amex plat - fee increase to £450

Light fuse paper and stand well back

Taken from flyertalk thread

Hmmm.. decisions, if as predicted this rolled out;

Core beneifts to supplemental holders- hotel coverage etc.

but insurance issue a major flaw..

Was considering taking the Platinum card....not anymore! Thanks for the heads up!

[Nottingham Nick]

I don't think there is any doubt it will be rolled out - several posters have received their letters notifying them.

I haven't had mine yet, but having just dumped all of my MR points over to my FC account with the 40% bonus, I can't see me paying £450 n(

I like the priority passes and loved the free SPG night we got, but £450 is a lot of money., so I think I will be dumping the card before the increase kicks in. B)

Nick

[Neil]

I gave my Plat up in Jan when they changed (read: severely decreased) the insurance benefit. Along with the increase to £450, I really don't think the benefits justify the cost at all now.

I won't be renewing either. Whilst the significant changes that were made to the insurance cover (mid cycle of the card life) were legal, it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Yes, there are some nice benefits, but £450 worth? For me it's a resounding no v( .
DL

Don't have one but do understand the sentiments. Note also that Amex travel insurance has gone up hugely this year, for me and the no. 1 from £520 to £690 with no tangible benefit.

Having recently renewed at the original rate, have circa 10mths to decide, the PP card benefit and HH are good. Especially with supplemental cover but is that wirth £150?? The other " benefits "seem lame..Still need to find out how corporately purchased trips sit for insurance cover..When you've not purchased yourself??
Another one who's likely not going to renew next time round.

I can't decide what to do, though some benefits can be quite good.

In Stockholm in a few weeks I'm saving about £120 at the Radisson due to the Club Carlson 241 offer, so a few of those every year and it helps justify the fee. It's just having £450 taken from your account in one go that makes it hard to justify.

Wow 50% increase. Mines was just renewed in march so have a little time to decide. The one world lounge stuff sounds ok but not really enough to justify that huge increase.

Guess I'll wait until the letter arrives and see what else is on offer.

Thanks

David

[buns]

This is not good news n( n(

What with the increase in TPs to retain Gold and now this, perhaps I am being told that my days of being a self funded traveller are now drawing to a close :#

buns

I am a supplementary card holder on my wife's account. She phoned yesterday to find out when her renewal was (15th April!) and was told that the renewal fee was £450, even though she hadn't received the letter.

She cancelled the card and was moved to the 'free' card without any retention offer. I think they are expecting a mass exodus. It seems an odd move to me with such a decrease in insurance benefits last year and such a big increase in fees this year.

I'm sure the team that worked this out for AmEx have done their sums...but I have only seen a couple of posts between here and FT from those who are keeping their card...

Will be interesting to see what they doing to the gold card;
A lot of recent advertising ?
In fact same on the Plat card?
Not sure they expect a mass exodus from plat
I get the impression bean counters have underestimated the volume of move from platinum thinking the status of the card is seen like the American market..
Gut feeling they've been tasked with large rev number to hit and this was seen as a easy win..... Oops. (very GE style)

Bottoming out the ins-outs with the insurance changes
Supplemental status
One world lounges (not exactly special)

Anyone aware of "swapping" memberships in same household, and how long before you can re-apply and gain joining MR benefits?
I.e cancel mine, after referring my wife, she keeps for a year and then she does the same back to me?

As a very infrequent traveller, personally I feel the new fee is not cost effective for myself. Always book Hotels through Amex, even though similar / better deals available elsewhere ?|
Never had an upgrade through FHR, too polite to push. Very patchy service when booking.
Last few years switched spending to Pat CC, 1.5% cash is a major bonus.
Typing this, I'm thinking held only for a non existent status and I need to take reality check ii)

I still don't understand the One World lounge access. Do you need to be flying a OW flight? Then you get say a BA lounge? Fair enough, if so, I'd perhaps fly BA in the next 7 months before this runs out.

Someone said the business one doesn't have the increase so far, and I never got the changes in the insurance information described by other, but I did get it in december when it was mentioned.

[Neil]

I still don't understand the One World lounge access. Do you need to be flying a OW flight? Then you get say a BA lounge? Fair enough, if so, I'd perhaps fly BA in the next 7 months before this runs out.

Someone said the business one doesn't have the increase so far, and I never got the changes in the insurance information described by other, but I did get it in december when it was mentioned.

Plat doesn't give One World lounge access, it gives you 2 x Priority Pass cards (top level), that gives access to a large number of lounges at each airport, they are usually servisair type lounges and not specific airline ones.

Plat doesn't give One World lounge access, it gives you 2 x Priority Pass cards (top level), that gives access to a large number of lounges at each airport, they are usually servisair type lounges and not specific airline ones.

It doesn't now. It appears its part of the new benefits.

There was talk before of getting it via a quantas card, hidden away in the website, but available to all if you looked. Now it appears to be claiming it for all (but not mentioning it being particularly quantas, just OW).

Plat doesn't give One World lounge access

Yes it does -- you can get a 1-year complimentary CX gold card as a Platinum cardholder. This makes you OW Sapphire, which gets you business-class lounge access and some other perks (inc. no seating charges on BA).

Good afternoon, I came back from CA to find a mailshot for the AX Plat with a 1st year fee of £150 (special offer it says..! )and 40,000 miles on a £1500 spend which will easily be covered by my season ticket. If I went for this would I get nailed for cancelling the card just before the end of the year? The miles would be useful and the priority passes also as only PE for the next couple of flights.