Originally Posted by
captaindomon
This. There is a huge difference between $550/year and $5000/yr. Even more so, with one AU there is a huger difference between $725/yr and $10,000/yr. And for qualifying, it basically seems impossible to get the Centurion if you're not routing north of seven figures through your Amex yearly, which limits Centurion to owners of businesses that can route everything through their Amex, and people making eight figures or so a year.
There is just a huge gulf there that they can fill.
I wouldn't put Centurion on that much of a pedestal. I know about a dozen cardholders in the US and UK who lead very upper middle-class lives, but are by no definition 'wealthy'. Two struggle to pay their mortgage each month and have done so for years. It's an imperfect algorithm for what is a mass-market product.