As I am sitting in a OneWorld lounge, sipping on champagne waiting for my free business class trip to Europe, I realize I am overdue for another credit card game post! Yes, yes, I know this comes off as a brag – but that is not my intent. Rather, it is my intent to entice you into playing 🥂.
Compared to my last post about this topic, 
So, You Want to Play the Credit Card Game? First up: Chase Ultimate Rewards, playing the game with American Express (AmEx) cards only requires two cards instead of 5+ cards. And like Chase UR points, there are no black-out dates and nearly all airlines and hotel brands are supported.
So, Straker, why did you lead with Chase if it’s more complicated? Well, complexity isn’t just in the number of cards. I argue that complexity lies more in how points are redeemed, and this is AmEx’s foil. Unlike Chase, redeeming AmEx Membership Rewards (MRs) for any meaningful value requires transferring them directly to airline or hotel partners. While the Points Guy values MRs as one of the most valuable points, this is only because of transfer opportunities. Booking directly through AmEx typically gets you 50% of the advertised value (or less) 😢.
So, what does transferring entail? It means you need to search directly on multiple airline’s websites to find the flight you want, then transfer your points to that airline. You can do the same with hotels, but airlines are what get you the best value. In particular, international business class seats are what get you the best value. So, when I say “transfer partners” for the rest of this post, assume that is how they are being used.
And is that how you are flying right now? You betcha! Los Angeles to Madrid business class was ~42K points (one way) on Iberia, which seem to be worth anywhere between €3-10K. This makes for a €0.07/point redemption on the low end 💪!1
Well, that sounds annoying, but not too bad given the value! Exactly. But. I don’t want to hide the rough part: some partners take 48 hours to add the transferred points to your account. This means that you can transfer points for a particular flight, but the flight can sell out or increase the cost by the time the points land. And since you can’t transfer them back, you can end up stuck with your points in a partner airline’s rewards program!
OK, I get it: this sounds tricky. It is, but despite the added complexity of transferring points, AmEx MRs are simply too valuable to ignore. On top of that, some of their reward categories are the best in the business. For example, there are multiple AmEx cards that top-tier for grocery spending, making them worthy additions to your quiver!
I have already gone over disclaimers about credit scores and approaching credit cards responsibly in past posts, so with this one, I am going to dive right in.
Proposed Order: Gold first, then Platinum
The AmEx Gold and Platinum only have a proposed order due to the fact that you cannot earn the intro bonus on both cards unless you follow my “trick.” The big difference between AmEx and Chase is that you can only earn an intro bonus on a card once in your lifetime, even if you close and reopen the card years later. Even worse, once you earn the intro bonus of either the Gold or Platinum, it normally precludes you from earning the intro bonus on the other! Unless…
Unless you open the Gold card first, and then take advantage of an “upgrade” opportunity on your Gold card to the Platinum card. These offers usually allow you to earn intro bonuses on your “new” Platinum card of 100K – 150K points! This offer is even better than the “standard” offer you’ll see below.
But wait – does this “reset” my average age of my accounts, a component of my credit score that you walked through in Travel for Work? You Need to Hop on the Credit Card Game? Nope! Your Gold card will “convert” to a Platinum and keep all history. You then just reopen a new Gold card account for no additional intro bonus (but to keep its useful benefits that stack with the Platinum card).
Note that unlike Chase cards, there is no transferring of points between AmEx cards. Instead, all MRs of a user are automatically combined, simplifying the process. To transfer points across users (ie, when partners both have AmEx cards), you can both transfer your MRs to the same airline partners to combine points that way.
The AmEx Gold
- Annual Fee: $250
- Intro Bonus: 60,000 points if you spend $6,000 in the first 6 months
- Reward Categories:
- 4x points at restaurants worldwide (including takeout and delivery)
- 4x points on groceries at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 in purchases per year. Note that small corner stores may still trigger this reward category – try it!
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- Additional Benefits:
- $10 in Uber credits/month for $120/year. This stacks with the AmEx Platinum credit.
- $10 in dining credits/month for $120/year off Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack purchases
- A $100 experience credit with a two-night minimum stay when you book The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel
- All of the travel insurance options you can think of when you book travel with this card
- No foreign transaction fees
- Apply: Application Link
Why this card?
This card pairs well with all of the Chase cards from my last post. This is mostly due to the 4x points on grocery spending, which is a big gap in the Chase ecosystem. Combined with the Uber and dining credits that are likely to be used, this card feels like a no-brainer. This is especially true if you have a partner also playing the Credit Card Game™,2 where one has the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), and the other has this card. This gives both people an excellent dining card option while maximizing benefits across two expensive cards!
Note that you don’t have to pay with the AmEx cards to use these credits – this will come into play later, when I eventually talk up Capital One cards and the Savor card that gives 10% off all Uber rides and free Uber One. Yes, the AmEx credits and the Capital One benefits stack, such that even if you pay with another card, you still get the AmEx credits 🤯. Update: As of Nov 8, 2024, an AmEx card must be used to get the Uber Cash benefits. Still, you can manually switch between AmEx and other payment methods to combine bonuses; it just isn’t as convenient as it was before.
