Points Redemption - AMEX Platinum vs AMEX Delta

Amex points are a lot more valuable than delta points because you are not locked into only using Delta which has devalued their system to a hilarious degree

With Amex points, you can use your points across other partners and get better value for the same flights than you can through Delta

That doesn't make it "better" as the companion passes and status you get with the Delta card could be very valuable to the right person. But from a pure point value standpoint, you are in a much better place having Amex points than Delta points

One thing to remember about Amex though is their life time and card family language in their welcome offers

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much better place having Amex points than Delta points

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In full agreement here. Especially if OP lives in a hub (ATL, CVG, etc.) redemptions on the primary hub airline/alliance will be usurious compared to having the option to fly on *A from the same airport.

The Platinum card is great for a business owner that can dump a bunch of spend on it yearly. It also has a ton of perks and if the perks are used the high annual fee can be offset.

One thing a lot of people overlook is that Amex Plat and the Chase Sapphiire and higher hotel program offers much better redemptions than hotel branded cards and a myriad more choices on hotels. It's not the best use of points compared to business class across the ocean but they give versatility in choosing hotels that is unmatched.

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Absolutely. It's a very powerful card for the business owner/traveler who regularly fly and can stay at Marriotts or Hiltons on the regular basis

You make up for the lack in earning multipliers easily from the status and perks

But for everyone else, it's really just a SUB churner of a card. If you are a person the card is built for. It's probably the best card out there and is incredibly powerful. If you aren't, I'd question the cost

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Which care are you referring to?

And I should have been more specific in the OP. I am a frequent business traveler and fly Delta, stay Marriott 90% of the time. Flying out of MSY to domestic locations 18-20+ times a year and internationally 4 or 5. But I only use the AMEX for travel. I don't charge groceries, gas, etc on it when I am home. Does that make a difference?

My wife and I switched from Gold to Platinum a few years ago. We both fly a decent bit for work, so the lounge access is nice to have, especially with more Amex lounges starting to pop up. We usually spend enough that we'll have unlimited Delta lounge access, but even if we don't, we can split it between limited Delta access and Amex access. We live in Atlanta and fly Delta pretty much exclusively, so the Amex partnership makes sense. Thought about the Delta Amex, but we like having the flexibility to use points for other things if we want.

We take advantage of enough benefits that it offsets the fees every year. I'm not sweating it if even we miss by $50 or $100, but with the Uber credit, airline credit, hotel credit, digital entertainment credit, clear credit, you're easily at $700+.

The hotel credits are great. We took a spring break trip to Utah last year(Zion and Bryce NP's) and flew in/out of Las Vegas. We got $100 food credit at the Venetian on the front end and $100 spa credit at the Wynn on the backend. Early check ins and late check outs. Upgrades at both locations. Not saying you can't talk your way into that in a place like Vegas without the card, but it makes those things much easier.

There are other things like Gold/Presidents club at Hertz, Gold status at Hilton/Mariott that are nice to have when traveling for work or personal. We don't travel enough for work to have great status with hotels or airlines, so these things come in handy.

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Why would you not keep the Gold and also get a Plat?

Likely missed out on a welcome bonus and the Plat is a horrible daily driver. If you're spending enough to hit the waiver there's likely a lit you can also put on a gold.

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We thought about it, but the Gold perks are not great, imo. They have some things like restaurant credits, but they're very limited where you can use them. The annual fee also went up to $325 last year. They compensated by an $84 annual Dunkin' credit, but I could not tell you the last time I've been to a Dunkin. We also already had a gold so would not have gotten any welcome bonus. We did get a big one for platinum. 100k points plus additional points for the first 6 months spend. I think we ended up with about 150k points. Bought two of our four tickets to Italy with that.

The biggest points for gold come from groceries and restaurants. Our main grocery store is a huge "farmers market" about a mile away from us that doesn't take credit cards(only debit). We buy probably 85% of our food there. We also subscribe to a CSA with weekly deliveries from end of April through about Thanksgiving every year. We don't eat out all that much and often cook at home. We also have younger kids so going out to eat can be tedious and now just about twice the cost with them. So, the two biggest reasons to have the card from a points perspective minimally come into play for us. We could definitely get more points from the gold, but I just don't know that they'd outweigh the additional fees of both of us having a gold card.

I also really don't like having more than 2 CC's. We have the Amex and a Visa in case we can't use the Amex. We use that for things like paying for kids afterschool, the kids rec baseball fees, etc. Visa is used more internationally if we're traveling too.

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This is a valid concern, but also very limiting if you want to take full advantage of credit card points. Unless someone is using CCs for large business expenses or traveling a ton, the best way to earn points is to get new cards when large bonuses hit, as you did, manage your older cards, and strategically cancel cards when needed.

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I get that, but I just don't have the time or patience to play the points game.

If you travel and take advantage of the coupons the Amex platinum will pay for itself in no time. We have a business and put most everything on a Hyatt, Amex Platinum, or AA citi card. Vacations are mostly free these days.