Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy
Click here to learn more about the Amex Platinum from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy
I absolutely never travel without my Platinum Card® from American Express and my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. That may seem nuts, since it means I pay $1,000 in annual fees between the two cards, but it makes sense for me — you can read why here. Even if you don't want to carry both, just one can be incredibly useful.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 3x points per dollar spent on all dining and travel — so the vast majority of your purchases during a trip — as well as an annual $300 travel credit that offsets a big part of the annual fee. It also includes numerous protections including trip and baggage delay insurance, trip interruption coverage, and primary rental car insurance, as long as you use the card to pay for your trip.
The card also offers access to airport lounges through the Priority Pass program, which you can read more about here.
The Amex Platinum offers 5x points on airfare purchased from the airline and prepaid hotels reserved through AmexTravel.com, but doesn't have the same level of protections as the Sapphire Reserve. It does, however, offer a number of useful credits, and significantly more extensive lounge access within the US.
Both cards have no foreign transaction fees, and come with rich bonuses for new cardmembers. The Sapphire Reserve offers 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months, while the Amex Platinum offers 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards points when you spend $5,000 in the first three months. — David Slotnick, Insider Picks senior reporter