AMEX Platinum Charge Benefits - Q&A

[SeaWolf]

Does anyone know whether QF was removed from the Amex Travel site? It looks like all QF flights have disappeared or become unsearchable?

What route are you searching? I just did a random search for SYD-PER on the 13th July and QF flights are showing up for me.

 

[Chicken]

I searched for SYD MEL around Easter and no Qantas was returned, but I got heaps of Jetstar!

 

[_TheTraveller_]

I tried SYD-AKL in J but nothing popped up. Only NZ and LA.

Edit: Odd. It fixed itself.

Edit 2: Even more odd... no QF flights when logged in but when I'm loged out there are QF flights.

 

[zzap]

Just as a followup to this .. when checking in to Fiji airways flight LAX-NAN last week they specifically look for insurance covering covid and the document you folks provided was key .. also I had highlighted the Policy Number on the print out I handed the checkin agent and this seemed to satisfy him. Though my preference would be to have something more substantial/specific like AXA provides to certain AMEX holders as outlined here:

American Express Proof Of Travel Insurance

Getting proof from American Express that you are covered by the travel insurance that comes with the card?

loyaltylobby.com

Has anyone been able to get a “certificate of insurance” for COVID travel purposes from Amex AU or Chubb? Seems like Plat holders in other locations have been able to achieve this via the local underwriter of their Plat-included travel insurance.

Some countries are super strict on this. When I travelled to Thailand recently, I bought travel insurance directly from AHM, who provided a “certificate of insurance” with Covermore’s logo on it, and spent 20 minutes getting challenged by a check-in agent as the insurer’s name wasn’t consistent. I can only imagine how one would fare with just the Amex insurance T&Cs documents...

 

[Berlin]

I can only imagine how one would fare with just the Amex insurance T&Cs documents...

Oh dear- this scares me so a great question. I was simply going to order an updated version of these little insurance brochures that AMEX has, hoping of course that this will be sufficient.

So any experience reports would be greatly appreciated!

 

[SeaWolf]

Oh dear- this scares me so a great question. I was simply going to order an updated version of these little insurance brochures that AMEX has, hoping of course that this will be sufficient.

This was my plan as well. I figured I'd just put little tabs on the pages detailing medical and Covid cover and perhaps highlight the relevant lines.
But I guess if you hit a check in agent who wants to be a bit difficult it could come unstuck quite quickly.

 

[RealtimeY]

This was my plan as well. I figured I'd just put little tabs on the pages detailing medical and Covid cover and perhaps highlight the relevant lines.
But I guess if you hit a check in agent who wants to be a bit difficult it could come unstuck quite quickly.

I was also planning to do exactly this for Thailand over Easter. Perhaps by then the check-in agents will have become more willing to accept credit card insurance T&Cs.

 

[Berlin]

I was also planning to do exactly this for Thailand over Easter. Perhaps by then the check-in agents will have become more willing to accept credit card insurance T&Cs.

Mine is not until later in the year so please report back on here, it will be extremely helpful!

 

[Ktan89]

I travelled to Thailand with CX in Dec. Had to show them the PDF, highlighted the wording and more.
The staff had to get manager approval and when she was speaking to the manager it didn't seem to quite satisfy her.
Luckly they ended up letting me go after I had to prove my point with the following:
- tickets booked with Amex (showed the eticket)
- show that Thailand wasn't part of "do not travel" Aus travel advisory. I had to show them the different levels on the smarttraveller website. They were concerned about the PDF wording.
- pin point the words saying health cover is unlimited.. including Covid19.

Apparently she had to make sure because credit card insurance can be tricky because her partners past experience with it..

Also, they made me update my test and go hotel booking to show 2 adults was staying. It had to include my partners name. So I had to make a call to the hotel and get them to send an email.

This whole process took more than an hour. It was the longest check in experience and it was an empty flight (70pax).. im just thankful we went to the airport at the normal time because I was planning on rocking up late since there was no lounge access.

If you want a smoother time at the airport maybe buy the 3rd party insurance because its not expensive for SE Asia.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

anyone had any issues with submitting a chubb claim for travel inconvenience? When I get to the flight details, I can't seem to get pass the page? It keeps saying updating flight details and doesn't proceed.

 

[muppet]

anyone had any issues with submitting a chubb claim for travel inconvenience? When I get to the flight details, I can't seem to get pass the page? It keeps saying updating flight details and doesn't proceed.

Yep. Had to request a paper form for a travel cancellation claim. Was quite a painful process, fill in form then respond to endless emails asking for the same information one tiny component at a time.

 

[muppet]

Having a look at the new policy activation.
Does anyone read the clause below as the frequent flyer points must have come from card?

In my scenario I've snagged a Qantas Classic Award and paid the taxes on my plat.
Not sure I can show a connection to the points redeemed from Qantas as coming from my Amex Membership Rewards balance. ( I warehouse points in MR and only transfer as needed, in this case I already had enough points in QFF that I didn't need to make a transfer)

I guess my question is about the word 'corresponding' does it refer to direct earn cards, or showing points transfers... or does the word not apply to the frequent flyer points part of the sentence.


