Yet More Bonuses with Amex Plat: Find Cash When You Look For It

By Robert McGarvey

In the past week, I got exactly $270 in credits on my Amex Plat card and all I did was use the programs Amex has in place and in plain sight.

I have said it before: part of me is irritated that now I have to look around for and, in some cases, specifically enroll in programs to gain the Amex benefits.  Life was simpler when – pre pandemic – I flew enough to think the card paid for itself with airport club access.  The fact that I accumulated points that I could cash in for vacation flights to Europe, which I have done twice that I recall in recent years, sweetened the deal.

Who needed the rest of the deals and discounts that caused my eyes to fog whenever I contemplated them?

Things are different today. I have not flown in 18 months, have not been in a club in a like timeframe, and that put me into a big rethink regarding Plat. I even contemplated downgrading to Gold.  Literally hundreds of dollars in credits that I claimedso far this year – HomeDepot, BestBuy, Goldbelly, miscellaneous streaming video credits – persuaded me to stay put.

But now things are different again, I am traveling, I will within days make use of club access, and in the process I stumbled into very easy Amex credits.

You may already know about them but, as I said, I have no real history of hunting for bonuses. Besides, Amex keeps mixing up the credits – such as the new cellphone protection credit.

Then I noticed an Amex $200 credit to my account for a hotel stay booked via Amex’s Fine Hotels and Resorts tab.  I have a one night stay coming up in Madrid, for convenience sake I wanted to stay very near the airport, and I came upon a Hilton that happens to be in that program.  I booked it and, a few days later, a credit for the full amount popped up in my account.

Oh, and I already had free Hilton elite status with the card.  

I also wanted to book a flight from Santiago de Compostela in Galicia to Madrid and options were few on the day I wanted to travel.  Amex Travel had a flight that worked and it also qualified for a $50 credit.

Then there’s also a twice yearly $50 credit at Saks, just for buying stuff online.

And the Madrid hotel and Santiago flight also qualify for 5X points.

Amex also now credits me for the cost of my NY Times digital subscription and I also now get free cellphone protection on two phones, just by paying the T-Mo charge with an Amex card (which I had already been doing).

There’s also a $15/month Uber credit monthly, plus a bonus $20 in December.  For the past year I have put that credit to use with Uber Eats.

And a $200 annual airline credit at a carrier I designate.  Alas, this year it is American which I have not flown all year and may not fly this year.  But once yearly it is allowed to switch carriers which probably I will.

A rub is that many of the Amex programs require enrollment – the Saks credit for instance as well as the $20/month digital credit and there’s that annual selection of one airline for the $200 credit.

Aren’t there programs I would never use? Lots in fact, such as a $25/month credit at Equinox.

But the $695 annual fee for Plat really is rather easy to cover.

The Points Guy, in a recent piece, claims there is an easy $1400 to be had in rewards.  I would quibble and immediately erase $300 for the Equinox credit and probably I won’t bother with the $179 Clear credit either.

But will I get $700?  Yeah, I will and I am finding that it’s less work than it had been, mainly because I understand the game better.  But I just may get the card effectively for free – plus various club stays.  There’s nothing not to like about that.