Frequent Miler on the Air - Predicting the Refreshed Platinum Card | Coffee Break Ep47 | 3-4-25

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Word on the street is the Amex Platinum card is going to be "refreshed" which may mean new benefits, new cost, new rebates, and more. In this episode, we'll make some predictions about what we might see. (01:06) - Predicting the Refreshed Platinum Card annual fee (02:55) - Earning rate change? (04:04) - Coupon changes? (06:49) - Will the airline incidental fees credit change? (11:57) - Perk changes? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Welcome to Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles and points. And each Coffee Break is limited to 20 minutes or less for your money back. Word on the street is that the Amex Platinum card is going to be refreshed. That means new benefits, new price tag maybe, new coupons perhaps. It just means that everything about the card is kind of on the table as to what how it'll work. How many points will you earn? What kind of rebates will you get? And so Nick and I today are gonna predict what we think this new platinum card is gonna look like. And anybody who's followed Frequamiler for the last several years knows our track record with predictions and is probably waiting with bated breath to find out what we're going to do.

That's right. And in case you haven't been following us, you know that we're actually really bad at this. So nevertheless, we keep kicking at that football and eventually we're going to get it right. One of these days, Charlie Brown. I promise whatever we say today is going to be right. You'll see. You'll see.

Don't make promises. There's no promises. No promises, folks. All right. You'll see. You'll see. Don't make promises. There's no promises. No promises, folks. All right. All right. So let's talk about things that we think are probably likely to change. So let's start with the annual fee. Current annual fee is $695. What do you think, Greg? Gonna go up, stay the same, go down? What's your prediction? Yeah, this one's the hardest for me to predict because the fee is already so high and over the last, I don't know, six years or so they've raised it many times. And so will they do it again?

I'm going to say probably that I think that I would not be that surprised to see it go up by 200 bucks to 895. Wow, 895? 895 feels nutty to me. That feels like just a crazy price. I don't know. I think that they probably will increase it. I think it's crazy to increase it. I can't see it going past $750 though. And I say that thinking that $9.95 is actually the point that scares me, that I feel like they could go to, but $1,000 a year for a card that just seems crazy to me. 900 seems like an odd number to me, the 895. So I'm going to go with $750. They seem to like the $50 increments of their 550 on some of their airline cards. That makes this a little bit more premium, but not like crazy. Because I think I think $800 is a number that just seems to me like a ceiling.

So 750, 750 is my prediction, but it's probably going to go up. I agree with you. There you go. We're both saying the price is going to go up as hard as that's to believe that we're going to have a popular card go up above 700 bucks. You heard it here first. All right. I think if it goes to 895 or 995, they thin the herd.

If that's what they want, I guess go for it. But I can't imagine many people are gonna keep a 900 or $1,000 card. Right, right. What about, all right, so what about the card's earning rate? So right now you get just one point per dollar for most things, but you do get five points per dollar for like airfare.

What do you think is gonna happen going forward? I don't think there's going to be any significant change there. We haven't in general seen Amex mess with earning rates on their cards for the most part in the last few years with a couple of relatively minor exceptions. Most cards have stayed the same for years and years so I just don't see them changing anything. If they change anything, maybe it'll be on spend through like MX travel, or maybe they'll incentivize something in there. But I think probably we won't see any change on the earnings side. Yeah, I'm leaning towards that as well. Although what I could definitely imagine is something

like where you know, purchases over $5,000 get one and a half points per dollar instead of one but if that happens I don't know it wouldn't surprise me whether that happens or not so I'm gonna I'm gonna go with agreeing that we don't expect much of a change and I wouldn't even consider that much of a change because you can do better than that with most other cards. Right, right so we agree there are probably no change there. But where we probably also agree is that Amex has seemed really excited about couponizing

everything. And so while I don't expect changes on the earnings side, I bet you there's going to be some coupon changes. And I think that's an easy win on a prediction. So let's make it more difficult. What are the coupon changes going to be, Greg? Yeah. I'll tell you right up.

The first thing that's gonna change is, I think Uber is gone. Right now, I think it's gone. I think right now you get like $15 per month of Uber credits on your Uber account and then more in December, so it rounds off to $200 a year. I think what's gonna happen is they're gonna do what they did with the Delta Reserve Card

and make it a ride share credit where you don't have credits like in your Uber or Lyft account or whatever. What you have is when you pay for a ride share, you get rebated, I think it's gonna be $20 a month flat. Wow, that would be painful, that would hurt. So I also on my SquareCard had $20 a month for a ride share credit.

I had them flattening out the Uber credits to $20 a month, it's silly, there's no reason for it to be $15 every month and 35 in December, it should just be a flat 20 every month. So I totally agree with you on that. And I didn't think about the ride share benefit working the way you said, but I think you're absolutely right. I mean, they made the change recently

that you have to pay with or supposed to pay with an Amex card in order to get your benefits. And so yeah, yeah, unfortunately. I think you're totally right. That's a bummer because you're going to have to keep switching if you've got multiple cards in your household that qualify. Yeah.

