Originally Posted by
xray
TD cards as described do sound lame.
I don't churn, I just spend and Amex Plat/AE Plat combo for $699 plus all the benefits (love free valet parking and parking discount at YYZ) including FHR cannot be beat.
In Canada, Amex does provide the best "premium" card. Let's hope that they even up the ante higher and give some Star Alliance status...
I do agree with markandrew that Amex is marketed towards the higher income bracket.
Even with *A status, I doubt there is going to be upgradeability on seats. Plus, the lounge, and front of the line is going to be saturated with the new TD cards.. so not sure what help *A status is going to be.
CX Gold on Amex Plat seems to be workable, as few and far between members are going to make its way to Oneworld. Seems very few available flights, at least out of YYC for example, to result in passenger saturation. So benefits won't be watered down. Plus if *A status does have upgradeability, the status will become saturated quickly, convoluting the benefits.