New Centurion Annual Fee, Joining Fee and Points Earning Structure

[Cruiser Elite]

The Amex pts earn on Forex WILL NOT be for personal transactions - it will be for commercial / corporate Forex transactions.

Again I must emphasize Amex were not in a position to clarify the exact earn / cost of this new addition - I will advise as soon as I know.

Going forward my Cent usage - except for settling Forex - will be greatly reduced - so many other cards will earn higher pts.

Select at eff KF earn 3.33pts on any o/s transactions better then Amex best of 3pts.

Select at eff KF earn 1.33pts on any Dom transactions better than so many other Amex earn incl ATO.

Velocity Amex 3pt earn on VA spend and it gives other VA benefits.

WSQ Plat Amex gets you 3pts on SQ spend.

What does that leave - restaurants and travel that is non VA and non SQ ex Oz and that I can't fund with pts.

 

[pshepvic]

One thing to consider is the order in which you spend over the year. Take an example of a $600k total spend, with half on travel and half on non-travel.

Currently, you'd earn 850,000 points (750k capped on the first $500k, plus 1 point per $1 for the remaining $100k).

In the new structure, as long as at least $250k on Travel is spent before the cap is reached (ie. faster than the non-travel spend). However, if you spend $300k on non-travel first, before spending the $300k on travel, you would only get 825,000 points total ($300k x1pt + $225k x2pts would reach the cap of 750k points, then the remaining $75k at 1pt give total of 825k points, even though the last $75k is travel spend).

Obviously this will vary again once restaurants are thrown in - but in that case you'd be even worse off if you spend more on non-travel/non-restaurant earlier in the membership year.

For people that don't reach the cap (like me) you can certainly be better off though, especially if you direct the non-travel/non-restaurants to a bank issued Amex instead like I plan to.

 

[sparoz]

I know it is not finalised and I am currently setting up the commercial account as well. They won't have problem letting us pitting business transactions through cent?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

They won't have problem letting us pitting business transactions through cent?

I have put every business transaction I possibly can through Cent and Amex RM knows this - I think there will be quite a drop off of premium Amex cardholders so IMHO I would expect them to encourage as much usage by retainees as possible

 

[kamiao]

I would rather they had not increased the cost, but I like the DJ lounge access, Accor Plat, continued CX Diamond and Hilton Diamond even though they currently add no value for me. Realistically, there is no difference to us with the new points calculation. Travel and overseas spend is over 95% of our spend and we usually reach the cap within 6 weeks on Plat cards and a few months on Cent. This means we are paying 700.00 extra for the DJ lounge access, Hertz Pres, CX Diamond, Hilton Diamond. This WOULD be great value if we ever bought a flight ticket, or ever needed to fly economy. With the regular annual points haul, all our travel, domestic and international, is on points, in premium classes, so most of the benefits are never used. I spend about 100 nights a year at Starwood hotels, so earn SPG Plat. The only other hotel program I value, a bit, is Hilton, so the Diamond status has some value to me. The Cent. car rental rates are great, but status is irrelevant as I would always book the car I want.


My calculation based on value to me:
Bonus point cap: $2500.00
QF club for partner: $100 for the 2 domestic economy trips made per year
Insurance for cardmember and supp: $1500
Saving in car rental LDW 50 days @ 20.00 = $1000.00
2 free hotel nights, this year: $700.00
Hilton Diamond benefits for 10 nights this year, incl. club, full breakfast, Internet, maybe upgrade : $1000.00
Lifestyle: gratitude from friends for being able to source sold out tickets.... In Mastercards's words....priceless.

I'll stop looking for benefits at this point as they have well exceeded the cost.

Obviously, my business offers benefits that not all do, but for us, Cent is fantastic

I guess I should add that no bank issued credit card would allow me a limit of nearly half a million, which is a huge benefit of the Amex suite of charge cards, as is the extensive range of air and hotel partners to which I can transfer points. With the percentage bonuses offered throughout the year, it offers a permanent discount on redemptions, if you transfer at the right times.

When you say "continued CX Diamond", do you refer to the one-year CX Diamond offer or this status has been permanently offered to Cent members? i.e. no matter if you fly with CX or not you always keep that status and not subject to renewal?

I am a Plat at the moment and according to Amex, the CX Gold offer to Plat members, apparently is for one-year only and subject to renewal after that.

 

[pshepvic]

When you say "continued CX Diamond", do you refer to the one-year CX Diamond offer or this status has been permanently offered to Cent members? i.e. no matter if you fly with CX or not you always keep that status and not subject to renewal?

I am a Plat at the moment and according to Amex, the CX Gold offer to Plat members, apparently is for one-year only and subject to renewal after that.

Everyone who took it out the first time has had it renewed and they have extended the offer to apply until Feb next year. In the brochures now it lists it as a benefit and does not state that it is only for one year, but the application form does say must apply by Feb. Pretty sure the QClub one says must apply by a certain date, but gets extended each year as well.


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[kamiao]

Everyone who took it out the first time has had it renewed and they have extended the offer to apply until Feb next year. In the brochures now it lists it as a benefit and does not state that it is only for one year, but the application form does say must apply by Feb. Pretty sure the QClub one says must apply by a certain date, but gets extended each year as well.


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

Thank you for the reply - sorry I am still a bit confused...

When you say "Everyone who took it out the first time has had it renewed", you mean someone might have taken this offer last year and Amex has just renewed his/her CX Diamond status for another year, regardless whether he/she has flied 120,000 miles/80 sectors (as qualifiying/maintaining Diamond under CX rule) or not?