I mean, I think that only really, I think here's where it's a bummer is the few sort of households that have multiple platinum cards, it makes it harder to use the credits together because you have to use separate cards. The other thing is it could mean the end of Uber Eats being credited. So right now with the Delta cards, you do not get credit when you use those cards for Uber Eats. So that to me is the biggest downside because I find those credits so easy to use because of Uber Eats.

If we can't use it for that, then we actually have to kind of use it as it's intended for ride share and not everybody has. You know, people live in cities without cars, that'll be nothing, but for those of us in the, you know, who do have cars and don't ride share every month, it's gonna be really tough.

Yeah, I mean, losing Obreghts and the combined ability with the RMX Gold Card credits and things like that, that would definitely ruin that benefit for me. So I hope you're wrong, but I think, unfortunately, that seems like a pretty solid prediction. All right, what's next? Yeah. Airline incidental fee credits, they're gone. Instead, what they're going to do is they're going to have a quarterly credit for any airfare

purchases, just like they did with what the Hilton surpass card I think it was that they have that or is it the Aspire? The Aspire, the Aspire. Sorry, the Aspire. Yeah. And here's where my prediction is contingent. If I'm right about the annual fee going up a lot, then I think we're looking at $100 per quarter of airline credits.

So $400 total per year divided up by quarter. If the fee doesn't go up by much, like if it only goes up to 750 or stays at the current, then I think it'll be $50 per quarter and it'll stay at a total of $200 as it is now with the incidental fee credits. So the difference for anyone who's not following this closely,

today you only get credited when your favorite airline, you pay for something that's considered a fee as opposed to a ticket, but you could use up all $200 at once for the calendar year. What I'm saying is in the future, it'll be any airfare purchases, probably not even tied to your favorite airline anymore, but you'll have to use it separately each quarter, use it or lose it each quarter. Yeah, so I also had written down that I think that this will become probably

quarterly. I've got my fingers crossed for semi- twice a year would be better and i but my fingers are crossed for the semi annual mostly because the consumer platinum card. I wouldn't assume people travel as much as business platinum card users so i can see business platinum going to a quarterly credit because if you're a business traveler then presumably you're traveling enough throughout the year. traveler, then presumably you're traveling enough throughout the year. For the consumer card, I feel like quarterly seems a little not generous enough to me, but if it goes up to 100 because the annual fee increases, I could see that being something that would be an easy sell for them. I don't know that it's going to be valid with any airline. I could see it either being tied to a chosen airline still, or we've seen with the Hilton credits on the business Platinum card I could see this becoming a Delta credit specifically because of AMEX is tie-in with Delta

So I could see them limiting it to one airline Like I said, I'm hopeful that it's gonna be every six months rather than every quarter, but probably got that right So alright, so so those are the only coupon changes I'm predicting. Okay. Do you have any other coupon changes you're expecting? Yeah. So I expect the Sachs credit to get eliminated. And the reason why is cause Sachs has been in the news lately for financial troubles.

There was a story just a week or two ago, I saw about them having to move out invoice payments to their vendors, vendors getting upset and nervous because they haven't been paid for a long time for the stock that Saks has been selling. So, and Saks is like, we're gonna pay you in 90 days, don't worry. But that to me seems like they're on shaky ground.

And I'm sure that they look at this as a marketing expense to get people in the door. But if you're in budget cutting mode, this is a marketing expense that seems like an easy cut to me. So I think the Sachs credit is likely to go away. I could see and I'm, you know, I'm, I don't know if I'm confident about this, but I could see that being replaced by a monthly Walmart cash benefit, similar to the old Uber cash benefit where it's like a, you you know use it or lose it It you can't stack it up month after month. It's

Or it could be a statement credit I suppose for Walmart purchases to encourage you to use your card But one way or another I could see a Walmart credit coming on this card in place of the Saks credit Which I know kills the premium aspect a little bit, but I just don't think Saks can continue to afford to do it Yeah, yeah, you know I I agree with you. When I was, I was about to ask you, but you already started saying, what will it be replaced with if the Sachs credit goes away? And in my mind, I'm thinking, if this happens, I bet it will be Walmart. And it does feel like Amex and Walmart are moving closer together as, as weird as that seems, given that, you know, Platinum Card is such a premium, you know,

luxury lifestyle brand and Walmart is not. No, but I mean, I have to imagine that Walmart, well, A, that Amex has enough cardholder data to have known that a lot of Platinum Card holders are shopping at Walmart. Or Walmart was willing to subsidize their Walmart plus benefit by enough knowing that MX Platinum card holders might spend a lot.

So one way or another, I could see this becoming a thing. And I don't know how long Walmart cash has been around. I only recently noticed it for the first time, you know, coming with certain products you get Walmart cash with, or they did that promo where if you had Walmart plus, just had to like log in, click around somewhere and get $10 in Walmart cash with, or they did that promo where if you had Walmart Plus, you just had to like log in, click around somewhere and get $10 in Walmart cash recently. So I could see that becoming a thing. I think that that might happen.

