Originally Posted by
SanDiego1K
I was just billed for my annual fee. It remained at $695. I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it was covered here but a quick search didn't find it. I did an online search that indicated the fee will increase after Jan 2 for those with existing cards. Yet we already have all the new benefits. It's a no brainer to keep the card. I get well in excess of $695 in benefits.
Ditto. I will easily exceed $1400 in credits and that does not include Clear or the FHR/THC hotel credits. But none of these perks are things I want or need to prepay Amex and buy with coupons.
So I still plan to dump the card if they don't fix the lounge overcrowding. I would like to think the easy way is to apply a fixed visit limit per card (as is done for DL lounges) but I expect that might be difficult if the problem is overcrowding at peak dates/times when every cardholder (and their family) wants to use it. Still, the Amex footprint is light years ahead of Chase and Crap1.
The current lounge rez system is unattractive as it is difficult to predict arrival times when I'm originating, much less for connections. The first come, first on the list just doesn't work for me, nor do I want to be fumbling with reservations on the phone app while navigating traffic into the airport. Pre-booking with a cancellation fee seems to be the obvious solution, just like popular restaurants. First world problems...