FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Centurion card (USA) refresh. Some benefits removed/added. $5k annual fee.
Old Jan 15, 2022, 8:16 pm
  #797  
bubu-SNA
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVP 75K, Delta Plat, Bonvoy Ambasador, Hilton diamond.
Posts: 527
You are probably spot on

Originally Posted by GUWonder
Maybe an upcoming step is to hike up the Centurion card fees even higher, let that drive up churn of the customer base, and even perhaps shrink the customer base to an even less-value-focused subset of current and prospective Centurion card holders?

Even obsolescence of the product isn't out of the question were Amex's cost to keep a specialized product to exceed the value of the halo effects of the product. A decline in service levels may be one way to get closer to making a product obsolete -- whether by design or by neglect.
I think you may be onto something with this line of reasoning. AMEX “purchased” the initial centurion benefits when the card was first introduced. These days, if it ain’t free to AMEX (or they are not getting paid to offer it) it does not make it through. The fact that the silly airline incidentals credit was cut really shows they are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I wonder if I can resell my useless equinox membership to a millennial “hipster” on Facebook market place 🤪
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