By: Sarah McWilliams Guerra
I used to side-eye the Amex Platinum annual fee hard. It felt like one of those cards people get for vibes and lounge selfies.
Then I had a last-minute trip to Hawaii for a funeral — not a vacation, not planned, not optimized. And somewhere between weather chaos, rerouted flights, and multiple airports, I realized something wild:
I didn’t spend a dollar on food or drinks while traveling.
And when everything went sideways on the way home, the card’s travel insurance quietly picked up the tab.
That’s when I got converted.
The trip that changed my mind
The outbound journey alone would normally rack up airport expenses fast:
- Breakfast before leaving Tampa
- A connection through Los Angeles, where I ate lunch and had two drinks
- Then, on the return, a massive snowstorm hit the U.S. and completely wrecked my itinerary
Under normal circumstances, airport disruptions are expensive because airlines don’t cover most of it — especially when weather is involved.
This time, two things saved me:
- Lounge access
- Travel insurance
Let’s talk airport costs (because they add up fast)
Airport pricing is brutal even on a smooth travel day.
Typical airport prices
- Average airport meal: $20–$25
- Alcoholic drink: $14–$20
- Snacks and bottled water during delays: $8–$15
I’ve personally paid $36 before tax and tip for one glass of wine at an airport. One glass. I think about it every time I pass a wine bar now.
A realistic cost breakdown for a disrupted travel day without lounge access:
- Lunch: ~$22
- Two drinks: ~$30
- Extra snack or meal due to delays: ~$20
Total: $70+, easily $90–$100 if delays stretch long
And that’s before you factor in stress purchases like coffee you don’t want or food you wouldn’t normally buy.
How the lounges quietly saved hundreds
Because of lounge access, I:
- Ate real meals instead of paying $20+ every time I got hungry
- Had drinks without paying $15–$20 each
- Had reliable Wi-Fi, outlets, and a seat when the terminal was packed
- Had somewhere calm to sit while rebooking during the storm
If I conservatively price out just what I didn’t spend:
- Lunch: ~$22
- Two drinks: ~$30
- Snacks later during delays: ~$10
That’s ~$62 saved in one airport alone
Multiply that across multiple legs, connections, and return travel, and it adds up fast.
And that’s not even counting showers — which some lounges offer — that would otherwise cost $20–$45 at airport sleep or shower suites.
The part no one tells you: airlines don’t owe you much in weather delays
Here’s the harsh truth that matters a lot in real life travel:
Airlines are not required to provide hotel or meal vouchers when delays or cancellations are caused by weather.
Snowstorms, hurricanes, fog, and “acts of God” fall under circumstances where:
- Hotels are usually not covered
- Meals are usually not covered
- You’re often on your own financially
That’s exactly what happened on my way home.
My trip was interrupted. I needed hotels. I needed food. The airline did not cover it — and they didn’t have to.
Where the Amex Platinum really earned its keep: travel insurance
This is the part that fully sold me.
Because I booked with the card, trip interruption insurance kicked in:
- Hotels on the way home were covered
- Out-of-pocket expenses caused by the interruption were reimbursed
- I didn’t have to scramble to front hundreds (or thousands) of dollars and hope for goodwill from the airline
Let’s put real numbers on that:
- One airport-area hotel night can easily run $200–$350
- Meals during an unexpected overnight delay can be another $50–$75
- Transportation to and from the hotel adds more
Even one covered interruption can realistically save $300–$500+ — and that’s a conservative estimate.
This is the kind of benefit that doesn’t feel flashy until you desperately need it.
The annual fee math (when it actually makes sense)
The Amex Platinum annual fee is $895, which sounds outrageous until you stop thinking about it as a “luxury card” and start thinking about it as prepaid protection.
Just from this one trip, the value stacked up:
- Lounge food and drinks saved: ~$150–$250
- Avoided lounge day passes (which often cost ~$50 each): ~$100+
- Hotel and trip interruption coverage: ~$300–$500+
That’s $550–$850 in very real, very tangible value from one emotionally heavy, weather-disrupted trip.
My honest takeaway
I didn’t get converted because I travel constantly or want to feel fancy.
I got converted because when travel went wrong — during a difficult trip, with bad weather, and zero margin for error — I wasn’t left stranded paying airport prices and hotel bills out of pocket.
The lounges saved me money.
The travel insurance saved me stress.
And together, they completely changed how I think about the cost of the card.
Sometimes the value isn’t about upgrades or perks — it’s about having a safety net when the trip isn’t fun, glamorous, or planned.
And that’s a use case most credit card ads never show.