Is the Amex Platinum still worth it for the lounges? A crowding reality check

Short answer: yes for some people, and fewer people than the marketing suggests. The Platinum Card now costs $895 a year. On paper that buys the longest lounge list of any US card. In practice, the lounges that make it worth paying for are the ones every other cardholder is also heading to, at the same hours. In 2026 Amex has answered that with new rules rather than more square footage.

I've already worked out the fee per visit in what a $795 annual fee buys in lounge access, and the three-card head-to-head is in Platinum vs Sapphire Reserve vs Venture X. This piece covers what those two leave out: what you actually find when you walk up to the door.

What the card unlocks as of October 2026

From our card page and Amex's published terms, the US Platinum gets you:

• Centurion Lounges, plus the new Sidecar format and the Escape "Centurion Studio Partner" rooms. Guests cost $50 per adult and $30 per child aged 2 to 17. Spend $75,000 on the card in a calendar year and you get two free guests.
• Delta Sky Club, capped at 10 visits a year, and only on a same-day Delta flight that isn't basic economy. The cap goes away at $75,000 in annual spend.
• Priority Pass, with two guests free.
• Plaza Premium and Escape Lounges, each with two guests.

What it no longer unlocks is Lufthansa Group lounges. That access ended on October 1, 2026, for both the personal and Business Platinum. If much of your Platinum value came from Senator and Business lounges in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna, it's gone. Amex replaced it with economy airfare discounts, not another lounge. Our Lufthansa Group lounges ranked piece still covers those rooms, but you can't get in with this card anymore.

The crowding problem, by lounge

On July 8, 2026, Amex tightened two Centurion rules. Guests now have to be on the same flight as the cardmember, and connecting passengers can't get in earlier than five hours before their onward flight. Both changes go after people who camp in the lounge and guests who tag along. Neither touches the actual cause, which is how many people carry the card. Gary Leff at View from the Wing made that argument in January, before the rules took effect, and I think he's right.

The waitlist is now a normal part of the product. You join a digital queue in the Amex app. When space opens you get a QR code and ten minutes to get to the door. A Platinum Flyer writer who visited four Centurions this year waited 35 minutes to get into LAX on a Friday evening. The same writer found Denver and JFK full but with no waitlist. At DFW on a Tuesday afternoon, they had a seat within two minutes. Yet NerdWallet's reviewer, writing about DFW in April, called it one of the most crowded lounges she has ever visited.

That leaves us in an awkward spot, and I'd rather say so than gloss over it. Our own Space scores for the big Centurions are generous: 5 at DFW, Atlanta, Denver, JFK, LAX, Las Vegas and Seattle. Our rubric says a 5 means the room never feels packed, even at peak, and the field reports say peak is exactly when these rooms struggle. Treat those scores as a description of the room at an ordinary hour, not at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The Centurions where we score Space at 4 are LaGuardia, Miami, Phoenix and the temporary SFO room in Terminal 2. At those I'd plan on a wait.

Sidecar is a pressure valve, not a fix

For travelers short on time, Amex's answer is Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge, which opened in Las Vegas Concourse D on March 4, 2026. It has 33 seats and table service you order by QR code. The rule is strict: you can only enter within 90 minutes of departure. We rate it 3.8 overall. Drinks and service score 5, seating 3, workspace and restrooms 2.

I like the idea more than the room. It's a good place for a cocktail and a proper plate right before a flight, and the 90-minute window keeps campers out by design. But 33 seats next to a Centurion we list at 200 capacity takes some pressure off and nothing more. A second Sidecar is announced for Charlotte's Concourse A in 2027. The bigger relief will come from DFW's expansion, also planned for 2027, which Amex says will make that lounge about 50 percent larger. Boston gets a two-story Centurion, but not until 2029.

The calm end of the card

The best value on the Platinum often isn't a Centurion at all. It's the lounges the card opens where the crowd is thinner.

The Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 rates 4.9 and has four showers. The Platinum gets you in through the Plaza Premium program as well as Priority Pass. That matters because the Priority Pass route there has a two-hour cap and can be restricted at peak. The Delta Sky Club in Honolulu also rates 4.9, but it uses up one of your ten Delta visits. Seattle's Centurion is a mid-size room rated 4.6 that scores 5 for quiet. Atlanta's Centurion is the network's largest and rates 4.8, though our own notes still describe it as "always full", so go early.

At the other extreme, the Escape "Centurion Studio Partner" lounges carry the Centurion name without delivering a Centurion room. Sacramento Terminal B rates 2.5 overall with a Space score of 2. It has no restrooms inside and sells walk-up entry to anyone for about $60. If that's the lounge at your home airport, you're paying Centurion prices for a room anyone can buy into.

What the lounges are realistically worth

To value a visit, I use what the network itself charges. A Centurion guest pays $50, a Sky Club guest pays $50, and Escape sells walk-up entry for roughly $45 to $60. So call a good visit worth $50. At $895, you need about 18 of those a year before the lounges alone cover the fee. That count doesn't include the times you waited 35 minutes or gave up and went to the gate.

The card's statement credits are a separate argument. If you really use them, they lower the bar. This piece counts only the lounges.

Ten Sky Club visits plus a handful of Centurion visits gets a moderately frequent flyer to 18. The trouble starts when a third of those visits begin with a waitlist.

Verdict by traveler type

Solo, through a big Centurion hub, at off-peak hours. Worth it. DFW, Atlanta or Denver on a Tuesday afternoon is still the best domestic lounge experience a credit card buys. Our Centurion ranking shows where your hub falls.

Friday-evening and holiday leisure flyers out of LAX, Miami or Las Vegas. Probably not. The card gets you in, but the lounge is at its worst exactly when you'd use it. Budget time for the waitlist, or for not getting in at all.

Delta loyalists. A close call. Ten Sky Club visits sounds like plenty until you fly Delta more than once a month. Our records show the Delta Reserve at 15 visits, and $75,000 in spend removes the cap on either card. Count your trips honestly.

Couples and families. Usually not. At $50 per adult guest, Centurion visits add up fast, and since July your guest has to be on your flight. For two people, the Sapphire Reserve's two free guests at its own lounges are the better deal. The comparison piece has the details.

International flyers through Heathrow, Hong Kong and the wider Plaza Premium network. Still a case to be made, but losing Lufthansa hurts if you connect through Germany, Switzerland or Austria.

Small-airport flyers. No. If your local option is an Escape Studio Partner, Priority Pass on a cheaper card will do, or you can buy single visits when you need them.

All ratings here are Lounge Frog's own. See our methodology for how they're scored.