Credit Card Offers 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:



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!

amex-explorer-card-art.pngWhy 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:


AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.
 
The Australian Consumer Law only applies to refunds on 'faulty' products, not on change of mind returns. Buying two of something and returning one later because it wasn't the right size is a 'change of mind' return, not a product fault.
I suppose it depends on how it was ordered. If you ordered online from a retailer then the item they shipped was a faulty product since you did not have an opportunity to try on the item.
 
My annual fee has just posted so I'm soon to call up and threaten to cancel. Does anyone know if your Accor Plus membership stays current until your next renewal? If not I have a night to book / burn before canceling.
 
Has anyone tried the platinum car rental insurance? I’ve rented a Q7 in NZ for holiday. Paid all with AMEX, including the airline tickets. I found a few scratches, must be the small rocks on highway. Not sure if SIXT cares, but if they do, will that be covered by Chubb?
 
I am trying to find out information about the concierge for the platinum charge card. I know it's good for booking travel, reservations and making shopping for a specific item. But can someone tell me would it be possible to use the concierge service to book tradesmen for jobs around the home? Ie plumber/ electrician? This is such an issue for me having to organise and I would love to be able to use the concierge for this. I don't have the card yet and want to know this before I consider signing up.
 
I am trying to find out information about the concierge for the platinum charge card. I know it's good for booking travel, reservations and making shopping for a specific item. But can someone tell me would it be possible to use the concierge service to book tradesmen for jobs around the home? Ie plumber/ electrician? This is such an issue for me having to organise and I would love to be able to use the concierge for this. I don't have the card yet and want to know this before I consider signing up.

I've never tried that, but I don't see why not.
 
I am trying to find out information about the concierge for the platinum charge card. I know it's good for booking travel, reservations and making shopping for a specific item. But can someone tell me would it be possible to use the concierge service to book tradesmen for jobs around the home? Ie plumber/ electrician? This is such an issue for me having to organise and I would love to be able to use the concierge for this. I don't have the card yet and want to know this before I consider signing up.
The concierge service is no longer mentioned on Amex's website (other than for travel) so I wouldn't be getting the card for that specific benefit.
 
The concierge service is no longer mentioned on Amex's website (other than for travel) so I wouldn't be getting the card for that specific benefit.
Oh wow thats a devaluation of the card, regardless of my situation. The concierge has been such a hall mark of the American express service/ platinum card.
 
Oh wow thats a devaluation of the card, regardless of my situation. The concierge has been such a hall mark of the American express service/ platinum card.
Everyone is obviously different. I’ve been an Amex member since the 90ies and the so-called “concierge service” hasn’t even entered my mental equation a single time.
 
… and I think I have used it ‘maybe’ once.
FWIW, I used the concierge once on my US-based Amex to assist with a last minute Christmas dinner reservation in Seattle and the operator asked me huge amounts of questions about preferences simply to run a search on Yelp. What a waste of 40 minutes of my time.
 
The plat card is great for those who can manage to maximise the amount of benefits you can reap from it... but compared to the US counterpart, it is sad to see that lots of benefits/deals that exist for that card aren't duplicated here.

I'm wondering, for those who managed to use the IAP, are the discounts substantial post-COVID travel? Looking at the AUS version, the program is said to have only 13 Airlines versus the US, which has 33 (please correct me if I am wrong, and the AUS version actually has the same number of partners as the US one does)!
 
The plat card is great for those who can manage to maximise the amount of benefits you can reap from it... but compared to the US counterpart, it is sad to see that lots of benefits/deals that exist for that card aren't duplicated here.

I'm wondering, for those who managed to use the IAP, are the discounts substantial post-COVID travel? Looking at the AUS version, the program is said to have only 13 Airlines versus the US, which has 33 (please correct me if I am wrong, and the AUS version actually has the same number of partners as the US one does)!

FYI, you can login to your plat card and access the US IAP. I've managed to save $80-100 on some QF J fares from AU-NZ.

US IAP is only ex-US so doesn't make much sense for someone located in Australia even if you get access to it. I've used it for some tricky nested flights.
 
FYI, you can login to your plat card and access the US IAP. I've managed to save $80-100 on some QF J fares from AU-NZ.
When you say accessing the US IAP, are you referring to the 33 partners listed versus the 13 for the AUS IAP? The trick is to just change it from 'en-au' to 'en-us' to access their version.

US IAP is only ex-US so doesn't make much sense for someone located in Australia even if you get access to it.
Most offers, like their US IAP require a port of departure and return to be back in the states. There was one Qantas offer on the US Plat - spend $1250 and get $250 back - but again, required to leave from a US port in order to get the credits.
 
When you say accessing the US IAP, are you referring to the 33 partners listed versus the 13 for the AUS IAP? The trick is to just change it from 'en-au' to 'en-us' to access their version.


Most offers, like their US IAP require a port of departure and return to be back in the states. There was one Qantas offer on the US Plat - spend $1250 and get $250 back - but again, required to leave from a US port in order to get the credits.

  1. I'm not sure if that actually works but I login then change the country at the bottom then navigate to the travel page

  2. Yes but your point was highlighting how poor value the AU plat card is in comparison to the US one. I would say that I definitely get more value out of my AU plat card than say my 2 US charge cards. I would only ever apply for the US plat card if the sign up bonus was substantial. Having access to US IAP doesn't really increase the value proposition for most AU based card holders unless they had some unique or complicated circumstances which permitted a US point of origin.

    Re the QF credit, I would refer to the US Amex thread for more information on your comment about the port of departure.
 
Member month has just launched and from my reading the following promos are taking place this month:
  • Discounts on flights booked with NZ, EY, HA, JL, LA, MH, QF, SQ, VA, AC via Amex Travel
  • Discounts on QR, EK and UA also available for Platinum and Centurion only (presumably via IAP)
  • Velocity +??% transfer (TBC)
  • Bonvoy +50% transfer
  • Hilton +30% transfer
  • Amex offers for Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, Country Road (exact offers TBC)
 

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