The American Express Platinum Card® offers plenty of potential value, but knowing how to take full advantage of all its perks and credits can be a challenge.
From the welcome bonus to the numerous travel credits, this card offers numerous ways to start earning back your $895 annual fee. But you’ll need to know how to qualify and activate many of the card’s best features to get full value.
- Earn the welcome bonus
- Start booking travel through American Express
- Activate your airline incidental fee credit
- Take advantage of the airport security credits
- Find the best airport lounge when you fly
- Activate your digital entertainment credits
- Activate your Resy credits
- Activate your monthly Uber Cash
1. Earn the welcome bonus
The best way to maximize the value of your American Express Platinum Card® in your first few months of card ownership is to earn the welcome bonus. The card currently offers as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® points when you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases in your first 6 months of card ownership. You’ll find out the welcome bonus amount you’re offered after you’ve submitted an application. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Depending on what bonus you qualify for, the points could be worth as high as $1,750 when redeemed for travel through American Express, which could be enough to cover a first redemption for a flight or hotel stay. You could get even more value from your welcome bonus if you transfer your points to one of American Express’s travel partners, but you’ll want to check available redemptions and estimated point values before making that choice.
2. Start booking travel through American Express
Apart from the welcome bonus, the best way to start building up your rewards balance is to book your flights and hotel stays through American Express Travel®.
You’ll get …
- 5 points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per $1)
- 5 points per $1 on prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com
- 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
Plus, you can earn extra value on hotel bookings when you make eligible bookings with Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection.
The American Express Platinum Card® gives you a total of up to $600 in statement credits each year ($300 semi-annually) on select prepaid bookings at these eligible hotels. You might also have access to perks like early check-in, late checkout, room upgrades and additional property credits.
Finding an eligible hotel might take some work, but those statement credits and extra benefits hold considerable potential.
3. Activate your airline incidental fee credit
The American Express Platinum Card® gives you up to $200 in statement credits each year to cover incidental airline fees, like checked baggage fees.
The catch is it can only be used at one airline of your choice, and you’ll need to activate your pick to start earning the credit. To select your airline, go to the “Benefits” section of your online account or call the number on the back of your card.
4. Take advantage of the airport security credits
Your American Express Platinum Card® features a fantastic combo of airport security credits, but you’ll need to activate your memberships to take full advantage.
Like some of its competitors, the card offers a statement credit of up to $120 every four years when you apply for TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry.
Picking the right program for you is simple — both programs get you through the physical security portion of TSA screening faster, but only Global Entry also offers expedited service when you go through U.S. customs. And keep in mind that this credit only covers the application fee — you’ll still need to go through the full application process like everyone else.
If you really want to speed up your airport security experience, you’ll also want to take advantage of the card’s annual $209 statement credit for a Clear® Plus membership, which will speed up the identification verification process at participating airports.
You can start your Clear Plus enrollment online before your next flight and complete the process at a participating security checkpoint.
5. Find the best airport lounge when you fly
The American Express Platinum Card® offers excellent airport lounge access, but you’ll want to do your research before finding the best option for your travels.
It’s smart to start your search with the Centurion Lounge Network, which is available in airports in most major U.S. cities and several more internationally. To enter these lounges, you’ll need to present your card, a same-day boarding pass and a physical government-issued ID.
If a Centurion Lounge isn’t available at your airport or terminal, you can still gain complimentary access through The Global Lounge Collection, which includes more than 1,550 lounges around the world. Just keep in mind that you may need to activate the individually included lounge memberships before arriving to get inside.
6. Activate your digital entertainment credits
The American Express Platinum Card® provides useful digital entertainment credits, but activating them requires some work.
You’ll get a $25 monthly statement credit for digital entertainment subscriptions with a selection of services like Disney+, YouTube TV and The New York Times, but you’ll have to activate the credits in the Benefits section of your online account or by calling the number on the back of your card.
After activation, the credit will only apply to purchases made directly with the service provider. And because the credit is applied monthly, you might want to avoid signing up for annual subscriptions.
Your card also provides another digital entertainment credit, but it’s somewhat hidden. When you use your card to sign up for a Walmart+ account, you’ll get a monthly $12.95 statement credit to cover the cost of membership. That membership also includes a Paramount+ Essential subscription, but you’ll need to register for that service separately (with instructions provided by Walmart).
7. Active your Resy credits
Your card offers up to $400 annually in statement credits for purchases with restaurants available for reservation on Resy (with activation via your card account), but it doesn’t require booking a reservation on Resy to get your credits.
Every quarter, the American Express Platinum Card® offers up to $100 in statement credits when you pay with your card at eligible U.S. restaurants. To qualify, these restaurants just have to be available for reservation on Resy.com or the Resy app — but you don’t need a reservation of any kind to get the credits.
If you have Resy-affiliated restaurants in your area, you might be able to earn this credit just by eating at some of your favorite restaurants. Even if you don’t frequent eligible restaurants, you can keep the credit in mind when looking for restaurants while traveling within the country.
8. Activate your monthly Uber Cash
You can get $15 in Uber Cash each month and a bonus $20 in December with your American Express Platinum Card®, which could save you up to $200 a year on Uber rides and Uber Eats in the U.S. You’ll also get a statement credit of up to $120 every calendar year on Uber One membership fees charged to your card.
The monthly credits are fairly easy to use — all you have to do is add your card as your payment method on your Uber or Uber Eats app. But unused value won’t carry over from month to month.
If you’re not in the habit of using Uber, this perk might not seem valuable. But you should be able to get a good chunk of the value from the monthly credits even if you make only one Uber Eats order or take just one Uber ride.
Next steps
Your American Express Platinum Card® comes with other benefits, but the perks we’ve called out above are most likely to help you find value early in your card membership.
Once you start using your card more often, you might find it has some gaps you’d like to fill. For instance, if you’re looking to maximize your rewards balance for redemptions, you may want to add another American Express card to improve on any nontravel rewards rates you get from this card.