I think the best way to tell if Amex (or any lender) intends for cards to be used together is if they have holes in their rewards and benefits that are shaped like another one of their cards. That is definitely the case with Gold and Platinum. They both build toward travel rewards, but in totally different ways with very little overlap. A lot of people are surprised when they learn, for example, that Gold gives you no status with hotels and no airport lounge access. It has a distinct role and so does Platinum. The connection with the ED cards is not as clear. The only fit I'll toss out there is that Amex may be imagining people who are deep in the MR ecosystem who want to sometimes use a credit card instead of a charge card. But it might also be designed for people who want MRs but don't want a charge card at all. I think it works either way.
@kdm31091 wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:What would be killer is if they could bump up the every day spend on the AMEX Platinum from 1x to 1.5x.
That would make much better as ecosystem card with AMEX Gold or AMEX Green.
The Everyday Preferred you can get a minimum of 1.5x if you use it everyday. That is inconsistent with the bonuses of the AMEX Gold an AMEX Green with a dining bonus where you may make the most of you monthly purchases.
AMEX needs to be more stackable IMO.
Honestly I'm not sure how stackable they want to be. I think they prefer consumers have only one (maybe two) card(s) in a given system and use it for both bonus and non bonus purchases. Someone holding Green, Gold, and EDP, for example, and only using them where above 1x, is not making Amex much money. They want you to select the card that is "good enough" for the majority of your spending.
We in the CC world like cards that work together in an ecosystem of sorts but I'm not sure the issuers like it that way.
There's always the BBP for that, but Amex is banking on the 1x transactions to make them their money. They want the weight of the Platinum card to be the reason you use it, not the extra 57 cents you made on a transaction.
[2/2019]
@Anonymous wrote:Also it's interesting that AmEx would let Platinum cardholders add a Gold AU for free, for example, one's spouse. However, if the Platinum card member wanted a Gold of his or her own, the card member would then be charged the AF.
There's a difference between the "Gold" offered for AUs on a Platinum account and the actual Gold card. The Platinum AU card doesn't have the earning rates/multipliers of the Gold card with the annual fee, it's just a good version of the Plat.
Yeah, I think the AU card trips some people up. It makes it seem like the (real) Gold Card is a junior version of the Platinum Card, when that is not the case. They share a goal (travel) but have completely different strengths and weaknesses. It's not a case where you can choose to spend more to get more with Platinum or spend less to get less with Gold. You get Gold to accumulate MRs with grocery and restaurant spending; it confers no status with hotels, lounges, car rentals, etc. You get Platinum to get lounge access and status; it has puny MR rewards (other than the SUB). Once you have your SUB, there is rarely a situation where actually using the Platinum Card to pay for something makes sense, except for Uber and maybe some specific types of travel.
As a side note, a fantasy that some people including me have had for a while is that if you have both cards, the Platinum Card can have the benefits of both, so you don't need to carry two around. But not sure how that would work in terms of account management. That's just a convenience, though, not really anything additional as far as rewards or benefits.
The free AU version of the Platinum Card is gold in color, but it's plastic, and the MR rewards are the same as the main Platinum Card it's attached to. The additional benefits, such as lounge access, do not apply. For that, you have to pay for a Platinum AU card. If you pay (I think it's $175/year), the AU receives a metal Platinum Card that has the standard perks, such as lounge access. Interestingly, you can get a metal AU version of a Gold Card for free. It looks just like the "real" Gold Card and has the same MR rewards.
Amex should rethink how they name these products, because it misleads people.
The Platinum credits are actually really nice. It will be easy for most people to fully capitalize on them, which means, it's $40/month in new credits that are very easy to qualify for. On an annual basis, that would nearly cover the AF, though I guess this will be for a limited time (2020).
The Delta cards get 4x miles at grocery stores. I think they should have done something more than that. Say, statement credit for GrubHub or one of those services. 4x miles at grocery stores would be pretty good most of the time, but right now with people worried about redeeming miles, it's a bit underwhelming IMO.
But the real winner for me is the Hilton Aspire. Wow!
They didn't do anything for Gold, but, they didn't have to. Gold is always great including now.
Caveat, I might have missed some good stuff on cards I do not have.
With DW's 2 Bonvoy Brilliant cards and my Aspire and Biz Plat, we now have $850 of credits available to use for restaurants, an extra $200 dell credit for a total of $400, $320 of phone bill credits, and 12x HH points for groceries (that count as vase points) until July.
@KJinNC wrote:
The Delta cards get 4x miles at grocery stores. I think they should have done something more than that. Say, statement credit for GrubHub or one of those services. 4x miles at grocery stores would be pretty good most of the time, but right now with people worried about redeeming miles, it's a bit underwhelming IMO.
SkyPesos are always underwhelming for me. 
One of the least maximizable for outsized gains award systems out there. I don't blame someone in a Delta hub for wanting those cards and using those miles as best as you can, but Delta is working towards a mile = a penny, and that's it, you want a $10,000 businesss class fare on an award, you need a million SkyMiles. So I think SkyPesos are about penny a mile.
This is why I'm so indifferent to 14k Skypesos (via 6 months of a thousand dollars of grocery spend, so easy peasy) on a no-AF Delta Blue card AMEX is dangling for me as prequalified. $140 would be a mediocre offer on pure cash for no annual fee. $140 of airfare's OK but also mediocre. And minus ever needing checked luggage benefit and fairly indifferent to lounges/climbing the status ladder airline cards just generally are weaksauce outside of SUBs.
I agree on the Platinum benefits... what AMEX is counting on is "breakage" when people forget to switch to a different card in 2021.