Originally Posted by
synzero
There is no other "program" as you put it that replaces all of the AmEx Platinum benefits. Each one has its own value and use and if you want to get premium experiences you really need to cobble together your own "program" from multiple sources. There's a ton of content on FlyerTalk about all this.
For example: for domestic lounge access there's nothing comparable to the Platinum card. No other company offers SkyClub, Centurion, Escape, Plaza Premium, AND Priority Pass access for a single very low price. The membership fee alone for all these would be far more than the annual fee of this card even if you didn't use any of the credits at all.
Every credit card travel website sucks - not technically, but in terms of customer service, pricing, availability, etc. So yes, amextravel.com is by far the least technically competent (in terms of performance etc), but they all are sites I would never book anything through when I can avoid it.
A couple points of order. Amex doesn’t really offer Priority Plus but rather Priority Plus Lite since the dining credit option, one of the key values in the program, is not included.
While the Amex website is problematic for booking, it’s their so-called travel agents who are mostly offshore customer service call center reps reading off a script, unless after 8-10 escalation calls or involving the Executive Escalations team you get a competent agent with Sabre access who actually knows what they are doing - everyone else is part of a simmering stew of mind-numbing incompetence that takes bad service to a new level of horror.