Absolutely, positively your last chance to get free Cathay Gold (=BA Silver) via Amex Platinum

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• xcalx says:

  12 Mar12 March 11:47

  Raffles Have you any insight as to what may replace the MarcoPolo card if anything. Amex must realise that the end of this card will be a major devaluation of the programme.

  • Rob says:

    12 Mar12 March 12:54

    My best guess is Nothing.

    I have had Plat since 1999. There was never anything this good before and its hard to see what could replace it. Highly unlikely to be Lufthansa / Star status as LH and Amex have no relationship at all (pedant – Swiss Amex cardholders can transfer MR to M&M.) Virgin could do something, I admit, but Cathay was a global – ex USA – deal.

    Etihad or Emirates could also be tempted to offer something but that would be of minimal use.

• Ken says:

  12 Mar12 March 12:01

  I’ve watched this thread with interest and quite keen on the MP gold card benefit…however I just gave up my Gold Amex Charge card in December and took out a BA Premium version. I presume I’d not qualify for the bonus MR points if I applied for a Platinum now, and therefore of dubious value to do so?

  • David says:

    12 Mar12 March 12:15

    Correct – you’d have to wait 6 months after cancellation of your last MR enrolled Amex card in order to get another MR sign up bonus.

    It depends what value you assign to the insurance and other benefits provided by the Platinum Card. Some people get a lot of value, others much less, dependent on personal circumstances.

  • Mark says:

    12 Mar12 March 12:42

    Do you have a partner who could take out the card instead and qualify for the signup bonus? The MP status would only then benefit you when travelling together, so may or may not help depending how you would likely use it.

  • Rob says:

    12 Mar12 March 12:51

    You could apply via your partner as mentioned above.

    Or just apply anyway! You will still get the card, you just won’t get the bonus (and, frankly, there is a 50/50 chance Amex will still give it to you as their IT is not the best). Apply for Cathay Gold and the hotel cards and then either cancel it quickly (getting almost all the fee back) or spend the £2,000 first just to check if the bonus posts. Personally I would spend the £2,000 as the risk / reward trade off is pretty good.

    Think how much Cathay will save you in free seating selection, for example, as well as the benefits (financial and non financial) of lounge access.

• Anon says:

  12 Mar12 March 12:56

  Do the hotel cards expire immediately when cancelling the Plat?

• Andrew S says:

  12 Mar12 March 14:15

  Raffles don’t apologise! For those of us without status upto this point, it has completely revolutionised my travel experience. I applied a month ago and just taken advanatage of the lounges for the first time.

  …and for BA – its incremental revenue as i would usually have flown low cost on these routes!

  • CV says:

    12 Mar12 March 15:04

    Agreed – sitting in the Glenlivet Whisky Snug at the BA lounge in Glasgow whilst waiting on a flight was rather enjoyable, even on a quiet Saturday morning! BA are my first choice whilst i have status to enjoy.

• Bev says:

  12 Mar12 March 19:34

  We’d like the plat card for the status , however hubby already has the gold card. I was turned down for it 2 months ago for some reason( even though I used to have one 6m previously and conducted my account perfectly, not sure if it’s because we had £6k balance of hotels and fuel fees on the cards (?)).
  I was wondering if we could upgrade to plat from gold ? I know they won’t give us the points , but we won’t get them as he has the gold card at the minute. His gold membership renews at the end if this month.

  • Mike says:

    12 Mar12 March 20:58

    https://headforpoints.com/2013/12/19/15000-amex-points-for-upgrading-your-gold-to-platinum-worth-it/

    • bev says:

      12 Mar12 March 23:40

      thanks for that Mike
      x

  • TestCR says:

    12 Mar12 March 23:50

    Without turning it into credit scoring forum, AMEX are conservative (by comparison to other lenders) and I doubt that two month is enough time for change in circumstances (if any) to affect the decision.

    £6k outstanding balance on credit cards is a factor especially if it brings your credit limit utilisation above 30%.

• Anon says:

  12 Mar12 March 22:34

  Me and my partner have a flight in May which I booked through my BAEC household ac. If my partner gets the CX card now will she be able to choose seats for us? – she’s part of the household ac.

  • Alan says:

    12 Mar12 March 22:44

    Yes as long as you’re both on the same booking

  • Rob says:

    12 Mar12 March 23:43

    Yes, only needs one person on the ticket to have status

    • Anon says:

      13 Mar13 March 19:53

      TY both

• Tania says:

  13 Mar13 March 00:20

  Travelling with husband and young daughter. CP card allows lounge access for 1 additional guest so probably not much use to the 3 of us or do you know of anyway we could all access the lounges.

  • Rob says:

    13 Mar13 March 08:23

    Correct – you can ask nicely but they have no obligation to let you in, assuming your child is over 2.

• Tom says:

  13 Mar13 March 07:00

  Rather unexpectedly, mine just renewed umtil Feb 2015! Was due to expire in the summer and they extended me by 6 months.

  Is a great card for getting into the arrivals lounge in HKG!

  • Polly says:

    13 Mar13 March 07:16

    Hi Tom, we tried to access the arrivals lounge in HKG last dec and couldn’t get in, even though we travelled club world on BA, Cathay lounge said it was only accessible if we had been on CX? Any ideas on lounge criteria? We are heading there again , we have MP card too. Thanks

    • Tom says:

      13 Mar13 March 08:21

      Ah. I usually travel Cathay to HKG. Last time I travelled premium economy. I am BA silver so rarely use the Cathay gold any more, but you need BA gold to get into the Cathay arrivals lounge (and by the sounds of it, have flown Cathay!) and Cathay gold does just fine!

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