The Amex Platinum
Bell Tolls For Me
Bell Tolls For Me
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2026 --
In case you've never noticed, I'm no John Donne. Still, the bell is tolling for me. Specifically, the Platinum bell.
American Express raised the annual fee on its Platinum Card last year, but I had already renewed, so I didn't have to worry about justifying the new, $895 price. But the bell tolled for me this week. My new statement arrived and Amex says it's time to pay the $895 fee.
This is not chicken feed. (Wasn't it Donne who first called money chicken feed?) No rational traveler should pay the $895 without giving it at least a thought or two. The really smart traveler--and I like to think I am one--will do some homework to see if they are getting value for money.
If you listen to Amex, of course, you get thousands in value for its $895 fee. There are statement credits and perks and price kickbacks and upgrades galore, Amex claims. More than $3,500 worth, according to some Amex collateral.
Poppycock. (Again, wasn't that John Donne?) I guarantee you that there isn't a person on the planet who gets $3,500 in value from their Platinum. It's all marketing hype.
Plainly speaking, the value of the Amex Platinum Card--or Chase's $795 Sapphire Reserve--depends on how you use it. Or, more precisely, how many of the perks you use and how you value them.
What follows is how I justify my $895 fee. Before we start, however, a statement of purpose. The thing I want most from a premium card is airport lounge access. So I add up the value of my benefits, subtract that from the annual fee and decide if the difference is a fair price to pay for club access.
WALMART+: VALUE OF $222.30
My life has gotten complex in recent years and Walmart delivery service is a godsend. The Walmart+ plan ($14.03 a month including taxes) offers free delivery on everything Walmart sells within just a few hours. Even better, goods are priced exactly, to the penny, as they are in-store. But wait, there's more: Walmart+ comes with free Paramount+ streaming service. I care about that because I like keeping up with the latest Star Trek shows. In recent years, Paramount has been doing two a year, each requiring about three months of membership. So I value the free Paramount+ bundled with Walmart+ at $53.94 (six months at $8.99 a month).
NEWSPAPERS AND STREAMERS: VALUE OF $248.76
The next tier of Amex Platinum benefit I use is the card's $25 monthly statement credit for select newspapers and streaming services. Amex credits my subscription to The New York Times; current value is $4.07 a month. Amex also covers my subscription to The Wall Street Journal; current value is $8.67 a month. Meanwhile, my wife is addicted to Jeopardy. So I subscribe to the Peacock streaming service because it offers current episodes and a 24/7 channel of past episodes. Peacock costs $7.99 a month. Amex Platinum kicks that back, too. If my math is correct, the freebies are worth just short of $250.
UBER CREDITS: VALUE OF $200
American Express Platinum gives you a $200 annual Uber credit, doled out in 11 monthly increments of $15 and $35 in December. I use it for Uber rides, of course, but also the occasional Uber Eats order. Platinum also added a free Uber One benefit and kicks back the $10 monthly cost. I find zero value in Uber One, so, in the interest of honest accounting, I won't add that $120 perk.
GLOBAL ENTRY CREDIT: VALUE OF $24
Platinum kicks back your Global Entry fee ($120 for five years) or TSA PreCheck fee ($85). I use my card to cover Global Entry, so the annual value of that is $24.
CAR RENTAL ELITE STATUS: VALUE OF $0
Platinum comes bundled with elite status in the Hertz, Avis and National Car rental programs. Nice perks to have if you rent cars. These days, I haven't needed them. That's what Uber and Lyft are for.
HOTEL ELITE STATUS: VALUE OF $50
Platinum is bundled with mid-tier status in Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and Leading Hotels of the World. Marriott Gold is garbage. The LHW benefit is new and I haven't had a chance to use it yet. In past years, though, I've gotten some value from Hilton Honors Gold. But I've achieved Diamond Status, so that's now superfluous. For Hilton old times sake and the belief that I might use LHW Sterling Status eventually, I'll value this at $50.
OTHER TRAVEL PERKS: VALUE OF $0
As Bob McGarvey astutely points out, the $200 Platinum annual airline fee credit is outdated. Clear membership? Amex rebates the $219 annual fee. I joined one year and never used it. So I don't even bother with it now. Amex also claims more than $1,100 in value for two Platinum hotel benefits (Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection). Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I have never successfully found a hotel through one of the plans. So, again, no value.
