New American Express Platinum benefits start today

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• DV says:

  16 Jul16 July 09:30

  Another problem is that surcharges for credit card use are particularly common in the travel industry. Now that you have to use the Amex card to buy travel in order to get the insurance benefits, you may have to pay a surcharge which will often exceed the cost of an annual travel insurance policy.

• Disappointed says:

  16 Jul16 July 11:00

  So, it’s an Amex-Amex and not a British Airways-Amex, or a Lloyds TSB-Amex? I hadn’t appreciated that subtlety and so my next 3 holiday plans are now without insurance as I have used those latter two for bookings. Plus also various points etc.

  I also don’t know whether when travelling on business is covered, e.g. flight delays/lost baggage etc.

  This is a far cry from the spirit of the information when I opened the first policy documents I got a few years back, which was along the lines of “don’t worry, we’ve got you covered”.

  • Raffles says:

    16 Jul16 July 11:52

    Here is the exact wording: “[acceptable cards] means your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express in the UK, excluding corporate cards and any American Express Cards issued by bank partners.”.

    So, BA Amex, SPG Amex, Plat Amex, Gold Amex, Centurion Amex, Nectar Amex, Harrods Amex are all OK.

    Lloyds TSB Avios Amex, any MBNA Amex, any Amex-issued Corporate Card – including the BA Amex Corporate Card – are NOT OK.

• louie-m says:

  16 Jul16 July 11:35

  An Amex Amex is one issued by American Express themselves, so a BA Amex would be fine, but the Lloyds TSB one is not.

• Raffles says:

  16 Jul16 July 11:47

  Thanks marmaliser, good spot. I will update the ‘Credit Cards Update’ page.

• Kim says:

  16 Jul16 July 20:49

  I’ve just received my ‘new Gold’ letter and details of the changes to the Gold card for current holders. I know most folk have platinum, but would you be willing to do a quick rundown for those of us who have the Gold card and are seeing our fees jump? Happy to send you a scan/copy/fax of the letter if that helps!

  Thanks for all your efforts btw – much appreciated and I’m constantly pinging off emails with your latest post to family members as I subscribe via RSS. 😀

  • Raffles says:

    16 Jul16 July 20:56

    Happy to take a look. Please send a scan to raffles @ headforpoints.co.uk and I will report back!

    • Kim says:

      16 Jul16 July 20:57

      OK, won’t be able to until Wednesday now but thanks, much appreciated!

• upperdeckplease says:

  18 Jul18 July 22:24

  Of course, the mailing from Amex (posh one, all shiny brochure) that ‘sold’ the benefits of the Platinum card mentioned the Cathay Pacific Gold card, but nowhere did it say that this was a one year benefit only. It made it appear that this was a permanent benefit. Bad form.

  • Raffles says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:07

    I totally agree. It is shocking that a company of Amex’s reputation put this out. I think it was only after ‘feedback’ that they added the ‘one year’ notice to the website.

• Roger says:

  19 Jul19 July 08:18

  There’s a nasty note in the T+Cs in the e-mail I got from AmEx yesterday promoting plat benefits and majoring on Priority Pass membership.

  The offending note says: ‘Subsequent years’ renewal terms and conditions are at the discretion of Priority Pass.’

  This is similar to the wording used by AmEx in correspondence about the Cathay Pacific Marco Polo membership. It COULD mean that PP cards may not be renewed after the first year.

  I doubt that will be the case as IME PP cards have automatically been renewed until now. However, AmEx’s weasel words introduce a degree of uncertainty.

  • upperdeckplease says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:59

    Roger, this is what happens when you start being economical with the truth with your clients. I am sure they will continue the Priority Pass card, but now I am slightly less sure. Is the Cathay Card worth £150pa? Possibly, to blue card holders like me. But reducing the insurance at the same time was a really bad idea

    • Raffles says:

      19 Jul19 July 10:05

      I THINK that the Priority Pass wording may be due to this – Amex’s literature says that all Plat card holders will now be automatically enrolled in PP. Previously, we had to opt in. Assuming that PP is only paid by Amex when the card is used, this obviously creates a cost in printing and posting all the cards. I think they may change the ‘auto opt in’ idea if a lot of the people who are auto-enrolled don’t use it.

• Roger says:

  19 Jul19 July 12:21

  That sounds plausible. It would be at the discretion of AmEx rather than PP, though.

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