Card Promotions Amex Platinum Card Benefits, Offers & Discussion

Enjoy a world of travel benefits and 150,000 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: 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points (worth 75,000 Qantas Points, Velocity Points, Avios or Asia Miles, among other options) when you apply by 28 January 2025 and 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 who apply by 28 January 2025 can also earn 150,000 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.

 

[daft009]

Where did you find the info on this particular benefit? I can't seem to find it anywhere on the AmEx site.

in here but havent read it in detail as yet..

https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/au/benefits/Platinum/PlatinumInsurance.pdf

 

[Bell21]

Question about the travel insurance for this card. T&C states:


-Will it cover me if I use this card to pay for taxes on a return award flight?
-Does it cover me if i book a return trip but on separate PNR because i might use two different airlines - example: Syd to TPE with CI and then MNL to SYD with QF or PR

Sorry, most cards i've had previously was way easier.. "Spend $500 on prepaid travel cost before leaving Australia which includes the following: return tickets, overseas accomodation, etc.. a

I spoke to Chubb today and thought I'd close the loop on the earlier discussion in the thread on this question.

My clear understanding was that yes, we are covered if we use the card to pay for taxes on an award flight, irrespective where the points come from, and on re-reading the Activation clauses, that makes sense now I reflect on it --- the clause says 'AMEX reward points, frequent flyer points' - as somone else pointed out, it doesn't say 'frequent flyer points transferred from AMEX rewards'

I'm also clear that it doesn't matter whether the trip is booked as one or more transactions (eg, separate PNRs), and by extension, I would think it is therefore unlikely to matter whether it's same or different airlines, as long as you can prove that it is, in practice, a return trip, departing from and returning to Australia (there is a reference to a maximum trip conditions somewhere in the T&Cs - from memory, 180 days).

I'm pleased as that saves me quite a bit of $ in taking out a separate policy for an upcoming trip - I get that it's all a question of 'risk tolerance' and some might take out a separate policy anyway, but I'm comfortable based on above.

Lastly, an interesting part of the discussion was that I assumed that f you only booked your trip to a destination before leaving Aust, but didn't book your return trip until after departing, that you wouldn't be covered - however, appears I'm incorrect - it appears that even if you booked your return trip after arriving at your destination, your cover would then be activated (and apparently activated from the date you left Aust, although I didn't drill-down for complete clarity on this point as it was more a side-issue that came up).

 

[mikedesign]

This enrol link won't work for me. I keep getting error saying "502 BAD GATEWAY".
Do i need to do anything before enrolling to the Hotel Status?

I think I got this message when I tried to sign up for AFR, clear your cache and restart your browser. I was told by customer service to use chrome, not Firefox and not safari (if you’re on a Mac).

 

[Ktan89]

Thanks @mikedesign. I had to jump to a different PC for it to work. I got it all sorted now though.

 

[Ktan89]

I'm pleased as that saves me quite a bit of $ in taking out a separate policy for an upcoming trip - I get that it's all a question of 'risk tolerance' and some might take out a separate policy anyway, but I'm comfortable based on above.

Same here. I used to always purchase from SCTI.com.au but they declined my last claim and luckily my CC insurance at that time approved it.
I guess you have to read the terms and conditions really thoroughly and even then sometimes things will slide through a gap (like my drone.. which SCTI classifies it as an Airplane part)

 

[Chimp]

Anyone tried enrolling in The Travel Collection with an Australian Platinum card?

The Travel Collection

enroll.thetravelcollection.com

It's a discount travel program a bit like the IAP one but offering different airlines and also discount on economy tickets. Supposedly it's only for US card holders but I'm wondering if it'll work with Aussie cards as well.

Didn't work when I tried it.

 

[dkr]

I guess you have to read the terms and conditions really thoroughly and even then sometimes things will slide through a gap (like my drone.. which SCTI classifies it as an Airplane part)

Which part of an airplane did they say it was??