'WELLNESS' CREDITS: VALUE OF $0
Platinum includes a $300 Lululemon shopping credit and a $300 Equinox credit. I use neither. Amex also added an Oura Ring benefit and maybe I'll look at that in the future. But for now, meh …
RESY RESTAURANT BENEFIT: VALUE OF $100
With the newish $400 Resy Credit, Platinum cardholders get up to $100 in statement credits quarterly when you use the card at what Amex claims are 10,000 U.S. restaurants. To be honest, I haven't used it. But I'm gonna blame me for this, so I'll probably remember to use it once in the next year.
Let's add it up, shall we? I'm getting $845.06 in value for my $895 fee. That means my Priority Pass and Centurion Lounge benefit costs about $50 a year. Want to be a stickler? Subtract the on-the-come $100 Resy benefit and the $50 I assigned to hotel elite status. That means I'm paying around $200 a year for airport club access.
Considering that I first joined Priority Pass in 1997 and paid $225, I'm way ahead of the game at $50 or even $200.
Normally, the bottom line above would be the bottom line. But it's not. There are two salient comments that must be added:
My journey isn't your journey. I'll guess that I'm the only frequent flying Platinum cardholder who gets more value from Amex's streaming and Walmart benefits than the travel benefits. But that is the point: This is my journey toward justifying the Platinum fee. Yours will surely be different. Do the math as I have. You may find Platinum--or the Chase Sapphire Reserve--offers you less value. Or more. There's no one card to rule them all now, so do your own financial homework.
"Couponing" is out of hand. The reason why my card journey can't be yours is because Amex--and Chase, Citi, Barclays and Capital One--have turned their best cards into 21st-century coupon books. I find it maddening. I now need a spreadsheet of benefits offered by my cards to make sure I'm getting something like full value for my money. It's exhausting. And the more the banks play the coupon game, the less I'm interested in playing.
I paid my $895 for the Platinum this year. But when the bell tolls for me next year, I may chuck it all because I've tired of the game.
American Express raised the annual fee on its Platinum Card last year, but I had already renewed, so I didn't have to worry about justifying the new, $895 price. But the bell tolled for me this week. My new statement arrived and Amex says it's time to pay the $895 fee.
This is not chicken feed. (Wasn't it Donne who first called money chicken feed?) No rational traveler should pay the $895 without giving it at least a thought or two. The really smart traveler--and I like to think I am one--will do some homework to see if they are getting value for money.
If you listen to Amex, of course, you get thousands in value for its $895 fee. There are statement credits and perks and price kickbacks and upgrades galore, Amex claims. More than $3,500 worth, according to some Amex collateral.
Poppycock. (Again, wasn't that John Donne?) I guarantee you that there isn't a person on the planet who gets $3,500 in value from their Platinum. It's all marketing hype.
Plainly speaking, the value of the Amex Platinum Card--or Chase's $795 Sapphire Reserve--depends on how you use it. Or, more precisely, how many of the perks you use and how you value them.
What follows is how I justify my $895 fee. Before we start, however, a statement of purpose. The thing I want most from a premium card is airport lounge access. So I add up the value of my benefits, subtract that from the annual fee and decide if the difference is a fair price to pay for club access.
WALMART+: VALUE OF $222.30
My life has gotten complex in recent years and Walmart delivery service is a godsend. The Walmart+ plan ($14.03 a month including taxes) offers free delivery on everything Walmart sells within just a few hours. Even better, goods are priced exactly, to the penny, as they are in-store. But wait, there's more: Walmart+ comes with free Paramount+ streaming service. I care about that because I like keeping up with the latest Star Trek shows. In recent years, Paramount has been doing two a year, each requiring about three months of membership. So I value the free Paramount+ bundled with Walmart+ at $53.94 (six months at $8.99 a month).
