Amex card selection help

[ashap]

Hi ladies! I'm mostly a lurker on your board, but you all give great advice and I'm hoping you can give me a hand with choosing an amex card.

I am debating between applying for the Platinum vs. the gold premier rewards cards.

Platinum has a $450 annual fee, better benefits, and no foreign transaction fees.

Gold Premier has $150, and 2.7% foreign transaction fees.

we plan to use the card for everyday purchases to rack up points, and pretty extensively when we travel overseas (which is probably about 2-4 weeks per year)

Can anyone give me insight as to which card you prefer or which one sounds like a better choice? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[kaylie]

I remember you from TN! How's your house?

The Platinum fee is pretty steep. We have a cap one card we use when we're overseas(1.5% cashback) because they have no transaction fees and no annual fee. You might consider getting one of those along with the Gold card to get the best combination of benefits.

FWIW it might be worth looking into the Starwood Rewards AMEX if you like high-end travel. We have that one and the benefits are pretty good. You can use the points towards their hotels or roll them over into frequent flier miles with almost any airline.

[niki]

Ugh. Neither. Get a Chase Sapphire. No foreign fees, $95 fee, waived the first year. 7% annual point dividend. 2x points on dining and travel (1x other).

[atouchofklasse]

Does the Platinum give you airline lounge access?

[Deleted]

How much do you think you'll use the platinum benefits (the lounges, hotel upgrades, $200 in airline credit, etc.)? With the lounges, you may want to consider which airlines you fly -- I've never gone for it because I tend to fly United so I wouldn't be able to use the lounges.

Here's a good discussion on the differences (from someone who has both):

boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2012/05/02/why-the-american-express-platinum-and-premier-rewards-gold-cards-are-complements-and-not-substitutes/

[ashap]

Hi Kaylie!! The house is good, still coming along but that will take forever!! You bought recently also right? How is your's?

Niki - I want to stick with amex because I have a corporate amex card that I can earn points on my personal card with if that makes sense.

atouchofklasse - yes the platinum comes with lounge access across 23 lines I think.

[Mushe]

Angie! Between those two, I would go with the platinum for the lounge access. I wouldn't use a card with foreign trx fees, and we really like the Sapphire for that.

Our go-to, though, is the SPG Amex. The points are really valuable, much more so than regular Amex points.

[niki]

I do understand. You want to be able to share points from that card and the other. Regardless, I would never get a card with fee over $95. I would recommend reading The Points Guy Blog. He goes over all the good cards in his blog and informs you when is the best time to sign up for them to get the best point bonuses: thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/

[Deleted]

I would go with the Platinum. We have the Gold but we don't travel internationally as much as you do.

[ashap]

Oct 3, 2012 12:30:11 GMT -5 v said:

How much do you think you'll use the platinum benefits (the lounges, hotel upgrades, $200 in airline credit, etc.)? With the lounges, you may want to consider which airlines you fly -- I've never gone for it because I tend to fly United so I wouldn't be able to use the lounges.

Here's a good discussion on the differences (from someone who has both):

boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2012/05/02/why-the-american-express-platinum-and-premier-rewards-gold-cards-are-complements-and-not-substitutes/

Thanks v this is helpful.

we travel a lot so the $200 in airline credits would probably get used up pretty quickly. We generally do 4 or 5 trips via airline a year.

I feel like I'm more after the rewards than the benefit so maybe eating the transaction fee isn't such a bad thing?

[kaylie]

Oct 3, 2012 12:30:37 GMT -5 ashap said:

Hi Kaylie!! The house is good, still coming along but that will take forever!! You bought recently also right? How is your's?

We moved in April, but I feel the same way! It doesn't help that I keep finding things I want to change. Fortunately we're not in a rush!

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 12:38:13 GMT -5 ashap said:

Oct 3, 2012 12:30:11 GMT -5 v said:

How much do you think you'll use the platinum benefits (the lounges, hotel upgrades, $200 in airline credit, etc.)? With the lounges, you may want to consider which airlines you fly -- I've never gone for it because I tend to fly United so I wouldn't be able to use the lounges.

Here's a good discussion on the differences (from someone who has both):

boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2012/05/02/why-the-american-express-platinum-and-premier-rewards-gold-cards-are-complements-and-not-substitutes/

Thanks v this is helpful.

we travel a lot so the $200 in airline credits would probably get used up pretty quickly. We generally do 4 or 5 trips via airline a year.

I feel like I'm more after the rewards than the benefit so maybe eating the transaction fee isn't such a bad thing?

... or you could always add another card if your transaction fees are going to add up.

I love my Amex, but I have a Citi Mastercard that I use for flight purchases (because I get 1 point per dollar flown) and foreign purchase (because there's no fee).

And I use another one (a Citi Visa) for restaurants and Amazon because I get 5 points per dollar on those purchases.

I like to work the system

[fortmyersbride]

I've become a huge fan of the platinum card. I love having the lounge access since we now live in a city with few direct flights. The customer service is really great too, they've been able to trouble shoot pretty much any traveling problem we have (full hotels, flight changes or delays) right away.

