Amex Platinum: decent value in Australia?

John Walton, editor on Ausbt, said: "In my wallet, I keep [...] my Amex Platinum, which I reckon is the best card I know for travellers."

Having lived in several countries before, and having a Platinum in Australia, I failed to get the right value for AUD900 a year. Am I missing something?

Note: the Platinum is half this price in the US.

Hi there, and thanks for the question! (I see you found my personal travel photoblog; for clarity, I'm a journalist here at AusBT, not our editor, David Flynn.)

I have a UK-based Amex Platinum, which has an annual fee of GBP300. The benefits this year that I've found particularly useful are travel insurance, excess insurance for rental cars, Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club Gold status (equivalent to Qantas Gold), Priority Pass lounge access, telephone and email concierge services, Membership Rewards points (which often transfer at bonus rates of 20-25%), the ability to have letters mailed to me in international Amex offices, and a decent contact centre staffed by people who understand my travelling lifestyle.

Hi John, 

Thanks for taking the time to answer. 

Based on what I've seen and what you are saying, it seems cutomers with an Australian Amex Platinum gets less value: 

- No arline status out-of-the-box

- Priority Pass: no more supported lounges in ANZ (only the United Red Carpet in MEL, open just few hours a day), and I thing one in Wellington, NZ.

- No transfer bonus rates

I have also found the staff not being too customer oriented. I had to call many times here to have me enrolled properly in the different programs they had. 

What justifies the extra cost here, I wonder. 

I think that a key part of the market difference is the dominance of Qantas Frequent Flyer since the early 00s, in the way that the UK market has continually had challengers in Virgin Atlantic and BMI -- plus, of course, the draw of major European carriers' programs, thinking particularly of KLM here, which serves more regional UK airports via Amsterdam than BA does via Heathrow.

The lack of Priority Pass in AU now the Virgin lounges are out is a big loss, although I find it very useful travelling around Asia (in Jakarta last week, the PP lounge was the only one that was serving wine). I also spend a fair amount of time in Wellington, so it's useful there too. Of course, my Virgin card will now get me in all the Koru lounges, and my Cathay card will get me in all the Qantas lounges. Pretty useful part of the offer...I think £300 for the status alone would be a big draw.

Hi,

   I find the Aus Amex Platinum very good value for my usage.  The biggest value for me is in hassle free  travel insurance.  I travel round the world at least once a month and at least once  a year my bags are delayed 1-2 days due to missed connections, flight loads etc.  12 x International travel insurance plus LDW on my car rentals will easily eclipse the cost of the card.  I rarely use any of the platinum privileges such as invite only events, but they did secure me tickets once to see Norah Jones at a sold out concert at Montreux jazz festival. 

Chandi

Dear John,

Was the Cathay Pacific offer just promotional? Because I can't seem to find it anywhere. I just want to know because it sounds like an amazing deal.

Kind Regards

Hi Yoshi -- it's listed as a current benefit of the UK-based Amex Platinum. (Not the Australian or international one.)

Does that mean you have to pay in £ and they charge you a fee for transferring it to $?

And is the exchange rate locked in, like on some of HSBC's cards, or does it change with the currency?