Last Chance: How to Make Sure You've Used Your Amex Platinum Airline Fee Credit Before Year-End
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
The $550 annual fee (See Rates & Fees) on The Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the highest among premium travel credit cards. The card offers many benefits that, when maximized, can easily provide more than $550 in value — but the key is that you have to actually use these benefits to get the value.
The Amex Platinum offers a couple perks that will reset at the end of the year, so you're leaving money on the table if you don't utilize these benefits before they reset. The largest of these benefits is the $200 annual airline fee credit. Do the following to check your progress toward using this fee credit:
- Log in to your American Express account
- Click the Benefits tab
- Either click the "Travel" tab or just scroll down on the main benefits page to find the $200 airline fee credit
You'll see a progress bar that shows your progress toward using the airline fee credit.
Technically, this credit is meant to be used toward incidentals like checked baggage fees, seat assignment fees and airline lounge passes. Depending on how airlines code certain purchases, though, it's also sometimes possible to purchase airline gift cards to use toward tickets and be reimbursed for those. Check out these two TPG articles for our research on which airline gift card purchases usually will be reimbursed. And, if you haven't selected one qualifying airline yet for this fee credit, do so wisely before making any purchases with this airline.
There are also two other benefits that will also reset at the end of the year: your $35 December Uber credit and your July through December $50 Saks Fifth Avenue statement credit. You get a $15 bonus on top of the normal $20 Uber credit for December, but remember that you'll need to select Uber Cash in order to use your credit. Although these credits are smaller than the $200 airline fee credit, they're still worth taking advantage of before the end of the year to get maximum value from your Platinum Card.
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, please click here.