Premium credit card land runs on two constants: higher annual fees and endless hoops to jump through — or “value,” as American ExpressAXP

and ChaseJPM

prefer calling it.

Still, value stays relative, and major shakeups to household names like the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) and Amex Platinum always stir up worry — perhaps that’s why the ‘airport lounge crowd’ has speculated about what American Express would have in store for its $695/yr travel-focused Platinum Card.

Luckily, we no longer have to wait to find out.

What’s $895 really? Four years on from its last refresh, American Express is hoping that it packed enough “value” onto a credit card strip (or EMV chip) to justify making an already-expensive Platinum Card even pricier. On Thursday, Amex announced updates to the Platinum Card that highlight its expanding ecosystem in travel and dining, while building on existing brand partnerships and introducing a few new ones. It’s the card’s first major change since 2021.

• Amex ‘supersized’ its annual Hotel Credit from $200 to $600, Digital Entertainment Credit from $240 to $300, and bolstered its Uber Cash benefit by throwing in a $120 Uber One yearly subscription.
• There are also plenty of new credits: $400 toward reservation platform Resy, $300 at Lululemon, a $200 Oura Ring credit, and courtesy Leaders Club Sterling Status at Leading Hotels of the World.

Same Old, But Bigger

With all the new and improved credits, Amex now has 13 unique credits on the Platinum Card — plus status at three hotel brands — which the company says is worth “over $3.5K in value.” But more than half of that value is vested in credits and core benefits that already existed on the card before:

• The card’s simple earnings scheme remains intact: 5x Membership Rewards (MR) points on directly booked airlines and prepaid hotel bookings; 1x MR on everything else.
• All existing credits are sticking around too: CLEAR Plus ($209), the $200 Airline Fee Credit, $200 in Uber Cash, a $155 Walmart+ subscription, and even lesser-used benefits like the $300 Equinox/SoulCycle and $100 Saks Fifth credit.

Is it worth its weight in… whatever metal they actually use to make the card? That likely depends on whether you already found value in the Amex Platinum. Maybe you signed up for airport lounge access, or maybe you squeezed every dollar out of the ‘coupon book.’ Whether it’s still worth it might come down to clawing back the $200 higher annual fee from the more than $1.5K in credits. Still, one thing’s clear: the new Amex Platinum feels more like a small ‘upgrade’ than a full ‘refresh’ — and maybe that’s a good thing.