 

[georgie23]

After receiving the platinum I have an explorer that i want to cancel and get the reserve card instead - what is the best way of doing that - over the phone or online
- do I cancel the explorer first and then apply for reserve
- will the Gateway points for the expolorer just sit there and then be linked to reserve or can you link to ascent premium someway

thanks for advice

 

[andye]

I found Flexi tickets SYD-PER $80 cheaper (than VA) each way when logged into the Plat Amex travel site today

 

[Bell21]

After receiving the platinum I have an explorer that i want to cancel and get the reserve card instead - what is the best way of doing that - over the phone or online
- do I cancel the explorer first and then apply for reserve
- will the Gateway points for the expolorer just sit there and then be linked to reserve or can you link to ascent premium someway

thanks for advice

AMEX's advice to me in the past was don't cancel existing cards when applying for new ones and I followed that advice, although I did lower my credit limits if they were high on particular cards when applying for new ones if I thought it might impact my overall credit application - if you're unsure, call AMEX to discuss - also the Reserve can have as low as a $2,000 credit limit, which is all you need if you're just after the extra $450 travel credit.

I haven't thought about the old delight of Gateway to Ascent since pre-April 2019, but my assumption is that you can still manually transfer from one to the other (via a phone call) and potentially can also link them, so it happens automatically - again call AMEX to double-check

 

[SOPOOR]

didnt want to start a new thread, but I have the platinum EDGE

I made a dan murphys purchase and got 3 points,

T/Cs say

"The following merchants have been classified as major supermarkets: Bi-Lo, Coles, Fishers, Food For Less, Fresh Provisions, Harris Farm Markets, IGA, Macro Wholefoods, Safeway, Supabarn, Thomas Dux, Woolworths "

is this a error or does dan muprhys come under the "woolworths" flag?

 

[zig]

didnt want to start a new thread, but I have the platinum EDGE

I made a dan murphys purchase and got 3 points,

T/Cs say

"The following merchants have been classified as major supermarkets: Bi-Lo, Coles, Fishers, Food For Less, Fresh Provisions, Harris Farm Markets, IGA, Macro Wholefoods, Safeway, Supabarn, Thomas Dux, Woolworths "

is this a error or does dan muprhys come under the "woolworths" flag?

I usually get the 3 ppd with DMs.

 

[andye]

didnt want to start a new thread, but I have the platinum EDGE

I made a dan murphys purchase and got 3 points,

T/Cs say

"The following merchants have been classified as major supermarkets: Bi-Lo, Coles, Fishers, Food For Less, Fresh Provisions, Harris Farm Markets, IGA, Macro Wholefoods, Safeway, Supabarn, Thomas Dux, Woolworths "

is this a error or does dan muprhys come under the "woolworths" flag?

Long-standing unpublished benefit but why not use an eWISH for 5% off and the points?

 

[SOPOOR]

Long-standing unpublished benefit but why not use an eWISH for 5% off and the points?

yes totally, agree, I ran out of ewish and was in store and used my credit card for the first time instore, it was surreal

 

[andye]

Ah. Drinking quicker than you can order

 

[SOPOOR]

Ah. Drinking quicker than you can order

And being too impatient to wait to order wish card!!

 

[SOPOOR]

completely weird, I placed an online order via dans,

8/03/2020

DAN MURPHY ONLINE 8305 BELLA VISTA

$964.00

2,892

0

2,892

called up immediaetely to cancel it due to making a boo boo

refund has come through

13/03/2020

DAN MURPHY ONLINE 8305 BELLA VISTA

-$964.00

-964

0

-964

so charged at 3 ppd, refunded at 1ppd
not that im complaining

 

[trippin_the_rift]

completely weird, I placed an online order via dans,

.....

Strangely, I now have an immediate need to massively stock-up on alcohol. Or, maybe it won't be delivered and they'll refund. Who knows with the current mess, right!??!1

 

[thatsthatmattressman]

May have missed this but wondering what the possibilities of Amex extending the expiry dates of the 400$+ annual travel voucher credits given the inability to use them with any certainty?

 

[zig]

May have missed this but wondering what the possibilities of Amex extending the expiry dates of the 400$+ annual travel voucher credits given the inability to use them with any certainty?

I received an email about a week ago extending it to 31st December.