2013 Centurion Benefits

[pshepvic]

Hi all,

Received my Centurion magazine in the mail yesterday.

Free night with Peninsula Hotels offered this year - instead of Fairmont last year. Black out dates seem a little restrictive. Had no trouble using the Fairmont offer last year in San Fransisco - but will probably struggle to use this one.

Also, a Hertz offer - spend $300 by June 30th, and receive a $100 gift voucher back. Have tried to register, without success - keep getting an message "this offer is via invitation only". They did specify limited to the first 300 - but I would have thought that if those numbers have been reached, that the message would more than likely reflect that, rather than the message I was getting.

I have still not completely decided if I am going to keep the Centurion card of not - probably have another week to make my decision before my fee becomes due. The benefits just seem to get less each year.

Cheers,

Brooke

I managed to get a booking at the Peninsula Hong Kong in October on the free night - I guess that is a long way out so availability probably quite good, and not a peak travel time.

Got the free night at Fairmont Washington DC last year as well, which was in peak season.

Hertz offer worked for me when I signed up on Saturday - maybe give them a call as the 300 limit hadn't been reached by then.

 

[exp1k]

Ferrari Drive Experience was excellent! They had two FF, a California, a 458 Italia, a 458 Spider and one Maserati.
It felt a bit short though, I think it was quite a bit shorter than the advertised time. Maybe because we were driving too fast
As a gift we got the Ferrari 2012 yearbook and a 458 Italia print.

 

[davem]

The next day I received an email from the Centurion Lifestyles team stating that Apple Australia did not ship their products outside of Australia and that even if they did, it was illegal to send mobile phones by courier since they contained lithium batteries and that mobile phone batteries were not allowed on airplanes.

I didn't even reply to the email. I just asked a friend to go to the Apple store in Sydney, buy the phone and send it to me via DHL. I received the phone two days later.

After these, and several other similar experiences with the Centurion Lifestyles team, I no longer use them. I agree with spamalert and believe that the Amex Centurion marketing literature creates entirely unreal expectations of what they can and are willing to do for their Centurion card members and borders on fraud.

Well your friend then would have made a false declaration on the package. It is indeed not permissible to transport lithium bateries in the cargo hold of a plane. They may only be transported on person in the cabin.

This applies to all mail as well, even domestically.

 

[alemdohorizonte]

Well your friend then would have made a false declaration on the package.

Why would you say this????
It was declared on both the customs and shipping forms as being exactly what it was. An iPhone.

 

[RichardKopf]

Quoting Brooke; Also, a Hertz offer - spend $300 by June 30th, and receive a $100 gift voucher back. Have tried to register, without success - keep getting an message "this offer is via invitation only". They did specify limited to the first 300 - but I would have thought that if those numbers have been reached, that the message would more than likely reflect that, rather than the message I was getting.

I signed up for this today, after reading your post. No problem at all, and received confirmation email.

I managed to get a booking at the Peninsula Hong Kong in October on the free night - I guess that is a long way out so availability probably quite good, and not a peak travel time.

Got the free night at Fairmont Washington DC last year as well, which was in peak season.

Hertz offer worked for me when I signed up on Saturday - maybe give them a call as the 300 limit hadn't been reached by then.

How did you get a night in October when the promo is only until September? I'll be in HKG in Oct and may use the benefit, if possible.

 

[RichardKopf]

Well your friend then would have made a false declaration on the package. It is indeed not permissible to transport lithium bateries in the cargo hold of a plane. They may only be transported on person in the cabin.

This applies to all mail as well, even domestically.

Sorry, that is 100% bull. ALL iPhones purchased online from Apple are sent by air from China, as are iPads and iPods - all with said batteries. It is definitely not illegal and no false statements were required.

 

[blessed11]

Complementary CX MPC Diamond was very handy this week. Wanted flight to Hong Kong and a few internal flights. Reward availability in both QF and CX showed nil. Called CX, they opened J reward seats on all flights and ticketed on the phone. Burn rate better than QF.

 

[3eef]

So has anyone had CX Diamond renewed for a 3rd year yet?

 

[RichardKopf]

Complementary CX MPC Diamond was very handy this week. Wanted flight to Hong Kong and a few internal flights. Reward availability in both QF and CX showed nil. Called CX, they opened J reward seats on all flights and ticketed on the phone. Burn rate better than QF.

Great to know that CX will do that. I have been holding back on moving points to CX as they only fly J and Y to AUS but may be worthwhile for busier periods.

My greatest benefit of the CX Diamond, so far, is with seating. I had 2 x J redemptions SYD-NRT on QF, last Xmas. Couldn't get seats, except last row of J. On entering the Emerald Oneworld number, even in my redemption booking, all seats became available for preseating.

 

[blessed11]

Great to know that CX will do that. I have been holding back on moving points to CX as they only fly J and Y to AUS but may be worthwhile for busier periods.

