Change in Platinum Card Travel Insurance?

[Flashback]

Could someone please summarise this thread...
ie what are the major changes etc?
ta
jc

Seriously? Read the first page, all the info is there.

 

[Deleted member]

Has anyone any knowledge of an easy to navigate site that compares cards and their "Benefits" ?

 

[greenfrog86]

I find it amazing that Amex touts all of the other travel related benefits, however it seems pretty stupid when you have a high likelihood of not being insured whilst using those benefits...

An interesting question - how would you be insured when you use your free flight on the Reserve Card? Presumably that card's policy must cover you while travelling to 'one of seven international destinations' otherwise this would be a complete joke...

I love that they list the amount of places you can go with your free flight, despite the fact that nobody will actually have access to all those destinations because of the restrictions they place on the flight based on where your are departing from... (ie you cannot fly to Bali from Melbourne).

Those of you who have commented on the cost, I too got this as a reason when I called Amex. She indicated the cost of medical expense claims were high and that this was a reason for rewording it...

I still think that they could have made some changes that would have impacted satisfaction slightly, without driving floods of complaints etc.

Amex, if you're listening here is what I would accept in terms of an insurance policy if you were to meet us in the middle...

• an excess on claims - whilst I don't want this I can understand the need to prevent small and/or frivolous claims
• Payment of the trip on the card, or a set amount towards the trip (ie towards hotels, tours etc) - again I wouldn't advocate for this but can understand it. But just make it the outboud/inbound flights starting in Australia, not EVERY SINGLE MODE OF TRANSPORT ON THE WHOLE ENTIRE TRIP
• Dangerous sports - I can understand not covering some things, however things like basic skiing should be included, especially given the target market for this card
• Pre existing medical conditions - lets be realistic and practical here... If you're not fit to fly and have medical advice saying this then you're a fool to expect coverage for this. However if you have slightly elevated blood pressure and are getting treatment and your doctor shares travel tips about places for coffee in Paris, then you should be covered
• Differentiate yourselves in the market and allow Supplementary cardholders to be covered too. This is a key element for me as my parents both have cards and I feel happier knowing their occasional travel is comprehensively covered too (especially when not travelling with me)

 

[Jane-Doe]

I find it amazing that Amex touts all of the other travel related benefits, however it seems pretty stupid when you have a high likelihood of not being insured whilst using those benefits...

An interesting question - how would you be insured when you use your free flight on the Reserve Card? Presumably that card's policy must cover you while travelling to 'one of seven international destinations' otherwise this would be a complete joke...

I love that they list the amount of places you can go with your free flight, despite the fact that nobody will actually have access to all those destinations because of the restrictions they place on the flight based on where your are departing from... (ie you cannot fly to Bali from Melbourne).

Those of you who have commented on the cost, I too got this as a reason when I called Amex. She indicated the cost of medical expense claims were high and that this was a reason for rewording it...

I still think that they could have made some changes that would have impacted satisfaction slightly, without driving floods of complaints etc.

Amex, if you're listening here is what I would accept in terms of an insurance policy if you were to meet us in the middle...

• an excess on claims - whilst I don't want this I can understand the need to prevent small and/or frivolous claims
• Payment of the trip on the card, or a set amount towards the trip (ie towards hotels, tours etc) - again I wouldn't advocate for this but can understand it. But just make it the outboud/inbound flights starting in Australia, not EVERY SINGLE MODE OF TRANSPORT ON THE WHOLE ENTIRE TRIP
• Dangerous sports - I can understand not covering some things, however things like basic skiing should be included, especially given the target market for this card
• Pre existing medical conditions - lets be realistic and practical here... If you're not fit to fly and have medical advice saying this then you're a fool to expect coverage for this. However if you have slightly elevated blood pressure and are getting treatment and your doctor shares travel tips about places for coffee in Paris, then you should be covered
• Differentiate yourselves in the market and allow Supplementary cardholders to be covered too. This is a key element for me as my parents both have cards and I feel happier knowing their occasional travel is comprehensively covered too (especially when not travelling with me)

My family has flown fully insured: one of us with a PEMC that will no longer be covered, according to the Plat T&C. We are all quite fit to fly and have done so for many years. There appears to be a significant risk of having medical insurance denied due to an ambiguous definition of PEMC, and I will have to purchase additional TI if Centurion decides to change their T&C to match Plat.

 

[turtlemichael]

I find it amazing that Amex touts all of the other travel related benefits, however it seems pretty stupid when you have a high likelihood of not being insured whilst using those benefits...

Another one of concern to me. If you transfer the requisite number of MR points to a FF programme it appears, at least so far as that hurdle is concerned, you'll be covered. What say you transfer 100,000 to VS. VS tops it up with 30,000 more under the current bonus points offer. The trip costs 120,000 points. Are you covered given a proportion of the required points came not from Amex but from VS. Common sense says you should be but are you?

