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ENDS TUE: Is the Amex Platinum card worth the £650 fee (given the bonus worth 80,000 Avios)?

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The Platinum Card from American Express is probably the most divisive credit card on the UK market.

Some people find it crazy that anyone would pay £650 per year for a credit card. However …

The bonus converts to 80,000 Avios which we’d value at a whopping £800 if used smartly.

Let’s take a look at the value proposition. Our full review of The Platinum Card is here.

You can apply here.

Is American Express Platinum worth the £650 fee?

One upside is that you can get a pro-rata fee refund if you cancel so the cost of trying it out for a few months is low.  In fact, you’d make a decent profit if you took advantage of all the credits.

(American Express had been threatening to remove pro rata refunds in 2024 but it did not happen. We now believe that it has given up on the idea.)

What are the benefits of American Express Platinum?

This article looks at the key benefits of The Platinum Card as I see them. However, for clarity, there is no ‘right’ answer about whether The Platinum Card represents good value.

It is SOLELY down to how you travel and which of the card benefits you can use.  This varies from person to person.  Most people value the Priority Pass airport lounge access cards the most, for example, but I don’t because we usually fly Business Class and my wife and I both have British Airways status anyway.

On the other hand, as non car-owning Londoners, we do disproportionately value the car hire insurance and the Fine Hotels & Resorts luxury hotel benefits. The 4pm guaranteed late check-out is a real boon if you are only away for a long weekend.  Who wants to be kicked out of their hotel at 11am on a Sunday?

I run through this in more detail below.  It is why, of all the credit and charge cards we cover on Head for Points, American Express Platinum is the one that people often find the hardest to get their head around.

What is the sign up bonus on The Platinum Card?

You receive 80,000 American Express Membership Rewards points when you apply for the card and spend £10,000 in six months. This is only £1,666 per month.

This converts into:

  • 80,000 Avios
  • 80,000 Virgin Points
  • 80,000 Etihad, Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Delta, Qantas or SAS miles
  • 60,000 Emirates miles
  • 53,333 Singapore Airlines miles
  • 160,000 Hilton Honors points
  • 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
  • 240,000 Radisson Rewards points
  • 5,333 Club Eurostar points

….. and many other non-travel rewards.  I wrote this article on the most valuable Membership Rewards redemptions.

What is the annual fee on The Platinum Card?

The card has an annual fee of £650.

The representative APR is 698.1% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.4% variable.

Is American Express Platinum worth the £650 fee?

Can I get the sign-up bonus if I have a British Airways American Express card?

Yes.  The rule is that you will not receive a sign-up bonus if you have held a Platinum, Gold or Green American Express card, or the Amex Rewards credit card, in the 24 months before you apply.

You WILL receive the sign-up bonus if you have a Corporate or Business American Express Green, Gold or Platinum card via your job and you receive Membership Rewards points from it.  Only PERSONAL cards impact on whether you qualify.

For clarity, you will definitely receive the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card if you already have a BA Amex, Nectar Amex, Marriott Bonvoy Amex or Platinum Cashback Amex provided you have not had a Platinum, Gold, Green or Amex Rewards credit card in the last 24 months.

You will also definitely receive the bonus if you are currently a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s Amex Gold or Platinum card.  As far as Amex is concerned, that card belongs to the primary cardholder and does not make you an ‘existing cardholder’.

Here are the American Express Platinum core benefits (for me)

Here are the key card benefits to me.  As you read on, you will probably say to yourself that you would value some of these at nothing.  That’s fine.  You may value some of the benefits that I never use.  As I said, there is no right or wrong decision about whether Platinum works for you.

£200 of UK dining credit:

You will receive £200 cashback per year when eating at 160+ UK restaurants listed here.

This is split into £100 per half year. There is no small print – you don’t need to book via any special link or quote any code. You simply register for the offer and then pay on The Platinum Card when you dine.

Value to me: £200. We eat in some of the participating restaurants on a regular basis so this is essentially free money for me.

£200 of international dining credit:

You will receive £200 cashback per year when eating in 1,200+ international restaurants. The list is here.

