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.

 

[sudoer]

Received the email from accor last night so all good. Wondering if I will get the recent 20 night stay promotion from a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, you should get 20 nights.

And would that automatically bring me to gold status?

No, you need 30 nights to attain gold.

 

[sydneyboi]

The new year accor plus free nights dropped into my account today!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Questions for those that hold AMEX PLATINUM BUSINESS CHARGE CARD:

1. Do you / have you relied on the CHUBB Complementary Travel Insurance as your main travel insurance policy for yourself?
2. Do you / have you relied on the CHUBB Complementary Travel Insurance as your main travel insurance policy for Additional Card Members?

I guess what I am really asking is the coverage of this Complimentary Travel Insurance similar to / better then / not as good as alternative commercially available Travel Insurance Policies?

 

[SeaWolf]

Yes, I rely on it for myself. I've only ever had to claim on it once for medical in the USA. Had no issues at all, I called them, they let me know all the paperwork I'd need to keep and promptly paid out once I'd submitted.

 

[pksw]

Gm guys, I was wondering does anyone know how long it usually takes to get access to accor plus after enrolling on the AMEX website following getting a new AMEX Plat Charge card? Been waiting a week or so since enrolling with no further information provide.

About 5 business days for me. Signed up for the plat charge, and the accor offer turned up in days, linked it to my gold accor membership and got confirmation email from accor a few days later. All up less than a week from applying for an amex.

 

[cathalm8]

Gm guys, ive use the search tool to search through this thread but cant seem to find any recommendations for best restaurants in Sydney to use the $200 dining credit at? Anyone have any recommendations? thanks

Post automatically merged: Aug 25, 2023

The new year accor plus free nights dropped into my account today!

Where do you see the nights listed? I cant see any in my account yet but its quite new.

 

[Viridis]

Gm guys, ive use the search tool to search through this thread but cant seem to find any recommendations for best restaurants in Sydney to use the $200 dining credit at? Anyone have any recommendations? thanks

Without wishing to state the 'bleeding obvious' I assume that you are aware that the credit is only available at selected restaurants nominated on the Amex website?

American Express - Dining Offer

Assuming that you do know that, I have dined at Aria, China Doll, Bennelong, Cafe Sydney, Catalina, Eschalot, Icebergs & Otto. My wife and I would recommend all of them without hesitation. Having said that, some experiences were pre-covid and some post-covid so things may have changed obviously. The Green Fish Curry at China Doll and the Rainbow Trout at Eschalot were superb!!

 

[cathalm8]

Without wishing to state the 'bleeding obvious' I assume that you are aware that the credit is only available at selected restaurants nominated on the Amex website?

American Express - Dining Offer

Assuming that you do know that, I have dined at Aria, China Doll, Bennelong, Cafe Sydney, Catalina, Eschalot, Icebergs & Otto. My wife and I would recommend all of them without hesitation. Having said that, some experiences were pre-covid and some post-covid so things may have changed obviously. The Green Fish Curry at China Doll and the Rainbow Trout at Eschalot were superb!!

Thanks, yeah I was aware and have had a look through that list. Cafe Sydney, Aria are front runners though the The Charles Grand has great reviews on maps.

 

[sudoer]

Gm guys, ive use the search tool to search through this thread but cant seem to find any recommendations for best restaurants in Sydney to use the $200 dining credit at? Anyone have any recommendations? thanks

Do you want to spend more than the $200 cap, or keep it as close to $200 as possible?

For 'value' picks I'd be eating at Nomad, Chin Chin, Hotel Centennial, and Totti's - all of which should be fairly easy for 2 people to eat and have a couple of drinks for $200.

If you're open to going over the $200, pick literally anything on the list - they're all good.

 

[KingHuang]

Question on insurance and what it is worth for personal family of 3 -

I personally value insurance quite highly so I think that alone might help justify the annual fee on the personal card, question would be how do I calculate how much it would be worth for the same level of cover if I was to get travel insurance outside of Amex if anyone has already done the calculations.

Scenario: Approximately 2 international flights/year to Taipei/Tokyo (for 2 adults 1 child (under 3 yrs old) )
- If paid directly on Amex that would cover the entire trip, how much would each trip's insurance value approximate to if they are 3 weeks long?
- If paid via Qantas points for Economy AND the points did not come from Amex but other SUBs, do I/family qualify for any insurance at all for the trip?

