Big news that had been rumored for quite a while about the Amex Platinum Card has finally leaked via The Points Guy. In short, pressure from Chase and Citi in the premium travel card space has caused Amex’s flagship premium card, the Platinum Card, to lose market share. Last year, the Platinum Card added a new benefit of earning 5x points on airfare purchases. Now, another major refresh is here. Let’s take a closer look.

List of Changes

We’re citing the original TPG article here: link. The changes will take effect at the end of March.

5x Points on Hotels Booked Through AMEX Travel

This benefit looks nice on paper, but in practice it may not be all that useful. Only prepaid hotels booked through AMEX Travel will earn 5x MR points. While AMEX Travel pricing is not necessarily inflated, major hotel chains now offer plenty of discounts on their own websites, which makes this 5x points perk much less compelling.

$200 Uber Credit Every Year

 This is a fairly interesting new benefit. The Uber Credit will be deposited into your Uber account monthly. From January through November, you get $15 per month, and then $35 in December, for a total of $200 in Uber Credit. Uber Credit can be used for any level of Uber ride, as well as boats, helicopters, and more; it can also be used for Uber Eats. Since it is deposited into your Uber account, any monthly Credit will be wiped out after that month and cannot be rolled over.

Uber VIP Status

This VIP benefit does not really do much. Under normal circumstances, it is already pretty hard to run into a very low-rated driver on Uber.

Priority Pass Select Can Bring Two Guests

Amex actually already made this change quietly. Newly issued Priority Pass cards that come with the Platinum Card can now bring two guests for free, putting its PPS benefit on par with cards like the Citi Prestige and Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Switch to a Metal Card

One common complaint about the Platinum Card has been that it is made of plastic. The new Platinum Card will be metal, so it will finally no longer feel like a fake card when you pull it out! The font size of the year after Member Since has also been increased. Following the Chase Sapphire playbook, the card number has been moved to the back as well.

99 Free Gold Authorized User Cards

In addition to the Platinum authorized user cards that carry an annual fee, you can also get no-annual-fee Gold authorized user cards. They do not come with Uber or airline incidental reimbursement benefits, but their points-earning ability is the same as the primary card’s (and of course the points still go to the primary cardholder).

Annual Fee Increased by $100

 After adding all these benefits, the annual fee was bound to go up as well. With the extra $200 Uber Credit, the annual fee is also increasing by $100 to $550.

Other Platinum Versions

These benefit changes will also affect other versions of the Platinum Card, such as the Mercedes-Benz Platinum and the Charles Schwab Platinum.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, AMEX is clearly trying hard to elevate the prestige of its Platinum Card. The added Uber Credit is also a pretty creative idea. On top of that, Amex will soon be opening new Centurion Lounge locations at multiple airports, both in the U.S. and abroad. All in all, if you can fully use the $200 in Uber Credit, these changes are quite favorable, effectively lowering the net annual fee by nearly $100. On the other hand, if you never use Uber, the extra $100 annual fee will be much harder to swallow. Feel free to share your thoughts.