Should you fear the large annual fees of these 3 high roller credit cards? The annual fees are large and not waived for the first year, but they have above and beyond benefits. Value of the cards, the value of the word “value”, and benefits are all here.
AA Executive card
**Update: between writing this and posting it, the best offer (found here) is a 75,000 mile offer (i get my updates from this thread).
It’s a $450 annual fee NOT waived for the first year, and then it gives you $200 back for the first year. So it’s a way of being a $250 fee the first year and $450 every year after.
The fact of the matter is that 100,000 miles, even with a $250 fee, is a good deal for me. I was a little hesitant at first about this offer purely because I don’t like cards that have a large, not waived, annual fee. But then I realized that the number of small flights that I’ve paid for this year have been more than the last two years.
As someone who has more travel than miles, $250 is worth 100,000 miles. During our last trip to Europe we paid 30,000 AA miles over to Europe, and 20,000 back. 100,000 miles is enough for both of to go to Europe and back.
We also hopped on two different mistake fares to Europe. The second is $149 and goes to Europe and Asia. So clearly I’m willing to pay $300 for the two of us to go to Europe. But what I don’t want to happen is to need a ticket and not have miles and end up paying a ton of money.
Worth it?
- As someone who has more travels than miles, $250 is worth 100,000 miles.
- Someone who would pay for business class anyways, I assume $250 is worth 100,000 miles.
- Someone who is good at manufactured spending, $250 may not be worth 100,000 miles.
- Someone who has tons of miles but no travel plans, $250 is not worth 100,000 miles.
Amex Platinum Card
This is one of the most expensive cards, and one that gives the largest amounts of fluffy benefits. $450 for the following:
- $200 toward airline credits (could be a $400 value in a 12 month period).
- Lounge Access (Priority Pass)
- Access to “FINE HOTELS & Resorts” (meh)
I did get this card once as I was drawn in with a 100,000 point sign up bonus. I was then able to catch a 50% bonus transfer to BA. 150,000 British Airways miles (I think they were miles at the time, not Avios) for $450.
But now it’s typically 40,000 points. And my thoughts are this:
- The Amex Plat bonus has gone down.
- The value of Amex points has gone down.
- The ability to earn miles elsewhere has gone up.
- The Amex Plat benefits have decreased in value.
$200 – $400 of airline fee “value”
I would say the make or break is whether or not you can use $200 airline fee credit. This is kind of intended to reimburse things like baggage fees, or food. But it automatically reimburses a charge to an airline that’s $50 or less. This means you can buy AA e-giftcards $50 at a time.
And because it’s based on calendar year, you could do this twice within your 12 months of having the card. Potentially a $400 value and nearly breaking even.
But I haven’t paid for any AA flights this year. So if I had some, they would still be unused. I generally don’t like to justify my buying things, and the reality is, you are still paying $450. Saying you get $400 in value may be true… but one buys everything because of value.
If you’re for sure spending $400 anyways on AA (or whatever), then it washes out to be a normal credit card. And the question becomes, is the app and $50 worth 40,000 miles.
If not, it’s totally not worth it to me. There are cheaper ways to get the same things.
Lounge passes
Priority Pass gives one person lounge access at a particular lounge. Personally, this holds no value for me in the US as the lounges are pretty much crap. And I still don’t pay for lounges outside the US. So it may have “value” as well, but again, it’s one of those things that sounds like a deal but you wouldn’t normally pay for. However, we did figure out a way to get two people lounge access on one Priority Pass.
Worth it?
Not really, unless you will certainly use the $400 credit and the bonus is then worth it to you. Like if you don’t have higher bonuses available.
Ritz Carlton Rewards Card
$395 annual fee
This card is for Ritz Carlton loyals, and that’s about it. If that’s not you, skip ahead. Otherwise, you can find the Ritz Carlton card here. And the sign up bonus is Tier 1-4, but the Ritz Carltons I’m itching to stay at would be above that.
So here’s what you get:
- Free night cert at a tier 1-4
- 3 upgrades to club levels on paid stays
- 10% of your points back
- $100 credit during a stay of 2 nights or more.
- $300 travel credit towards airline fees and “incidental” purchases per calendar year
- Gold elite status for your first year
A lot of cool things, especially if you’re into the Ritz rewards scheme.
Conclusion
Personally I’ve gotten the AA exec and did have the American Express Platinum card, and will likely never get the Ritz Carlton card.
Drew, you forgot about Citi Prestige, another $450/yr fee card – I’d love to see what you think of that as well
I think we have to know what category 5 Ritz you are referring to….
For Citi Exec, you forgot about the AA/USA lounge benefit. That tipped the balance and made the distinction between that card and the other Citi cards because I found the fee hard to swollow too.
For the AMEX Platinum you’ve completely overlooked the benefit to access the Centurion Lounge. As a DFW based traveller, it’s MORE than paying for itself. $450 then I get $400 in AA travel certificates AND access each trip (departing AND arriving) to the DFW Centurion Lounge which offers a substantial meal throughout the day and all drinks (including top-shelf cocktails), oh and a 15-minute massage. That’s worth the $50 out of pocket effectively for the card. Sure, the cocktails and massage are fluff benefits, but the meal is really something you’d be paying for elsewhere anyway. A huge bonus if you live-in or travel-through any of the Centurion Lounge cities. I think it’s a great travel-for-free card that more than pays for itself. You don’t even have to be a high-roller…just drink with your pinkie up and pretend. 🙂
Excellent unbiased analysis, Drew. I particularly liked your analysis about the Platinum card. Not sure why you left out United Club card and Delta Reserve card. There seems to be some values there as well.
He left it out because he never uses those cards, and because this was a filler post pushed out with the barest minimum of thought behind it. We all see the direction his blog is heading – posts about flying F and credit cards.
Looks like Drew answered to your question by coming up with three quality posts. I trust him for giving (we) the readers value and i think once in a while it is ok to have filler posts like these where some readers might still find value. I think the blog is safe as it was.
I appreciate the analysis Of the high-end cards. And even the ones mentioned in the above posts .