Come Fry With Me

First time AMEX card holder, and I sprang for the Platinum. I'm trying to compile a list of things to do to get set up:

1. Sign up for Hertz, Avis, and National premium accounts
2. Print out list of participating airport lounges
3. Start carefully accounting for new purchases, in case of loss/damage
4. Anything else....?

I'm supposed to get 25K points if I spend $1000 in three months. Rules say: "To be eligible to earn bonus points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards First® program at the time of purchase". Do I need to do anything to enroll?

andrewpartyman

Print out a list of airport lounges? What for? It's pretty simple: If you're flying Delta/NW, American, Continental or U.S. Airways, go to one of their lounges with your boarding pass, card, ID. Just remember the 4 airlines.

One of the better benefits (relatively) is Gold Status with Starwood. Call Starwood and give them the promo code to be upgraded to Gold. This benefit is what turned me on to to Starwood Preferred Guest, and I've been loyal ever since (and Platinum).

chriswufgator

One more thing to add to your "to do list": Convert to Premier Rewards Gold Card.

How can you resist 2X points on gas, household stuff, and 3X points on airfare? When I called to 'downgrade' after they came out with it, as that's a lot of points on an annual basis to be giving up for mediocre FHR benefits, the rep said they have pretty much been deluged with people switching from other cards.

Not sure how long Amex can afford to pay 3X rewards points as the base rate like that, and still have that product make money. Hell, I've already booked my next 10 flights, and am happy as a clam. I'm sure it will get watered down eventually, but I will taking full advantage of it for as long as it lasts in the meantime.

mia

You cannot use the Platinum Card for lounge access when flying US Airways, only AA, CO, or DL/NW.

https://www217.americanexpress.com/c..._c&benefitId=1

Come Fry With Me

Thanks, all.

I'm not currently in any Starwood program. So the thing to do is sign up for a membership in their frequent stay club, then upgrade to gold? (are there any other sign-up tasks, aside from the aforementioned car rental clubs?)

Also, what is the diff between Starwood Preferred Guest (per andrewpartyman) and the Premier Rewards Gold Card (per chriswufgator)? Are they both credit cards?

mia

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) is the frequent guest program of Starwood hotels. The American Express Platinum Card entitles you to Gold elite status in SPG, which is explained here...

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/index.html

American Express does issue a SPG credit card, which earn Starpoints rather than Membership Rewards points, but you can participate and benefit without holding that card.

American Express Premier Rewards Gold is a charge card, same as your Platinum card. It does not include airline lounge access, Fine Hotels & Resorts, and some other benefits of the Platinum Card, but it carries a lower annual fee ($175 vs $450) which is waived for the first year, and it earns more Membership Rewards points per dollar in some categories. Some consider it better value than the Platinum card.

http://www201.americanexpress.com/ge...r-Rewards-Gold

andrewpartyman

My bad for mentioning US Airways, sometimes my fantasies carry over to my postings. If anything, airport lounge access is the singular best benefit of the Amex Plat card. I couldn't imagine life without it.

bigbootch

not exactly "setup", but something else that you might want to do is to put the platinum concierge phone # in your cell phone address book... platinum travel service too i guess (although there is the website now, americanexpressfhr.com)

Come Fry With Me

Yup, thanks, also starwood gold reservations.

christianj

This isn't something you need to do or set up but if you travel frequently and stay at high end hotels I would say you should familiarize yourself with the FHR (Fine Hotels and Resorts) program offered with the Plat. AMEX.

hopscotch1

Don't forget to shift the bills that you can to your AMEX such as cell phone, cable, etc.

drwilliams

I would recommend not setting up things to be auto-charged to your card.

AMEX will side with the merchant over you in a dispute. You cannot remove the auto-charge unless the company taking the money agrees.

mia

Do you mean you were not able to cancel an automatic charge arrangement -or- do you mean you were unable to dispute a specific charge from a series preauthorized series?

drwilliams

I was not able to cancel. It was not a dispute over previous charges, but a desire to not allow future charges. Was told by AMEX they could not stop the upcoming charges. I mentioned then the only way to get out of the autocharge was to close my account and would consider that option. Centurion application showed up the next week or so. Hardly an olive branch, give us $7500 and we can make nice.

You can call each month and pay your bill, that way the merchant has to negotiate in good faith if there is an issue, knowing payment is conditional on them fixing the problem for you.

mia

Canadian merchant and Canadian Amex account? This might be a difference in US vs Canadian legislation. In the US I've never had trouble disputing a charge if a merchant continued to bill after I instructed the merchant to cancel a recurring charge. Some card issuers even list this reason on their prepared dispute form, but I cannot say for certain that American Express does so.