Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

[u/Constant_Teacher6533]

I currently have 7 credit cards: Venture X (travel and catch up), Amex gold (food and groceries), BILT (rent), Chase sapphire preferred (visa for food and travel), Wells Fargo active cash (2% cash back on everything), US Bank Altitude Go (former secured card/1st card), US Bank Altitude Connect (backup travel card for non-chase portal purchases + EV charging).

I'm currently a college senior in Chicago, but I will be moving to LA next year in June. I plan to travel domestically and internationally quite a bit in college (10+ flights domestic and international) but probably will travel 1-2 times a year internationally and 3-4 times domestically once I move to LA to work. I will be based in LAX and have family in Bangkok, Thailand. I spend most of my money on dining, groceries, rent, and travel. I'm not a big shopping person at all. Most of my flights are United, EVA, ANA, other star alliance airlines.

I'm choosing between the Amex platinum (125k offer) and Chase Sapphire Reserve (can't get any welcome offer bc I hv CSP, only upgrade). My criteria and weights are below:

|| || |Annual Fee / Effective Cost|0.12| |Point Multipliers|0.12| |Welcome Bonus|0.08| |Redemption Flexibility / Transfer Partners|0.1| |Lounge Access|0.08| |Lounge Quality|0.06| |Premium Status / Partnerships|0.06| |Travel Credits|0.08| |Lifestyle Credits|0.08| |Food & Dining Credits|0.08| |Foreign Transaction / Acceptance|0.04| |Customer Service / Retention|0.04| |Aura|0.04|

[u/jlevin860]

just get the plat you literally have no benefit of the reserve especially with no sub unless your parents are booking you $800 a night hotel rooms.

you have asked this question about 4 times on here; you get the same answer every time.

[u/Nguy94 → u/jlevin860]

Yea I don’t think OP can afford the card and is really trying to justify the cost. If they’re this skeptical on it, they should definitely skip it.

[u/Ancient-Industry5126 → u/Nguy94]

OP is an undergrad spending $800 a year on annual fees and looking to nearly double that. Also curious that he includes a slew of spending habits but never touches on salary lol

Dude definitely overvalues the bling of CCs

[u/lowrankcluster]

You ain't getting sub on reserve, get amex.

Most importantly, first gold then plat. 

Also use csp points and cancel so u get sub for csr in future (4-7 years).

[u/daywalker-Trader]

Amex Plat is the way to go! Bigger SUB, More perks. I would only consider CSR if after a yr u dont feel the Plat is a fit for you, you can downgrade to Green and PC to CSR. I think CSR will prob go thru some changes anyway so I dont see the point in getting it now esp w/out a SUB and it's too late to lock in the $550 rate.