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For most couples who fly a few times a year, the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is the better first card. It costs £0 in the first year and £195 after that, and on the same spending it earns more points than Platinum. Platinum costs £650 a year. It starts to pay its way for a couple who use airport lounges often (in our hypothetical worked example, which assumes £24 for each extra Gold lounge visit, five or more lounge stops for two a year) and who will actually spend its £400 of yearly dining credits (Amex UK Gold, Amex UK Platinum, checked 13 Nov 2026).
The order matters too. Amex UK's application pages say you won't get a new-Cardmember offer if you've held a personal Amex card in the last 24 months, so getting one card first can rule you out of the other's welcome offer for two years.
What we'd check first: count the airport lounge stops you made as a couple over the past year, then be honest about whether you'd use £200 of dining credit in the UK and £200 abroad. Those two answers settle it for most couples.
The two cards side by side
| Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card | Platinum Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | £195; £0 in the first year | £650 |
| Points per £1 | 1; 2 directly with airlines or in a foreign currency; 3 at Amex Travel | 1; 2 at Amex Travel Online |
| Spend bonus | 5,000 points each time you spend £10,000, "up to 10,000 bonus points per year" | none listed |
| Priority Pass lounges | "4 complimentary Priority Pass visits every year"; a guest uses one of the four | Unlimited for Main and Platinum Supplementary cardholders, each with 1 free guest; from 1 Jan 2028, 20 visits (Main) / 10 (Platinum Supplementary) unless £30,000 was spent the previous year |
| Other lounges | none | Centurion, Plaza Premium, Eurostar and others in Amex's Global Lounge Collection |
| Supplementary cards | First one free, then £45 a year each | First Platinum Supplementary free, then £285 each |
| Dining credit | none | £200 UK + £200 abroad each year (£100 of each per half-year), Main Cardmember only, enrolment required |
| Hotel status | none | Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, ALL Accor Gold and others (enrolment required) |
| Minimum income on application page | £20,000 | £35,000 |
| Representative APR (Amex's example) | 85.8% APR variable | 685.3% APR variable |
The very high representative APRs come from the annual fee being counted against Amex's example credit limit. If you pay the balance in full each month, you pay no interest. If you don't, neither card is a good idea.
Points: Gold earns more on the same spending
Platinum's only bonus earn rate is 2 points per £1 at Amex Travel Online. Gold gives 2 points per £1 directly with airlines and in a foreign currency, 3 at Amex Travel, and up to 10,000 bonus points a year.
Worked example (hypothetical couple): £24,000 a year across one account (Main card plus the free Supplementary card), of which £3,000 is spent abroad or directly with airlines, and nothing booked through Amex Travel. That excludes any welcome offer.
- Gold: £21,000 × 1 = 21,000, plus £3,000 × 2 = 6,000, plus two £10,000 bonuses of 5,000 = 10,000. Total: 37,000 points.
- Platinum: £24,000 × 1 = 24,000 points.
Amex values points at "up to £125 in gift cards" per 25,000, which is 0.5p a point. On that basis Gold's points are worth about £185 and Platinum's about £120. Moved to Avios or Virgin Points they can be worth more; see moving Amex points to Avios and other UK transfer partners.
Lounges for two: the deciding factor
Gold gives four Priority Pass visits per membership year. Amex says you can "use all 4 passes for yourself or share with a friend or family member you are travelling with". For a couple, that is two lounge stops for two, for example one outbound trip and the return. After that, extra visits are charged to your Gold card at "the prevailing rate". Amex's Gold lounge terms say these fees "are at the discretion of Priority Pass" and don't give a figure (Amex Gold lounges, checked 13 Nov 2026).
Platinum today gives the Main Cardmember and each Platinum Supplementary Cardmember unlimited Priority Pass access with one free guest, plus Plaza Premium and Centurion lounges. From 1 January 2028, Priority Pass is capped at 20 visits a year for the Main card and 10 for each Platinum Supplementary card, unless the account spent £30,000 in the previous calendar year. Amex has reportedly told UK sites that guests will count towards the cap, though that isn't yet in its published terms. Our guide to the Amex Platinum Priority Pass cap from 2028 works through it. A couple who each use their own card would get about 15 lounge stops for two in 2028 before any charges. Other Global Lounge Collection lounges, including Plaza Premium and Centurion, stay unlimited.
Worked example, continued (hypothetical, year two onwards). We value points at 0.5p, leave out welcome offers, and assume £24 per person for each Gold visit beyond the free four. This £24 is a worked-example assumption, not an Amex price. It is Priority Pass's own UK per-visit fee for its Standard plan (Priority Pass, checked 13 Nov 2026). Amex doesn't publish Gold's "prevailing rate", so the real figure may be higher or lower, and every Gold figure below moves with it.
