​

Learn more and apply for this card:

American Express® Platinum Card

The American Express (Amex) Platinum charge card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for travel benefits.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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What are the main benefits of this card?

1. Signup bonus: 200,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points (worth 100,000 Qantas Points, Velocity Points, Avios or Asia Miles, among other options when you spend at least $5,000 within 3 months.
2. Earn 2.25 Amex Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on everyday purchases, uncapped. You can transfer these points to 12 airline & 2 hotel programs, including Qantas Frequent Flyer.
3. Enjoy unlimited access to many airport lounges, including Virgin Australia and Priority Pass lounges
4. Gift Priority Pass membership to one additional cardholder
5. Receive complimentary elite status with hotel loyalty programs including Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards & Accor Live Limitless
6. Complimentary international travel insurance
7. Receive a $450 annual travel credit, plus airfare discounts, $400 worth of annual dining credits, subscriptions to The Australian & Wall Street Journal, plus many more exclusive benefits!

Why we like the American Express Platinum Card

Packed full of travel perks, the American Express Platinum Card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for frequent flyers.

With a $1,450 annual fee, this metal card is not for everyone. But the return on investment for the high annual fee is strong, as it comes with a lot of useful benefits! This includes an annual travel credit, dining credits and unlimited access to Virgin Australia, Delta, Lufthansa, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium and Amex Centurion airport lounges.

There are also some great hotel perks including a free annual hotel night, Accor Plus membership, Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits and complimentary elite status with Hilton, Marriott and Radisson.

For points collectors, this is one of the most lucrative cards available in Australia. You’ll earn 2.25 Amex Membership Rewards Ascent Premium points per $1 spent on eligible transactions. Points transfer to most frequent flyer programs at a 2:1 rate, although there are some exceptions (e.g. it's 3:1 to KrisFlyer and Emirates).

You can convert your Amex points to around 12 airlines including Qantas, Virgin Australia, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Etihad! Plus, you can transfer points to two hotel loyalty programs for even more redemption possibilities.

To sweeten the deal, new cardholders can also earn 200,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Points when spending at least $5,000 on the card within 3 months of approval. See our card guide for the full details:

American Express® Platinum Card

The American Express (Amex) Platinum charge card is one of the best publicly-available cards in Australia for travel benefits.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.

 

[maccaisking]

Seeing prime and the restaurant credits are finishing end of this year.. wonder what the future holds for the platinum card.

Just noticed the US version is getting changes..

American Express Announces Major Updates Coming to U.S. Consumer and Business Platinum Cards® Later This Year

American Express Announces Major Updates Coming to U.S. Consumer and Business Platinum Cards® Later This Year

www.americanexpress.com

Refresh feels like it’s American for Enhancements here.

 

[muppet]

Seeing prime and the restaurant credits are finishing end of this year.. wonder what the future holds for the platinum card.

Just noticed the US version is getting changes..

American Express Announces Major Updates Coming to U.S. Consumer and Business Platinum Cards® Later This Year

American Express Announces Major Updates Coming to U.S. Consumer and Business Platinum Cards® Later This Year

www.americanexpress.com

Talk about an announcement that says nothing… “attention, we have something to announce later this year”

 

[sudoer]

Seeing prime and the restaurant credits are finishing end of this year.. wonder what the future holds for the platinum card.

The restaurant credits were finishing at the end of 2024 but got extended, I think we'll probably continue to see both extended for the foreseeable (Amex has added a few new restaurants in Sydney recently)

 

[levelnine]

The US Amex changes are a response to changes coming to its largest competitor, the Chase Sapphire Reserve. They really have nothing to do with the AU Amex market, which marches to the beat of a different drum.

 

[burneracc]

People PMing me for my spreadsheet of value I get from the card, here are the lines - just put against it your personal value of each benefit.

I very much agree with only using the personal value of each benefit, so I only note the cash price that I would’ve been willing to pay for whatever the benefit is.

For people asking comehither for a spreadsheet, it’s best to just do a quick summary yourself. But as an example, here are my totals so far 8 months into my membership year:

$420 so far in hotel upgrades
$300 in FHR value
$100 in lounges
$450 travel credit
$400 dining credit
$250 travel insurance (actually useful since was in a non-western country for a few weeks)
$150 in other statement credits like prime / random Amex offers

So TLDR $1670 in actual value to me, plus points earn. Additionally due for another $200 in dining credit this year to use. My supps also love the card for virgin lounge access and FHR (not counted in the above).

I don't count the Qantas AMEX cards as I wouldn't have them over the Plat card

Qantas ultimate costs $0 if you do the travel credit trick and there are multiple substantial benefits to holding it if you are a qffer. It’s a small niche but it can actually work nicely in combination with the plat. Can even get a mini signup bonus if you are motivated enough. Was debating posting about that earlier but the gist is if you apply for the free Qantas card, you can immediately upgrade to the ult for a 20k SUB, or you can wait it out for a bigger targeted one instead.

 

[comehither]

Interested in the new card designs

 

[Bell21]

Still for up to 7yr old cars

I haven't checked for a while, but i think it probably still is

I very much agree with only using the personal value of each benefit, so I only note the cash price that I would’ve been willing to pay for whatever the benefit is.

For people asking comehither for a spreadsheet, it’s best to just do a quick summary yourself. But as an example, here are my totals so far 8 months into my membership year:

$420 so far in hotel upgrades
$300 in FHR value
$100 in lounges
$450 travel credit
$400 dining credit
$250 travel insurance (actually useful since was in a non-western country for a few weeks)
$150 in other statement credits like prime / random Amex offers

So TLDR $1670 in actual value to me, plus points earn. Additionally due for another $200 in dining credit this year to use. My supps also love the card for virgin lounge access and FHR (not counted in the above).


Qantas ultimate costs $0 if you do the travel credit trick and there are multiple substantial benefits to holding it if you are a qffer. It’s a small niche but it can actually work nicely in combination with the plat. Can even get a mini signup bonus if you are motivated enough. Was debating posting about that earlier but the gist is if you apply for the free Qantas card, you can immediately upgrade to the ult for a 20k SUB, or you can wait it out for a bigger targeted one instead.

Thanks for that - I guess the question is would you actually put any purchases on the Qantas AMEX cards - even at 1.25 pt/$, I'd prefer to have 1.125 'flex' points. I may have to check out the other benefits to check I'm not missing out on something important (although I tend to travel Virgin domestically)

As for points value, I get really good value out of lounge access and complimentary travel insurance