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.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Oh yes, kinda like, you fly Melbourne to London, then Amsterdam back to Melbourne. They can't say no to that!

It's an insurance company, they can say 'no' to anything they damned well please!

 

[daft009]

Regarding the Amex Travel insurance, I'm just having a read of it now.
Policy states that it only applies to return trips or where you have an intention of returning to Australia. I assume 2x One way trips are covered if you on holiday for say a few weeks and do have the intention of returning?

pre-covid I asked this question and it was a yes you are covered
I also asked I was using FF points to book the 2x 1ways.
no issues

 

[cbourl]

Oh yes, kinda like, you fly Melbourne to London, then Amsterdam back to Melbourne. They can't say no to that!

I've used the Travel Insurance this way for several years eg 2 one ways, out of, and back into Australia on award tickets Not a problem if I've had to make a claim... Just be aware of the maximum trip length - I started doing this and stopped buying Annual Worldwide policies through Amex

 

[TheRealTMA]

Shees! Booking and changing travel bookings thrpough Amex Platinum Travel is just a nightmare. Been on hold for 66 minutes to change the date of a hotel booking.

What's the point of a $1200 a year for the card if they can't staff their services!!

 

[cbourl]

Shees! Booking and changing travel bookings thrpough Amex Platinum Travel is just a nightmare. Been on hold for 66 minutes to change the date of a hotel booking.

What's the point of a $1200 a year for the card if they can't staff their services!!

And they use cheap Philippine labour... Just saying

 

[0x012fd0aa]

And they use cheap Philippine labour... Just saying

Well, I just can't understand why such services are not able to be done via either online chat or web form... just like account services...

 

[TheRealTMA]

Well, I just can't understand why such services are not able to be done via either online chat or web form... just like account services...

You are not the only one! The online chat is useless. No access to travel bookings etc FFS. After 90 minutes on hold I gave up. My booking does not appear in bookings so I can’t change or cancel. FFS how difficult is it for Amex to have a system that works, especially give the outrageous annual fee. For what?

 

[0x012fd0aa]

You are not the only one! The online chat is useless. No access to travel bookings etc FFS. After 90 minutes on hold I gave up. My booking does not appear in bookings so I can’t change or cancel. FFS how difficult is it for Amex to have a system that works, especially give the outrageous annual fee. For what?

lucky me…haven't call travel once yet. Life style calls are usually picked up for me fairly fast.

 

[TheRealTMA]

lucky me…haven't call travel once yet. Life style calls are usually picked up for me fairly fast.

Lucky! Just never do it unless you have to. Useless bunch of people.

 

[daft009]

Lucky! Just never do it unless you have to. Useless bunch of people.

Time to request a Centurion

 

[Daver6]

Shees! Booking and changing travel bookings thrpough Amex Platinum Travel is just a nightmare. Been on hold for 66 minutes to change the date of a hotel booking.

What's the point of a $1200 a year for the card if they can't staff their services!!

Just email them at [email protected]

 

[Shinjetter]

Yea, I experienced the same issue. I just wanted to book an AMEX Platinum table at Sokyo. It takes them 30-40 mins to pick up the darn phone. Paying $1,450 annual fee for mediocre service. It doesn't feel platinum at all!

 

[Berlin]

You are not the only one! The online chat is useless. No access to travel bookings etc FFS. After 90 minutes on hold I gave up. My booking does not appear in bookings so I can’t change or cancel. FFS how difficult is it for Amex to have a system that works, especially give the outrageous annual fee. For what?

Amex travel has been shocking for years. I only use that darn travel credit for hotel bookings or simple point to point flights at the very max and even the latter has caused me headaches in the past. It's a very very rotten 'gift' from Amex if you ask me.

 

[cbourl]

Amex travel has been shocking for years. I only use that darn travel credit for hotel bookings or simple point to point flights at the very max and even the latter has caused me headaches in the past. It's a very very rotten 'gift' from Amex if you ask me.

Yes I agree. Amex Travel is often way overpriced compared to what you would pay if booking direct. They seem to work on a large commission base...I think Travel Credit should be able to be used direct with hotels, airlines etc, but since it is a freebie that is highly unlikley to ever happen

 

[Berlin]

Yes I agree. Amex Travel is often way overpriced compared to what you would pay if booking direct. They seem to work on a large commission base...

The funny thing (to me, at least) is that clearly the travel credit is intended to force you onto Amex travel and "explore the great offers and services" that they offer- NOT. So instead of enticing members to use their travel services, it makes it very clear for all to not touch this unless you want to use the credit which is the total opposite of what is intended.

Related but slightly off topic: Amex seems to be very very good at hurting themselves in this way: I attended Fair Day in Sydney last weekend which is a market stall style charity event associated with the Sydney Mardi Gras, Amex being a major sponsor. So there were Amex logos everywhere, an Amex lounge, an Amex stage and so on... But nowhere, literally nowhere at the entire event did they accept American Express cards. "Everything but Amex", "Sorry, do you have a Visa or Mastercard?" they said while wearing a T-shirt with an American Express logo on it. You seriously cannot f#$k it up any better if you ask me!

 

[Mr_Orange]

The funny thing (to me, at least) is that clearly the travel credit is intended to force you onto Amex travel and "explore the great offers and services" that they offer- NOT. So instead of enticing members to use their travel services, it makes it very clear for all to not touch this unless you want to use the credit which is the total opposite of what is intended.

Related but slightly off topic: Amex seems to be very very good at hurting themselves in this way: I attended Fair Day in Sydney last weekend which is a market stall style charity event associated with the Sydney Mardi Gras, Amex being a major sponsor. So there were Amex logos everywhere, an Amex lounge, an Amex stage and so on... But nowhere, literally nowhere at the entire event did they accept American Express cards. "Everything but Amex", "Sorry, do you have a Visa or Mastercard?" they said while wearing a T-shirt with an American Express logo on it. You seriously cannot f#$k it up any better if you ask me!

Amazing! Much like this f' up that I mentioned on another thread:

I used this benefit once, several years ago at Quay and got a table at short notice. Lovely meal but got slugged an Amex surcharge when I paid. I could never understand how Amex offer this benefit and then allow the restaurants that participate to surcharge!

 

[Daver6]

Yea, I experienced the same issue. I just wanted to book an AMEX Platinum table at Sokyo. It takes them 30-40 mins to pick up the darn phone. Paying $1,450 annual fee for mediocre service. It doesn't feel platinum at all!

I've always booked tables by emailing the concierge team at [email protected]

 

[RealtimeY]

I can see that the FHR T&Cs say that I need to pay for the FHR room with Amex, but does anyone know if this is actually enforced by Amex or the hotel, in practice?

 

[zig]

I can see that the FHR T&Cs say that I need to pay for the FHR room with Amex, but does anyone know if this is actually enforced by Amex or the hotel, in practice?

IME it has been enforced by the hotel.

 

[sudoer]

Does anyone have any experience booking with FHR and paying with another Amex card?

Thinking to book Hilton through Plat FHR but pay using Hilton Amex for 14x...