Scotiabank American Express Platinum Card Review

The Scene+ Points program is fast becoming one of my favourite points programs, namely because of the flexibility and that they added one of my favourite redemption options- travel. My husband recently got this card mainly for the lounge access. Here’s my Scotiabank American Express Platinum card review.

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Scotiabank American Express Platinum Card Review

The welcome bonus is excellent. Before January 1, 2026, if you spend $3000 on card purchases on your Scotiabank American Express Platinum card in the first three months, you can get 60,000 Scene+ Points (which is equivalent to $600).

If you spend at least $10,000 on the card in the first 14 months of card membership, you will get another 20,000 Scene+ points, for a total of $800 equivalent.

The bonus Scene+ points gets added to your Scene+ account in about 2-3 days after you meet the purchase requirements, which is another reason why I like the Scene+ credit cards that Scotia offers. The points get added quick, which allows you to make more spontaneous travel plans.

Regular purchases get 2 Scene+ Points per $1 spent on this card.

Travel related purchases get 3 Scene+ Points per $1 spent on this card.

Scotia American Express Platinum Card Benefits

• Priority Pass Membership and 10 Annual Priority Pass Lounge Access: The Priority Pass membership with 10 lounge passes is worth $329 USD (Standard Plus Membership). Many of the other lounge access providers are different from Priority Pass (for example, the Visa Airport Companion or DragonPass program) therefore there may be different lounges included. We opted specifically for this card because I have Priority Pass membership and it would be nice to go into the same lounges together.
• Premium Concierge Service
• American Express Experiences
• Premium Lifestyle Experiences
• No foreign transaction fee: The Canadian to US dollar exchange rate has not been ideal but at least there’s no 2.5% additional up charge. Scotiabank is one of the main banks that has no foreign transaction fees on their credit cards.

Scotia Amex Platinum Card Insurance Benefits

The insurance benefits are very robust given this is a premium card with a more expensive annual fee.

• Travel Medical Insurance: This is provided for card holders up to age 65 for up to 31 consecutive days and for those age 65 and older for up to 10 consecutive days. 10 days for over 65 is a long time, most cards don’t provide that amount. Up to $2 million in emergency medical coverage is provided for the cardholder, their spouse, and dependents.
• Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance: If you charge at least 75% of your travel expense to this card, you can get $2500 per person for expenses (maximum $10,000 in the group) for medical and non-medical reasons (the non-medical reasons have to be pretty good like jury duty)
• Flight Delay Insurance:  If your flight is delayed by 4 hours or more you are insured for up to $1,000 per person.
• Rental Car Insurance
• Delayed or Lost Baggage Insurance
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Motel or Hotel Burglary Insurance (for motels or hotels in the U.S.A. or Canada)
• Mobile Device Insurance: Up to $1000
• Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Protection

REDEEMING SCENE+ REWARDS POINTS

The best part of this credit card is the ease in redeeming the Scene+ Rewards points. There was a recent overhaul in the past few years and you don’t have to ONLY redeem your Scene+ points for Cineplex movies anymore.

You can book your Scene+ Travel rewards and it is powered by Expedia. Points can be redeemed fully or partially for flights, car rentals, and hotels.

Just like with the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card and the Scotiabank American Express Gold Card you can pay for your travel purchase OUTSIDE of the Scene+ Travel Expedia portal and then “Apply Points to Travel” using your Scene+ Points up to 12 months after the date of travel purchase.

This works only if you have a Scotiabank branded card that has Scene+ points collection capabilities.

This way you have the flexibility to book your own travel AND you have to flexibility to book earlier and collect your points later to offset your travel cost!

In addition you can redeem your Scene+ points for shopping online, dining out at restaurant partners, watching movies at Cineplex, or even using the Points for Credit option to get a statement credit.

Scotiabank Amex Platinum Card Annual Fee

The annual fee for the Scotiabank American Express Platinum card is a luxury annual fee, of $399 CAD per year.

It is $99 per year for a supplementary card holder.

Annual Income Requirements

It doesn’t seem to have a specific annual income requirement, but the minimum credit limit is $10,000.

Genymoney.ca’s Verdict

It comes in a fancy package with a black envelope, however the card itself is not that fancy it looks like the Scotiabank American Express Gold card except it is platinum or silver coloured.

To be honest it seems a little excessive to have such a thick envelope for a card but I guess that’s what you get with the more expensive cards.

The main draw is the Priority Pass membership. There aren’t many Priority Pass card issuers- they are limited to the Scotiabank American Express Platinum card and these others:

• American Express Platinum Card
• American Express Gold Rewards Card
• Business Platinum Card from American Express

Although the Priority Pass Membership attached to credit cards does not include restaurant access, it’s still better than nothing and I like to access the lounge before our flights (especially when you have two hangry children in tow).

Once you lounge you can’t go back!

Here’s more information on the Scotiabank American Express Platinum card.

Do you have the Scotiabank American Express Platinum? What are your thoughts on it?