AMEX Platinum Charge Benefits - Q&A

[Mr_Orange]

Wow, the Platinum Charge has really gone to the dogs and with no annual fee decrease!

 

[albyd]

I’m not sure what perks the Tiranium/card in between Centurion & Platinum would have.

Centurion & PC have pretty much the same feature set in Australia. Centurion & PC have had AFR removed in latest round of enhancements.

 

[Mr_Orange]

What on earth does Centurion give you for $5k pa then?

 

[sudoer]

What on earth does Centurion give you for $5k pa then?

Amex Australia - Centurion Card Eligibility

the joining fee was 5k - waived the yearly fee ( ongoing ) is 5k - had to pay it the spend on explorer was 400k pm - mostly personal spend, perhaps 20% business - this was a pain as explorer had limit of 50 k so I had to continuously top up. they wanted the notice of assessment from ATO I now...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Qantas Club, Emirates Gold, various Centurion services (Airport Fast Track, Transfers, etc), better hotel status, etc.

Not worth 5k but there are some tangible benefits above the Platinum card.

Edit: The new Platinum benefit which is "just around the corner" better not be Qantas Club. Already get one useless QC membership through Points Club Plus, I don't need another. But I can see Qantas dishing it out to Amex Plat cardholders (at a reduced rate to Amex) to entice spend with Qantas.

 

[samh004]

What on earth does Centurion give you for $5k pa then?

There is a thread that lists the benefits, and it's generally not that great, more a status symbol card, but then I guess it depends on individual circumstances as to what you use. As noted above, Qantas Club membership is useless to me as an LTG. I would continue flying oneworld post-pandemic so the Emirates status is also meaningless to me. That said, if I was doing regular international travel, the Centurion dining room in Centurion lounges I've heard is quite good in places like HKG. As would be fast tracks and transfers for booking with AMEX travel, which I already do internationally.

For the PC & PR in my case, I pay the $1450 annual fee and straight up can wipe $850 off with the two travel credits, that I have no issues using domestically. The start of this year there was a supermarket credit up to $400 I recall, so that brings me to a saving of $1250. There's the Accor Plus benefit, that last year I managed to use at a Sofitel in Singapore to great effect. This year it'll save me perhaps ~$300 on the rate I selected for a 2 night stay, so that's a saving of $1550 and I'm ahead by $100. I also used the net-a-porter offer to get some household supplies – aesop – and that repeats in the second half of the year. Last night I had my anniversary dinner at a restaurant that is participating in both shop small and the promotion "delicious 20% back up to $25". So, I am upset that Priority Pass has lost benefits (and I can't use it anyway), AFR is being removed, Shangri-La is gone... but I am still extracting value. I'm pretty confident that it would be nearly impossible to extract $5000 from a Centurion card though

 

[Mr_Orange]

Thanks @samh004.

I'm in no hurry to jump back on the Amex bandwagon. I'm enjoying a no annual fee card with no international transaction fees and no stress trying to extract value from it.

It doesn't earn any points for anything, but then I have more QF points than I can use at the moment anyway.

 

[albyd]

I think both PC and Centurion are "travel" cards and they're the only Charge cards left in Amex AU's offering.

Amex is now sufficiently widely accepted to be used as a "general purpose" payments card (I put almost all but a few of my purchases on it - I understand this might be different for everyone).

I think while there's all these extra "statuses" and access afforded to Centurion members, I'm still not sure there's a major difference with PC. They're both charge cards. My impression is that the "shadow" limit on Centurion might be higher than on PC given individual spend activity.

Ultimately, Centurion (if Amex offer it to you) and PC will come down to individual choice. Now we're using ApplePay to pay for everything, not sure that there's the same status cachet (if that's important to you) as there might have once been at whipping out a fancy card at time of payment.

 

[sudoer]

they're the only Charge cards left in Amex AU's offering

Gold charge is still around.

 

[albyd]

Fair enough - I've got mine still with PE as "companion" card. There's a number that are grandfathered like Rewards Advantage and Green.

