If you don't travel - don't get this card.

If you don't think you'll take advantage of any of the benefits of the card (concierge, travel agency, room upgrades, complimentary hertz and national car rental memberships, airport lounges - continental & northwest & twa & whatever else it says on the web site - these are the ones I have used, event tickets, restaurant reservations that are hard to get, free shipping/discounts at a bunch of places online, etc. etc. etc.) then don't get this card and whine about a $300 fee.

I've had wonderful luck with the platinum card. Try getting a reservation to El Gaucho or Canlis on short notice in Seattle without it - or at a number of the restaurants we've eaten at because we could get reservations on short notice with the card.

Some people gripe about the 'no preset spending limit’, which really means they don’t disclose the amount they are willing to trust you. But, Amex really just bases this on your past purchase history - I grew with the card - green -> gold -> platinum - and they grew with me. Charging $10k or $20k in a month isn't a problem for them with me because we've built a relationship. They know because of years of building up to this that at the end of the month the account will be cleared. I carry this card and an ATM card (has a visa logo, but rarely used) only so for the most part it's cash of Amex. I have had a few times where Amex made the store call in to get approval because they were purchases not typical of my past buying profile… the Hilton in Atlanta had to call because I was well outside of my usual spending amount for the month and they just wanted to make sure it was me and Sears Automotive had to call in because a car battery is not something I would have typically bought according to their ‘profile’ of me. :-)

Living on the west coast with family in the mid-west and on the east coast, my wife and I take advantage of the airline lounges in the airport and the national/hertz car rental programs. Really worth the $300 in fees a year right there… those lounges are so stress free and the people working in them ARE friendlier.

All while earning points in the membership rewards program - soon we'll be taking a cruise from NY for 7 days... for free (well, just spend $220k and it's yours for free). I haven't yet redeemed on this so I can't comment on how painful/painless this process is.

The concierge service helped me get some subscriptions to harder to find magazines for my family as gifts - great, took almost none of my time and was just taken care of for me.

Hotel upgrades/perks have been nice - Chateau Whistler in Canada, Heathman in Oregon, Ritz Carlton in Cleveland, etc., etc. Early check-in, late checkout, and then an amenity of the hotel's choosing have been good.

We haven't flown business/first class internationally - that perk may go unused for a long time for myself... can't stomach paying 10x one ticket at the business/first class price to get a free companion ticket when I can pay 2x and get two tickets in coach.

They've been outstanding dealing with merchants whenever there is a discrepancy over something that was billed - only three times in six or seven years but they were exceptional each time.

Their web site has been dramatically improved as of a couple months ago - they made sign and travel balances easier to determine full and minimum payoffs. Their bill presentment on-line is greatly improved and getting better with each revision of the web site.

BTW - I'm pretty sure you can get a free platinum card from Fidelity Investments if you have > $30k in an investment/brokerage account there. I haven't looked too far into it yet, but that's what I was told and it was mentioned on their web site as well.

Anyway, I think my wife and I get our money's worth out of the fee.

I'd like to see more airlines added to the airline lounge program. That would make it even a bigger, better, benefit.



Recommended: Yes