This is split into £100 per half year.

Value to me: Slightly less than £200, because I can’t be 100% certain that I will find myself in a participating city near a participating restaurant.

Is American Express Platinum worth the £650 fee?

£50 per year of Harvey Nichols credit (ends 30th June 2025):

You receive £50 credit to spend at Harvey Nichols, either instore or online, between January and June 2025. This offer ends permanently on 30th June 2025.

There is no minimum spend. If you buy exactly £50 of items, or spend exactly £50 in the restaurants, it is genuinely free.

Value to me: £50 – I used my last credit for wine, which is hard to price compare, but in general my wife is most likely to use this for branded cosmetics. Add in the benefits of the Harvey Nichols loyalty scheme and you are getting decent value.

Full travel insurance:

You receive travel insurance for yourself and your family as long as you are under 70.  Some benefits require you to pay for your trip with an American Express card (any UK personal Amex card, not necessarily Platinum) but the core medical benefit is automatic.  My family relies on this as our core family travel policy and do not pay for any other cover. Do check the list of exclusions if you have medical conditions.

Value to me: £350, because the cost of the last moneysavingexpert.com best buy for a family is £350 per year (from LV), with ‘best buy’ status being based on LV’s willingness to pay up, the strong level of cover offered and the low excess. MSE no longer issues ‘best buy’ recommendations but this policy remains 5-star Defaqto rated.

Car hire insurance:

You receive full car hire insurance.  As we live in London and don’t own a car, this is very useful for us as we hire 3-4 times per year.

Value to me: £125, which is what insurance4carhire.com would charge for a stand-alone worldwide policy

Airport lounge access via Priority Pass:

You and your main supplementary cardholder will each receive a Priority Pass card.  This gets the cardholder plus a guest into 1,400 airport lounges across the world for free, including the Aspire lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 reviewed hereNo1 Lounges, present at Gatwick, Birmingham and Heathrow Terminal 3, is also part of Priority Pass which makes it even more useful.

As you get two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows a free guest, you can get a family of four into a lounge.

You can also get into Amex’s own network of high quality ‘Centurion’ airport lounges for free.  These are primarily in the US but are rolling out globally – new ones opened in Hong Kong and Melbourne recently.  The first UK Centurion lounge, at Heathrow Terminal 3, is reviewed here – we like it.

Obviously if you do not have airline status then this benefit has substantial value.

Value to me: I rarely use the Priority Pass benefit as I have British Airways status for short haul flights and our long-haul travel is always in Business Class.  That said, we do occasionally find ourselves at airports where BA does not provide lounge access and BA doesn’t always cover the short haul destinations we want. I’d value this to us at £100 which is the cost of two light meals for a family of four over a 12 month period.

Is The Platinum Card from American Express worth £650?

Hotel status:

You will also receive permanent – for as long as you hold your Platinum card – status in various hotel schemes:

  • Gold in Hilton Honors
  • Gold in Marriott Bonvoy
  • Premium in Radisson Rewards
  • Gold in MeliaRewards

Value to me: I usually value these cards highly and plan my stays around hotels which will give me additional status benefits. This article explains what each of the hotel status cards offers. However, I have top tier status with Hilton and Marriott anyway so (personally) this is not a benefit I value.

It IS valuable to everyone else. Hilton Gold, for example, gets you free breakfast for two people (or a cash credit at US hotels) which could be worth £40+ per night.

Car hire status:

You will receive President’s Circle with Avis, which is their top tier status. This can have a lot of value if you are a regular renter. You will also receive Five Star status with Hertz, which is not top tier but should still generate a saving when you book.

Value to me: This isn’t something I tend to value much, but it can pay off when renting at busy airports where you can often skip the line and go straight to your car.

Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta lounge access:

Other benefits include Eurostar lounge access in London, Brussels and Paris whatever your class of travel.  You also receive lounge access when flying with Lufthansa / SWISS / Austrian and Delta although no guests are allowed.

