Do over: Here’s what the refreshed Platinum card will look like – Frequent Miler

According to a rumor reported by Doctor of Credit, The Platinum Card® from American Express will be “refreshed” this year and may sport a mirror finish. Nick and I recently took a stab at predicting what perks and rebates the refreshed card will offer in our podcast episode “Predicting the Refreshed Platinum Card.” I think we got a lot right in that show, but maddeningly I forgot to include one of my primary predictions: Amex will add Resy Restaurant credits. So, I’m declaring a do-over. I’m taking the best predictions from the show, plus Resy Restaurant credits, plus some ideas contributed by our audience to produce a new set of predictions. What follows is what the refreshed Platinum card will really look like. 110% guaranteed¹.

1 Guaranteed to be as accurate as Southwest saying that bags will always fly free

The following predictions are for the consumer Platinum Card. The Business Platinum Card, if refreshed, will have different changes.

Annual Fee: $895

I think Amex will go big here and increase the fee from $695 to $895. Ouch.

Point Earnings Unchanged (Unfortunately)

Currently the Platinum card earns 5 points per dollar for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel, and 5 points per dollar for prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel. For all other purchases it earns only 1 point per dollar. That’s really poor compared to most other popular cards. I would love to see Amex make the Platinum card more competitive here. At a minimum, this card should continue to earn 5x in select travel categories and 3x for all other travel purchases; and 3x for dining worldwide. Unfortunately, I don’t think that even that much is likely.

$300 Resy Restaurant Credit (New)

Given that Amex recently added Resy credits to the Delta SkyMiles Platinum and Reserve cards and the Amex Gold card, this prediction is a slam dunk. That’s why it’s particularly irritating that I forgot to mention it on our podcast!

I expect that the credit will be doled out monthly: up to $25 back per month for any spend at U.S. restaurants listed on the Libby platform. This will be advertised as a $300 credit ($25 x 12 months) to encourage customers to believe that it’s a great trade off for the increased annual fee.

$300 Lifestyle / Wellness Credit (Replaces $300 Equinox and Soul Cycle credits)

This one was suggested by Whitney (here). I expect that this credit will be for spend at gyms, spas, wellness apps, etc. I expect that it will be doled out monthly: up to $25 back per month. While I don’t think this is nearly as likely as the predicted Resy credit, I think this would be a popular new benefit. It would be great to be able to pick our own path towards wellness rather than having Amex dictate that we do it through Equinox or Soul Cycle.

$200 Flight Credit (Replaces Airline Incidental Fee credit)

Currently, the Platinum card reimburses up to $200 per calendar year in incidental airline fees. That credit will be replaced with a $50 per quarter flight credit. Any purchases made directly with an airline should qualify for up to $50 back each quarter. This mirrors a similar change that was made to Hilton Aspire card a couple of years ago.

This switch will at once make it easier to use the credit since it won’t be limited to airline fees, and harder to use the credit since it will be spread out quarter by quarter.

$240 Rideshare Credit (Replaces $200 Uber Credit)

Currently Platinum cardholders get $200 per year in Uber credit doled out monthly as $15 per month and $35 in December in use-it-or-lose-it credit. I predict that this will be replaced with up to $20 per month in rideshare rebates (similar to the Delta Platinum and Reserve cards’ $10 per month rideshare rebates. The nice thing about this is that it wouldn’t be limited to Uber. One bad thing is that it won’t work for Uber Eats. Another bad thing is that families with multiple Platinum cards won’t be able to pool their rideshare credits as they can today.

$120 Walmart Cash (Replaces $100 Saks)

Nick came up with this one and I think he’s probably right. My guess is that we’ll get $10 per month in use-it-or-lose-it Walmart Cash. For Walmart shoppers this will complement the current Walmart Plus rebate which I expect will continue. This new credit will probably replace the $100 Saks credit ($50 every six months) that we have now.

Delta Complimentary Upgrades (New)

This is a bit of a wild guess, but I think it makes sense. Long ago, Amex Platinum cards came with Delta Platinum elite status. I don’t see that happening again, but I do think that it would be easy and cheap for Delta to allow Platinum cardholders onto the complementary upgrade list for free (mostly domestic) upgrades to comfort+, first class, or Delta One. This would mirror the benefit found on Delta SkyMiles Platinum cards (details here).

Many perks unchanged

Platinum cards have many other popular perks including lounge access, elite status with Hilton and Marriott, rental car benefits, prepaid hotel credits, digital entertainment credits, etc. I’m predicting that most of these will remain unchanged. For complete details about Platinum card perks, see: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.