I’m a Finance Editor, and This Amex Platinum Fee Hike Has Me Considering Canceling

If you have an American Express (AXP) Platinum card, you probably got the same bad news my wife and I did today: The annual fee is getting a $200 hike. Already groaning each time we think of the existing massive annual fee, my spouse and I are now facing the exact question you are: Is it worth it? My wife’s a travel editor, so the lounge and travel perks are crucial for her, but now with inflation biting into every part of our budget, the value proposition is a lot murkier. As we finalize our decision, here’s what we’re considering.

Why We’ve Stuck With Platinum (Despite the Price)

Let’s be clear: We never liked paying $695 each a year for a credit card when we’re bargain shoppers just about any other time. But the Platinum has repeatedly proven its worth in ways that go beyond simple statement credits. Getting reimbursed for Global Entry means we go through customs with relative ease as others wait in endless lines, plus we enjoy the Clear membership that speeds us through regular security. The lounge access has become indispensable—my wife travels at least twice monthly for her journalism work, so we’re saving on overpriced and underwhelming airport meals she doesn’t have to buy. That’s easily $1,200 a year in value, and more importantly, it means she and I have a quiet place to work with reliable WiFi instead of sitting at crowded gates.

Then there’s access to one of the few customer service operations left that might pick up your call. This summer, when American Airlines (AAL) stranded us twice on our way home from Europe—once in Philadelphia, then again in Miami—Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts program turned potential disasters into unexpected upgrades. At The Bellevue in Philadelphia, we got early check-in at 10 a.m., escaping a sketchy airport hotel that required deadbolts and came with safety warnings. The automatic room upgrade, complimentary welcome drinks, daily breakfast for two at the hotel’s top-floor restaurant overlooking the city, and $100 property credit made days of delays getting home into a mini-vacation in its own right.

In Miami, Mr. C Coconut Grove gave us similar treatment, warmly greeting us like VIPs with a thoughtful note and refreshing Bellinis (the hotel’s run by the Cipriani family, which invented the cocktail in Venice) and extending our checkout so late that one night’s stay felt like two days. These aren’t benefits you can easily quantify on a spreadsheet, but when you need them, they’re a godsend.

The question now is whether these same benefits that justified $695 can stretch to cover $895.

The New Benefits That We Actually Care About

The Platinum’s core travel benefits remain—we still get unlimited Centurion Lounge access, reimbursements for Clear Plus and TSA PreCheck/Global Entry, and Uber (UBER) credits of up $200 annually. These have been the card’s main selling point for us, and, thankfully, Amex didn’t touch them. The hotel elite status with Hilton Hotels (HLT) and Marriott (MAR) also stays put, as does the $200 airline fee credit (which, admittedly, we often forget about).

The Platinum still earns just 5x on Amex Travel bookings and 1x elsewhere—less than competitors. However, membership Rewards points transfer to 18 airlines and 3 hotels, potentially delivering two to four cents per point value on premium redemptions. Full disclosure: We mostly just use ours for statement credits, which means we’re probably doing it wrong—but if you’re savvier with transfer partners, there could be significant value here we’re not capturing.

Here’s what’s changing this year in ways that matter: The hotel credit through Amex Travel jumps from $200 annually to $600—a $400 increase that essentially covers the higher annual fee. The catch? It’s now split into two $300 credits every six months, meaning we need at least two separate hotel bookings to get the full value. For families taking summer and winter vacations, this works. For those who travel once a year, that’s $300 that doesn’t count for you.

The biggest lifestyle addition is the new Resy dining credit—$100 quarterly, or $400 annually. Unlike the previous Amex offers that required you to activate the credits and seek out specific merchants, this automatically applies at any Resy-affiliated restaurant. Living in New Orleans gives us an advantage here, with dozens of participating restaurants from Commander’s Palace to newer hotspots we’ve been wanting to check out in the Warehouse District. But that quarterly expiration means setting calendar reminders or losing out—and we know this means that’s exactly what will often happen for us.

Other new perks feel forced:

• Lululemon (LULU) credit ($75 quarterly): This requires spending at least that amount every three months—turning athletic wear into a subscription service.
• Digital entertainment credit (increased from $20 to $25 monthly): It now covers YouTube Premium and YouTube TV alongside the usual streaming suspects.
• Oura Ring credit ($200 annually): This is nice if you were already planning to buy one, but it’s not a recurring value.
• Airline fee credit ($200 annually): You’ll have to select an airline each January to use this credit with—good luck knowing if you’ll end up on Delta most of the year—and it only covers incidentals, not tickets.
• Saks credit ($100 annually): We don’t use this because the free shipping minimum is $300, and we don’t shop there anyway.
• Equinox credit ($300): This is worthless to us since we’re not members.
• Uber One membership credit ($120 annually): New this year, it essentially upgrades your existing Uber benefit, though we already get free delivery on most orders through other cards.

For maximizers, this would be painful. For us, as long as the benefits we do use exceed the annual fee, we can live with the waste.

Should You Keep Your Platinum Card?

The math on whether to keep the Platinum comes down to a simple calculation: Can you get at least $895 in value from the benefits you’ll actually use? To help you decide, we’ve created this checklist with real dollar values. Be honest about what you’ll realistically use, add up those amounts, and see if you clear the $895 bar.

Don’t force anything—if you’re not known for hitting up the local cafe in your Lululemons, don’t check that credit. Consider the value of the points you earn, too, if you actually remember to redeem them.

The Bottom Line

The Amex Platinum’s jump to $895 forces cardholders to decide whether the benefits feel like value or like homework. If you travel often, book hotels more than once a year, and can realistically use the dining and lifestyle credits, the card can still more than pay for itself. But if you’re not tracking perks and squeezing out every dollar, the higher fee may tip the scales in favor of a cheaper premium card—or simply getting a card that doesn’t burden you with a big annual fee.