American Express Membership Rewards - Amex Platinum UK upgrade

I got a package through the post today concerning several enhancements - which look like real enhancements - to Amex Platinum benefits in the UK although the fee is increasing from £275 to £300.

These improvements match what seems to have happened in Germany but the fee increase is smaller. They include:

* Travel inconvenience cover without having to charge tickets to the card. Although the level of the insurance has fallen it is now possible to claim £300 for baggage delayed 4 hours or more.
* Better cover for car hire so all insurance not included in the basic hire car package are covered by Amex and benefits are payable with no excess, and no need to charge the hire to the Amex card.
* New link to Radisson Hotels and Avis.
* Travel insurance covers the spouse and children of all additional cardholders.
* Priority Pass membership for the Platinum supplementary cardholder free of charge.

All this looks pretty good to me.

bmifly

I got a package through the post today concerning several enhancements - which look like real enhancements - to Amex Platinum benefits in the UK although the fee is increasing from £275 to £300.

These improvements match what seems to have happened in Germany but the fee increase is smaller. They include:

* Travel inconvenience cover without having to charge tickets to the card. Although the level of the insurance has fallen it is now possible to claim £300 for baggage delayed 4 hours or more.
* Better cover for car hire so all insurance not included in the basic hire car package are covered by Amex and benefits are payable with no excess, and no need to charge the hire to the Amex card.
* New link to Radisson Hotels and Avis.
* Travel insurance covers the spouse and children of all additional cardholders.
* Priority Pass membership for the Platinum supplementary cardholder free of charge.

All this looks pretty good to me.

bmifly

This must be waiting for me, I'll probably pick it up on Friday. Good move on the Priority Pass. Not too keen on the annual fee going up though :( Presumably the UK Centurion fee will be going up as well, otherwise the difference in fees are getting smaller :p

Chris

The increase is not very much considering the additional PriorityPass etc.

I hope they will also align IEC/IDC, which was until now aligned with other UK cards.

Does this presage a new Centurion program? The car hire benefits sound better than the Centurion ones which are, effectivrly, only LDW in North America.

Actually sounds near enough equal (or better in some cases) to Centurion now as far as hotels and priority pass go.

I cant believe they will leave Centurion alone, unless you stay at the hotels with perks, there seems to be little reason the keep the card.

I wonder how log it will be before they upgrade the cent card, or maybe they are waiting for the numbers to dwindle a bit, make it more exclusive again that way.

In Germany the Plat fee is going up from € 400 to € 500, with the same new "benefits".

Plat and Centurion benefits seem to be getting close, except for the Mandarin Oriental free nights. (Posting from the Landmark Mandarin Oriental...)

I needed to check something with the 'help'desk (SPG Gold, as it happens, renewed at green instead of gold level; SPG need a two letter code which is Something Never to be guessed), so I asked a question about car hire coverage.

The packs are being sent to members over a one month period. Changes apply to all platinum charge cardholders from 17 April.

As I renewed in March at £275, I'm grateful for the changes and find the £25 increase justifiable, especially in view of the added car rental coverage and a second Priority Pass membership.

As I renewed in March at £275, I'm grateful for the changes and find the £25 increase justifiable, especially in view of the added car rental coverage and a second Priority Pass membership. :) Me too. But will the BA Amex Travel Inconvenience cover (which requires you to use the card to pruchase the tickets, but which which offers higer levels of cover) change to match that offered on the Platinum card?

* Better cover for car hire so all insurance not included in the basic hire car package are covered by Amex and benefits are payable with no excess, and no need to charge the hire to the Amex card.

Is that just for North American car hire, or worldwide?

I'm glad they got their act together on insurance benefits after all the will they/won't they following the changed FSA rules on insurance.

Fee increase seems justified in view of - overall - enhanced benefits. I'm glad you mentioned the car cover, as I'm under the impression that it extends beyond North America, but I'll have to check my recent mailing. I wish they would update the UK website, which still shows the old fee/benefits.

Incidentally, I had a new card sent to me as my old one had a few unusual charges...not crazy about the new design/colour.

I'm glad they got their act together on insurance benefits after all the will they/won't they following the changed FSA rules on insurance.