My greatest benefit of the CX Diamond, so far, is with seating. I had 2 x J redemptions SYD-NRT on QF, last Xmas. Couldn't get seats, except last row of J. On entering the Emerald Oneworld number, even in my redemption booking, all seats became available for preseating.

Agree it's a shame no F is offered with CX on those routes. Though I do highly rate their J class cabin.

You don't necessarily need to transfer miles over to CX. On two separate occasions I had 0 miles in my CX account when making the bookings. They reserved the flights and gave 7 days to transfer points over. Can't ask for more.

 

[RichardKopf]

Agree it's a shame no F is offered with CX on those routes. Though I do highly rate their J class cabin.

You don't necessarily need to transfer miles over to CX. On two separate occasions I had 0 miles in my CX account when making the bookings. They reserved the flights and gave 7 days to transfer points over. Can't ask for more.

Thanks for the info. That sounds as good as it gets. Now, if they would add F cabin back to AUS, they would have a new regular guest.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

This surprises me - I have spoken to CX and they told me exact opposite - as Diamond would open any seat for paid flt but would not open seat for redemption - who / what number did you actually call please?

 

[blessed11]

That's odd. I call the CX HK office on +85227473888. Follow prompts and enter your Diamond MPC membership number. Have only had luck in them opening seats on CX flights of course.

Did you call a local CX number? I've never bothered checking if they have a local number for redemption bookings.

EDIT: This is where I must have retrieved the aforementioned number from: https://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_AU/contactus/mpo_am

 

[Diesellife]

They don't open all the seats, just a certain percentage.
However, I agree it's useful... Especially the redemption bucket is quite small and diamond can tap into a bigger pool...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

TBH I do not remember which number I called - it was a coupla months back - but I will try that number you listed again at some point in time and see if I have any luck - thanks a million for posting the info.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Any AFF members stayed previously at Peninsula Shanghai? If YES thoughts?

 

[rowdy]

Any AFF members stayed previously at Peninsula Shanghai? If YES thoughts?

I stayed this year over the New Year period with Mrs and Miss Rowdy (9 months)
Rooms are nice, modern, spacious with postcard views (we had a corner room with big bathroom , dressing room, large bedroom.
Service was Chinese variable. Breakfast order was never received correct on any occasion and they didn't ever grasp the concept that toast should at the very least be warm when delivered.
Room service prompt and efficient.
We didn't use any of the other hotel facilities but the (indoor) pool and gym looked to be well set up.

We actually stayed in 3 Penninsula's - Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai on that trip. Tokyo was by far the best of the 3, Beijing i would rate at 3 stars on a good day (run down with poor service), Shanghai OK but has potential if service could improve.

 

[pshepvic]

Quoting Brooke; Also, a Hertz offer - spend $300 by June 30th, and receive a $100 gift voucher back. Have tried to register, without success - keep getting an message "this offer is via invitation only". They did specify limited to the first 300 - but I would have thought that if those numbers have been reached, that the message would more than likely reflect that, rather than the message I was getting.

I signed up for this today, after reading your post. No problem at all, and received confirmation email.



How did you get a night in October when the promo is only until September? I'll be in HKG in Oct and may use the benefit, if possible.

If you read the T&Cs carefully the dates for most are until end Sept, but for Peninsula HK (and another one I think) the start date is later, and end date is 31 Oct.

It was perfect for me as I'm not going o/s before then.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I stayed this year over the New Year period with Mrs and Miss Rowdy (9 months).................Shanghai OK but has potential if service could improve.

Thanks for the input rowdy - am trying to use the free night on offer. I need to be in PVG 4 nts May 5 to 9 - am booked into Le Meridien @ RMB1,200+/nt incl bfst. Peninsula want RMB2,200+/nt + bfst RMB245+ on advance purchase rate = Total RMB2,450+/nt.It is business and I am solo so can't justify it - disappointed to hear about PEK though as that was another possibility later on - oh well - have to create a journey elsewhere to take up the offer I guess.

 

[RichardKopf]

If you read the T&Cs carefully the dates for most are until end Sept, but for Peninsula HK (and another one I think) the start date is later, and end date is 31 Oct.

It was perfect for me as I'm not going o/s before then.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't received the promo information. I had to call to ask for it and had not yet seen the T&C. After I saw your post, I called and booked a night in HKG. Upgraded to Grand Deluxe Harbour View, at a cost. Deal includes breakfast, midday check-in, 1600 check out, high tea plus return transfers. I have requested a Rolls Phantom, for the arrival transfer. I guess it's about a $1375.00, especially since it's a holiday week in Hong Kong. Even calculated as a replacement for a night at W, which I had booked at 5300+, and 2 transfers, it's at least $900.00 saving. 2 of these a year puts the Cent card in the black, for me.

Once again, thanks for the heads up. Maybe you should be my Cent concierge?