6 Reasons Why The German Version of The American Express Platinum Card is Worth 720€ Per Year
The German credit card market doesn’t have much to offer regarding rewards or “luxury travel” cards. There exist cards with decent insurance packages, lounge access, and additional benefits. Still, none of them come even close to the American Express Platinum Card. What makes the card so special and is it worth 720€ per year? Here are six reasons that convinced me to sign up for the Platinum Card.
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1. Statement credits for travel, restaurants, and more
Its annual credits are the main way to offset the steep annual fee of the Platinum Card.
- 200€ for Amex Travel bookings for flights, hotels, and rental cars. The credit needs to be used all-at-once.
- 150€ for 1,200+ restaurants worldwide, mostly in countries where Amex is present. The credit can be used to cover multiple transactions under 150€.
- 90€ for MR PORTER and/or NET-A-PORTER, split into 2x45€ credits, unlocked on January 1st and July 1st.
- 200€ for Sixt Ride, split into 8x20€ credits. Only applicable to pre-booked transfers and chauffeur services.
If maximized, the credits add up to 640€, making the effective annual fee only 80€.
In reality, you may not be able to get the full value out of all credits. The only credit I don’t take full advantage of is the Sixt Ride vouchers. Starting this year, the credits can be used only for pre-booked transfers and chauffeur services, which are far more expensive than just booking an Uber or calling a taxi.
As for all of the other credits, I can easily get the full value out of them. I already went to a restaurant in Berlin participating in the program (you can find a full list here). I also ordered from MR PORTER, where I was able to find a couple of items for slightly more than the 45€ credit. And I got 200€ credit a few days after booking flights through the Amex Travel portal.
2. Free access to airport lounges around the world
The most flashy perk of the Platinum Card is lounge access. American Express claims to offer access to 1,400+ lounges in 140+ countries, including the following networks:
- The Centurion Lounges
- Escape Lounges
- Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta)
- Aspire Lounges (formerly AirSpaces Lounges)
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- Lufthansa Lounges (when flying Lufthansa Group airlines)
- Priority Pass lounges (free membership included, limited to 50 visits per year for new Amex Platinum members)
You can browse participating lounges in the Amex DE app, though I found that it’s missing a lot of locations that are listed on Amex’s US website, including ones at the Berlin airport. Guest policies vary between lounges, but in most cases, you can bring up to 2 people with you free of charge. You will have to pay for guests in the case of both Delta Sky Clubs and Lufthansa Lounges — though there’s an easy workaround if you always travel with the same companion…
The best thing about the German and most European versions of the Platinum Card is a free authorized user card (hence the higher annual fee). In the US, adding authorized users costs $175. The authorized user card also has the same lounge access perks, so you don’t have to worry about guest policies.
Non-US versions of the Platinum Card also let you bring guests to The Centurion Lounges. Since February 2023, US cardholders must spend at least $75,000 annually to get the same perk.
Access to lounges was a big deciding factor when I applied for my Platinum card. Since last year, I travel a lot both for work and private trips. My home airport of Berlin has a cafe participating in Priority Pass, giving me and up to two guests 23€ each to spend on anything. I also have access to the Lufthansa Business Lounge when flying Lufthansa, Swiss, and other Lufthansa Group airlines. The lounge recently went through massive renovations and left me very impressed.
Many Platinum holders swear by The Centurion Lounges. So far, I visited the Los Angeles and Seattle-Tacoma locations, and both had fantastic food and drink offering. I also went to the American Express Pop-Up Lounge in Stockholm’s Arlanda airport — a temporary replacement to American Express Lounge by Pontus in the Air restaurant. They have a pretty short menu of small dishes to choose from and free selected drinks.
