Best Credit Card For Free + Luxurious Travel

Every time I am crammed into an economy seat on a 10 hr flight to Europe I always regret not doing more to figure out a way to be in a big comfy seat in the front of the plane. I follow a lot of travel hack accounts that show themselves in fancy airplane suites, but the points system always seemed confusing and I wasn't really sure how it worked. 

Fast forward to summer 2020 when we had all the time in the world and we were trying to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 *fingers crossed* My business bank account is only a debit card, and I really wanted to find a way to take advantage of all the money I was spending for my business. I started doing more googling and found a lot of websites and blogs about taking advantage of credit card points for travel, and the most straight forward credit card with a lot of travel perks I kept coming across was the American Express platinum card. 

The first thing I saw was the big $550 annual fee. 0__0 Honestly, I've never had a credit card before with an annual fee. It definitely sounds like a lot of money, and it is if you don't take advantage of all the perks and offers they have. Keep scrolling to see all the perks and why it makes $$$ sense to get it!

Uber Credits+Uber Eats Pass - $319

Once you add your amex card to your Uber account, you will automatically receive a $15 credit on the first of every month which you can use either on rides or eats. In the month of December you actually get $35 because of an end of the year $20 bonus. On top of all that you get the Uber Eats pass for free, which is regularly $9.99/month. With the UE pass you get free delivery and an extra discount on your food.

Phone Bill Credits - $240

When you use your amex card to pay your phone bill through a carrier, you get a $20 statement credit to your account. What I've done is just make a $20 payment with the amex card, and then the $20 credit pops up automatically. 

Saks Credits - $100

Twice a year (once Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec) you will receive a $50 statement credit to your account when you make a purchase at Saks Fifth Ave. There is no minimum purchase requirement so you can literally get free items (like makeup or skincare!) I used my credit to purchase my favorite perfume, Coco Mademoiselle. This stuff is so popular and is never on sale, but I got it half off thanks to this credit.

Streaming Credits - $240

Similar to the phone bill credits, if you use your amex card to pay for your streaming membership (Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Disney+, etc) you get up to $20 a month back in statement credits. Doesn't everyone have at least 3?

Free Tsa Precheck- $100

You get up to $100 credit for either TSA Pre Check ($80) or Global Entry ($100) when you use your amex, which is good for 5 years. Global Entry is for international travel, but also includes TSA Pre Check so I will be registering for that one. 

Airline Credit - $200

Every year you get $200 credit towards money spent with airlines, which can include upgrades, luggage fees, and even service on the plane (cheers!) The one catch is you can only select one airline to receive this credit with. 

At this point you already have over $1000 in credits and free stuff!

Points Bonus for Signing Up

When I signed up, the promotion was that if you spend $5000 in the first 3 months, you receive 75,000 bonus points. With all the work we have being done on our house now, we already had a plan for this and that wasn't too much for us as we were planning to spend it anyway. 

Intl Lounge Access

This is a perk I am very excited about! Bjorn has travelled first class for business so he has spent some time in airport lounges, but unfortunately I have not. With the Amex card you get into over a thousand airport lounges all over the world for free, along with two free guests. Free drinks, free food, and some have showers and rooms for sleeping! Generally one ticket into an airport lounge is anywhere from $60-$100 depending on the types of amenities. 

Hotel Membership Status

You are automatically placed into Marriott and Hilton gold status, which comes with a lot of perks, which includes free upgrades, free breakfast, free parking, and a lot of other great perks!

Other Helpful Services:
Platinum Card Concierge & Travel Insurance

All About Them Points

So essentially for most purchases you get 1 point for every $1 spent, but on purchases for plane tickets (booked directly through an airline or amextravel) or hotels (booked through amextravel) you get 5 points for every $1 spent. 

When redeeming points for travel, you generally get 1 cent for every point you have. So for the 75000 points I got for spending $5000 in the first 3 months, I get around $750 I can redeem towards travel with amextravel. Another nice perk is that if you book an economy ticket, you. can use your points through amex to upgrade your ticket if it is available. 

I think what drew me to this particular credit card was the points to $$ for air travel and the lounge access, especially since hubby and I are hoping to spend a lot more time between Germany and the US in the coming years. If you see some value in this card for yourself you can use my link to also take advantage of the 75,000 bonus points HERE! (I also get a 15,000 point referral bonus :))

** Disclaimer ** Credit cards can be scary and bad bad bad if you spend too much and don't have the money to pay them off. Make sure to use credit cards responsibly.