You can't apply for these as a new customer from the website.

 

[jonboixxx]

It has been grandfathered (so far) for members who held the card before the credit was scrapped.

Plus they also gave me 200k points, each of the last 2 years when I discussed cancellation, even though I rarely use it and had cancelled the Plat Charge that it was attached to a few years ago.

 

[CallMeHoju]

Fair enough - I've got mine still with PE as "companion" card. There's a number that are grandfathered like Rewards Advantage and Green.

You can't apply for these as a new customer from the website.

Interesting you say from the website. Maybe something I've missed but can you "downgrade" to, say, Gold charge from Plat internally?

 

[Quattro]

Interesting you say from the website. Maybe something I've missed but can you "downgrade" to, say, Gold charge from Plat internally?

Yes, if you ask to cancel they'll offer the Gold also.

 

[ole nimeton]

Edit: The new Platinum benefit which is "just around the corner" better not be Qantas Club. Already get one useless QC membership through Points Club Plus, I don't need another. But I can see Qantas dishing it out to Amex Plat cardholders (at a reduced rate to Amex) to entice spend with Qantas.

I'd be disappointed if they just offered this to the primary card holder as I already have Points Club Plus (and QF Platinum) but I'd find it an extremely useful benefit if Qantas Club was offered to an additional card holder too, like the current Priority Pass arrangement.

 

[bernardblack]

I would love for the 3% FX commission to go. When we can travel again, and currently for shopping online, that would add some value back. Not $1500 (at least not with my spending), but an amount.

 

[edman]

Qantas club work work for me. And dropping the FX.

Got a survey wanting feedback on some merchant incentives, one of the options they wanted feedback on was a rewards program for merchants. Sounds interesting.

 

[albyd]

I don’t see the Qantas Club as a big draw card for me. As much as I’d like to fly QF as my preferred airline, when VA is half the price, I’ll choose VA every time.

Centurion already has QF Club access so if Centurion also lost AFR and got the same email about an ‘exciting’ new benefit, it likely won’t be QF Club that Amex is adding.

I agree the FX fee is a rort. Guess they’re pricing for the local market. Most premium type cards from other issuers still have it so they’re not removing it.

In the US, it’s common not to have it for many cards, esp premium cards so they don’t have it.

Don’t blame them for pricing for the local market as much as I’d prefer to put these charges on my Amex.

 

[sudoer]

Centurion already has QF Club access so if Centurion also lost AFR and got the same email about an ‘exciting’ new benefit, it likely won’t be QF Club that Amex is adding

Fair point.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Agree that QF Club access is unlikely to be an added perk, though there would be a solid value proposition there. Effectively it would mean access to all QF, VA and the few Rex lounges (thanks to PP), which would pretty much cover domestic travel, even on JQ at MEL and SYD.

 

[JFi]

Didn't know about this rumoured new card so did some Googling but then came across something else not sure if discussed before. It seems the US Plat card will no longer allow guests entry to the Centurion lounges from Feb 2023. Hopefully this isn't more enhancements starting with the US version before being rolled out to the rest of the world like the PP restaraunt credits. Although there aren't many Centurion lounges worldwide, I have used the HK one a few times with two guests each time before and while it's nice, I wouldn't be paying $50USD for each guest.

NOTE: GUEST POLICY CHANGES EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Platinum Card® and Business Platinum Card® Members will be charged a per-visit fee of $50 for each guest. Platinum Card® and Business Platinum Card® Members will qualify for Complimentary Guest Access after spending $75,000 in purchases on their Card between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 and in each calendar year thereafter.

 

[sudoer]

It seems the US Plat card will no longer allow guests entry to the Centurion lounges from Feb 2023.

Has been discussed in this thread a few pages back

AMEX Platinum Charge Benefits - Q&A

If you like/use Aesop products in your bathroom at home, the $75 could get you very close to two refills of hand wash (500ml each). That's what I'm going to be spending my credit on, as would have otherwise had to buy from Aesop directly. You have the best smelling hands this side of the Tasman...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au