My AMEX Platinum Experience so far

So I've had my AMEX card for around 3 months so I decided to review my benefits which I inherited with my AMEX platinum.
March 22, 2013
Just-For-Fun

SPG Gold Preferred Membership - 4 Stars ****

Instant gold membership which includes things like 50% more points, free internet. Pretty pointless if you're already a SPG member though though I received a free upgrade on my first night, which is a rarity.


Airport Club Access with Priority Pass Select - 2 Stars **

This is very miss-leading because even though they say it's available at JFK, it actually means its only available within 1 of the terminals and because each terminal tends to be company specific, it works more in the favour for people travelling via delta for instance, not united. I used this at London Heathrow and New York (Newark) travelling with United though I couldn't get into either airport over each side of the atlantic ocean.


$200 Airline Fee Credit - 3 Stars ***

This includes baggage fees, flight-change fee, in-flight food and beverage purchases, airport lounge dat-passes. This is alright if you're a raging alcoholic and like to be drink 40,00ft and travel frequently. This is also $200 per calender year, so if you had the choice, start the AMEX membership December and receive $400 within weeks.


Global Entry - 1 Star *

Valid for 5 years, though it's only for Americans, useless if you're an international living in the US


Platinum Travel Service - 1 Star *

You get a travel consultant to book your travels, though they are driven by incentives from specific companies so it a bit of a marketing scam


No Foreign Transaction Fees - 3 Stars ***

I still need to determine if this is a true reflection on the exchange rate. If they have their own rate that's similar to exchange rate, then this is very much misleading


Conclusion to date

Needless to say that there's other offers like Preferred seating, I haven't seen a seat that the average joe could afford. my first few weeks with the platinum AMEX has been disappointing. I still have another 10 months left till my expensive renewal so my opinion may change until then.

About the author

Daniel is a Technical Manager with over 10 years of consulting expertise in the Identity and Access Management space.
Daniel has built from scratch this blog as well as technicalconfessions.com
Follow Daniel on twitter @nervouswiggles

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