Amex Platinum - Question About Airport Lounge Access

[taylortime05]

I have recently signed up for the Amex Platinum card.  We are flying on Delta from Detroit to Amsterdam to Barcelona.  We have a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam and it's KLM from Amsterdam to Barcelona. I think in Detroit we can access the Delta Lounge with my husband as a guest.  Will we have any access to any lounges in Amsterdam with the Amex Platinum card?  Appreciate your feedback.

[buggins0402]

https://global.americanexpress.com/lounge-access/the-platinum-card?locale=en-US&extlink=va-us-CPS-LFfindalounge

 

DH will cost $29 in the DL lounge.   Lounge in DTW is nice and would be worth it over what you might spend in a restaurant for two.  Since you are asking about AMS, I am assuming you are flying out of McNamara terminal. 

 

In AMS, it looks like it will be a Priority Pass Aspire lounge...guests free.  They are crowded, capacity controlled and not great.

 

If Amex put a Centurion Lounge in DTW McNamara I would bite on the card as a replacement for my Starwood, but have held off for now.  That said,  I have been mulling, because the DL lounge in DTW is pretty good and with the other Platinum benefits and taking the Bonvoy mess into account, it might make sense for me. 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

Do you mean the Delta American Express Platinum CREDIT card, or the American Express Platinum CHARGE card?

 

World of difference, and folks often think they get the benefits of the latter from the former.

 

Let me know which and I'll give you the details for that one regarding lounge access.

[taylortime05]

3 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Do you mean the Delta American Express Platinum CREDIT card, or the American Express Platinum CHARGE card?

 

World of difference, and folks often think they get the benefits of the latter from the former.

 

Let me know which and I'll give you the details for that one regarding lounge access.

 

Both me and my husband have the Delta Amex Platinum that we pay 195 pp per year and basically get a companion ticket and 1st checked bag free.  I think we will cancel these 2 cards since I just got the American Express Platinum Charge card.

 

I will be getting the American Express Platinum Charge in 2-3 days.  I didn't sign up for the 3 additional card members but I think I should go ahead and pay the extra for my husband so he is able to get the 100 off the Global Entry fee and also entry to Delta Sky Lounge.  We usually fly with Delta and I didn't realize I'd have to pay a guest fee for him at Delta Sky Lounge.    We are going on our 1st Europe Cruise end of Sept and will be flying from DTW to Barcelona with a layover in Amsterdam.  

 

Thanks for your feedback.

 

 

[taylortime05]

28 minutes ago, buggins0402 said:

https://global.americanexpress.com/lounge-access/the-platinum-card?locale=en-US&extlink=va-us-CPS-LFfindalounge

 

DH will cost $29 in the DL lounge.   Lounge in DTW is nice and would be worth it over what you might spend in a restaurant for two.  Since you are asking about AMS, I am assuming you are flying out of McNamara terminal. 

 

In AMS, it looks like it will be a Priority Pass Aspire lounge...guests free.  They are crowded, capacity controlled and not great.

 

If Amex put a Centurion Lounge in DTW McNamara I would bite on the card as a replacement for my Starwood, but have held off for now.  That said,  I have been mulling, because the DL lounge in DTW is pretty good and with the other Platinum benefits and taking the Bonvoy mess into account, it might make sense for me. 

 

 

 

Thank you for the link.  I didn't realize we'd have to pay the 29 at the DL Lounge for my husband.  I'm thinking of getting the additional cards at the extra cost. Then my husband could get the Global Entry fee paid and get access to the DL lounge.

 

I have to determine if this card is worth it.  It seems to have a lot of perks and I've seen articles and posts in cruise critic where people say they more than make up for the fee with all of the perks.  

Edited May 14, 2019 by taylortime05

[fbgd]

The $175 is a bargain for the three additional supplementary cards. I think I even ended up getting something like 10,000 MRs for doing it as part of a promotion!

 

Each supplementary can get their own Priority Pass, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, Amex FHR use, Amex IAP, etc. basically everything except the Uber credits and the airline credit. 