[kangaroo11]

I use a Delta Amex for the miles. I'm thinking about the Chase Sapphire to use solely overseas though.

[Deleted]

We have the platinum. It has worked out that the $450 fee has pretty much been absorbed with the benefits if the card.

DH does extensive research on our cards on flyer talk and went with this one.

[Deleted]

Come to think of it, two questions about the lounge access:

You can only use it on the airline you're flying on, right? So if I have a United ticket, I can't go in the AA lounge with the Amex?

Also, is it just for you, or for you and a companion? (I wouldn't want to have to pay for the authorized user to get my husband access as well).

Okay, 3 questions actually -- sfgal, do you find the hotel upgrades worthwhile? I've read that they've become more restrictive in the past years?

We have a concierge service through our building so I don't need that, and I already have an Amex without an annual fee so I get the customer service benefits, but I'm always debating whether I should go platinum...

Thanks!

[80sjunkie]

This is an interesting thread. Given that I want to accrue status with one airline to increase our odds for an upgrade, we decided to get the delta card rather than the general Amex plat. Are you loyal to a particular airline? We have the delta reserve card which is a similar deal to the delta platinum card and the fee really has paid for itself. I will reach platinum status this year before our trip to Paris due to spending bonuses. Because we only fly delta we don't mind only having access to delta sky clubs. As another poster indicated, we would have little need to use airline dollars as we already get free checked bags and given status are upgraded relatively frequently, and if not we still get one free drink or snack per flight. Oh and we were able to avoid the secondary card holder fee of $179 by getting a platinum card instead. It still accrues points on the reserve card but the user does not get lounge access, and we mostly fly together so only one of us needs access (two guests allowed for free).

Our secondary card is now the hyatt visa, which also has no foreign transaction fees. We will use that now that we have reached max spending thresholds for the year on Amex (no more increased incentive to use it) and for when we are abroad. When you sign up you get two free nights at any hotel, and then each year you get one free night at a category 1-4 (fee is $89 I believe).

[ashap]

This has been incredibly helpful!!

So reading through the details posted I don't think I would ever use the lounge access feature, and like someone mentioned I probably won't hit the $200 in airline redemption fees.

One other question if anyone knows, I was speaking with a co-worker who said that the exchange rate offered by the cards is different (ie. Amex offers a different exchange rate on foreign transactions than Chase will) does anyone have experience with this or know what the exchange rates are?

[burntjamb]

I'm an aforementioned DH and thought I'd fill in some info here.

I tend to go on, so here's the short version: Go with the Platinum (Mercedes Benz version) for at least one year, if you like to travel.

As far as lounge access goes, if you're flying on AA or Delta, you'll have lounge access for your spouse and children, or otherwise two travel companions. Same goes for US Airways, but you don't have to be traveling on them, you just need any valid boarding pass for that day. As well described above, you also get Priority Pass. And make sure you know what domestic lounges actually offer (not much), and where they're located (mostly in hubs).

It's a little sneaky, but the $200 airline reimbursement can be used to get $200 in airline gift cards, for a few carriers. It's also valid per calendar year, so you'll be able to get the credit twice, even if you're only paying the annual fee once.

And the main reason we got it was the sign-up bonus of 50K Membership Rewards points, which combined with a (common) 50% transfer bonus, earned us enough British Airways points for three tickets LA-Hawaii. It's a Mercedes Benz branded version, and it has a $475 annual fee ($25 more than the standard). There are some Mercedes car discounts, and you get a $100 voucher for Mercedes accessories (I got a soccer ball, golf balls, nice water bottles). This offer is still available, and has been for quite a while.

If you travel internationally a lot, Global Entry ($100 fee waived) is apparently a lifesaver. If you opt to add an authorized user(s), it's $175, but for up to three people, and they're all eligible for Global Entry fee waivers. Combine it with Small Business Saturday, and there's another way to recoup some of the cost.

As far as the Platinum Concierge, it's great for getting you hard-to-get reservations at restaurants it has partnerships with. Other than that, it's just a service that will Google something for you, and refer you to overpriced ticket brokers.

A couple people recommended travel bloggers, and both are good, but be cautious about their card recommendations because they are full time credit card pitchmen now. The first blogger doesn't direct you to the 50K Platinum card I got because they get up to a couple hundred bucks for a referral to the 25K card. The other is featured in new Chase ads for the Sapphire. Always search for better offers.

Oct 5, 2012 9:31:33 GMT -5 ashap said:

One other question if anyone knows, I was speaking with a co-worker who said that the exchange rate offered by the cards is different (ie. Amex offers a different exchange rate on foreign transactions than Chase will) does anyone have experience with this or know what the exchange rates are?

We used a Sapphire/Platinum in the UK/France this summer and found that rates were very close, both within 1% of xe.com. If you set up foreign transaction alerts with Chase, it will email you within minutes the rate you're being charged.