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The Amex Platinum card is a card that I initially had shied away from, mostly due to reluctance to pay a $450 annual fee.  I ended up taking advantage of an increased signup bonus (25,000 American Express Membership Rewards) on the Ameriprise version of the Amex Platinum, which does NOT have an annual fee for either the primary user or up to 3 authorized users for the first year.

I don’t think that I will end up paying the annual fee when it comes due, but we have definitely received a lot of benefits from having the Amex Platinum card over the past 8+ months.  Here are a few of the posts I’ve written about some of the benefits of the Amex Platinum card

Today I wanted to talk about the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit

Using the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit

how-to-use-your-amex-platinum-200-airline-credit

The Amex Platinum $200 airline credit is an especially nice benefit, because you are able to use it every CALENDAR year.  So for paying one annual fee ($450), you can get TWO American Express Platinum $200 airline credits.  Now, I’m not one to say that this makes the annual fee only $50 ($450 – $200 – $200), but there is no denying that the Amex Platinum airline credit is a pretty good benefit.

The one tricky part about the American Express Platinum $200 airline credit is that you have to PICK your airline.  This is in contrast to cards like the Citi Prestige, where you get a credit on any airlines without having to select the airlineamex-platinum-200-airline-credit-logo

How to choose your airline for the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit

For the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit, before you make an airline purchase, you must first select one airline to get the $200 airline credit.  You can change that each calendar year, but during a particular calendar year, you can only get an airline credit on one airline.

I actually found it a little hard to find the page where you change your airline (it didn’t seem to be easily found off of the “My Account” page.  A little bit of searching found that the page to choose your airline for the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit is at http://rewards.americanexpress.com/olet/splash?campaignId=airline1&offerType=airlinechoice

amex-platinum-200-airline-credit-screen

After you log in, you’re greeted with a screen that looks like this.  Yours may look different – in my case I already picked my American Express Platinum $200 airline credit for 2015, so it’s letting me know that I can either keep the same airline (in my case, Southwest), or I can change the airline for my American Express Platinum $200 airline credit.

amex-platinum-200-airline-credit-make-selection

In my case, I changed it to American Airlines, because I know I have some upcoming charges on American for my Round the World trip.

What is the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit good for?

Another difference between the Amex Platinum $200 airline credit and the credits on other similar cards like the Citi prestige are that the Amex Platinum airline credits are a little more restrictive.  The terms and conditions

The Amex $200 airline credit is typically only good for things like baggage fees, change fees, phone reservation fees (but you might not have to pay those!) and incidentals like food, beverage and wi-fi as long as it’s charged directly by the airline.

In practice, some people have reported getting the Amex Platinum airline credit reimbursement on gift cards or award ticket fees, as long as it’s for a smaller amount.  I actually used an airline credit to buy gift cards last year, only to find out that American Airlines does not take gift cards for the taxes and fees on award tickets!

If you want to support Points With a Crew, you can sign up for the American Express Platinum card (and other cards) through these links.


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