Fee increase seems justified in view of - overall - enhanced benefits. I'm glad you mentioned the car cover, as I'm under the impression that it extends beyond North America, but I'll have to check my recent mailing. I wish they would update the UK website, which still shows the old fee/benefits.

Incidentally, I had a new card sent to me as my old one had a few unusual charges...not crazy about the new design/colour.

New design and colour? Post a picture :D

I've just been home and picked up the new pack. I must say the benefits do seem great for the added £25 (I like the way the letter introduces the higher fee :p).

They have really made an effort with the insurance now, and I like the questionnaire. Lets hope some of the service levels (or training) improves too and it should be good all round.

Will be interesting to see what they do with Centurion in the coming weeks or months.

Chris

Is that just for North American car hire, or worldwide?

The car hire cover is worldwide - something Amex specifically points out.

bmifly

Calles up Amex today..you can now only claim £300 if your baggage is delayed more than 4hours. After 48hours you can claim another £300. There is no longer the 7hours rule!

New design and colour? Post a picture :D

This is from the US website, but the Platinum cards looks like this now.

https://www124.americanexpress.com/cards/loyalty.do?page=platinum

This is from the US website, but the Platinum cards looks like this now.

https://www124.americanexpress.com/cards/loyalty.do?page=platinum

Ah OK, thanks. I just think it's really annoying that after about 1 months use, you can barely read the number on the front because the black has rubbed off...Guess you don't get that with the Ti card :p

Chris

Working my way around the out-of-date AmEx UK website (apparently AmEx will be launching a Nectar card in 2005 :rolleyes: ), I came across these:

- general description of enhanced platinum charge card: http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/platinum/platinum_listpage.shtml?name=#Travel

- description of enhanced benefits: http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/include/maincontent/platinum_list_summ_benefits.pdf

It is certainly better than the Centurion Card now then, just scanned through the details and there are a few extras, such as the car cover going to a £50k car worldwide, the Centurion summary I have dated March 06 shows a linit of $50k US in the States and Canada only.

Lots of other small things, I wonder how many Centurion card holders will be upgrading to the new Platinum card?

Working my way around the out-of-date AmEx UK website (apparently AmEx will be launching a Nectar card in 2005 :rolleyes: ), I came across these:


..... and it goes without saying that the information on the compare cards (http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/compare_charge.shtml) page is still way out of date :rolleyes:

How stupid. I can't believe that the Platinum card now has better insurance benefits than the Centurion card !!!

How stupid. I can't believe that the Platinum card now has better insurance benefits than the Centurion card !!!

What about being the Plat supp card holder on a Centurion account? Which benefits do you get then? :p

Presumably the Centurion ones....

What about being the Plat supp card holder on a Centurion account? Which benefits do you get then? :p

Presumably the Centurion ones....

In Platinum package the supp card holders receive Platinum benefits even if having Green or Gold card (excl. benefits which require the actual Platinum card, lounge access etc.).

I would assume that the same principle goes with Centurion.

I haven't seen the pack yet.

Does it say in the pack about how you go about getting hold of the second Priority Pass Lounge card? Do you have to wait until renewal to qualify for it?

Many thanks

description of enhanced benefits: http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/include/maincontent/platinum_list_summ_benefits.pdf
Check out point 6 on page 13. This would suggest that there is now no excess applicable to any travel insurance claim. Is this new? I thought it used to be £50. If this is a new feature, then very well done Amex! ^

... getting hold of the second Priority Pass Lounge card? Do you have to wait until renewal to qualify for it?There is a form for cardmember and one auxiliary cardholder to apply. There is a note to say that if you already have the card/s, you don't need to take any action until renewal.

... now no excess applicable to any travel insurance claim. Is this new? I thought it used to be £50.Yes. Until the changes a year or so ago when AmEx became the insured instead of the insurer, it was possible to insure against excesses - £12 or so p.a. premium - and this disappeared at that time. Makes the new card just a little bit more practical, doesn't it ;) !

I've just noticed one big reduction in cover on the new travel policy.

On the old policy, if you had an incident travelling to the airport and missed your flight, the insurer would pay up to £500 for additional costs to get you to your destination. This is common to practically all travel policies.

Under the new cover, this now limited to £150 as it comes under 'travel inconvenience'.