My understanding is once you enrolled, your CX Club status will be Diamond for 12 months - if you do not fly enough miles within 12 month then you will be downgraded to Green/Silver/Gold depends on how many miles you have flied. If this condition applies to the Cent offer, then CX's Diamond status is an once-off thing - i.e. you will get one year of CX Diamond treatment in the first 12 months of your enrolment - but you have to fly enough miles/sectors in the first year so that you could re-qualify as a CX Diamond again according to CX Club's rule, and continue enjoying the treatment in the future.

However if you don't need to fly at all and still could keep a CX Diamond status by simply having a Cent card, then that becomes a permanent benefit of Amex Cent - the value of the benefit is much higher than the one-year offer.

 

[k3nnis]

Welcome to AFF Kamiao Fellow Flyertalk member Lots of talk about amex CX gold and Diamond in the CX forum in FT...

 

[MrSpokeyTokey]

Hi Kamiao,

I just got my Marco Polo Diamond extended by 12 months and I didn't even travel 1 mile on CX in the previous 12 months.

Lets just hope they keep it up.

MrSpokeyTokey

 

[Diesellife]

However if you don't need to fly at all and still could keep a CX Diamond status by simply having a Cent card, then that becomes a permanent benefit of Amex Cent - the value of the benefit is much higher than the one-year offer.

To be honest, you will find most of us here do fly. My diamond status has been renewed when I only had a little over 100k MP miles recorded for last year. I shifted all my direct LHR flights from QF to CX via HKG where possible. Not sure if my couple of Paid F HKG-LHR helped with the renewal tho.

 

[k3nnis]

Can I ask how much did your paid F cost?

To be honest, you will find most of us here do fly. My diamond status has been renewed when I only had a little over 100k MP miles recorded for last year. I shifted all my direct LHR flights from QF to CX via HKG where possible. Not sure if my couple of Paid F HKG-LHR helped with the renewal tho.

 

[Diesellife]

About 14-16k for Mel-HKG-LHR return mixing J & F.

 

[k3nnis]

oh ok thanks. Not cheap

 

[pshepvic]

Thank you for the reply - sorry I am still a bit confused...

When you say "Everyone who took it out the first time has had it renewed", you mean someone might have taken this offer last year and Amex has just renewed his/her CX Diamond status for another year, regardless whether he/she has flied 120,000 miles/80 sectors (as qualifiying/maintaining Diamond under CX rule) or not?

My understanding is once you enrolled, your CX Club status will be Diamond for 12 months - if you do not fly enough miles within 12 month then you will be downgraded to Green/Silver/Gold depends on how many miles you have flied. If this condition applies to the Cent offer, then CX's Diamond status is an once-off thing - i.e. you will get one year of CX Diamond treatment in the first 12 months of your enrolment - but you have to fly enough miles/sectors in the first year so that you could re-qualify as a CX Diamond again according to CX Club's rule, and continue enjoying the treatment in the future.

However if you don't need to fly at all and still could keep a CX Diamond status by simply having a Cent card, then that becomes a permanent benefit of Amex Cent - the value of the benefit is much higher than the one-year offer.

I am saying that irrespective of whether you flew or not, your CX Diamond status would be renewed for another year. The latest brochure I received (with the annual fee changes etc) virtually indicates it is a permanent feature (it lists it as a benefit with no disclaimer). The only place a restriction is mentioned is on the form and centurion site where it says apply by feb 2013.


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[kamiao]

Hi Kamiao,

I just got my Marco Polo Diamond extended by 12 months and I didn't even travel 1 mile on CX in the previous 12 months.

Lets just hope they keep it up.

MrSpokeyTokey

I am saying that irrespective of whether you flew or not, your CX Diamond status would be renewed for another year. The latest brochure I received (with the annual fee changes etc) virtually indicates it is a permanent feature (it lists it as a benefit with no disclaimer). The only place a restriction is mentioned is on the form and centurion site where it says apply by feb 2013.


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

Thanks for the reply. The information is indeed helpful - I reckon the CX Gold status they offer to Platinum members have the same "extendable" feature.

To be perfectly honest, I have been a CX Marco Polo member since 2000 and have spent a lot of money (to me it was a lot) to keep my status as Silver and got qualified as a Gold a few years ago. I also spend money on Mileage Runs (i.e. totally unnecessary trips but purely for miles accumulation) in order to re-qualify for my Gold stats. I fly 60-70k miles a year on mixed J and Y.

I found what I have been doing totally stupid upon I received an invitation from Amex Platinum (I am a Plat holder) that I could get my CX Gold status for free as a card benefit. I then made an inquiry to CX regarding the Diamond/God offer to Cent/Plat - what I got replied was it's an once-off one-year invitation, as "those selected Centurion and Platinum members would then be expected to make up the mileage for renewal". Because of this I thought I shouldn't bother to take the offer as I'm already a Gold and I have to keep flying to re-qualify it anyway...

But certainly, now it seems to be a totally BS. Good on Amex who looks after its member's interest and shame on Cathay Pacific who gives me misleading information.

 

[k3nnis]

I think Centurion in Australia definitely renewable CX Diamond but no one really have proof for amex plat to get CX Gold renewable... as I don't think anyone is up to that stage yet... Once there I guess we can get a confirmation by the amex plat holder...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Good on Amex who looks after its member's interest

IMHO we might just want to hold off on too many accolades heading Amex's way until we start to assess the true value of premium cards over the next year or so.

 

[k3nnis]

Also I have a feeling this MPC Diamond/Gold benefit although may continue, the question is how long for? I know the diamond is renewable but who knows may stop next year or the year after.... Time will tell.

 

[Diesellife]

I think CX gold is for one year... And Cent one is renewable based on income generated.
Just my 2cents based on previous Amex marketing strategies.

 

[Jane-Doe]

Mine was renewed w. no flights. Cent -> MP Diamond