And then the last like sort of, well, no, that's not a coupon, that's a perk. Okay, yeah, I'm done on coupons. I think that's what I- All right, let's move on to perks. So today the card has things like lounge access, elite status with some brands, and some miscellaneous other things

like cell phone protection or whatever. What kind of perks do you think are gonna change? Well, if I'm right about the Walmart cash thing and their tie-in with Walmart and people spending money there, I could see Sam's Club membership somehow getting tied into the Platinum cards. So whether that's a full, like a free Sam's Club membership or just a big discount on

a Sam's Club membership, I could see that becoming a thing. So I'm going to say they're going to add some sort of a Sam's Club membership benefit to it. Maybe it's full membership. I don't know. I unfortunately think that lounge access could get limited. I mean, Centurion lounges often have a wait. People complain about that similar to other lounges.

On the one hand, this is such a great marketing tool for Amex, on the other hand, Delta and Amex decided to limit lounge access for cardholders, maybe on the consumer card. We'll see a limit of something like 10 or 15 visits per year. I could see the business version continuing to be unlimited since they want business travelers in those lounges probably, but I were using the perks and feeling like

the card is worth it. But I could maybe see a limit coming to Centurion Lounge Access. And the last like perk change that is in my mind is there needs to be a better redemption ratio for travel. So I like the 35% rebate on the business platinum card for paying with points for your chosen airline. I could see something like that coming to the consumer platinum. I could see it perhaps being limited to being used with just Hilton and Delta,

or maybe you'll have to make some sort of a choice. I would love to see this come at least to the fine hotels and resorts, the 35% pay with points rebate. It'd be great to see that happen. But I think they've got to add some way to get better value. There's no reason right now to use your MX points to book travel.

I'm sure MX likes it that way because they like collecting points from people who don't know better. But at this point, you get such poor value with points that way. I'd love to see a change there. I think it could happen. Wow. So, man, I agree with you.

I would love to see that. I think that's a lot less likely than some of the other things we've talked about. But I do think you're right, Centurion lounge access limits is possible. They certainly wouldn't get rid of it because that's such a big seller, but I could certainly imagine most people saying, well, I wouldn't go more than 15 times a year anyway. I mean, I know that's true for me personally.

So it wouldn't be a big deal if they put a limit like that on for most people. And it would just hurt the people that are kind of, I don't want to say abusing the perk because I mean it's a it is right now an unlimited perk so it's not really abusing it to go a lot but you know what I mean. People use it far more than average. Yeah yeah so it would hurt hurt those people but you know theoretically that wouldn't be a lot I don't know. The one perk change I'm predicting, this is kind of way out there, because I have really nothing to base this on,

or very little to base this on, but the Platinum card, if you go way back, it used to give you Delta Platinum Elite status, which is a pretty high level Elite status. And over time that went away. So my prediction is that having the Platinum card is going to give you Delta free upgrades. Now where that comes from is that's a perk

of the Delta Platinum card, the $350 card that you get on the upgrade list. Now you get on below everybody else and this will be true, it'd be true with this too. You'd be on that list below everybody else, but if you're on a very sparsely populated flight, you might then get upgraded to at least comfort plus, if not first class by just having the card

and having it tied to your Delta wallet, presumably would be how that happens. Interesting. I think that would be a really interesting perk to add here and Delta would probably be happy to have that as an incentive to get more Platinum card holders. I don't think it would cost Delta anything. I mean, maybe they would see it though as competing with their cards, their branded cards. So maybe they would dislike that for that reason. But that, you know, they could do something like that as a sort of like, you know, sorry, we're limiting the Platinum cards to 10 Sky

Club visits per year, but here's something in exchange. Oh, could you see Hilton doing anything like this? Like some sort of a benefit at Hilton properties for Platinum card holders? I don't know. I mean, I don't I'm not sure what it would be, whether it would be priority for an upgrade or maybe if Hilton were going to institute some sort of an upgrade award at some point,

maybe we could see that come. I don't know, that seems far-fetched. I'm gonna back up on that. I could see Hilton being interested in continuing to attract more customers. And obviously, they instituted the Hilton credit on business Platinum cards. That's why it's coming to mind, I think, that Hilton seems interested in attracting some more of those customers. Although I think Hilton's interest seems to largely be in attracting more business

travelers. So perhaps that won't come to the consumer side. Yeah, I don't know. All right. So where we're at is the annual fee is going to go up either a little or a lot. Our earning rate will stay about the same. The Uber credit is going to be gone or replaced with a rideshare rebate. The airline fee credit is going to be gone, replaced with an airline spend rebate broken up by quarter or semi-annual or something. Saks rebate will be gone, potentially replaced with Walmart credit. Did I miss any coupons? The perks, the oh boy,

I'm forgetting what perks you said, but for me I said Delta, you're going to get Delta upgrades just for having the Platinum card. Sam's Club membership. Sam's Club membership might come. All right. And yep. So that kind of thing summarizes what we predict. All right. Let's see. Here's hoping or something like that. Don't forget if you've enjoyed this and you'd like to get our email list you want to go to frequentmiler.com slash subscribe to join our email list.

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