Is this really enough cover if travelling on a non-changeable ticket?

Do airlines always transfer you onto another available flight if you don't make it to the airport in time?

Otherwise £150 isnt going to get you very far if you need to make alternate plans!

This makes this part of the policy significantly inferior to most other policies on the market :(

Hmmm, if you have an accident on the way to the airport, I suspect this is covered by "CANCELLING, POSTPONING AND ABANDONING YOUR TRIP" (see page 16).

One thing I'm not clear on: Does the cost of transporting you to the hospital if free transport is not available still cover the cost of an air ambulance?

Also, where I am at the moment, free health care is available to a certain extent for some things and basic medical care (including some ops) not that expensive at the local Ministry of Health hospital. However, I would hope the insurance benefit covers a stay at the much beter equiped local private hospital (also looks a hell of a lot cleaner). Would I end up at the private place or the inferior (by UK standards) state place? This isn't at all clear.

I was thinking more of the situation where your train to the airport gets delayed by a couple of hours or your car breaks down.

Under the old cover, they would pay up to £500 to get you to your destination if you missed your flight for the above reasons. Now they seem to only cover you for £150.

Also, where I am at the moment, free health care is available to a certain extent for some things and basic medical care (including some ops) not that expensive at the local Ministry of Health hospital. However, I would hope the insurance benefit covers a stay at the much beter equiped local private hospital (also looks a hell of a lot cleaner). Would I end up at the private place or the inferior (by UK standards) state place? This isn't at all clear.

I was a bit concerned about that also, and I don't think it would!

Under the exclusions they say they exclude:

"Treatment that can be provided free or at a reduced cost by a state benefit provider or equivalent, unless otherwise agreed by the Insurer"

I can understand this applying in Europe but I don't think i'd want to go anywhere near some of the free hospitals in some third world countries!

Has anyone else noticed this (http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/compare_charge.shtml)?

Seems that the Green card gets up to £75,000 in travel accident benefit whereas the Platinum Card gets only up to £50,000.

Yes, I noticed. I assumed it was a mistake.

Hi all, I posted this on the BA board, but thought I'd mention it here as well as a warning. I applied for an Amex Platinum card before the fee change and when I applied over the phone, I was told that the annual fee was £275. My first bill has now come through and they've charged me £300 for the fee, which is not what I agreed. £25 is not a lot of money and the added benefits are definitely worth the increase. However in my book what Amex has done here is tantamount to fraud.

FYI, I telephoned them last night and after a "discussion", they are refunding £25. I guess all's well that ends well, but the situation should never really have arisen.

Lewis

what Amex has done here is tantamount to fraud.

Well, I'm not sure it's fraud. The person you spoke to probably was not aware of the upcoming price change, and the billing system not clever enough to know that you had agreed to £275.

I don't think I received notification that the fee was going up, and I don't have that much of a problem with it as the level of services and benefits have gone up a great deal.

Fraud? Don't think so. One of life's little irritations? Certainly!

I don't think I received notification that the fee was going up, and I don't have that much of a problem with it as the level of services and benefits have gone up a great deal.


Agreed. I would have saved over £150 had the new car insurance benefits been in place when I rented a car in Mexico a few months ago.

Agreed. I would have saved over £150 had the new car insurance benefits been in place when I rented a car in Mexico a few months ago.... and in addition we'll be saving £169 when my wife's PP card comes up for renewal in a couple of months.

It really is a no-brainer for us - £25 extra for all of this :p . But as always, YMMV ...

BTW, my Plat renewal took effect at the end of March for £275 :) .

I used the car rental supplementary insurance cover during my recent hire in Canada - decline all supplements and the card pays any claim.

Our Chrysler 300 had a gravel chip on the windscreen/windshield - don't talk to me about the antediluvian methods Canada uses to resurface roads :mad: - and National charged an additional $312.44.

I just heard from the agents that my claim is being paid in full to my bank account. No problems, no excess. Sweet. :)

Is there any word as to whether the enhanced UK benefits are being extended to the IDC Platinum?

Is there any word as to whether the enhanced UK benefits are being extended to the IDC Platinum?

I asked about that before the summer, about IEC and IDC. They told me that nothing is being rumored or planned at this moment.