International Return Trips

1. You are going on an International Return Trip and You pay the full amount of Your outbound ticket for a Scheduled Flight or Scheduled Cruise leaving Australia on Your:
   i. American Express Card Account;
   ii. corresponding American Express Membership Rewards points or frequent flyer points (where applicable); and/or
   iii. Travel Benefit.

What it is essentially saying is that the round trip that you paid must be a frequent flyer point + any other fees for that round trip flight in full. This way, they want to circumvent any split payment i.e you pay some points + AMEX + another card. I hope that cleared it up?

I asked the question directly where I used some of my own Qantas points one way and my mum’s KrisFlyer points the other way and this was the response:

Now to answer your question, these transactions have all originated from the same card account as explained by yourself and you are an additional card member on your mothers account. Please note as long as the Kris flyer points originated from the use of the Amex Card or membership reward points or either or then subject to the full terms, conditions and exclusions as mentioned above , you become eligible for the Complimentary Travel Insurance on the card.

Given that response, I’m not at all confident so I’ll need to buy a policy …. which for me significant devalues this card for me as so many of my trips are using points that all cannot be directly connected to the Amex.

 

[Daver6]

I asked the question directly where I used some of my own Qantas points one way and my mum’s KrisFlyer points the other way and this was the response:



Given that response, I’m not at all confident so I’ll need to buy a policy …. which for me significant devalues this card for me as so many of my trips are using points that all cannot be directly connected to the Amex.

Sounds like nonsense to me. How can they tell the origin of the KF points used for a booking?

 

[andye]

Sounds like nonsense to me. How can they tell the origin of the KF points used for a booking?

I suppose they'd know if you have transferred MR to KF ever

 

[sudoer]

Cross posting from the VA promos thread - VA are doing 20% off for Plat/Centurion holders through Amex IAP

Virgin Australia - Promo Codes (ongoing)

Yes I went to book this morning and it has gone up even further. Even reward points are high. Just checked QF and may go with them. Reward points are much less and will start my trip with QF to keep Plat this year.....with Virgin I was going to try and keep my Status match. The only cheaper...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[maccaisking]

Cross posting from the VA promos thread - VA are doing 20% off for Plat/Centurion holders through Amex IAP

Virgin Australia - Promo Codes (ongoing)

Yes I went to book this morning and it has gone up even further. Even reward points are high. Just checked QF and may go with them. Reward points are much less and will start my trip with QF to keep Plat this year.....with Virgin I was going to try and keep my Status match. The only cheaper...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

This offer has been good to us. We have booked several flights for our family combining this offer with the 30% off reward seats offer.

 

[sudoer]

Looks like a good use of the Platinum Travel credit.

 

[sudoer]

Does anyone have any experience booking with FHR and paying with another Amex card?

Thinking to book Hilton through Plat FHR but pay using Hilton Amex for 14x...

Testing this out myself at Conrad Singapore today.

Booked through the Amex US FHR portal as it gives the option to attach HH number during booking (AU portal doesn't)

The booking showed in my Hilton app within 5-10 min. Card attached to the booking in the app was prefilled as my Plat.

3-4 days before arrival, I opened the Hilton app again and changed the card number to Hilton Aspire.

Have just checked in, gave the Aspire for the security deposit also, no issues. Wasn't asked to show the Plat. HH number & status correctly reflected on the check-in sheet.

Was given two pages explaining benefits - one for FHR and one for suite/exec guests. Exec/Suites get 20% off spa treatments, I'm expecting that will stack with the US$100/SG$128 FHR credit to give SG$160 usable on the spa.

Will report back with definitive success after the points post and probably drop some pics/info in the how Hilton treats elites thread. So far so good, was upgraded to Centennial Suite ($1200SGD inc tax direct) from base King ($500SGD inc tax via FHR) with a bit of encouragement on my part through the chat app

 

[thatsthatmattressman]

Booked through the Amex US FHR portal as it gives the option to attach HH number during booking (AU portal doesn't)

Nifty move. So the price on the site is in SGD or USD .. and you simply incur the Forex fees? I am guessing you get here which is the USA portal .. nice!

https://travel.americanexpress.com/travel/finehotelsandresorts?inav=menu_nav_finehotelandresorts

 

[sudoer]

Nifty move. So the price on the site is in SGD or USD .. and you simply incur the Forex fees? I am guessing you get here which is the USA portal .. nice!

https://travel.americanexpress.com/travel/finehotelsandresorts?inav=menu_nav_finehotelandresorts

View attachment 274785

Yep that's the right spot.

The price shown there is USD, but as you should always select Pay At Hotel on FHR bookings to increase the chance of getting status recognition/points/status nights, it doesn't matter whether you book through the AU or US portals as you're gonna get charged in the local currency on checkout.

That is another benefit of switching payment over to the Hilton Aspire though, not only do I get 14x points on the HH spend, but the Aspire also doesn't incur a forex commission. Of course I need to pay it off via an AUD-USD transfer through Wise but they take a far smaller cut than the 3% Amex AU would slug me with for paying with the Plat.

Its looking like the US Aspire is an excellent partner card to the AU Plat if you are staying in Hiltons outside of Aus which are part of FHR/THC.