NEWSPAPERS AND STREAMERS: VALUE OF $248.76
The next tier of Amex Platinum benefit I use is the card's $25 monthly statement credit for select newspapers and streaming services. Amex credits my subscription to The New York Times; current value is $4.07 a month. Amex also covers my subscription to The Wall Street Journal; current value is $8.67 a month. Meanwhile, my wife is addicted to Jeopardy. So I subscribe to the Peacock streaming service because it offers current episodes and a 24/7 channel of past episodes. Peacock costs $7.99 a month. Amex Platinum kicks that back, too. If my math is correct, the freebies are worth just short of $250.
UBER CREDITS: VALUE OF $200
American Express Platinum gives you a $200 annual Uber credit, doled out in 11 monthly increments of $15 and $35 in December. I use it for Uber rides, of course, but also the occasional Uber Eats order. Platinum also added a free Uber One benefit and kicks back the $10 monthly cost. I find zero value in Uber One, so, in the interest of honest accounting, I won't add that $120 perk.
GLOBAL ENTRY CREDIT: VALUE OF $24
Platinum kicks back your Global Entry fee ($120 for five years) or TSA PreCheck fee ($85). I use my card to cover Global Entry, so the annual value of that is $24.
CAR RENTAL ELITE STATUS: VALUE OF $0
Platinum comes bundled with elite status in the Hertz, Avis and National Car rental programs. Nice perks to have if you rent cars. These days, I haven't needed them. That's what Uber and Lyft are for.
HOTEL ELITE STATUS: VALUE OF $50
Platinum is bundled with mid-tier status in Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and Leading Hotels of the World. Marriott Gold is garbage. The LHW benefit is new and I haven't had a chance to use it yet. In past years, though, I've gotten some value from Hilton Honors Gold. But I've achieved Diamond Status, so that's now superfluous. For Hilton old times sake and the belief that I might use LHW Sterling Status eventually, I'll value this at $50.
OTHER TRAVEL PERKS: VALUE OF $0
As Bob McGarvey astutely points out, the $200 Platinum annual airline fee credit is outdated. Clear membership? Amex rebates the $219 annual fee. I joined one year and never used it. So I don't even bother with it now. Amex also claims more than $1,100 in value for two Platinum hotel benefits (Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection). Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I have never successfully found a hotel through one of the plans. So, again, no value.
'WELLNESS' CREDITS: VALUE OF $0
Platinum includes a $300 Lululemon shopping credit and a $300 Equinox credit. I use neither. Amex also added an Oura Ring benefit and maybe I'll look at that in the future. But for now, meh …
RESY RESTAURANT BENEFIT: VALUE OF $100
With the newish $400 Resy Credit, Platinum cardholders get up to $100 in statement credits quarterly when you use the card at what Amex claims are 10,000 U.S. restaurants. To be honest, I haven't used it. But I'm gonna blame me for this, so I'll probably remember to use it once in the next year.
Let's add it up, shall we? I'm getting $845.06 in value for my $895 fee. That means my Priority Pass and Centurion Lounge benefit costs about $50 a year. Want to be a stickler? Subtract the on-the-come $100 Resy benefit and the $50 I assigned to hotel elite status. That means I'm paying around $200 a year for airport club access.
Considering that I first joined Priority Pass in 1997 and paid $225, I'm way ahead of the game at $50 or even $200.
Normally, the bottom line above would be the bottom line. But it's not. There are two salient comments that must be added:
My journey isn't your journey. I'll guess that I'm the only frequent flying Platinum cardholder who gets more value from Amex's streaming and Walmart benefits than the travel benefits. But that is the point: This is my journey toward justifying the Platinum fee. Yours will surely be different. Do the math as I have. You may find Platinum--or the Chase Sapphire Reserve--offers you less value. Or more. There's no one card to rule them all now, so do your own financial homework. "Couponing" is out of hand. The reason why my card journey can't be yours is because Amex--and Chase, Citi, Barclays and Capital One--have turned their best cards into 21st-century coupon books. I find it maddening. I now need a spreadsheet of benefits offered by my cards to make sure I'm getting something like full value for my money. It's exhausting. And the more the banks play the coupon game, the less I'm interested in playing. I paid my $895 for the Platinum this year. But when the bell tolls for me next year, I may chuck it all because I've tired of the game.