Amex platinum Charge annual fee increase

[lovestotravel]

Sorry sticking the the RESERVE card for now which is $395. The Edge is $195

But $395 for a free $500 flight and 3 points at restaurants and 2 spent on travel (Qantas and a few others) is pretty good value

Petrol/Shopping/Gift card purchases would be at most $500 a month and I can use my Commbank card for 1.5 points per $1



As for cancelling my Plat Charge - I was offered NOTHING to stay, just the direct number to the guy I was cancelling the card with. If I stayed I could call him whenever Amex stuffed up something (which they do from time to time) Big deal the general customer service reps are pretty good

Prime recent example was blocking my card for use in Singapore for a $100 purchase... Plat credit card blocked, Plat charge card not! Thanks for the embarrassment of having a credit card decline.....

My spend as I said somewhere else in this thread is about $200,000 pa with Amex, which isnt' great but it's sure better than your typical mum/dad who spends a few thousand a year yet would get 80000 points on signing up................

$1200 pa really gives me nothing, except the option to transfer points to Qantas, I have transferred enough points for the next few years of projected travel in J/F as I am happy enough with Qantas International for another 2-4 years before EK takes over and more routes are cut......

Bye bye Amex Charge it's been a nice 10 or so years with you, but $1200 pa was the final straw!

 

[Demonoid]

Sorry sticking the the RESERVE card for now which is $395. The Edge is $195

But $395 for a free $500 flight and 3 points at restaurants and 2 spent on travel (Qantas and a few others) is pretty good value

Petrol/Shopping/Gift card purchases would be at most $500 a month and I can use my Commbank card for 1.5 points per $1



As for cancelling my Plat Charge - I was offered NOTHING to stay, just the direct number to the guy I was cancelling the card with. If I stayed I could call him whenever Amex stuffed up something (which they do from time to time) Big deal the general customer service reps are pretty good

Prime recent example was blocking my card for use in Singapore for a $100 purchase... Plat credit card blocked, Plat charge card not! Thanks for the embarrassment of having a credit card decline.....

My spend as I said somewhere else in this thread is about $200,000 pa with Amex, which isnt' great but it's sure better than your typical mum/dad who spends a few thousand a year yet would get 80000 points on signing up................

$1200 pa really gives me nothing, except the option to transfer points to Qantas, I have transferred enough points for the next few years of projected travel in J/F as I am happy enough with Qantas International for another 2-4 years before EK takes over and more routes are cut......

Bye bye Amex Charge it's been a nice 10 or so years with you, but $1200 pa was the final straw!

Good points there Loves...
As I have mentioned in a previous post my travel is with Virgin so lack of Qantas points transfer means nothing to me, nor the Marco Polo Card (for Qantas lounge access - I dont fly with them), or the Virgin lounge access (which I get as a Velocity Gold anyway)

Rather than keep the Reserve ($395) the wife has the Velocity Platinum Amex ($345) which gives the same Plat Charge 3-2-1 rewards and the free Virgin flight. I will see if I can get the Edge though - another free flight and 3-2-1 on supermarket and fuel for $195 is a no brainer.

I'd have thought the Qantas Ultimate Amex card would have been best for you - although I note its about $100 more than the equivalent Velocity Plat Amex...

 

[lovestotravel]

Good points there Loves...
As I have mentioned in a previous post my travel is with Virgin so lack of Qantas points transfer means nothing to me, nor the Marco Polo Card (for Qantas lounge access - I dont fly with them), or the Virgin lounge access (which I get as a Velocity Gold anyway)

Rather than keep the Reserve ($395) the wife has the Velocity Platinum Amex ($345) which gives the same Plat Charge 3-2-1 rewards and the free Virgin flight. I will see if I can get the Edge though - another free flight and 3-2-1 on supermarket and fuel for $195 is a no brainer.

I'd have thought the Qantas Ultimate Amex card would have been best for you - although I note its about $100 more than the equivalent Velocity Plat Amex...

Thanks

I totally forgot about the Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Pay - Qantas American Express Ultimate Card

50000 points on sign-up although it won't help me at the moment (12 month waiting period)

$450 a year though, as you said, but that's only $55 more than the $395 Amex Reserve and I get a free flight on the Qantas Ultimate as well....

I am pretty happy to keep points for use with SQ though as that's my preferred Euro airline and availability is pretty good even on short notice for FF redemption in premium cabins, so the Amex Reserve is still pretty good!

I'll have to think about it a bit more perhaps, I would rather sit on a pool of points than have points transfer to QF or any airline automatically, as all airlines eventually ENHANCE their offerings.

As I said I am sitting on a large pool of QF points in my QF account which has me a little worried (I am more worried about my Virgin points though, given their cash-flow position at the moment)

But again, as I said, QF Int is still solid for at least 2-3 more years! If QF do not firm up their A380/B787/A350/B777X order by around 2015/2016 it is very much the end of QFi

 

[Fatcat]

Sorry sticking the the RESERVE card for now which is $395. The Edge is $195

But $395 for a free $500 flight and 3 points at restaurants and 2 spent on travel (Qantas and a few others) is pretty good value

Petrol/Shopping/Gift card purchases would be at most $500 a month and I can use my Commbank card for 1.5 points per $1



As for cancelling my Plat Charge - I was offered NOTHING to stay, just the direct number to the guy I was cancelling the card with. If I stayed I could call him whenever Amex stuffed up something (which they do from time to time) Big deal the general customer service reps are pretty good

Prime recent example was blocking my card for use in Singapore for a $100 purchase... Plat credit card blocked, Plat charge card not! Thanks for the embarrassment of having a credit card decline.....

My spend as I said somewhere else in this thread is about $200,000 pa with Amex, which isnt' great but it's sure better than your typical mum/dad who spends a few thousand a year yet would get 80000 points on signing up................

