Whether you’re new to travel-rewards credit cards or already have a handful in your wallet, deciding which ones to choose and which to skip can be daunting. This is especially true with high-end cards, such as Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Platinum Card from American Express.
Between high annual fees, even higher welcome bonuses, and an array of travel benefits and transfer partners, there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to these two cards. Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve — read on to discover which is best for you.
Table of contents
| The Platinum Card from American Express | Chase Sapphire Reserve | |
| Annual fee | $695 | $550 |
| Welcome bonuses | 80,000 points after spending $8,000 in first 6 months | 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in first 3 months |
| Earnings | 5x on eligible flights and prepaid hotels; 1x elsewhere | 10x on eligible hotels, rental cars, Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025), Peloton purchases over $250 (through March 31, 2025); 5x on eligible flight purchases; 3x on travel and dining; 1x elsewhere |
| Transfer partners | 21 | 14 |
| Statement credits | Up to $1,984 in a year | Up to $640 in a year |
| Travel benefits | Airport-lounge access, hotel elite status, rental-car elite status, FHR bookings | Airport-lounge access, rental-car benefits, the Edit bookings |
| Travel protections | Trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, lost luggage, delayed luggage, secondary rental-car insurance | Trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, lost luggage, delayed luggage, emergency medical, primary rental-car insurance |
| Shopping protections | Extended warranty, purchase protection, return protection | Extended warranty, purchase protection, return protection |
| Cell-phone insurance | Yes | No |
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Annual fees
Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Platinum Card from American Express have high annual fees.
The Platinum Card from American Express: $695
Chase Sapphire Reserve: $550
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Welcome bonus
Welcome bonuses for credit cards can vary, especially those issued by American Express. This is because Amex tends to rely on targeted welcome offers to entice signups. This is in contrast to Chase and particularly the Chase Sapphire Reserve, whose bonus almost never changes.
The Platinum Card from American Express: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on your card in the first six months from account opening.
Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on your card in the first three months from account opening.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Earning points
Both of these earn credit card rewards on all their purchases, though the amount will depend on your card’s bonus categories.
The Amex Platinum Card earns American Express Membership Rewards:
- Earn 5x points per $1 spent on flights booked directly with the airline or via Amex travel (up to $500,00 per year; 1x per $1 spent thereafter)
- Earn 5x points per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked via Amex travel.
- Earn 1x per $1 spent on other purchases.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve earns Chase Ultimate Rewards:
- Earn 10x per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Travel.
- Earn 10x per $1 spent on Chase Dining.
- Earn 10x per $1 spent on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025.
- Earn 10x per $1 spent on Peloton purchases over $250 through March 31, 2025.
- Earn 5x per $1 spent on flights booked through Chase Travel.
- Earn 3x per $1 spent on travel purchases and dining.
- Earn 1x per $1 spent on other purchases.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Redeeming points
Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum Card offer multiple ways to redeem points, including gift cards, statement credits, travel, and more.
Keep in mind that not all of the ways to redeem your Amex points are the same. Some provide much higher value than others:
- Bookings within the travel portal
- Transferring to partners
- Gift cards
- Donations
- Statement credits
- Shopping
The Chase Sapphire Reserve also provides varying value for your Chase Ultimate Rewards when redeeming them:
- Cash
- Statement credits
- Gift cards
- Bookings within the travel portal
- Transferring to partners
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Transferring points
Generally speaking, you’ll get the best value from your points by making use of both Chase’s and Amex’s transfer partners. These are hotel and airline partners to whom you can transfer the rewards that you earn.
Among transfer partner redemptions, using your rewards for business class flights tends to yield the highest value. While this isn’t always the case, it’s a good rule of thumb. If you’re doing it right, you can easily get more than 2 cents per point in value when redeeming your rewards for flights.
American Express has 21 hotel and airline transfer partners. Most of these transfer at a 1:1 ratio, which means one American Express Membership Rewards point becomes one airline mile or hotel point. However, there are a few exceptions to this:
- Aer Lingus AerClub: 1:1
- Aeromexico Rewards: 1:1.6
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1
- ANA Mileage Club: 1:1
- Avianca Lifemiles: 1:1
- British Airways Executive Club: 1:1
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 1:1
- Delta Air Lines SkyMiles: 1:1
- Emirates Skywards: 1:1
- Etihad Airways Goes: 1:1
- Flying Blue Air France/KLM: 1:1
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles: 1:1
- Iberia Plus: 1:1
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 1:1
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club: 1:1
- Singapore Airlines Krisflyer: 1:1
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 1:1
- Choice Privileges: 1:1
- Hilton Honors: 1:2
- Marriott Bonvoy: 1:1
You can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to just 14 hotel and airline partners, but not to worry — only the best are on the roster.