 

[Stephen65]

Another one of concern to me. If you transfer the requisite number of MR points to a FF programme it appears, at least so far as that hurdle is concerned, you'll be covered. What say you transfer 100,000 to VS. VS tops it up with 30,000 more under the current bonus points offer. The trip costs 120,000 points. Are you covered given a proportion of the required points came not from Amex but from VS. Common sense says you should be but are you?

I can think of lots of scenarios where it's uncertain how the rules will be applied - also bearing in mind that the policy says absolutely nothing about being covered if you pay the "full fare" (whatever that is and so far I have been given or read three different answers by ACE agents) by MR converted to FF points. So you are totally at their mercy depending on how ACE choses to interpret it.

For example: assume I convert MR points into 60,000 QFF points. I then receive 50,000 QFF points from other sources giving me a total of 110,000 QFF points. It seems the intention is that if I now book an award flight for 60,000 points or less then I will be covered. But lets assume that before I booked that flight I spent 20,000 QFF points on buying a toaster leaving me only 90,000 QFF points in my account. Are those 20,000 QFF points deemed to come out of the 60,000 that were sourced from Amex or out of the 50,000 that came from elsewhere or maybe split in some way? If even one point comes from the Amex sourced points and I then book a 60,000 point award I will not be covered.

 

[greenfrog86]

It all just seriously worries me and my head hurts now so I'm going to skip along to the 'alternative insurance options' thread now being discussed to replace this coverage.

Interesting to note when reading through the Reserve T&Cs the excess amounts are often less than on this new Platinum Charge policy and activating the insurance only requires payment of the flights from/to Australia. Part of the definition however says that any other international trips (eg London to Berlin) need to be paid for on the card also in order to activate the insurance whilst you are in Berlin....

So now I'm thinking I'll be looking at booking my next trip on my Reserve card because of the insurance activation requirements, lower excess amounts and also the PEMC clauses being much more general (although being a healthy 25yr old I'm not so concerned about this one...)

 

[straitman]

AFF has a thread 'Centurion Card - Is it worth it?'

Maybe this thread should have a subheading of 'Platinum Card - Is it still worth it?'

 

[Cynicor]

Just called the Amex number and let them know I will be cancelling once my annual fee runs out, or my coverage expires, which ever happens first. Need an alternative card and insurance now, so I may go back to my recently closed reserve account. Pity really, 4 QF points per dollar at supermarkets was nice, but not nice enough.

 

[Browny23]

Guys'

Was doing a bit of looking around and found this tread on FT about the UK Platinum Card.
This is still a downgrade from where we were, but I could at least stomach their changes, can still use points for bookings, and still get medical cover without using card.
Why can we have this??

** I cant post links yet, so go to FT and look up UK:Hugely detrimental changes to Platinum travel insurance

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I'm amazed at all these run of the mill 'dangerous pursuits' that most of us wouldn't think twice about doing on a family holiday. I don't ever recall the guys on 'Jackass' ever doing something as dangerous as horseriding on a beach. Do ACE/Amex think that Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme are going to appear suddenly out of the sand dunes & start something.

As for clay pigeon shooting WTF??? I could understand if maybe you were the pigeon but not the person squeezing the trigger!

As for trying to explain the definition of having to pay for the 'full fare' do they mean 'the entire amount ie whatever the balance is you have to pay after using points for your award ticket?

So a Classic Award using all points for fare & taxes ie nil cash of any sort where no money is charged to any credit card is excluded? What about a Classic Award where you only pay the taxes - does that mean you've paid some kind of 'fare'?

Any Seat Award using minimum points (Classic level) & max dollars is covered? ASA using all points & nil cash not covered?

It's hard to understand whether Amex just mean whatever money you pay for your ticket whether discount economy, award redemption is paid via Amex Platinum not on a Visa or Mastercard.

We recently did an Any Seat Award redemption (for May fortunately) that was paid with SO's Amex Platinum charge card however I did a one-off family transfer of 40,000 points from my QF ff account which I'd earned using both by Amex card (QF $450.00 card) plus points earned on WW EDR Mastercard. What happens if you elect to purchase top-up points from QF also?

This whole scenario reminds me of Mike Willesee interviewing then Liberal Leader John Hewson in 1991 when he was trying to explain the GST that would or wouldn't be applicable on a birthday cake & candles.

[video=youtube;WndWM71-jSQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WndWM71-jSQ[/video]

 

[Duffa]

Platinum Concierge is on hand to assist you so that you can leave your tickets, dinner reservations and car transfer arrangements to us. No request is too big or too small for our Platinum Concierge Team.

Rubbish!
I kept a diary of how many times Plat Concierge let me down.
On 3 separate occasions I rang for a table at their listed Melbourne restaurants - never available - "the table has just gone" Yeah right!

 

[Deleted member]

In my limited experience. People on holiday will do the most bizarre things, they would never consider doing at home. ".......
Not sure why, maybe a disconnection with reality ?
Ride In a 3 wheel glorified unegistered unroadworthy motorized contraption. And think it's the best fun they ever had.
Heck I even did it.....
Not thus time now. Going to Koh Samui in 3 weeks, lots of massage, lying by the pool, more massage, and a Thai cooking school for mrs GPH and me, , more massagze.........although the cheese and kisses wants to see some temples etc......
So hopefully this won't be too taxing for the insurance cover.