 

Some people refuse to get charge/credit cards with annual fees but I look at what you get out of it in terms of value. Sure, paying $550/yr for a charge card with no benefits is idiotic but for anyone who travels much of anything at all the Platinum Card is one of the real go tos, IMO. Some years I've had true savings of more than $5000 (primarily the Amex FHR benefits and IAP), and last year it was almost $7000, that's before I count the value of MR points earned etc.

[FlyerTalker]

Since you have the non-DL card, others have given a nice summary.  One thing to remember is to sign up for the included Priority Pass membership.  The Amex version of PP allows for guests at PP lounges - plus the plat card gets you Centurion lounges, Aspire, Escape and some other cards.  Use both the Amex lounge finder and the PP app to find what lounges you can use and the specific details for each.  (The Plat Card by itself doesn't get you the PP access - you need to request and use the PP card, either physical or digital)

 

As for cancelling the DL card - why not figure out the benefits from holding the card vs the costs.  How much would you save in baggage fees.  What's the companion ticket worth?  Nothing wrong with holding both.

 

One thing to consider - even though you have the DL card, you don't need to put your spend there.  Look at where you get the most bang for the buck, and I'll tell you now, it's not from earning SkyPesos.  (There are cards that I have where I put little spend, but hold for the benefits.  And others where I put the spend because it gets the best return.  Crunch the numbers.)

[waterbug123]

9 hours ago, fbgd said:

The $175 is a bargain for the three additional supplementary cards. I think I even ended up getting something like 10,000 MRs for doing it as part of a promotion!

 

Each supplementary can get their own Priority Pass, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, Amex FHR use, Amex IAP, etc. basically everything except the Uber credits and the airline credit.

 

My BF and I have a single platinum amex account with a supplemetary card.  Both get the airline credit and I think the uber credit but I'd have to look back at statements to be sure.

[fbgd]

1 hour ago, waterbug123 said:

 

My BF and I have a single platinum amex account with a supplemetary card.  Both get the airline credit and I think the uber credit but I'd have to look back at statements to be sure.

 

Am afraid you are mistaken:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/why-add-authorized-users-amex-platinum/

 

With the airline credit is $200 on your airline of choice across the whole Platinum account, so each person could use $100, say. The same is true for the Saks shopping credit, although the Uber credits only apply to the primary account holder.

[GeezerCouple]

33 minutes ago, fbgd said:

 

Am afraid you are mistaken:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/why-add-authorized-users-amex-platinum/

 

With the airline credit is $200 on your airline of choice across the whole Platinum account, so each person could use $100, say. The same is true for the Saks shopping credit, although the Uber credits only apply to the primary account holder.

 

I just checked about the Saks credit.  Seems that the $100 is actually $50 per half year, so that's less valuable unless one is stopping by anyway.

 

It's like the Uber credit, which is divided into 12 little monthly credits.

At least DH has now started using Uber more often, so we get that credit many of the months.  At first, we didn't.  It would have been so much better if we could have applied it all to, say, trips to/from airports.

But he's now doing a "trial" without his work parking permit, to see how it works.  (There is construction, so he "offered" to *temporarily* give his up til work is completed, if Parking Office would waive the fee, something that ordinarily can't be done.)  So now the Uber credit is finally being used up every month, making the Amex Plat even more valuable.

Note: He now has the luxury of being able to do most of his work from home in "fuzzy slipper mode", going in mainly to sign papers occasionally (and check up on staff, I suppose!).

 

Also, I had not realized that the Uber wouldn't apply to supplemental card holders (that would be moi).  But I won't use Uber/etc., and also rarely would need it.

 

We DO use the Hotel perks a lot, but nothing like you've described above   The perks are definitely worth considerably more than the annual fee, not counting things like Global Entry/etc., which aren't useful each year.

 

GC

[waterbug123]

21 hours ago, fbgd said:

 

Am afraid you are mistaken:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/why-add-authorized-users-amex-platinum/

 

With the airline credit is $200 on your airline of choice across the whole Platinum account, so each person could use $100, say. The same is true for the Saks shopping credit, although the Uber credits only apply to the primary account holder.

 

Thanks.  I wasn't sure about the Uber credit, and knew we had both seen the airline credit but didn't realize the total credit was divided between both cards.