Bonus perk: Fast Track at specific international airports
A less-known perk of the Platinum Card is access to Fast Track security check lanes at selected airports in European airports. All you have to do is show your Platinum card and scan your boarding pass. The participating airports include:
- Brussels (BRU)
- Helsinki (HEL)
- Rome Fiumicino (FCO)
- Milan Linate (LIN)
- Milan Malpensa (MXP)
- Naples Capodichino (NAP)
- Turin Caselle (TRN)
- Palermo Punta Raisi (PMO)
- Catania Fontanarossa (CTA)
- Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) — Terminal 2 and 5
- Göteborg Landvetter (GOT)
- Malmö (MMX)
- Vienna (VIE)
I had a chance to use this perk at the Stockholm Arlanda airport, where I was able to go through the Fast Track lane with a companion.
There are more airports in other countries also offering this benefit, like in Spain, Netherlands, and Canada, but they require local versions of the eligible card to generate a QR code through the Amex or Amex Experiences app. On the other hand though, if you act confused and show them the physical card, they might just let you go through — just saying.
Bonus perk: American Express Venue Collection
Besides Centurion lounges at airports, American Express also has dedicated space for their cardmembers at event venues around the world n— American Express Venue Collection. In Germany, that includes Uber Arena and Uber Eats Music Hall in Berlin. The entrance to the lounges is free and comes with one complimentary drink. In addition, you get 10% off on food and drink purchases at both venues. Amex also lets you buy access to a VIP lodge at both Uber locations as well as Barclays Arena in Hamburg.
Similar benefits are offered at Accor Arena in Paris, The American Express Stadium in Brighton (duh), and many more locations in London, Los Angeles, New York City, etc. Check the full list here.
3. Elite statuses at hotels and car rental companies
The Platinum Card gives you elite status in selected hotel and car rental rewards programs without having to book anything.
You get elite status in the following hotel rewards programs:
- GHA Discovery Platinum Status
- Hilton Honors Gold
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status
- MeliáRewards Gold
- Radisson Rewards Premium Status
Typical benefits of elite status at hotel chains include discounted rates, better points earning rates, free room upgrades, welcome gifts, early check-in and late check-out. In the case of Hilton Honors, the Gold status even gets you and your companion a free breakfast.
When I stayed at Radisson BLU in Stockholm, the elite status gave me a 27% discount, a much nicer room with extra amenities, early check-in and late check-out.
As for car rental companies, you get elite status at:
- Avis President’s Club
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star Status
- Sixt Platinum
Elite status at car rental companies gives you discounted rates, upgrades, and adding an additional driver for free in selected countries.
And if you care, you can also get the Golf Fee Card International at a reduced price.
Bonus: matching your status
If you prefer a different hotel chain or car rental company, you can use elite statuses gained with your Amex to status match. You can use the StatusMatcher website to find out if and how a specific hotel chain, car rental company or airline will match your existing status.
Pro tip: at Hertz, you can request a status match with Avis to qualify for the President’s Circle status. This gives you some additional benefits compared to the Five Star status that comes with Amex Platinum.
4. Travel and health insurance packages
American Express cards offer the most comprehensive insurance package on the German market. The Platinum card comes with the following coverage:
- Travel cancellation insurance in case of illness
- Travel health insurance and travel accident insurance
- Travel comfort insurance for flight or luggage delays
- Rental car insurance in the event of damage
- Europe-wide “letter of protection” for your own car
- Personal liability and legal costs insurance when traveling
- 90-day return guarantee (also included with no-annual-fee PAYBACK card)
- 90-day purchase protection against theft and damage
Almost all of the travel insurance packages have worldwide coverage and require to use the card for booking the trip. The Amex Experiences app has a great overview of the available coverage (though in German).
5. Platinum benefits at Condor (new in 2024)
The latest benefit of the Platinum Card is great if you’re planning on flying with Condor — German leisure airline — anytime soon. Here are all of the perks at glance:
- Priority Package — priority check-in, fast lane security (at participating airports), priority boarding and priority baggage in Economy.
- Additional checked luggage — bag up to 20 or 23 kg (depending on the destination) and free sports luggage.
- Discounted Premium Economy & Business Class tickets — 50–200€ discount.
- Discount on seat reservation — 10€ in Economy, 20€ in Premium, 50€ in Prime Business
- Free WiFi with Fly Connect Surf — unlimited internet with Fly Connect Surf on A330neo and A32Xneo fleets.
