I always justified it on the 2-1 flights. mj1 is wrong that the tickets through amex are 2x the ones you can book. SOMETIMES they are, but I have onmany occassions had to book two of us late and to Moscow or similar.... and the amex tickets were barely (and I mean a hundred bucks) more than what I could get for one. But I did a lot of traveling and I mean a lot in order to see that. But one 8000$ savings (which I did at least four times) pays for a lot of Plat. If you traveled that much with a companion (who doesn't usually get miles!!) you wouldn't be asking this question.

As to the (il)logical suggestion (anaugle) that the lounge benefit is only worth the cash you would have spent if you weren't in the lounge or the free breakfast or amenities are only worth what you would have spent as an alternative...that is incorrect if that is what he meant...He may have just been pointing out this same issue. One of the game theory fundamentals is that value is in the eye of the beholder.

I wound up with the Centurion card... and once you have a very expensive item get dmagaed or missing just after you buy it and see Amex cough up for it, the value seems hard to justify. Value is clearly NOT the mathematical expectation of future net cash flows....it is the utility of the future benefits and they are only right or wrong for an individual. I know a guy who could afford to buy a G-5 in a blink but travels coach. He just can't see the value and it bugs him to pay "that much" for a seat. It grates on him and he fumes for a week if he has to pay 1000$ for a coach seat because he booked it last minute when the (pauper) next to him got a similar seat for 200$.

I fly my family business class. He stays at modest hotels and I like the nice ones. If I won the lotto every week I'd never be as wealthy as him. That guy does spend a lot of dough on wine and can actually tell a great 1000$ bottle froma really good 200$ bottle. To me, wine doesn't even smell good, much less good enough to pay for.

So pavelm, you can not go wrong as long as you try to maximize your utility. Would your alternative use for the money bring you greater happiness? Hard to say unless you really understand yourself. But dude....if youwant to decide whether or not to get the Centurion card, don;t post a new post. It has been haggled to death and I can summarize. Almost everyone that doesn't have one thinks they are overpriced. Almost everyone who does agrees, but not many of them are dropping them!