[taylortime05]

I should be receiving my card by Thursday.  I was hoping to get the airline credit by purchasing 4 delta 50 e-gift cards.  But I have read that this is not working any longer.  Little disappointed because I don’t really think I’ll use this 200.  I could use it to get my husband in the Delta lounge as a guest since we always fly out of DTW but also considered getting the 3 extra cards for 175 so my hubby and kids could get benefits especially the credit for Global Entry program. 

 

Has anyone tried the Delta gift cards this year and been successful in get the credit?

 

[fbgd]

1 hour ago, taylortime05 said:

Has anyone tried the Delta gift cards this year and been successful in get the credit?

 

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1739932-airline-fee-250-200-100-reimbursement-reports-dl-only-39.html

 

No reason why you can't use the airline credit. If you fly in the cheap seats then you can use them for loads of things such as onboard purchases, upgrades etc. If you only fly FC/D1 then just pick another airline for the credit where you can use it for gift cards. I am a regular AA flyer so just go down the gift card route there.

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by fbgd

[slidergirl]

8 hours ago, fbgd said:

 

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1739932-airline-fee-250-200-100-reimbursement-reports-dl-only-39.html

 

No reason why you can't use the airline credit. If you fly in the cheap seats then you can use them for loads of things such as onboard purchases, upgrades etc. If you only fly FC/D1 then just pick another airline for the credit where you can use it for gift cards. I am a regular AA flyer so just go down the gift card route there.

 

Careful.  Pointsguy reported a few months ago (Feb 2019) that those $50 AA purchases are now tagged as "gift certificates" and not "misc" so they aren't going through for the $200 credit.  Apparently, if you do this with Delta on a computer, NOT a phone or tablet, it still works...  

[fbgd]

Thanks for the information! I guess I got lucky as I had $550 of Amex credits that I used for AA gift cards in early February and they went through OK. 

 

The American Express forum on Flyertalk has a running thread on each airline and where/how the credits can be used and reimbursement reports:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards-410/

[slidergirl]

6 hours ago, fbgd said:

Thanks for the information! I guess I got lucky as I had $550 of Amex credits that I used for AA gift cards in early February and they went through OK. 

 

The American Express forum on Flyertalk has a running thread on each airline and where/how the credits can be used and reimbursement reports:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards-410/

this talk about the AMEX credits made me look for my credit for the upgrades I bought for my trip coming up in a week.  The upgrade was bought back in January.  It was never there.  I called the Plat line - the very nice agent looked and said Delta had the purchase tagged as something other than upgrade.  He quickly gave me my $200.  Now have money for 3 dinners on my trip!!

(yes, I'm bad at checking statements...)

[taylortime05]

Hi,  I got my Amex Platinum card.  I had 2 future reservations with Celebrity and wanted to see if I could use my new card to pay the deposit and credit the original credit card so I could take advantage of 200 OBC for having a balcony.  Surprisingly my TA said I could do this.  Then she called me back and said the OBC from AMEX card is not combinable with the OBC from booking a cruise onboard.  So for my 2nd cruise where I only had 150 OBC from booking onboard I could forfeit the 150 and get the 200.  Is this correct that they are not combinable?

 

Also, I bought 50 Delta gift card.  I'll let you know if I get a credit.

 

Thanks

[FlyerTalker]

Many cruiselines give you the AMEX credit or their own deal.  I believe that few will let you stack them anymore, but YMMV.

[em-sk]

On 5/17/2019 at 5:05 PM, taylortime05 said:

Hi,  I got my Amex Platinum card.  I had 2 future reservations with Celebrity and wanted to see if I could use my new card to pay the deposit and credit the original credit card so I could take advantage of 200 OBC for having a balcony.  Surprisingly my TA said I could do this.  Then she called me back and said the OBC from AMEX card is not combinable with the OBC from booking a cruise onboard.  So for my 2nd cruise where I only had 150 OBC from booking onboard I could forfeit the 150 and get the 200.  Is this correct that they are not combinable?

 

Also, I bought 50 Delta gift card.  I'll let you know if I get a credit.

 

Thanks

 

Just a note that the AMEX Platinum Cards has different benefits based on country of issue.  

 

The Canadian version does not have Uber, but has complimentary access into all Priority Pass lounges.