Can Amex Gold Cardholders Use Airport Lounges?

American Express offers a slew of luxurious accommodations to its Gold Card holders, but unfortunately, access to their airport lounges is not one of them. This is somewhat surprising, given that American Express has more than one line of airport lounges (namely The Centurion Lounge, The International American Express Lounges and Escape Lounges), and it seems odd to only offer these amenities to platinum cardholders. However, just because Gold cardholders would be turned away from lounges, does not mean that there are outstanding benefits in travel, dining and flexibility.

Travel

If you were hoping to take advantage of the airport lounges and find yourself disappointed, I would encourage you to consider the other travel benefits, as American Express still makes it worth your while. With the Gold card, you will receive a $100 statement credit each year covering the extraneous fees like bag-checking and drinks that come with flying. So, essentially, the first $100 that you spend outside of the airline ticket and the Uber to the airport are covered by American Express, no questions asked. Outside of flying, American Express goes above and beyond to make sure that your travel arrangements are taken care of. The Personalized Travel Service offered by Amex allows you to work with an agent over the phone who will coordinate flights, car pick-ups and booking rooms with hotels for your entire trip. With an additional $100 subsidy of the amenities at your hotel and 3X points for each dollar used in booking flights, American Express really takes care of you throughout your travel. 

Those who travel very often are likely going to be the ones who optimize the benefits of the Gold card. Signing up with American Express is not cheap, and the Gold card alone carries an annual fee of $250. The damage to your wallet from the fee can certainly be mitigated by the travel subsidies, and when considering the time that it usually takes to book flights, hotels and Ubers, the Personalized Travel Service can certainly cover the difference. What’s more, if Amex Gold members manage their rewards points wisely, then they can redeem them for airline tickets, thus saving even more money.

Food & Dining

The benefits of the Gold Amex card extend to both restaurants and grocery stores. Similar to flight expenses, Amex will cover the first $120 that you spend eating with GrubHub, Boxed, and select other restaurants, and Gold cardholders will be awarded 4X points on purchases made at any and all restaurants. Furthermore, Amex will reward cardholders with an additional 4X points on the first $25,000 in purchases for groceries within the United States, helping cardholders build up a further reserve of points for everyday purchases.

Flexibility

American Express offers Gold cardholders incredible flexibility in both how they pay for their balances and how they redeem their points. When it comes time to pay the bills, with the Gold card, one can choose exactly which payments they want to make. If they want to only pay for the new additions to their balance, or they just want to make the minimum payment, or any customized option in the middle, American Express will allow them to do that. Of course, any remaining balance is subject to interest, but the Gold card has a reasonable range of rates from 15.99%-22.99%, and having the freedom to choose payments in and of itself is valuable in the realm of personal finance. 

Additionally, more so than many other cards on the market, American Express has a variety of ways to redeem point rewards. I already discussed redeeming points to get airline tickets, and American Express also has the typical paths of using points for a statement credit and gift cards. However, American Express has convenient partnerships with the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, Ticketmaster and GrubHub where, at checkout, you can redeem points instantly to cover the costs of your orders. This step is very helpful in cutting out the middleman if you need that cash quickly. Finally, Amex allows you to donate points directly to charity, removing some of the barriers to donations.

The Bottom Line

Luxury lounges at the airport are certainly symbols of “the high life”, but even though they may be absent from the Amex Gold card, there are still plenty of benefits to spending with the card. On top of the generous bonus points that come with the card when you sign up (upwards of 50,000 points!), the Amex Gold can help save money for those who travel often and enjoy services like GrubHub. The net gains from using the card can quickly turn negative if cardholders are not conscious with their habits, given the steep annual fee and APR, but only without this careful attention would the Amex Gold card not be a worthwhile investment.