- Aer Lingus AerClub: 1:1
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 1:1
- British Airways Executive Club: 1:1
- Emirates Skywards: 1:1
- Flying Blue Air France/KLM: 1:1
- Iberia Plus: 1:1
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 1:1
- Singapore Airlines Krisflyer: 1:1
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: 1:1
- United Airlines MileagePlus: 1:1
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 1:1
- Marriott Bonvoy: 1:1
- World of Hyatt: 1:1
- IHG One Rewards: 1:1
If all these transfer partners sound a little confusing, it’s not surprising. Navigating transfer partners and transferring rewards can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning.
That’s why point.me was created. Rather than spending hours researching transfer partners, the best partners to transfer to, how to transfer to partners, and finding flights to use those transferred points to book, point.me does the work for you.
All you need is to enter in where you’d like to go, and point.me does the rest, including giving you step-by-step instructions on how to make your bookings.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Travel-focused benefits
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Platinum Card from American Express are high-end travel cards, meaning they serve up quite a few travel benefits. This includes statement credits, travel insurance, airport lounge access, elite status, and more.
As the Amex Platinum Card card has a higher annual fee, it makes sense that it offers better benefits. These include:
- Hilton Honors Gold status
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold status
- Avis Preferred Plus status
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle status
- National Rental Car Executive Club Emerald status
- 5x Amex Membership Rewards per $1 spent on flights booked directly with the airline or via Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 per year; 1x thereafter)
- 5x per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked via Amex Travel
- Access to the Global Lounge Collection, with airport lounge access to over 1,400 locations worldwide
- Complimentary travel insurance
- Access to the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts and Hotel Collection bookings
- Up to $689 in statement credits each year towards varying travel purchases.
Amex’s Global Lounge Collection includes entry to its own Centurion Lounges, as well as Plaza Premium Lounges, Lufthansa Senator lounges, Delta SkyClubs, and more. Beyond this, it provides a Priority Pass Select membership, which grants access to more than 1,200 locations around the world.
Amex has made it a big harder to qualify for bringing guests into the lounge with you when you travel, though. For both the Centurion Lounge and Delta SkyClubs, you’ll need to spend at least $75,000 per year on your card in order to bring guests in for free.
While the Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn’t provide any hotel elite status, it does provide superior travel protections and earns huge rewards on eligible travel purchases.
- National Rental Car Executive Club Emerald status
- Special discounts with Hertz, Avis, and Audi On Demand
- Airport lounge access, including unlimited visits to Chase Sapphire Lounges
- 10x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on hotel and car rentals through Chase Travel
- 10x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025)
- 5x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on flights booked through Chase Travel purchases annually
- 3x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on all other travel purchases
- Complimentary travel insurance
- Access to the Edit bookings
- $300 annual statement credit toward travel
Chase’s lounge access may be more limited than Amex’s, but it has one selling feature that Amex doesn’t: Its Priority Pass Select membership includes access to airport experiences, such as gaming lounges, nap pods, and spas, in addition to lounges.
Chase also allows cardholders to bring two plus-ones into lounges whenever they travel.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Travel protections
Each of these cards comes with a full suite of travel protections, which can be especially helpful when your plans go awry. All you need to do to be eligible for travel insurance is use your card to pay — the benefit will kick in automatically.
The Platinum Card from American Express
- Rental-car insurance (secondary): up to $75,000
- Trip cancellation and trip interruption: up to $10,000 per trip; $20,000 limit per 12-month period
- Trip-delay reimbursement: up to $500; maximum of 2 trips per 12-month period
- Baggage insurance:
- Checked bags: up to $2,000 per person per trip
- Carry-on bags: up to $3,000 per person per trip
- Specialty high-value items: up to $1,000 per person per trip ($2,000 for New York residents; maximum $10,000 per trip)
- Combined limit: The limit for all baggage, including high-risk items, is $3,000 per person per trip.
- Emergency medical transport and evacuation: complimentary
- Repatriation of remains: complimentary
- Emergency assistance services: 24/7 access to a dedicated helpline
A few things to note here: Amex doesn’t provide coverage for delayed luggage, only lost luggage, so you’ll be on the hook for expenses incurred as a result of late bags.
Second, you’ll only qualify for the lost-luggage benefit if you’re paying for your ticket using either cash or American Express Membership Rewards points. This isn’t the case with the other travel protections, which all apply as long as you pay the award ticket’s taxes and fees with your card.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Rental-car insurance (primary): up to $75,000
- Trip cancellation and trip interruption: up to $10,000 per person per trip, up to $20,000; $40,000 maximum per 12-month period
- Trip-delay reimbursement: up to $500
- Delayed-luggage insurance: $100 per day for up to 5 days
- Baggage insurance: $3,000 per person per trip; $500 limit for expensive items
- Emergency medical transport and evacuation: up to $100,000
- Roadside assistance: up to $50 per call, up to 4 times per year
- Emergency medical: up to $2,500 ($50 deductible)
- Emergency assistance services: 24/7 access to a dedicated helpline
- Travel-accident insurance: up to $1,000,000
Perhaps most exciting of the Chase benefits is that the rental-car insurance is primary, which means it will pay out before any personal auto insurance plans you have.
