Priority Pass - Change to exclude restaurants

[daft009]

IMO it'll happen, just a matter of time.
Deval was only ~6wks ago. They are spacing out the bad news

 

[DavidFlynn]

There's been talk on various US sites around the Amex Platinum Priority Pass benefits changing. From 1 August, the Priority Pass membership for Amex Platinum cards issued in USA and Hong Kong will no longer include restaurants.
Any news on equivalent changes for Australia? I rarely use the restuarant benefit, but it's useful to have and definately devalues the membership if it's not available.

It's happening for AMEX AU, and also as of August 1

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I'm going to miss my Movida @ SYD T2 breakfasts, and lunches, and dinners...

 

[Princess Fiona]

Have to say I’m not remotely surprised by this. Was bound to happen. The benefit was wide open to creative use.

 

[DavidFlynn]

Oh yes, this was being very creatively used by many people, to be sure. I’ve heard Priority Pass meal credit was being heavily used by many airport workers, which is why PP introduced the requirement to show a boarding pass, but even that that wasn’t too difficult to spoof (I know of somebody who dummied up a digital boarding pass based on taking a screenshot of thenQantas app, editing date and flight details and then just showing this image in the iPhone’s photo gallery when asked for a boarding pass).

 

[daft009]

I'm going to miss my Movida @ SYD T2 breakfasts, and lunches, and dinners...

me too
small population wrecks it for everyone

 

[maccaisking]

I'm going to miss my Movida @ SYD T2 breakfasts, and lunches, and dinners...

I think I’m going to miss my Plat Charge. For me this was the benefit which made it worthwhile for MrsMac and myself to both hold the card. Any idea on if the Reserve PP benefit is affected - I would expect yes but it isn’t specified so maybe some small chance?

 

[serfty]

There is no change for those with a direct PP membership. (Sydney-Kingsford-Smith)

 

[daft009]

There is no change for those with a direct PP membership. (Sydney-Kingsford-Smith)

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Quite a few people have the St George amplify black card with 2 free PP visits.. can be saved for dining now

 

[andye]

Disappointing. Enjoyed using at SYD T2 Movida (in the intended spirit) where the food and wine (I particularly liked the Carignan) is better than VAs. Sometimes used in T1 when preferred a plated meal to a buffet graze.

 

[muppet]

Oh yes, this was being very creatively used by many people, to be sure. I’ve heard Priority Pass meal credit was being heavily used by many airport workers, which is why PP introduced the requirement to show a boarding pass, but even that that wasn’t too difficult to spoof (I know of somebody who dummied up a digital boarding pass based on taking a screenshot of thenQantas app, editing date and flight details and then just showing this image in the iPhone’s photo gallery when asked for a boarding pass).

Was that what Amex told you? Or you know anecdotally?

I have difficultly believing airport staff would be doing it given their income, the cost the Amex Platinum and the fact they would be wearing uniform and their ASIC and the staff would know or at least recognise them - can’t see it being worth the effort.

 

[downloadingdata]

In Australia(at least in SYD), there are no PP lounges. The only benefit for PP is the restaurants. Personally, I don't think AMEX AU will remove this until PP has lounges in Australia, otherwise, there is no value for PP domestic flyers.

Famous last words XD

 

[DavidFlynn]

Was that what Amex told you? Or you know anecdotally?

It wasn’t from AMEX, it was anecdotal but from people who work at airports. And the edited screenshot thing was something a ‘passenger’ was doing.

 

[SeaWolf]

Pretty significant deval and following hot on the heels of the Membership Rewards deval too!
You'd hope they'd throw in some kind of extra to make up for this but no sign of that so far.

 

[Jonova]

This is going to make me seriously consider not renewing my card this year. From the increase to the annual fee, to the points devaluation and now this, it seems they are taking their members for granted and expect us to just cop these enhancements...

 

[Quattro]

I have just logged into the desktop site, and it's now confirmed by the banner:
"From 1 August 2019, your Priority Pass benefit will be limited to lounge access only. Non-lounge airport experiences in the form of credits for restaurants, cafes and bars will no longer be available. For a list of available lounges, please visit americanexpress.com.au/platinumlounges "

 

[jasonfungsing]

Time to consider close platinum card...

 

[SeaWolf]

There's a lot of chatter on US forums about other credit cards still offering the full Priority Pass.
Are there any that do that here? I know Citibank Prestige includes Priority Pass but not sure what the limits on it are.

 

[samh004]

Seems like they should have just come up with a better method of policing it than screwing honest users. It doesn't even make sense for the AU market where there aren't any lounges domestically to fall back on (you can't call Rex a lounge )

 

[awkwardpaws]

just to be clear, for AU plat charge holders, does this also exclude non-AU PP restaurants too? eg, TGM in Changi Singapore?

 

[theoracle30]

eg, TGM in Changi Singapore?

Slightly off-topic, but isn't TGM in Changi classified as a 'lounge' rather than a 'restaurant'? The page on PP's website doesn't mention anything about a dining credit, whereas on actual restaurant pages it does.