“American Express, Don’t Travel Without it” is a tagline that anyone flying through Toronto Pearson over the past few years has likely seen emblazoned all over the airport.
While more recently, this has been used for advertising the premium Amex Aeroplan Reserve Card, I think it’s better suited to the Platinum card, which has been the quintessential American Express since the mid-’80s.
Let me explain how I think a $700 piece of metal may actually be worth it.
Travel Benefits
If you’re based out of Toronto, you’re likely familiar with the joys of taking a trip through Pearson Airport. With its seemingly endless lines for check-in and security, you’re sure to spend at least a half hour making it from the door to your gate. One of the Platinum card benefits is being able to sidestep the queue with a Priority Security QR code through the Amex App. This lets you dive into the Plaza Premium Lounge located just after security in Terminal 1, easily saving you 20 minutes in the best of times.
For those who have a different airport set as their home base, having a Nexus card also generally allows for a more streamlined security experience across airports in Canada. As a cardholder, you can take advantage of the $100 Nexus fee rebate to get a 4-year membership for yourself and cover the majority of the fee for your favourite travel companion by charging the application fee to your card.
The lounge benefit truly extends worldwide, as you can take advantage of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which allows complimentary access for you and one guest to over 1,300 lounges spread across 140 countries. You’d be hard-pressed to find a major airport where there is no lounge access available. In my opinion, this alone makes the card worth it — a yearly membership with Plaza Premium sets you back $500, and you still won’t get access to any Priority Pass or Centurion Lounge.
If that wasn’t enough for the benefits, there is also an Annual Travel credit worth $200 that can be redeemed against any travel booked through the American Express Travel Portal, which helps offset the annual fee to a more manageable $499.
Points
Although the Platinum doesn’t stand much of a chance against the lifestyle-oriented American Express Cobalt, it’s much stronger than many give it credit for:
The earn-rates are:
3X — Dining
2X — Travel
1X — All Else
These earn rates are effectively doubled if you redeem for economy travel on one of the many Amex Transfer Partners, including Air Canada, British Airways and KLM/AF. If you’re more of a high roller, it’s relatively simple to redeem at 5–8 cents per point for Business/First Class flights to Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East, provided you book well in advance.
The bottom line is that this shouldn’t be anyone’s workhorse card, but it’s still solid compared to non-Amex cards.
Fees
Now the part that’s generally a little jarring, the card comes with a rather hefty annual fee of $699, making it the most expensive credit card available to the public in Canada. Now, this sounds rather hard to justify, but let me help break down how this is not as bad as you think.
As I mentioned earlier, A handful of credits lower the fee significantly, namely the $200 annual travel credit and $100 Nexus credit available every 4 years ($25/year).
This alone drops the fee to $475, and it gets better.
American Express has an “Amex Offers” tab on its dashboard, which occasionally gives statement credits to places you may frequent. Since my card was renewed in April, I’ve redeemed $250 of credits on my Platinum card alone and nearly $1,000 between my Gold & Aeroplan. It’s important to mention that you shouldn’t count on Amex offers to eliminate your annual fee, since most offers are likely from places you’d never use; nonetheless, it’s nice gravy to add to your mountain of benefits.
Charge Card vs. Credit Card
Another thing to note is that the Platinum card isn’t technically a credit card; it’s a charge card. The difference is that charge cards do not have a set limit and need to be paid in full at the end of the month (though you should be doing this anyway to avoid interest). This is a bit of a double edged sword in my opinion.
It’s nice knowing that I don’t need to worry about paying the card balance down before the statement date to lower my utilisation. Additionally, as a student, my expenses fluctuate substantially, and a charge card’s flexibility is beneficial.
On the other hand, it is a bit unnerving knowing that I can get into tens of thousands of dollars in debt if I don’t use it responsibly and purchase things I cannot afford immediately.
You just have to evaluate if the flexibility is worth the stress for yourself, but the tradeoff seems to work for me.
Final Thoughts
American Express had a particular demographic in mind when they launched this card years ago, and it’s important to mention that the Platinum card is not the best card for everyone. For example, suppose the vast majority of your monthly spending is for dining, and you travel a couple of times a year. In that case, the Cobalt card is a much better fit. In fact, I’d argue that you’d get about 90% of the benefits (less the lounge access & priority security) for a fraction of the cost with a Cobalt card. But if you’re a heavy traveller who calls the airport their second home, I feel it’s easy to make the cas that the elevated airport experience the Platinum provides makes it well worth it.
If you feel you’re going to travel more than usual in one year, I suggest getting the card and trying out the benefits to see if the value is there for you. If the card isn’t for you, closing it after a year shouldn’t negatively impact your credit score in the long run, assuming you’ve used it responsibly (not letting your balance build up).
An advanced strategy some use is holding both the Cobalt & Platinum cards simultaneously and getting the best of both worlds. If that’s something you guys are interested in, feel free to mention it in the comments below.