- Gold: £195 fee − £185 points value = £10 a year for two lounge stops for two. Each extra stop for two adds 2 × £24 (assumed) = £48.
- Platinum, dining credits fully used: £650 − £120 points − £400 credits = £130 a year, however many lounge stops you make (to the end of 2027).
- Platinum, dining credits unused: £650 − £120 = £530 a year.
Gold reaches £130 at 2 + (120 ÷ 48) = 4.5 stops. So in this example, if extra Gold visits cost £24 each, a couple making five or more lounge stops for two a year pays less on Platinum, provided they spend both dining credits. If they don't, the break-even moves to about 13 stops. If extra Gold visits cost more than £24, the tipping point comes sooner; if less, later. In year one, Gold's fee is £0, which tilts the comparison further towards Gold.
What this leaves out: Platinum's insurance and hotel status, Gold's other benefits (a Deliveroo credit, travel accident and inconvenience cover), and welcome offers. If you'd otherwise pay for travel insurance, or would use Hilton or Marriott status, Platinum looks better than our numbers show.
The 24-month rule: which card to apply for first
Both application pages include an eligibility statement. On Gold: you won't be eligible "for any new Cardmember offer if I currently hold, or have held, any personal American Express Cards in the last 24 months". On Platinum's application checklist, the same rule refers to personal Amex cards "that earns Membership Rewards"; elsewhere on the page it refers to "any personal American Express Cards". Amex's live wording is what counts.
In practice:
- If you might want both cards eventually, start with the one whose welcome offer you value most. Holding the other one first may rule you out of that offer for 24 months.
- Each partner has their own history. The statement is written about the applicant ("if I currently hold…"). A partner who has never held a personal Amex card could apply for the other card in their own name. What about a partner who has only ever been a Supplementary Cardmember on your account? Amex says "Supplementary Card applications are not eligible for welcome bonus offers" (Amex Gold Membership Rewards, checked 13 Nov 2026), so being added to your account doesn't earn a bonus. But neither the application pages nor the card terms say whether a past Supplementary card counts as "held… any personal American Express Cards". Some independent UK sites say it doesn't; Amex hasn't said so in anything we could find, so ask Amex before relying on it.
- Approval is never guaranteed. Minimum income, credit checks and Amex's own criteria apply.
Which to get first: our guidance
- Get Gold first if you make two or fewer lounge stops a year as a couple, spend in foreign currency or directly with airlines, or want to try Amex for a year at no fee. Add the free Supplementary card so both of you earn on one account.
- Get Platinum first if you make five or more lounge stops for two a year (the tipping point in our worked example, which assumes £24 per extra Gold visit) (especially through Heathrow T2, T4 or T5, where Plaza Premium is included), you'll use both dining credits, and the insurance or hotel status replaces something you already pay for. Add the free Platinum Supplementary card so your partner has their own lounge access and, from 2028, their own 10 visits.
- Three or four stops a year: it's close. Price the stops you'd otherwise pay for. Plaza Premium's Heathrow lounges were "from" £27.50 to £49 per person on their booking site when we checked (Plaza Premium Heathrow, 13 Nov 2026). Our guide to every way into a Heathrow lounge without a business class ticket covers the alternatives.
If you're refused or the numbers change: you can still use Priority Pass on its own (UK Standard is £69 a year plus £24 a visit; Prestige is £419 a year with unlimited visits, per Priority Pass, checked 13 Nov 2026). Or you could start with a no-fee card and revisit Platinum later. If BA is the airline you fly most, compare a BA Amex card first: BA Amex Premium Plus vs the free BA Amex.
Gold vs Platinum FAQs
Can my partner use my Gold card's lounge visits without me?
Amex's wording is that you can share the passes "with a friend or family member you are travelling with". Plan on travelling together.
Does a Gold Supplementary card come with its own Priority Pass?
Amex's Gold lounge terms say the four visits "may be used by the primary Cardmember, or by the primary Cardmember and one guest". Nothing we found gives a Supplementary Cardmember separate visits, so assume they don't.
Can I switch from Gold to Platinum later?
Amex shows existing Gold cardholders an "upgrade to Platinum" link on its Gold benefits pages, but we couldn't read the upgrade terms (the banner we saw quoted older Platinum figures). Whether an upgrade carries any bonus, and how it interacts with the 24-month rule, isn't something we could confirm, so ask Amex before you apply.
Is Platinum's dining credit easy to use?
It covers participating restaurants only, needs enrolment, splits into £100 per half-year for the UK and £100 for abroad, and isn't available to Supplementary cardholders. Look at the participating list near where you live and where you travel before counting it as £400.