 

[sparoz]

Rubbish!
I kept a diary of how many times Plat Concierge let me down.
On 3 separate occasions I rang for a table at their listed Melbourne restaurants - never available - "the table has just gone" Yeah right!

Do you have an account manager you can speak to?

Spoke to my account manager today (and my previous account manager). They just heard about the TI issues too as they haven't been briefed internally, but at the moment, the only change applies to Personal Charge Card only. Business Charge Card's policy remains the same. So for the people who hold the business charge card, the policy is still current. He also said he would feed back my concerns on how the new personal charge card is written as they also hold the Platinum Charge Card themselves for travel purposes.

 

[aplmac]

Do you have an account manager you can speak to?

Spoke to my account manager today (and my previous account manager). They just heard about the TI issues too as they haven't been briefed internally, but at the moment, the only change applies to Personal Charge Card only. Business Charge Card's policy remains the same. So for the people who hold the business charge card, the policy is still current. He also said he would feed back my concerns on how the new personal charge card is written as they also hold the Platinum Charge Card themselves for travel purposes.

Interesting, because the new T&C book defines 'American Express Platinum Card Account means an American Express Platinum Card account issued by American Express Australia, billed from Australia, and in Australian dollars'. It doesn't distinguish between credit, charge, personal or business - just colour-coded platinum. (my bolding)

 

[Diesellife]

Business' website is updated as well. The wording is similar and will require full purchase.

In the protection tab:

[In addition to all the other benefits you can enjoy with the Platinum Business
Card, you can relax in the knowledge that you are covered with the following
inclusive protection benefits when you book and pay on your Card.

http://www.americanexpress.com/australia/the-american-express-platinum-business-card#sub5

 

[aplmac]

Rubbish!
I kept a diary of how many times Plat Concierge let me down.
On 3 separate occasions I rang for a table at their listed Melbourne restaurants - never available - "the table has just gone" Yeah right!

Yup - same experience here. There's only one table 'reserved' at the nominated restaurants for Platinums (and possibly one for Centurions, but could be a code-share), and if you try to book other than say 6pm midweek, it's been booked ages in advance on a first-come, first-served basis, a PC team member told me, as he tried instead to convince me to consider a first-sitting at another venue.

And the travel folk seem to follow a script that assumes you want to travel first-class and stay in 5* accommodation at their partner establishments. We've always been able to achieve far more expansive and cost-efficient holidays doing it ourselves where Google and Expedia are your friends...especially when travelling as a family.

 

[pshepvic]

Yup - same experience here. There's only one table 'reserved' at the nominated restaurants for Platinums (and possibly one for Centurions, but could be a code-share), and if you try to book other than say 6pm midweek, it's been booked ages in advance on a first-come, first-served basis, a PC team member told me, as he tried instead to convince me to consider a first-sitting at another venue.

My experience has been totally different - I've had a 100% success rate with booking my first choice restaurant on the day through Amex, in both Sydney and Melbourne. They have a separate table for Centurion, however I think that they may give the Plat table to Cent members as well if the Cent one is already taken. I've used the service only around 10-12 times but have never had an issue.

They shouldn't be booking them weeks in advance, as the policy states that the booking is on the day (it's supposed to be for the times when you need a last minute reservation). You can still call Amex days or weeks ahead and they will make a booking for you, but they shouldn't be taking the "reserved" table - it should come from the normal restaurant availability.

I have a feeling that some of the restaurants may not be complying with the policy correctly, and are not aware that they are required to hold the table on the day. They may be assuming the if Amex call two weeks ahead, then they should use the reserved Amex table, but that should not be the case.

I'd send them some feedback in, as I think part of the problem may be education of the restaurants themselves.


Sent from my iPad using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[M@rcoPolo]

I was overseas for the last few weeks and got back today to find a letter in the mail from AMEX with the new T&Cs

Cover letter states...

"The changes apply to any trips that you book after 15 June 2012; or trips booked prior, but for wich you still need to pay a deposit"

So if I understand this correctly the "old rules" (you are covered just for being a cardholder) still apply if I book and pay (doesn't matter how I pay) for a trip before 15/6... Am I correct?

 

[tinkybelle]

I was overseas for the last few weeks and got back today to find a letter in the mail from AMEX with the new T&Cs

Cover letter states...

"The changes apply to any trips that you book after 15 June 2012; or trips booked prior, but for wich you still need to pay a deposit"

So if I understand this correctly the "old rules" (you are covered just for being a cardholder) still apply if I book and pay (doesn't matter how I pay) for a trip before 15/6... Am I correct?

yes it seems that as long as we book before then we are still covered
but what about new clients who have just ( and in mean in the last few days or weeks) applied and received the card does their insurance stay the old rules or the new?? as both my referrals got the card for the insurance.