Originally Posted by Steve M

I think any time changes are made to a loyalty program, participants are wise to re-evaluate if and how much it continues to meet their needs. You (the OP) mentioned a few things that affect you, and that as a result, it may not be worth the money for you going forward. That may in fact be the case. But all too many times, I see posts here that take their individual situation and extrapolate it broadly, with comments like "they're trying to screw us!" or "this card isn't worth it any more!" and so on (not saying that you did so).

I just recently got the card (two months ago) and was just getting used to the features. Now, I have to figure out how the changes affect me, as a current Gold likely to be Silver or Gold next year. Here's what I see the benefits will be:

- Waiving of last-minute award booking fee.
- Double miles on CO/UA tickets.
- Double miles on hotels and car rentals.
- Primary rental car collision damage coverage.
- Full PClub membership
- Flex EQM

PClub membership is valuable for me for two reasons: 1) I fly mostly domestic, and 2) it gives me gate pass privileges when not flying, which I actually used last week.

Based on my travel and spending, the first four benefits above more than pay for the annual fee. Adding in the 5th and 6th benefit above makes it a "no-brainer" for me in terms of it being worth the cost.

Regarding the value of an included full PClub membership, it's not much an issue for mostly-int'l travelers. But I suspect that the vast majority of frequent CO fliers do a good amount of domestic US flying. Also, there's another issue that can't be overlooked for people that are using the credit card primarily for business expenses: an airline club membership is NOT tax deductible in the US, even if it's used exclusively for business travel. But the annual fee for a credit card that's used exclusively for business purposes is.

I think another aspect of the card is that it's quite clear to me that it's designed to compete with the Amex Platinum charge card. It's about the same annual fee, and has these benefits:

- equivalent of Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts program
- no foreign exchange fee

I think that for the most part, they are targeting this card as a competitor to Amex Platinum for people that travel a lot, especially vs the current Amex Platinum that comes with CO lounge access. It's the strongest high-end credit card offering I've seen offered directly in conjunction with an airline.

Also, considering the number of "elite access" type of benefits it includes which don't matter to anyone with genuine elite status, it's clear to me that their target market for this card is folks that spend moderately on their credit cards and on travel, starting with those that fly enough on CO to benefit from elite access but not enough to earn elite status, up to those that earn Platinum Elite status through flying. It's not the best fit for those that travel once or twice a year, or those that travel so much that they earn miles faster than they could possibly spend them.