re: AMEX Platinum cardholders - annual fee going from $695 to $895

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Probably gonna get rid of one of mine.

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The Amex airport lounges alone made it worthwhile when I used to travel a lot. These days I just don’t take advantage of enough of their perks. I’m seriously considering dropping them once I deplete all the points I have remaining.

It absolutely is

Capital One venture X is pretty good

I travel internationally a couple times a year.
Between the miles, the lounges, and the perks, I’ll gladly pay $1k.
The airport lounges alone save $100-$200 per layover.

It’s not hard to get your money back. $400 annual credit on dining, $300 annual credit on digital subscriptions, $200 annual credit on uber.

Those 3 things alone are expenses I already have each year and equal $900.

Everything else is gravy.

Resy and Lulu happen to be credits that our house would easily use regardless, so I think we got lucky here especially since we're not traveling much with toddlers.

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Amex is not meant to carry a balance fwiw

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None of them are meant to carry balances but 99% of customers do because they can't control their spending. Which is what the card companies want.

You can earn AmExs version of miles (technically called Membership Reward Points but whatever same thing) through a number of different ways but they pool into your account

Then when you want to use them, you find one of their redemption partners and you move the points/miles from your account and into the partners program

So like if you wanted to fly Q Suites on Qatar and you have 70k points in your AmEx account and you found a flight that works, you would create an account with Qatar, link it to your AmEx account, initiate a transfer, and over 90% of the time the points woll then show up in your Qatar account instantly that you then use to book your flight

Same concept for Hilton and Marriott hotels and a number of other partners (some better than others)

Yeah, same. I've had the Plat and CSR for many years now and at least until my next AF hits I'm taking advantage of these new perks.

My wife goes to Lulu anyway. We have a good bit of the Resy restaurants near us and we always eat at nice restaurants at least once a Q. I have the Hulu bundle for free because of the credits. The airline credit is easy and Uber is easy for us as we use it for rides when we travel or Eats when we're home. The FHR is easy to get great value out of.

$200 airline
$400 Resy
$300 Lulu
$300 Hulu
$200 Uber

$1,400 I'd spend anyway so it's a no-brainer for me. On top of that, we'll likely use the $600 FHR each year, plus we do have the $200 Clear membership they offer. Wouldn't pay for it otherwise. I get that this card doesn't work for everyone, but it's totally easy for us.