- Complimentary drink: One free drink in Economy (excluding champagne.
To access the benefits, you need to make the booking through the Platinum Card travel service by calling +49 069 9797 3030 (number from the back of your card). There are no additional booking fees.
6. Other American Express benefits
Credit cards earning reward points are somewhat rare in Europe. It has to do with low interchange fees set by the EU. For private credit cards, they are capped at 0.3%. In the US, interchange fees average at 2% — giving credit issuers more room to reward their members with points.
But there’s a plot twist: American Express cards (and business/corporate cards) are not subject to the EU-set 0.3% cap. This makes Amex one of Europe’s few consumer credit cards offering reward points. The points earning rates are far from those outside the EU: 1€ spent gets you 1 Membership Reward point. For extra 15€ a year, you can get Membership Rewards Turbo, boosting your points earning rate to 3 MR for every 2€ spent.
You can use your points to cover card transactions, pay off the monthly fee, exchange them for gift cards or book travel. In most cases, 1 MR point will get you 0.5¢ of value.
Transferring points to partner airlines or hotels is the way to get the most value out of them. This lets you book business class flights or hotel rooms at a much lower price than paying in cash.
Participating airlines:
- Asia Miles, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- British Airways Executive Club, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Delta SkyMiles, 3:2, min. 3000 MR
- Emirates Skywards, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Etihad Guest, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Finnair Plus, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Flying Blue, 5:4, min. 625 MR
- Iberia Plus, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Qatar Privilege Club, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- SAS EuroBonus, 5:4, min. 1000 MR
- Singapore KrysFlyer, 3:2, min. 1500 MR
Participating hotels:
- Hilton Honors, 1:1, min. 2500 MR
- Marriott Bonvoy, 3:2, min, 900 MR
- Radisson Rewards, 1:2, min. 1000 MR
You can also transfer MR points to the Amex-owned PAYBACK program at a 3:1 rate (min. 1000 MR). This lets you transfer points to Lufthansa’s Miles&More program later through PAYBACK.
Access to Amex Offers
Another great way to get additional value out of an American Express card are Amex Offers. They let you get additional points or statement credits for purchases at certain retailers. Offers tend to be issued based on your spending habits, but some are accessible to all members. German cards may have up to 50 active offers to choose from at a time — US cards up to 300.
In the past, I used Amex Offers to get statement credits for purchases made at Amex Shop Small locations (usually offered in summer), paying with Apple Pay, or ordering coffee from Roastmarket. Since I have my no-annual-fee PAYBACK card, I earned 70€ through Amex Offers. Some of the most attractive offers let you save up to hundreds of Euros on hotel and airline bookings.
You have to activate Amex Offers manually using the online portal or the app. You can activate them semi-manually using this Javascript bookmarklet (just save if to your bookmarks and click when you’re on the German Amex’s online portal).
javascript:btns=[...document.querySelectorAll('.offer-cta')].filter(b => b.textContent === 'Angebot aktivieren');c=()=>{ b = btns.pop(); if (!b) return console.log('added all!'); b.click(); setTimeout(c, Math.random() * 1500 + 300) };c();Should you get the German American Express Platinum card?
Amex in Germany doesn’t face the same kind of competition as in the US. If you’re looking for a credit card to level up your travel experience with unlimited lounge access and elite statuses and offer you piece of mind with comprehensive insurance packages, there’s no better option in Germany than Amex Platinum. The 720€ annual fee may scare you off at first, but if the statement credits fit into your regular spending habits and you travel often enough to take advantage of the other benefits—the card should be a no-brainer to you.
Of course, no credit card is perfect. The biggest con for me are fees for transactions in foreign currencies at over 2% (based on a currency), which I wouldn’t expect from a card that costs 720€ per year. But if you have another card for payments outside of the Eurozone (like the Eurowings Premium card from Barclays) that’s not a big problem. I found Amex’s acceptance in most of Germany to be pretty good, though I really struggled to use it in Hamburg.
I hope this was helpful! Reach out to me on Threads if you have any questions.
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