Amex Gold or Platinum for Direct Airline Bookings

happinessstan

Comapring the two, it looks like the Gold is a better option when booking flights with airlines direct at 2xpoints per £. Given that flights will be my main source of points, do you think the Gold is the better bet? thanks

CliveOfIndia

It really boils down to whether the points will equate to enough value (to you personally) to offset the larger annual fee.  If you book a lot of flights then it's quite possible for it to be worthwhile, probably less so if you only fly once a year to Europe for a holiday, for instance.

With any card that charges an annual fee, the answer to whether it's worth it is always "it depends" - usually on how much you're spending on the card each year.  But also whether the points - or whatever other reward is on offer - are actually worth something to you.  It's no good amassing thousands of points if they can only be exchanged for things you neither want nor need.

happinessstan

Thanks. The way I am reading it is that whereas in the US you get 5x points via Platinum & airline direct, in the UK you only get 1x. Whereas the Gold gives you 2x? Seems strange that the gold gives a better return but just want to make sure.

DullGreyGuy

happinessstan said:

Thanks. The way I am reading it is that whereas in the US you get 5x points via Platinum & airline direct, in the UK you only get 1x. Whereas the Gold gives you 2x? Seems strange that the gold gives a better return but just want to make sure.

Alternatively you can book with AmEx using Platinum and get 2x points too... having had flights cancelled booked via AmEx I would much rather deal with them than BA/ AF/ VS etc. In principle they claim to be up to 20% cheaper but in practice I've always found them to be the exact same price. 

Platinum will give you other benefits over Gold, if you value them, like the unlimited lounge access for you +1 and potentially you and partner +2 (haven't looked at the rules recently but legacy charge card still is). Once a year you have your £150 overseas restaurant credit (off a list), hotel benefits like FHR, Hertz/Avis upper tier membership for perks, similarly status with certain hotel groups, free travel insurance including car hire excess.

 The two cards are fairly different propositions and so it really depends if you prefer staying at Premier Inn and eating at KFC or staying at the Ritz and eating at Sketch (or George V and Le Cinq for a weekend away)

lr1277

Another 2 advantages of the Gold card is that you get 3x MR points if you buy a flight in a foreign currency. Plus you get 2500 points for every £5k you spend upto a max spend of £25k spend. So a potential bonus of 12500 points.

My source fo this is the head for points site.

1) https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/foreign-spend-fees-vs-points-earning-worth-an-article/ 

Mentioned by the poster JDB.

2) The 3 MR points for foreign airline spend, I did see mentioned by a staff writer on the site but cannot find the article in which it is mentioned.

With the foreign currency spend you have to decide if the 3% FX fee is worth the extra points.

WillPS

lr1277 said:

With the foreign currency spend you have to decide if the 3% FX fee is worth the extra points.

It never is. This is one of the most expensive ways to 'purchase' miles when benchmarking against a 0 FX card.