One Year with the Amex Platinum: My Honest Assessment as a Belgian Traveller

Honestly: I was sceptical about credit card points for a long time. It always sounded like something American, something for people who fly twenty times a year and build their entire financial life around a piece of plastic. And €780 per year for a credit card? That didn't feel like a sensible Flemish decision.

But I'm also someone who likes to crunch numbers. And after months of hesitation, I took the plunge: applied for the Amex Platinum, used it consistently for twelve months, and tracked everything. Every lounge visit, every booking, every point. This is my honest Amex Platinum review after one year, from a Belgian perspective.

I'll reveal the conclusion right away: the card has proven profitable for me. But not automatically, and not without caveats. Let me explain.

What does the Amex Platinum cost in Belgium, and what do you get in return?

The annual fee is €780, or €65 per month. That's not nothing. To put that in perspective: for the same amount you could fly return to London twice on a budget airline, including cabin baggage. So the question is justified: where's the value?

I tracked the benefits during the first year in a simple spreadsheet. Not because I'm such a spreadsheet fanatic (well, maybe a little), but because I genuinely wanted to know whether that €780 paid for itself. Here's what I concretely used:

Minus the annual fee of €780, and roughly €1,364 remains. Admittedly: that welcome bonus is a one-time thing, and the value of points depends on how you spend them. But even without the welcome bonus, I arrive at well over €760 in used benefits. That's break-even, so to speak.

The important word here is "used". The card offers a lot, but you actually have to activate those benefits. That sounds logical, but in practice you forget more easily than you'd think. Those Dining for 2 sessions need to be reserved by you. Fine Hotels + Resorts needs to be booked through the Amex portal. The Fast Lane at Brussels Airport needs to be registered. Nothing comes to you automatically.

The lounge access: the benefit you feel the most

If you ask me which benefit had the most impact on my travel experience, it's the lounge access. Not because lounges are so spectacular (some are more like "a chair, a coffee and wifi"), but because they solve a problem every traveller departing from Zaventem knows: waiting.

The Amex Platinum gives access to more than 1,550 lounges worldwide via Priority Pass Prestige. Including a guest, free, unlimited. The standard value of such a Priority Pass Prestige membership is around €500 per year if you were to buy it separately. That already covers a good portion of the annual fee.

In practice, I visited a lounge about twelve times over the past year: six times at Brussels Airport itself, and further at airports in Bangkok, Sydney, London Heathrow and Miami. The quality varies enormously. The lounges in Bangkok were quite impressive, with hot food and showers. At some smaller European airports it was more of an overcrowded room with instant soup.

But even those mediocre lounges are better than paying €14 for a sandwich and a bottle of water at the gate. That's the comparison that matters to me.

An additional benefit specifically for Belgian travellers: the card offers free Fast Lane access at Brussels Airport, worth €169 per year. That's the express security line that cuts through when it's busy. During school holidays, when those queues stretch all the way to the Starbucks, that's quite pleasant. I've used it multiple times and it easily saves twenty to thirty minutes on busy mornings.

Membership Rewards points: the maths behind the welcome bonus

The welcome bonus of 150,000 Membership Rewards points was honestly a key reason for applying for the card. That bonus is only available via a referral (friend link), by the way, not through a direct application on americanexpress.com/be. The difference is not negligible.

But what are 150,000 points worth? That depends on how you use them. The rule of thumb I use on TravelLux.be: when transferring to airline partners, you can count on 0.004 to 0.008 euros per point, depending on the destination and booking class. With a simple statement credit it's less, around 0.003 euros per point.

Concretely: transferring 150,000 points to Brussels Airlines (Miles & More) or British Airways (Avios) can be enough for a return flight in business class to destinations in the Middle East, or two economy returns to the US. The value then fluctuates between €600 and €1,200, depending on timing and availability.

You earn 1 point per euro spent as standard. There's also a Booster option for an extra €10 per month, which gives you 4 points per euro. I didn't take the Booster, because my monthly spending on the Amex isn't high enough to justify that difference. With less than €1,000 per month in Amex spending, the Booster isn't worth it in my opinion.

What I do find convenient: the points never expire as long as you hold the card. So you can save at your own pace for a bigger trip, without pressure. The transfer partners are also broad: besides Brussels Airlines, you can transfer points to Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and about fifteen other airlines. For a Belgian traveller departing from Brussels, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways are the most practical.

Acceptance in Belgium: the pain point you need to know about

Now for the honest part. Because when I write this Amex Platinum review, I can't ignore the elephant in the room: the acceptance of American Express in Belgium is not great.

Large chains, yes. Hotels, yes. Online shops, mostly yes. But your local bakery, the neighbourhood bike repair shop, half the restaurants in Ghent or Antwerp? No. Amex is still a niche product in Belgium in terms of acceptance, and that means in practice you need a Visa or Mastercard as a backup.

That was the biggest adjustment for me. I now use my Amex Platinum as my primary card for everything where it works: supermarket chains, petrol stations, online purchases, travel bookings, hotels. And for the rest I have a regular Visa Debit. It's not ideal, because you have to be conscious about it. But after a few weeks it becomes fairly automatic.

