American Express Membership Rewards - Can I request a US Centurion Card?

Can I request a US Centurion Card? I read in a post in this forum from several months (years?) ago that Amex will blacklist you if you request a Centurion card rather than wait to be "invited".

I reached the alleged $150K minimum spending in early 2002, but haven't received an invitation.

Also, I have read UK Centurion holders describe the numbers of other cards they are able to receive as affiliated cards; what is the situation in the US? Can I get a "sub-account" Centurion for a family member, and if so, is there a fee?

Lastly, has anyone been successful at having the $2500 fee reduced (other than those grandfathered at the $1000 rate)?

- You can request the card, contrary to popular belief. A few of my colleagues in the office wanted travel perks and several were approved.

- You can have as many add'l Centurion "sub accounts" as you want in the US, but unlike the situation in the UK - you'll have to pay for EACH additional card. I'm paying $500/year for each, believe the rate for new members is $1500/year.

- And no, they won't reduce or comp your annual fee in the US (you can get a comp'ed Centurion in some European countries if you keep enough assets with AMEX private bankers).

I got mine by calling.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by alpine:
Can I request a US Centurion Card? I read in a post in this forum from several months (years?) ago that Amex will blacklist you if you request a Centurion card rather than wait to be "invited".</font>

Where did you read that you would be blacklisted? I did a full search for the words "Centurion" and "Blacklist" / "Black List" and found nothing.

I am not sure where I saw the "blacklist" reference at this point.

The article below states "American Express describes the card as "invitation only" but denies the rumor that people calling to request one are automatically rejected."

http://doit.circles.com/corp/New_art_wallstreetjournal_apr2002.html

All of my friends who have a Centurion Card got theirs by calling.

I think the demand is dropping do to the increased annual fee of $2500.00, which is what Amex probably wanted.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SteveT:
All of my friends who have a Centurion Card got theirs by calling.

I think the demand is dropping do to the increased annual fee of $2500.00, which is what Amex probably wanted.</font>

What they wanted was the revenue to exceed the cost of providing the services. My understanding was that the concierge and travel services were averaging close to or over the $1,000.00 per member fee.