Originally Posted by
scubadu
Effective annual fee: -$495
I've often advocated in these forums that I'd love to see the real, effective annual fee for this card go up to an actual, say, $750 or even $1000 per year and actually provide a genuine, premium experience. And yes, that is self serving as well, because its a price point I could afford (and would be willing) to pay, if the experience was genuinely a premium one. That said, my dream solution, at this point, will simply never happen. The credit card companies chose "volume" as their strategy, so they have to keep getting people to sign up for cards.
So you are arguing for an effective increase of ~ $1500 in annual fee. That will never happen.
We may perceive a problem with crowding because we see lines when we need to get in, but the reality is that many lounges are probably not at capacity for a significant amount of time. I've actually never had to wait in a line in the last two years for the lounges and time of the day I needed to access. I'm also not sure if an oasis of calm is what Amex is trying to or realistic to create. For most businesses (and I'm not sure Amex is any different), being as close to capacity and for as much of the time as possible is the goal.
Ultimately, Amex Platinum is a now mass-market product, just like Chase Sapphire Reserve or Capital One Venture X. The luxury of space and privacy (that it once was when it was more niche) is simply not compatible with the mass appeal. Amex is unlikely to make any moves that could jeopardize its competitiveness against Chase, etc.