Additional thing to factor:
I am tossing up do I sign up with Amex charge for insurance, or could the CBA Ultimate/Smart insurance suffice? Since both do look like they have decent insurance.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Question on insurance and what it is worth for personal family of 3 -

I personally value insurance quite highly so I think that alone might help justify the annual fee on the personal card, question would be how do I calculate how much it would be worth for the same level of cover if I was to get travel insurance outside of Amex if anyone has already done the calculations.

Scenario: Approximately 2 international flights/year to Taipei/Tokyo (for 2 adults 1 child (under 3 yrs old) )
- If paid directly on Amex that would cover the entire trip, how much would each trip's insurance value approximate to if they are 3 weeks long?
- If paid via Qantas points for Economy AND the points did not come from Amex but other SUBs, do I/family qualify for any insurance at all for the trip?

Additional thing to factor:
I am tossing up do I sign up with Amex charge for insurance, or could the CBA Ultimate/Smart insurance suffice? Since both do look like they have decent insurance.

Read the PDSs and see if they cover what you need. AFAIK CBA Insurance is fairly average while Amex is definitely a bit more extensive. If you're really interested in Insurance, ANZ Traveller card or Platinum card insurances are a good middle ground. I'm not sure if you can still get the ANZ card via product change.

Sometimes it's easier to just put $250 on a credit card and pay everything else via other CCs without needing to worry about the complications of meeting eligibility requirements.

 

[RealtimeY]

Got a survey today with a focus on supplementary cards, what they're used for and how much, and my feelings towards having "no fee for the first supplementary card". Then came this question

How likely are you to renew your Supplementary/Additional American Express personal Card(s) over the next 12 months if they all had the following fees per year?

$99 for an additional American Express Platinum Card

How likely are you to renew your Primary American Express personal Card(s) over the next 12 months if they all had the following fees per year?

$99 for an additional American Express Platinum Card

 

[KingHuang]

Read the PDSs and see if they cover what you need. AFAIK CBA Insurance is fairly average while Amex is definitely a bit more extensive. If you're really interested in Insurance, ANZ Traveller card or Platinum card insurances are a good middle ground. I'm not sure if you can still get the ANZ card via product change.

Sometimes it's easier to just put $250 on a credit card and pay everything else via other CCs without needing to worry about the complications of meeting eligibility requirements.

Can you do that? I thought full amount of fairs had to be paid via AMEX or points earnt through them then transferred to FF to activate the insurance.

Just printed out both amex and cba PDS, looks like gona be a long read and excel comparison. Keen to built it out and share with anyone thatis interested.

 

[Daver6]

Got a survey today with a focus on supplementary cards, what they're used for and how much, and my feelings towards having "no fee for the first supplementary card". Then came this question

Received the same. I told them where I'd be sticking all the cards if they introduce that $99 fee!

 

[andye]

Can you do that? I thought full amount of fairs had to be paid via AMEX or points earnt through them then transferred to FF to activate the insurance.

Just printed out both amex and cba PDS, looks like gona be a long read and excel comparison. Keen to built it out and share with anyone thatis interested.

Outbound needs to be with Amex or FF points.

It depends on how cautious you are as to whether you would need to prove direct connection between MR points and the FF ones used. My understanding (and others' experience) is that you should be OK without proving connection. Some people are not prepared to take the (what I think is a small degree of) risk.

 

[Bell21]

Outbound needs to be with Amex or FF points.

It depends on how cautious you are as to whether you would need to prove direct connection between MR points and the FF ones used. My understanding (and others' experience) is that you should be OK without proving connection. Some people are not prepared to take the (what I think is a small degree of) risk.

I know this has been covered extensively elsewhere, but my 2 cents worth --- AMEX was clear in my conversations that if you can't prove direct connection between MR points and FF ones used, you're not covered and referred directly to their ambiguous clause in their PDS about this (although I believe some of us may have not have that experience in practice that AMEX applies it that way).

 

[levelnine]

Got a survey today with a focus on supplementary cards, what they're used for and how much, and my feelings towards having "no fee for the first supplementary card". Then came this question

Following the massive increase in fees for supplementary cards in the US.

 

[Viridis]

Following the massive increase in fees for supplementary cards in the US.

And likewise the UK with the change of the Platinum Card from a charge card to a credit card.

 

[Franko Costa]

The supp fee for Australia is coming to stop overcrowding in the lounges. I think the US fee is $175 per card (the first one with MS might be free though)

 

[glasszon]

The supp fee for Australia is coming to stop overcrowding in the lounges. I think the US fee is $175 per card (the first one with MS might be free though)

Are Amex lounges in Australia overcrowded? I never noticed a queue in the Melbourne Amex lounge, and I haven't heard of a queue in Sydney Amex lounge either.