I do value the Eurostar benefit because I tend to travel Eurostar Plus (ex Standard Premier) which gets the business class seat but without lounge access.  No guests are allowed although your partner can come in if they have a supplementary Platinum card on your account.  At quiet times they will unofficially allow children in.

Rhys reviewed the Eurostar Business Premier lounge at London St Pancras here.

Value to me: I’ve done three Eurostar lounge visits in the last 12 months, so I’m happy to value the at £100 given the savings on F&B spend in the terminal at both ends of the trip and the free newspapers and magazines on offer.

Exclusive events:

American Express offers an exclusive events programme.  This is a mix of free events and special paid events with top restaurants or shows.  Now that I have a couple of kids my ability to nip off to every free party I get invited to is much reduced, but I have attended a few good evenings over the years I have held my Platinum card.

The value here obviously varies massively.  Would you be interested, for example, in joining a private meal hosted personally by a high-profile chef in their flagship restaurant even if the cost was higher than a standard meal in the same venue?  Would you be interested in the best seats in the house for a high profile concert, with a private drinks reception beforehand for Platinum guests, if the cost was higher than a standard top-priced ticket (which sold out months ago)?  Some would be keen, some wouldn’t.

Value to me: I value this at nil, but that is a little unfair because there are some interesting events in the app. It is the difficulty in co-ordinating diaries between me, my wife and our combined business and family commitments that means we don’t use it much.

Exclusive benefits at luxury hotels:

There is an exclusive hotel booking scheme called ‘Fine Hotels & Resorts’ which offers valuable additional benefits on your stays.  If you are a regular visitor at five star hotels then you can recoup your entire membership fee via FHR bookings.

I wrote more about Fine Hotels & Resorts here – for me, the guaranteed 4pm check-out on every stay is invaluable, especially for weekend breaks.  We use this benefit whenever I must have a 4pm check-out, which can make a real difference on a short break.

Value to me: I think we’ve done two FHR bookings in the last year. Across a family of four with two rooms per booking, the benefits were easily worth £500. This ignore the substantial value of the 4pm check-out on those stays.

Conclusion

Looking at the maths above, I get £1,500 of ‘value’ per year from The Platinum Card, which is almost double the £650 annual fee.

I’ve also not considered the American Express cashback offers and the ‘refer a friend’ bonuses, even though I do well out of both.

I’m also ignoring the SIGNIFICANT value you get in your first year from the 80,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus. Convert those to Avios and you should be able to get £800 of value.

The application form for Amex Platinum can be found here.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – February 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

Get 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month* Read our full review

Comments (67)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Charlie says:

    Rob, don’t you also have an HSBC Premier account that has free travel insurance included, which in my experience is excellent. Why do you put the Amex insurance at £350 if you also have HSBC?

    • Rob says:

      Can honestly say I have never actually looked at the HSBC policy and have no idea what it covers esp in terms of wife and kids.

    • JDB says:

      There are some very significant differences between the HSBC and Amex Plat policies. Obviously anyone should check for a policy that meets their needs and read the terms carefully but some key areas are:-

      Both policies offer full family cover
      The big pluses of Amex Plat are the long trip time allowed, the ability to postpone a trip and the car hire excess cover neither of which are offered by HSBC
      The biggest negatives (as I see them at least) of Amex Plat are that very major pre-existing conditions that affect young and old are excluded (and the terms of what constitutes pre-existing are exceptionally wide) and the travel inconvenience section is very weak with unduly low cover
      HSBC allows many pre-existing conditions and has much higher/more comprehensive cover for travel disruption, plus allows cheapish buyout for some policy extensions

      The reality is that each of the various packaged policies have good bits and bad bits so a combination can work best.

      • meta says:

        For sake of completeness HSBC long trip is 31 days which can be extended to 120 days unlike with Amex. I’ve done it once to the maximum 120 days and it costs about £150+ extra.

  • ringingup says:

    I have an enhanced referral offer on my platinum card which expires today. If I refer someone before the end of the offer, will I get the enchanced referral even if for some reason their application is deferred and they’re not approved immediately?

    • BBbetter says:

      The application has to be approved. If it’s deferred, you won’t get the enhanced bonus.

