How I Earn Nearly 30,000 Points With My Amex Platinum Card Every Year

The Platinum Card^® from American Express has been in my wallet for over 5 years. Even though it’s an expensive card to keep with a $695 annual fee (rates & fees), the card has consistently proven its value for me through monthly statement credits and an excellent array of travel perks (enrollment required).

In addition to the various perks offered by the Amex Platinum card, I use it to earn thousands of Membership Rewards points each year. This might be surprising given the card doesn’t have that many bonus categories.

Beyond impressive earnings on flights and hotels, there are times when paying with an Amex Platinum card makes sense. Let’s take a closer look at when (and how) I use the card to earn close to 30,000 points per year.

When I Use the Amex Platinum Card

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The Platinum Card^® from American Express

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The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

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The Platinum Card^® from American Express

The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

Welcome Offer

Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on the Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

80,000 points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$1,760

Annual Fee

$695

APR

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Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better card out there than The Platinum Card^® from American Express.

Make no mistake — the Amex Platinum card is a premium card with a premium price tag. With amazing benefits like best-in-class airport lounge access, hotel elite status, and tremendous value in annual statement credits, it can easily prove to be one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet year after year.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The best airport lounge access out of any card (by far) — enjoy access to over 1,400 worldwide lounges, including the luxurious Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and many more!
• 5x points per dollar spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com

Cons

• $695 annual fee (rates and fees)
• Airline credit does not cover airfare (only incidentals like checked bags)

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Card Highlights

• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
• Earn 5X Membership Rewards^® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards^® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts^® or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel using your Platinum Card^®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card^® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• The American Express Global Lounge Collection^® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market. As of 03/2023.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Save on eligible delivery fees, shipping, and more with a Walmart+ membership. Use your Platinum Card^® to pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership and get up to $12.95 plus applicable taxes back on one membership (excluding Plus Ups) each month.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Platinum Card^®.
• $200 Uber Cash: Platinum Card^® Members can get out and about and explore their local area with $15 in Uber Cash for US rides each month, plus a bonus $20 in December. That can be up to $200 in annual Uber savings. Simply download the Uber app and add your Platinum Card^® to your Uber account to get started. Available to Basic Card Member only. Effective 11/8/2024, an Amex Card must be selected as the payment method for your Uber or Uber Eats transaction to redeem the Amex Uber Cash benefit.
• $199 CLEAR^® Plus Credit: CLEAR^® Plus helps to get you to your gate faster at 50+ airports nationwide and get up to $199 back per calendar year on your Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Card. CLEARLanes are available at 100+ airports, stadiums, and entertainment venues.
• Receive either a $120 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck^® (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Platinum Card^®. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Shop Saks with Platinum: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card^®. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
• Unlock access to exclusive reservations and special dining experiences with Global Dining Access by Resy when you add your Platinum Card^® to your Resy profile.
• $695 annual fee.
• Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

The Amex Platinum card isn’t the only card in my wallet — and it’s nowhere near the card I use most often for everyday purchases. Dining, groceries and most other purchases go on a variety of cards that give me a better return on spending. Here’s when I will use the Amex Platinum card to pay for certain purchases.

Booking Flights

I almost exclusively book flights with my Amex Platinum card. It has the best earning rate for booking flights with the airline or through AmexTravel.com — with 5x bonus points on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.

Competing premium credit cards like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card*×Information collected independently. Not reviewed by Capital One. earn 5x miles on flights, too, but only if you book through Capital One Travel.

In my opinion, not being tied to booking with a credit card portal is advantageous for frequent travelers. Oftentimes you have to make changes through the portal you book with, which can take extra time. Meanwhile, you can make changes directly with the airline when you book direct.

Membership Rewards are a powerful currency, too. Upgraded Points values them at 2.2 cents apiece, giving you an effective 11% return on flights when you book with the Amex Platinum card. However, Amex points can easily be worth more than that if you redeem for business class flights.

With the Amex Platinum card, you can also earn 2x points on rental cars and cruises booked through AmexTravel.com — a feature that’s actually available for any Membership Rewards-earning card. Again, I prefer to book these types of travel directly with the provider, so I’ll use my Chase Sapphire Reserve^® in these instances, allowing me to earn 3x points and enjoy the flexibility of booking directly.

Booking Hotels

I also book at least 1 Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) stay per year to take advantage of the Amex Platinum card’s up to $200 annual prepaid hotel credit. Beyond the credit, I also use the FHR program to book hotels for special occasions (for example, my upcoming honeymoon) or when I can’t redeem hotel points for my stay.

Extra benefits like complimentary breakfast and hotel room upgrades can help make a stay more enjoyable. Plus, since you have to book FHR stays through AmexTravel.com, they earn 5x points when you prepay the stay at the time of booking with the Amex Platinum card. (Thankfully, this can be a refundable prepaid booking.)

Amex Offers, Statement Credits, and More

Besides hotels and flights, there are are other times I use the Amex Platinum card to pay for purchases. Namely, if my Amex Platinum card is targeted for an Amex Offer that I can use, I’ll enroll my card and pay with it. Sometimes these Amex Offers give you a statement credit or bonus Membership Rewards points when you spend with the participating merchant.

Amex Platinum card has a ton of statement credits too, and you’ll earn points when you use them. I’m able to make full use of the digital entertainment credit (enrollment required), prepaid hotel credit, airline incidental credit (enrollment required), and Saks Fifth Avenue credit (enrollment required) every year. This isn’t a ton of extra points, but they add up.

Points I’ve Earned With the Amex Platinum Card in 2024

At the time of writing, there’s still well over a month left of 2024. However, the chart above shows you how many points I’ve earned so far in the first 11 months of the year:

You’ll see the majority of my points — 23,610 points, to be exact — comes from booking flights via the Amex Platinum card. This includes paid flights, award ticket taxes and fees, upgrades, and other airline purchases. At 2.2 cents per Membership Rewards point, this breaks down to just over $519 in value per year based on our valuations.

After this, you’ll see the points I’ve earned from AmexTravel.com hotel bookings. I have only booked 1 FHR stay in 2024 to use my annual prepaid hotel booking credit, so this is a smaller 1,315 points. I spent a night at the Conrad Abu Dhabi on an overnight layover en route to Oman.

After this are other purchases I’ve made with my Amex Platinum card at 1,298 points. This is largely spending used to meet Amex Offers, of which the bonus points are reflected in the “Bonus Earn” field with 2,600 points earned.

In total, I’ve earned 28,823 Membership Rewards points with my Amex Platinum card this year, for a total of $634 in value per our valuations, just short of the $695 annual fee I pay every year.

This isn’t a game-changing amount of points, but it’s more than enough to book a short-haul domestic round-trip ticket (or 2) when transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Avios, or other Amex transfer partners.

Final Thoughts

The Amex Platinum card isn’t one to get solely for earning points. With its high annual fee and limited bonus earning categories, there are better cards out there for everyday spending. But if you have an Amex Platinum card for travel benefits, it makes sense to use it for airfare and Amex Offers, if nothing else.

My total for 2024 is surprisingly large. Although I’m a frequent traveler, spending on the Amex Platinum card has helped me earn 28,823 Membership Rewards points this year with relatively modest spending. It may not be a massive amount, but it adds a nice boost to my Membership Rewards account to bring me closer to my next big redemption. I can expect to spend around the same on the Amex Platinum card for 2025 and the many years moving forward.

For the trip delay insurance benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.