AMEX Platinum

[xmid]

AMEX is making their own "Centurion Lounges" at various airports just for AMEX cardholders, so that may be the plan for the future. I stopped at the one in DFW, and it was much nicer than the US Airways club at PHX I have been to in the past. If they make enough of the new lounges it will work out pretty much the same.

The problem is they will never make enough. If I'm flying through a major airport chances are good that I am flying on the airline that uses that airport as a hub (or at least is a major user of the airport) and therefore has lounges that I would have had access to. There is just no way that AMEX will be building multiple lounges at all major airports to service almost all of the gates. Partnering with airlines gave access to hundreds of lounges. The priority pass select's "600 lounges" are primarily outside the US. While that is convenient if you frequently travel internationally, it doesn't help you much if the majority of your traveling is domestically. I don't know what is driving this change, but it is going to be a major change. I agree with Zab, if I were paying the $450 annual fee I would consider canceling. Since I'm not paying for it, it's worth keeping for now.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

Supposedly they're getting two more Centurion locations: SFO and LGA.

 

[squeeze]

Nope. I was told at two different United lounges last week that they no longer allow AMEX platinum users to enter.

Ya, United doesn't take it any longer. But, if United is your preferred airline, they'll reimburse the entrance fee. Granted, it's up to $50/day now.

Pay no foreign transaction fees on purchases while traveling internationally.

This is handy, but the downside is most places in Europe don't take AmEx. I have to get another CC that does this before I move overseas for my exchange. Capital One doesn't charge any either though.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

The problem is they will never make enough. If I'm flying through a major airport chances are good that I am flying on the airline that uses that airport as a hub (or at least is a major user of the airport) and therefore has lounges that I would have had access to. There is just no way that AMEX will be building multiple lounges at all major airports to service almost all of the gates. Partnering with airlines gave access to hundreds of lounges. The priority pass select's "600 lounges" are primarily outside the US. While that is convenient if you frequently travel internationally, it doesn't help you much if the majority of your traveling is domestically. I don't know what is driving this change, but it is going to be a major change. I agree with Zab, if I were paying the $450 annual fee I would consider canceling. Since I'm not paying for it, it's worth keeping for now.

I agree the centurion club is in no way a fair trade to losing the other clubs, but with priority pass you still get a lot of clubs. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it seems like with priority pass you still get the US Airways clubs. The United clubs all have a disclaimer on the priority pass site saying people with priority pass through a credit card don't get in, but the USA clubs don't say that.

 

[helolumpy]

While I can see the benefit in other locations, in DFW, the USO is awesome!!

It's on the 'right' side of security, so if you have a layover, you can get some free chow and sodas, watch TV in a comfy chair and they even have beds so you can take a nap and don't have to deal with TSA again.

Stopping there once a year is worth putting the USO on my CFC form!

 

[e6bflyer]

Nope. I was told at two different United lounges last week that they no longer allow AMEX platinum users to enter.

Mmm...sorry for the bad gouge. That does blow. You're right, they will have to build a hell of a lot of centurion lounges to make up for losing 2 of the 3 major airlines' lounges.

 

[SynixMan]

FYI, you can get credited Hilton Gold status through the end of December with your Platinum card. I'm racking up Starwood points on deployment, which is great for later. 1000 points will get automatic 50% off advertised nightly rate anywhere, anytime.

Thanks for the tip on the gift cards, I'll have to do that before the end of the year.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

Hah, just got the 100,000 points offer again in the mail today.
Do you need to have a certain amount of activity on this card to keep it open or something? I'd probably only use it for airfare and foreign purchases, other than the first $1,000 in purchases to get the offer.

 

[e6bflyer]

Hah, just got the 100,000 points offer again in the mail today.
Do you need to have a certain amount of activity on this card to keep it open or something? I'd probably only use it for airfare and foreign purchases, other than the first $1,000 in purchases to get the offer.

No minimum activity. 100,000 points is roughly 1,000 dollars in value. Not a bad deal. It usually requires 2,500 in purchases to get the intro bonus.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

No minimum activity. 100,000 points is roughly 1,000 dollars in value. Not a bad deal. It usually requires 2,500 in purchases to get the intro bonus.

Yeah, mine says 3 grand in 3 months to get the bonus. I'll probably sign up for it this time around. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread, but last time I got the offer was just before going to OCS so the timing wasn't great.

 

[e6bflyer]

Yeah, mine says 3 grand in 3 months to get the bonus. I'll probably sign up for it this time around. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread, but last time I got the offer was just before going to OCS so the timing wasn't great.

It's a great deal. 100K is the granddaddy of sign up offers. Spend 3,000 bucks get 1,000 free. Even if you don't use the travel bennies, there are great deals all the time like spend 75 at Amazon get a 25 dollar credit or spend 25 at BP on gas get 5 dollar credit. Two weeks ago I used the concierge to get me reservations at a restaurant that was completely booked when I called them directly. I don't use it for everything, but I do use it at least monthly and when I am TAD.

 

[villanelle]

Huh. We've used ours for pretty much nothing, other than airport lounge access. Maybe I need to pay better attention. Where do you find these offers? Do they email them to you? God knows I spend enough on Amazon that anything involving them would be a win.

 

[Pags]

You can use your Amex points to pay for whatever on Amazon, pretty cool.

 

[e6bflyer]

Huh. We've used ours for pretty much nothing, other than airport lounge access. Maybe I need to pay better attention. Where do you find these offers? Do they email them to you? God knows I spend enough on Amazon that anything involving them would be a win.

Download their app on your smart device. Go to offers and several local and nationwide things pop up. Amazon was on there until dec 31st. You may be able to do it via their website also, I dunno.

Also: to anyone who has the card, if you haven't used your $200 airline credit this calendar year, you only have a couple of days left to use it. With most airlines, you can purchase gift cards in $50 or $100 increments and it will credit your account. Go to flyertalk.com for details and to see if your airline that you chose allows it. I did it with AA. You can turn around and do it again January 1st and have $400 total in airline gift cards that you can use for airfare, etc.

 

[e6bflyer]

You can use your Amex points to pay for whatever on Amazon, pretty cool.

It is awesome, but beware of using points on merchandise. Make sure it is a good deal. One cent per point is average. We recently bought some nice headphones on crutchfield for about .9 cents per point and I thought that was pretty decent. If you use it on travel, especially on bonus point transfers, you usually get the most bang for your buck.
I sign up for pointsguy and flyertalk alerts on Facebook and they usually let you know when great deals come up.

Of course, if you have a bunch of points just sitting there, use them rather than not.