The AmEx Platinum
- Annual Fee: $695. This increased by from $550 in 2021.
- Intro Bonus: 80,000 points if you spend $8,000 in the first 6 months
- Reward Categories:
- 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel on up to $500,000 per calendar year
- 5x points on prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com
- 1x points on all other purchases
- Additional Benefits:
- $200 hotel credit on select prepaid hotel bookings through AmexTravel.com, plus a $100 experience credit with a two-night minimum stay when you book The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel. Note this does not stack with the AmEx Gold.
- $20/month off Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, the New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and/or the Wall Street Journal for $240 off digital entertainment/year
- Free monthly Walmart+ ($155 value/year)
- The global lounge collection (Centurion Lounge access)
- $15 in Uber credits/month for $200/year. This stacks with the AmEx Gold credit.
- $200 airline fee credit for things like checked bags, seat selection, food, and other airline charges. Note that wifi has to be serviced by the airline for this to work (and not alternatives like gogo, meaning no free wifi on Alaska flights 😢).
- $50 off Saks every 6 months, for $100 off/year
- $300 Equinox credit/year
- Free Clear Plus membership ($189/year)
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status. Note this does not add elite qualifying nights to help you earn higher statuses.
- Hilton Honors Gold status. Note this does not add elite qualifying nights to help you earn higher statuses.
- Car Rental Privileges for Avis, Hertz, National, where Platinum Card Members enjoy complimentary premium status for these car rental programs as well as additional benefits and discounts.
- Platinum Travel Service, a concierge service that specializes in providing custom itineraries and tailored recommendations to help you make the most of your travels
- All of the travel insurance options you can think of when you book travel with this card
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck
- No foreign transaction fees
- Apply: Application Link
Why this card?
Honestly, I resisted this card for a long time. I already had the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) and the AmEx Gold, and I didn’t see the need to add this card into my quiver. That is, until the Seattle-Tacoma (SeaTac) airport built a brand new Centurion Lounge in the center of the airport, making it hands-down the best lounge in the SeaTac. Coupled with the 2023 changes to Centurion Lounge guest passes that limited the number of guests allowed into the lounge, this is worth it for all of those based out of Seattle like me!
Wait – these changes sucked, Straker. A lot of us quit AmEx over these changes! And folk like me joined them 😉. Honestly, the old AmEx lounge in SeaTac always had a 30 minute wait or longer just to get in. Now? There’s never a wait! I get that these changes made it harder to families to be in the lounge, but honestly, it was a reasonable change given issues of long lines and overcrowding. And if you spend enough on the card (which I don’t recommend), then your guest pass allowance increases.
As far as other benefits go, the 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines stacked with the card’s great trip insurance options is a strong combo that beats the CSR when paying for flights with cash instead of points. Factor in all of the free benefits, and this card pays for itself. I only use half of them and it’s still true! Note that Clear and TSA Precheck stack to cut even the precheck line where applicable (and this is applicable in Seattle).
Due to these benefits, my wife and I both have the Platinum card. This allows us both to have Clear + Precheck and both get access to the Centurion lounges. We have multiple digital subscriptions between us, so we maximize both of our benefits for that as well. Other benefits apply for our situation as well, but these are the big ones for us that I expect to be popular for others as well.
What about other AmEx cards?
I do use other AmEx cards, but none are MR-based. For example, Marriott has a great credit card ecosystem, but it spans both Chase and AmEx. Thus, it is worthy of its own future post 😉.
In addition, there are other cards I have considered, such as the AmEx Business Platinum Card, Business Gold Card, and the Blue Cash Preferred Card. While I was very tempted by the Business Platinum vs the personal card, I found the personal card to make more sense for me, and I don’t feel that both make sense together. The same is true of the Business Gold card, which also has a higher annual fee than the personal card.
The Blue Cash Preferred card feels like an alternative to the Gold card, as they both specialize in the grocery category. While the Blue Cash Preferred earns 6% back in groceries compared to the 4 MR points the Gold card earns, the value of the MR points make the Gold card the better option (especially when paired with the Platinum card for combined MR points). The Blue Cash Preferred earns statement credits, not MR points.
If I ever change my mind about other cards, I’ll update this post!
FAQ
Is the Gold card offered as a no-fee AmEx Platinum authorized user card the same as the Gold card mentioned here?
No, and this is perhaps the most confusing branding of all time. Seriously, someone over at AmEx should really fix this by rebranding the free authorized user Platinum card! There are so many other metals unused…
Same day update: this was recently fixed! The free authorized user Platinum card has a new name: the companion Platinum card.
Disclaimers
This is not financial advice. I also will do my best to keep this page up to date, but if you see something out of date, please message me so that I can update it. This page contains affiliate links, however, I was not paid to share my opinion.
Footnotes
- Yes, I always calculate my redemption rate before purchasing. Just take the amount spent and divide that by the points used and be sure that it is equal to our greater than TPG’s valuations! ↩︎
- The Trademark is still fake 🤣. ↩︎
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