      • Rob says:

        Rules are different now. Amex works off application date, which is only fair as you can’t control approval date.

  • Mike says:

    I have held a a platinum card since I started travelling to India on business in 2007. I never regret the cost, Annual Travel Insurance, Dining Credits and Car Hire benefits alone cover my annual fee. Everything else is a bonus

  • Simon G says:

    Morning folks. I wonder if someone would kindly clarify. The Harvey Nichols credit used to be every 6 months. I used it just before the end of 2024 for a Christmas gift. Does this mean I have another £50 to use before the promotion ends later this year, or am I done now? Thanking you.

  • Phupw says:

    Could I take out the card, spend £10,000 with Octopus energy using the card and then do the following?

    1. Claim everything I wanted to (inc. transferring all the Amex points out) and then cancel the card for a pro rata refund.

    2. Once that’s all done, then request the money from Octopus to be refunded to my current account as that is where the usual direct debit would come from.

    • Rob says:

      Could do, but a million easier ways to do it – eg a refundable BA flight.

      Amex is unlikely to accept you for cards in the future though since you’d be closing it with a negative balance of 100,000 points once the refund had gone through.

      • Phupw says:

        Would BA not initially look to refund to what would be a closed Amex though, which would highlight what I had done? Whereas Octopus would refund to my current account meaning Amex wouldn’t need to know? It would just appear as legitimate spend.

        • Rob says:

          Credit card scheme rules insist refunds are made to a credit card. Refund will go back to your closed card and you speak to Amex to get the money back.

          • Phupw says:

            Thanks for that. I wonder then how Octopus make the decision of where to refund the money. If I added £1000 to my Octopus account from 5 different credit cards and then for example withdrew £2000. Would they refund £400 to each card, £1000 to two, all to one or something different e.g. all goes back in to my current account.

          • CJD says:

            That’s not what he’s doing though. He’s sticking £10,000 into his Octopus account. Presumably (unless he’s Rishi Sunak heating his pool) he won’t be spending £10,000 on energy in the next few months, so will request a credit balance refund from Octopus, which will go to the bank account he pays his monthly Direct Debit from.

    • No longer Entitled says:

      Octopus will insist on paying the card used for the deposit. Even if cancelled they can return the funds to Amex and you would then need to request Amex return any positive balance.

      • Dezza says:

        Interestingly I’m an Octopus customer and I pay a mix – £75 p mth on CC & the same amount by DD. I occasionally top up with CC but the only option I have for a refund is via my bank.

        • Bigmaggot says:

          Refund to bank with Octopus means they will refund your cards first for as much as they possibly can, if all else fails they will refund to bank.

  • Richard says:

    I was interested to know how the car hire insurance element worked but, having read the very small print Ts and Cs, I can’t see any car insurance at all? The car hire insurance isn’t even a bullet headline in the card perks on their application pages.
    Is it merely a default coverage when renting through the sole Hertz and Avis partners, under their top tier schemes? In other words, one has to use those providers?

    • Rob says:

      There’s a full page in the insurance policy explaining how it works.

      There is no small print (obviously there is, but not anything key in my view). Any car hire provider, don’t need to pay with Amex. Just say No to whatever they try to add on at pickup.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    I think it’s worth it, like all my other ongoing contracts I negotiate annually and generally receive 35k points, as of course do many others. For £300 it’s a no-brainer, but even at £650 I’d probably keep it.

    • Matt Price says:

      Do you mean you threaten to cancel and they chuck points your way?

      • aurimas says:

        I meant to cancel the platinum and they gave me 35k retention points to stay another year plus I still have spend any amount in Jan to get 25k (previous AmEx plat offer).

      • Rob says:

        There are huge threads on this in our forum …..

  • Charlie says:

    Apart from the trip length cap (which is pretty long anyway), the only Amex benefit over HSBC is car hire insurance which is possible to buy for around £55 per year (car hire excess.co.uk worldwide annual policy cost). If you have HSBC Premier, I struggle to see how you can justify Amex benefit at £350 or the car hire insurance at £125.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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