American Express Membership Rewards - UK Centurion Insurance changes

I had the letter this morning. Changes include:

Travel insurance for partner, children, up to 5 supp. holders and their partners and children.
No excess on claims
Worldwide car rental cover for LDW, top-up liability, excess reduction and personal accident
Single item for baggage up to 500ukp
Cover for kids up to 25 if they go abroad for a gap year.

Is this the start, or the totality, of the refresh?

Got it this morning as well, appears that baggage delay benefit has been reduced.

I had the letter this morning. Changes include:

Travel insurance for partner, children, up to 5 supp. holders and their partners and children.
No excess on claims
Worldwide car rental cover for LDW, top-up liability, excess reduction and personal accident
Single item for baggage up to 500ukp
Cover for kids up to 25 if they go abroad for a gap year.

Is this the start, or the totality, of the refresh?

It's a few changes to align with Platinim - the refresh won't be at least until Q1/07

I got the leaflet through the post this morning, not that it made the a difference as I already had the 'Platinum' level of cover after .....ing at Centurion Uk earlier int he year when the Platinum refresh was done.

And that's my ....., the 'new' level of cover is exactly what Platinum get. So no differentatior at all. The delayed baggage compensation has indeed been severly cut back, and I cut see the old travel cushion of where if you paid on your AmEx and you got IDB'd you got some payback instantly for a decent meal etc.

Good luck if you want to do proper scuba diving, as you can't take the dangerous sports option anymore as it's AmEx that is the policyholder not you, so can't sub out any options. Can't remember if its 20 or 40m depth that you are covered to.

It's five years this week that I've had my Centurion card, and oh my haven't the benefits changed. Nice to see that in all that time I have only received one guide to what my actual benefits were. If it wasn't for this forum, I'd have missed out on quite a lot of stuff as AmEx have a nasty habit of not communicating properly.

As for service, well I think we all its a joke. I spent over 15 minutes on hold trying to get through to someone in Centurion Travel last night at 6:30pm. So much so for this new system that was going to improve anything. And even then when I got through I was told to call back in a month, as the MO rates had not been loaded yet for April next year. Muppets. The manager on duty was a downright useless. If they sacked half of the staff and used the savings to improve the website properly so I didn't ahve to call up and spend ages on hold to get through to someone useless, I think service would improve. Certainly would give the remaining staff a wake-up call. Makes me laugh; to get Centurion as a cardmember, you have to first prove yourself with another product, as for staff, not a chance they are pulled in off the streets and slapped on a quick training course and then unleashed to AmEx's top-end customers. No wonder people like me get frustrated.

Thanks,
Richard

Good luck if you want to do proper scuba diving, as you can't take the dangerous sports option anymore as it's AmEx that is the policyholder not you, so can't sub out any options. Can't remember if its 20 or 40m depth that you are covered to.

Off-topic but still ...

My PADI-certified friend commented my Finnish Platinum travel insurance that it is actually very good for tourism. Finnish Platinum travel insurance allows you to dive to 30m depth and it is actually something beyond the tourism diving. And anyone going deeper is certainly going to be PADI-certified and holds a proper PADI-insurance, which is very extensive and has all the coverage for different serious (life threatening) accidents.

I think UK insurance is the same we got in Finland when they launched Platinum so insurance covering scuba diving is good enough for tourists (for example me who hasn't dived ever).

Anyone else who dives deeper than 30m ... then they are wise enough to get an insurance from good scuba diving insurance company such as DAN.

It's pathetic. I was happier with the insurance I had as a Platinum card holder before they brought out Centurion.

This combined with the loss of SPG Platinum is virtually a deal breaker. I will see what happens when Centurion is 'refreshed' but I won't hold my breath.

I don't mind paying more but I want the benefits.

What's the Coutts card like?