Abroad, the story is different. In the US, Thailand and Australia I've rarely had problems with acceptance. In the United Kingdom neither. Actually, it's mainly in Belgium and some other European countries that you sometimes get turned down. No foreign transaction fees on international payments is then again a strong point: in Thailand or the US you pay exactly the exchange rate, without that 1.5 to 2% surcharge that many other cards charge.

Fine Hotels + Resorts and the hidden benefits

The Fine Hotels + Resorts programme (FHR) is a benefit I initially underestimated. It works like this: you book a hotel through the Amex portal, pay the regular room rate, but automatically receive free breakfast for two, a room upgrade (if available), early check-in, late check-out and a welcome gift worth around €100 on top.

I used it once, for a two-night stay at a hotel in Sydney. The welcome gift was a credit of $110 for the hotel restaurant. The room upgrade was from a standard room to a room with harbour view. Breakfast for two was included. Together worth around €520 in extra value, on a room rate that was comparable to what you'd pay on Booking.com.

The network includes more than 14,000 luxury hotels worldwide. Now I should add some nuance: these are hotels in the higher segment. You're talking about room rates of €250 and more per night. If you normally book €100-hotels, you won't use FHR. But if you occasionally plan a special stay, for a wedding anniversary or a special trip, then this benefit is truly worthwhile.

Besides FHR there are other benefits I don't always use, but which are there. I've called the 24/7 concierge service twice: once to make a hard-to-find restaurant reservation, once for help with a flight change. Both times handled correctly, though it wasn't spectacularly fast. The Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status and Avis Preferred status are nice if you rent cars, but in practice I use those maybe twice a year.

The travel insurance via Chubb and Europe Assistance is a benefit you hope never to need. Trip cancellation, flight insurance, baggage insurance, medical costs abroad: everything automatically active when you pay for the trip with the Amex Platinum. Fortunately I haven't had to make a claim, but it saves me the €50 to €90 I would otherwise pay per trip on separate insurance. More details on how Membership Rewards points work can be found in our guide on Membership Rewards points.

Brussels Airport: where the card delivers the most value for Belgian travellers

If you depart from Zaventem, then the combination of benefits at Brussels Airport is perhaps the strongest argument for the Amex Platinum in Belgium. Fast Lane security, lounge access, the Dining Experience at Black Pearls (pick up a meal twice a month), and the Lounge On the Go premium takeaway (also twice a month). Together that's a package that represents quite a lot of value specifically for Belgian travellers.

I tried the Dining Experience at Black Pearls a few times. The concept is that you pick up a meal at the Black Pearls restaurant at the airport before departure. Good food, smoothly arranged. Not something you'd drive to the airport specially for, but if you're departing anyway it's a nice extra.

The Lounge On the Go is similar: a premium takeaway you take to the gate. Handy on early morning flights when you don't have time to sit in the lounge, but do want to eat something decent instead of an overpriced croissant.

Honestly, Brussels Airport is the place where I get the most return from the card. If you only depart from there once or twice a year, it becomes harder to earn back the €780. But with four or more flights per year from Zaventem, it adds up quickly. For Belgian travellers who regularly depart from Brussels, the combination of benefits is quite solid. An overview of all benefits at Brussels Airport can be found in our article on Amex Platinum benefits at Brussels Airport.

The disappointments: what didn't (entirely) work

An honest Amex Platinum review also includes the things that don't go as well. And there are some.

I've already mentioned the acceptance in Belgium. That remains the main pain point. You need to be conscious about it and always have a backup with you.

The Amex Offers (discounts at 100+ brands) sound attractive, but in practice I saved maybe €45 with them in twelve months. Most offers are for brands I don't use anyway, or require minimum spending that doesn't fit my normal spending pattern. Not worthless, but not a selling point either.

The concierge service is adequate, but don't expect miracles. It's not as if you have a personal assistant. For complex requests it works well, for simple things you're faster doing it yourself via Google.

And then the monthly cost: €65 per month hurts more than €780 per year. Psychologically, I mean. Every month you see that charge on your account, and then you think: did I get enough out of it this month? In months when I don't travel, it feels like an expensive dormant card. That's something you need to be honest with yourself about before you apply.

Who is the Amex Platinum suitable for (and who isn't it for)?

After twelve months I can fairly accurately assess who this card works for and who it doesn't.

The Amex Platinum is worth it if you fly at least three to four times a year, preferably from Brussels Airport. If you book hotels in the higher segment and are willing to do so through the Amex portal. If you regularly pay abroad and want to avoid those foreign transaction fees. And if you're willing to actively use the benefits: visit lounges, book FHR, reserve Dining for 2.

The card is less worthwhile if you only fly once or twice a year. If you mainly pay in Belgium at small merchants. If you rarely book hotels above €200 per night. Or if you're the type who applies for a card and then forgets what benefits come with it.

Belgian travellers who regularly travel to the US, Asia or the United Kingdom get the most out of it. Not only through the points and lounges, but also through the travel insurance and the absence of foreign transaction fees. My trips to Florida, Thailand and Sydney were noticeably more comfortable thanks to the combination of lounge access, insurance and FHR.

Frequently asked questions about the Amex Platinum in Belgium

Transparency: TravelLux.be receives a referral bonus when you apply for the Amex Platinum via the referral link on this page. This does not affect the annual fee you pay (€780/year, identical to a direct application). All experiences and figures in this article are personal and independent. More information at americanexpress.com/be. Article updated on 19 April 2026.