$1200 pa really gives me nothing, except the option to transfer points to Qantas, I have transferred enough points for the next few years of projected travel in J/F as I am happy enough with Qantas International for another 2-4 years before EK takes over and more routes are cut......

Bye bye Amex Charge it's been a nice 10 or so years with you, but $1200 pa was the final straw!

$200k a year is a fair bit, probably in the top 1% of spending for the plat charge now that hardly anyone is using them to pay tax bills at 0.5 pts.
They used to send Centurion invitations to those spending 60-80k a yr. Pretty disappointing they wouldn't offer ANYTHING to keep a 10 yr customer with that sort of spending pattern, looks like no ones getting any incentives to stay.
Dropping SPG and offering Accor is laughable given the target market for this card.

 

[mick]

Dropping SPG and offering Accor is laughable given the target market for this card.

Have I missed something? I thought SPG was still available...

 

[Isochronous]

$200k a year is a fair bit, probably in the top 1% of spending for the plat charge now that hardly anyone is using them to pay tax bills at 0.5 pts.
They used to send Centurion invitations to those spending 60-80k a yr. Pretty disappointing they wouldn't offer ANYTHING to keep a 10 yr customer with that sort of spending pattern, looks like no ones getting any incentives to stay.
Dropping SPG and offering Accor is laughable given the target market for this card.

What, no more free SPG Gold on the Amex Plat? WHen was this announced?

 

[Fatcat]

Have I missed something? I thought SPG was still available...

I may be wrong but it seems to have disappeared from the list of benefits for the card on the website, so I just assumed it wont be renewed.
Maybe its like MP gold and will just be renewed without being stipulated as a benefit. Its still alluded to in the terms and conditions under pt 9.

 

[k3nnis]

It's still there on the platinum website.

www.americanexpress.com.au/platinum

Then login, then click on the benefits directory. But still can't justify $1200.

 

[straitman]

Finally pulled the pin on this card today

Sticking with the Platinum RESERVE card for now as it provides some good value with a free $500ish flight, good points earning on travel/restaurants which are my main two spends.

lovestotravel,

The Platinum Reserve free flight is with VA and I thought you do not fly VA :?:

LOL - All reports on here are that nothing has changed really!

Last flight was about 15 months ago

Still serving hot dogs in the lounge ?
Still cancelling flights due to poor loadings ?
Still got Luke serving up poor food ?
Still no fixed IFE ?
Still no audio IFE ?
Do all aircraft have AC charging ports so that customers can charge their own IFE ?
Still losing money ?
Website still not working properly ?
Still have to log in many times to the website ?
Any J lounges yet with spirits or real food ?

 

[straitman]

What, no more free SPG Gold on the Amex Plat? WHen was this announced?

It's still there on the platinum website.

www.americanexpress.com.au/platinum

Then login, then click on the benefits directory. But still can't justify $1200.

When is the best time to opt in to the SPG Gold to get the max time benefit :?:

 

[greenfrog86]

When is the best time to opt in to the SPG Gold to get the max time benefit :?:

What do you mean? It is a recurring benefit...

 

[lovestotravel]

$200k a year is a fair bit, probably in the top 1% of spending for the plat charge now that hardly anyone is using them to pay tax bills at 0.5 pts.
They used to send Centurion invitations to those spending 60-80k a yr. Pretty disappointing they wouldn't offer ANYTHING to keep a 10 yr customer with that sort of spending pattern, looks like no ones getting any incentives to stay.

Yep I was kinda surprised actually. But they probably read the notes and say that the past 2 years I was going to cancel and didn't...

But 80K points for a new customer who only has to spend a small amount is a joke.. I get that new customers are always a target but letting medium spend customers go for the sake of say 30K points is just silly.

I would have stayed for 30K points of even 1/2 the fee waived/credited

Oh well it's cancelled now and I was really expecting a last min save offer!

have stayed

 

[straitman]

What do you mean? It is a recurring benefit...

If I apply now will I get 6 months or 12 months or 15 months SPG Gold :?:

I currently do not plan to renew the AMEX Plat Ch card when it is due at the end of March.

 

[greenfrog86]

If I apply now will I get 6 months or 12 months or 15 months SPG Gold :?:

I currently do not plan to renew the AMEX Plat Ch card when it is due at the end of March.

Well you'll get it until then and anything beyond that is a bonus.

They issue cards for 12 months but you'd have to seek people's actual experience regarding whether SPG pulls the benefit when Amex notifies that you're no longer a cardholder.

Don't be upset if you can't have your cake and eat it too

 

[lovestotravel]

lovestotravel,

The Platinum Reserve free flight is with VA and I thought you do not fly VA :?:

You are correct!

I give the flight to someone else and they pay me Have only done that once..

 

[straitman]

Well you'll get it until then and anything beyond that is a bonus.

They issue cards for 12 months but you'd have to seek people's actual experience regarding whether SPG pulls the benefit when Amex notifies that you're no longer a cardholder.

Don't be upset if you can't have your cake and eat it too

Not upset at all just asking as the free HHonors option through VA Platinum/Gold has definite trigger points.

You are correct!

I give the flight to someone else and they pay me Have only done that once..

Point taken.

 

[lovestotravel]

Will be interested to see if I lose SPG Gold!

 

[Plat_Flyer87]

Amex does unfortunately notify all the companies they have agreements with that you are no longer a card member - generally the company will either downgrade your status, or contact you directly with other options.

 

[Hammando]

Amex does unfortunately notify all the companies they have agreements with that you are no longer a card member - generally the company will either downgrade your status, or contact you directly with other options.

I canceled my plat charge card in April this year and am still SPG Gold and Marco Polo Gold.

 

[k3nnis]

How about priority pass and Accor plat?