Highfalutin premium travel cards from creditors like American Express  (AXP)  and JP Morgan Chase  (JPM)  have already captured America's biggest spendthrifts. The trick now is keeping them while raising annual fees. 

They're not worried, though: If history is any indication, America's mass affluent will be "all fuss, no action."

In its latest quarterly showing, AmEx's fee revenue jumped 20% year-over-year, extending a years-long trend of growth made possible by reinventing products with new credits and higher annual fees.

Without any real pushback, that trend is bound to continue, too. On Thursday, the credit giant announced a consequential change to its flagship product, the American Express Platinum Card. 

The biggest of those changes — the price — is unlikely to be popular.

Tale as Old As Time: AmEx Raises the Fee

For the first time since July 2021, American Express rolled out changes to its American Express Platinum and Business Platinum cards. 

AmEx foreshadowed these changes earlier this year when competitor Chase borrowed its homework with hefty changes to its top-of-the-line Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. At the time, AmEx promised to "take these Cards to a new level," with the "largest investment ever in a card refresh."

That large investment will have a higher entry fee, though. The $695/year Amex Platinum and Business Platinum will now be $895/year, a 28.8% increase. 

The higher fee will take effect at the cardholder's next renewal. American Express says that, "For Card Members who opened accounts before September 18, 2025, the new annual fee will go into effect at their next renewal date on or after December 2, 2025 (U.S. Business Platinum) or January 2, 2026 (U.S. Consumer Platinum)."

Additional cards, which confer a number of benefits like lounge access and TSA PreCheck credit, will stay at $195/year.

So what can cardholders expect from the big changes?

What's Changing on the Consumer Card?

Many of the core features on the AmEx Platinum Card are staying the same. At its core, that means that the 5-times Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels through AmEx Travel, while all other spending accumulates 1 point per dollar. 

However, to justify the increased annual fee, AmEx has added a series of new credits and features to the card, which aim to offer sufficient value to retain their high-spenders. Among them are:

• $600 Hotel Credit ($300/biannually on select AmEx Travel options)
• $400 Resy Credit ($100/quarter)
• $300 Digital Entertainment Credit (up from $240; new options added)
• $300 Lululemon Credit ($75/quarter)
• $200 Oura Ring Credit
• $120 Uber One Subscription
• Leaders Club Sterling Status at Leading Hotels of the World

A number of existing features that Amex Platinum cardholders have grown accustomed to have also stuck around, including: 

• $300 Equinox/SoulCycle credit
• $209 Clear Plus Credit
• $200 in Uber Cash ($15/mo January-November; $20/mo in December)
• $200 Airline Fee Credit
• $155 Walmart+ Credit (billed monthly)
• $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
• $100 Saks Fifth Avenue credit ($50/ biannually) 
• Hilton and Marriott Gold Status

As a result, the company now says that the card offers "over $3,500 in annual value," assuming you can spend through all (or at least, most) of the credits.

As part of the new rollout, the company will offer a new design variant of the card, Mirror Finish. It'll also include an updated Amex App "experience."

What Does the Change Mean?

For some, the AmEx Platinum's higher annual fee is a nonstarter, especially since the card is now creeping closer to $1,000/year. Hardly cheap.

It remains to be seen how the changes will be received by cardholders now that the changes are fully announced. Most likely, however, a steepening fee won't thin out the lines at the company's Centurion airport lounges just yet. It might just be the latest inconvenience that affluent spenders learn to live with, all for the sake of "value."

If not for the fee hikes and affluent spenders, it's hard to know where American Express stock — up 224% over the past five years — would be today. But one thing is for sure: If it didn't work, the rest of the industry wouldn't be following its lead.