Amex platinum Charge annual fee increase

[iFLYflat]

CX Gold will not get you into a business lounge on a JQ flight as JQ is not an Oneworld airline.

Yes - you are right, I must have got in previously while travelling with my wife, who has Platinum, or my Qantas Club guest passes.

Business-wise, I think the $200 flight credit is a smart move, as it gets people using the Platinum Travel service more, which then leads to more bookings for other flights and then hotels too, and drive more volume (hence rebates) through their channels.

 

[k3nnis]

I paid my renewal fee in July this year of $900. Will I still be getting the new benefits ???

 

[iFLYflat]

I paid my renewal fee in July this year of $900. Will I still be getting the new benefits ???

Yes - most benefits start 1 Oct 2013, though I've just registered for the Wine Companion and the Golf club already.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

I paid my renewal fee in July this year of $900. Will I still be getting the new benefits ???

Yes - some immediately others as of October 1st... and you have until July next year to decide if they are worth the additional $300.

My renewal is due in December and although the new benefits are probably worth the $300 increase I think I'm going to cancel due to previous devaluation of travel insurance and loss of points, ultimately I don't think the card is worth $1,200...

 

[iFLYflat]

One of the key reasons I am keeping mine, is that, it is the only card with 9 airline partners (including Qantas) which you can transfer points to at your leisure. And via SPG, transfer points to nearly every airline program in the world.

This alone is the most valuable feature of the card, and is why I recommend it to my members who are building a decent frequent flyer strategy.
Ideally I would like to see more airline partners added.

If this ever goes away or gets devalues, then my spending on the card will immediately cease.


AIRLINE REWARDS PARTNERS (1:1 except AirNZ)
· Qantas Frequent Flyer
· Velocity Frequent Flyer
· Etihad Guest
· Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
· Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
· Air New Zealand Airpoints
· THAI Royal Orchid Plus
· Malaysia Airlines Enrich
· Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
FREQUENT GUEST PARTNERS
· Starwood Preferred Guest
· Hilton Hhonors


Cheers
iFLYflat

 

[Mal]

There is still the option for an amex plat reserve credit card for free isn't there?
If so... Add another free flight into the value benefit.

 

[Ricardo]

There is still the option for an amex plat reserve credit card for free isn't there?
If so... Add another free flight into the value benefit.

Or a hotel stay, but I guess the flight would be worth more in dollar terms ?

 

[nlagalle]

There is still the option for an amex plat reserve credit card for free isn't there?
If so... Add another free flight into the value benefit.

Yes there is. Plus I also have a gold charge which is free too.

 

[beardoc]

I wonder if they'll also put up the affinity Platinum charge cards too, like the AMA Platinum Charge. I wonder if it'll stay $200 below the standard fee (i.e. $1000).

 

[dein_gesicht]

You can't the platinum charge anymore on the AMA site

 

[Demonoid]

New annual fee increase posted on amex site

https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/the-platinum-card/

 

[Mike989]

One of the key reasons I am keeping mine, is that, it is the only card with 9 airline partners (including Qantas) which you can transfer points to at your leisure. And via SPG, transfer points to nearly every airline program in the world.

This alone is the most valuable feature of the card, and is why I recommend it to my members who are building a decent frequent flyer strategy.
Ideally I would like to see more airline partners added.

If this ever goes away or gets devalues, then my spending on the card will immediately cease.


AIRLINE REWARDS PARTNERS (1:1 except AirNZ)
· Qantas Frequent Flyer
· Velocity Frequent Flyer
· Etihad Guest
· Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
· Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
· Air New Zealand Airpoints
· THAI Royal Orchid Plus
· Malaysia Airlines Enrich
· Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
FREQUENT GUEST PARTNERS
· Starwood Preferred Guest
· Hilton Hhonors


Cheers
iFLYflat

Hilton Hhonors? I thought this was no longer?

 

[nlagalle]

Hilton Hhonors? I thought this was no longer?

You can still transfer points to Hilton..

 

[Ricardo]

No more Plat reserve card ??

 

[Ricardo]

No more Plat reserve card ??

Found it ....

 

[dcooper]

Just spoke to american express Yep increased to $1200 which makes it one of the MOST expensive platinum credit card in the world from what i can see. Honestly american express is just taking us for a ride. The $200 dollar benefit with travel services is really only $145 as they charge $55.00 per booking and their rates are not the most competitive. I wonder which customers are very happy at a 33% increase in their fee when we also pay a surcharge on most things we buy. I spoke to AMEX today around the benefits and its all meant to be fantastic. Hmmmm I feel as though they are just looking at our segment and have gone we can probably get another $300 out of them. They were saying that i was one of the few customers not happy with the changes. perhaps we should start an online petition to see how many customers are unhappy? if i'm the only one then i'll be very surprised. I added up my surcharges for last financial year and it came to $1000 just for using my amex. Perhaps we should start billing americanexpress everytime we can't use our card or everytime we get surcharged. They do nothing about surcharging as they get MSF on top of the surcharge amount. They win both ways.

 

[Mike989]

Just spoke to american express Yep increased to $1200 which makes it one of the MOST expensive platinum credit card in the world from what i can see. Honestly american express is just taking us for a ride. The $200 dollar benefit with travel services is really only $145 as they charge $55.00 per booking and their rates are not the most competitive. I wonder which customers are very happy at a 33% increase in their fee when we also pay a surcharge on most things we buy. I spoke to AMEX today around the benefits and its all meant to be fantastic. Hmmmm I feel as though they are just looking at our segment and have gone we can probably get another $300 out of them. They were saying that i was one of the few customers not happy with the changes. perhaps we should start an online petition to see how many customers are unhappy? if i'm the only one then i'll be very surprised. I added up my surcharges for last financial year and it came to $1000 just for using my amex. Perhaps we should start billing americanexpress everytime we can't use our card or everytime we get surcharged. They do nothing about surcharging as they get MSF on top of the surcharge amount. They win both ways.

I agree totally.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

I agree totally.

+1 - it's a joke I will cancel my card before renewal comes up

 

[paultiffen]

AIRLINE REWARDS PARTNERS (1:1 except AirNZ)
· Qantas Frequent Flyer
· Velocity Frequent Flyer
· Etihad Guest
· Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
· Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
· Air New Zealand Airpoints
· THAI Royal Orchid Plus
· Malaysia Airlines Enrich
· Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
FREQUENT GUEST PARTNERS
· Starwood Preferred Guest
· Hilton Hhonors


Cheers
iFLYflat[/QUOTE]

Is the transfer rate to Spg 2:1 or 1:1?

 

[Flying High]

This does seem to be a staggeringly large increase for what are mostly small incremental improvements (at best) in the benefits.

I was worried the instant I saw a large booklet enclosed with the letter from Amex. In my experience, the more they have to blind you with glossy brochures, the worse the actual news is. Turns out I was correct.

From Amex's point of view, they are taking a gamble that people will whinge about the price increase, but in the end will mostly suck it up and pay it to continue with the benefits. If this largely works, it simply means that $900 was actually too small a fee.

It's the large size of the increase in one hit that surprises me. I don't like it of course, and I suspect I'll be one of the people who suck it up and pay the fee. But I think I'll give it a bit more thought this year.