This insurance is also more generous in that you only need to use your card to pay the taxes and fees for an award ticket to be eligible for everything — you won’t have to pay in cash or use Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Shopping protections
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum Card have nearly identical benefits when it comes to shopping protections.
The Platinum Card from American Express
- Extended warranty: Provides an additional year of warranty, up to $10,000 per item, for items with warranties of five years or less; maximum of $50,000 in claims per year.
- Return protection: Up to $300 per item if a merchant won’t accept your return within 90 days; $1,000 limit per year.
- Purchase protection: Protects purchases for 90 days from theft and accidental damage, up to $10,000 per incident; maximum of $50,000 per year.
- Cell-phone insurance: Up to $800 per claim ($50 deductible), with a maximum of two claims per year; must pay cell-phone bill with Amex card.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Extended warranty: Provides an additional year of warranty, up to $10,000 per item, for items with warranties of three years or less; maximum of $50,000 in claims per year.
- Return protection: Up to $500 per item if a merchant won’t accept your return within 90 days; $1,000 limit per year.
- Purchase protection: Protects purchases for 90 days from theft and accidental damage, up to $10,000 per incident; maximum of $50,000 per year.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Statement credits
Once we start getting into the statement credits, you’ll see a big difference in offerings. Amex has focused on bringing monthly, semi-annual, and annual credits to cardholders in huge numbers. While Chase also offers statement credits, they’re more limited in scope.
The Platinum Card from American Express
Unless otherwise indicated, these are all annual statement credits:
- Airline incidental–fee credit: up to $200
- Prepaid hotel credit: up to $200
- Digital entertainment credits: up to $240 ($20 per month)
- TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application-fee credit: up to $100 statement credit for Global Entry or up to $85 for TSA PreCheck application fees every five years
- Saks Fifth Avenue credit: up to $100 ($50 semi-annually)
- Uber cash credit: up to $200 ($15 monthly and $35 each December)
- Equinox+ credit: up to $300
- Walmart+ Membership Credit: up to $155 ($12.95 monthly)
- Clear Plus membership credit: up to $189
- SoulCycle bike credit: up to $300
The $200 airline incidental–fee credit is valid for a preselected airline and is intended to reimburse expenses associated with checking luggage, airport-lounge day passes, seat selection, and more.
The $200 prepaid hotel credit applies to prepaid hotel bookings with Amex FHR and the Hotel Collection.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Unless otherwise indicated, these are all annual statement credits:
- Annual travel credit: $300
- TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee credit: up to $100 statement credit for Global Entry or up to $85 for TSA PreCheck application fees every five years
- Instacart benefit: one year of Instacart+ and $15 in statement credits each month through July 2024.
- DoorDash benefit: complimentary DashPass and $5 in DoorDash credits each month
Chase’s annual travel credit is so much more flexible than the airline incidental–fee credit you’ll get from Amex. Tons of different purchases apply, including airfare, hotels, toll roads, parking garages, and more.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Amex Platinum: Card offers
Both the Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum provide specialty offers to their customers. Amex offers can take many shapes, including a rebate on money spent, lump-sum bonus points for spending a certain amount with a retailer, and earning additional bonus points on your purchases. Chase offers are more limited — they’re essentially always a rebate on the money you spend with eligible retailers.
How point.me helps you use your points
The Amex Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card are great options for those who’d like a little more from their travel lifestyle. In addition to premium benefits, these cards earn rewards that can be transferred to airline partners for flights.
Instead of spending time figuring out which airlines fly where and how much they’ll charge you for flights, point.me does the heavy lifting. Make sure you’re maximizing your points with point.me’s revolutionary search system, which provides real-time award-seat availability across multiple airlines — no research needed.
Frequently asked questions about the Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve
Is it worth having the Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve?
If you’re the type of person who values having a high-end travel experience, then yes, one or both may be a good fit for you.
Which card has better travel rewards and protections?
Overall, the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns more travel rewards than the Amex Platinum, thanks to its variety of bonus categories. Chase also offers superior travel protections, though Amex wins when it comes to emergency evacuations and repatriation of remains.
Which card has better transfer partners?
Chase and Amex are fairly equal when it comes to quality of transfer partners, although Amex has 21 compared to Chase’s 14.
Which card earns more points per purchase?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve maxes out on rewards with 10x per $1 spent on eligible categories.
Which card has better redemption rates?
You can redeem both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards points for roughly equal value when you maximize them for premium cabin flight redemptions.
Which card has higher annual fees?
The American Express Platinum Card has a higher annual fee at $695 per year.
Which card gives better bonuses?
The Platinum Card from American Express almost always has better bonuses than the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but they may come from referral links.
Rather than sifting through 10 different websites and 30+ different airline programs to figure out award travel, point.me does the work for you. All you need is your dates, your airports, and who’s traveling and where, and our real-time search and booking engine handles the rest.
Try it today.
Share "The Amex Platinum Card vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: How to Choose the Best Card"
