Originally posted by Shareholder:
Platinum Amex did have the Empress Lounge feature for those not making Gold or ExecPlat, and it still has the NW and CO lounge access which is handy if one does a lot of U.S. travel.
Actually, this is not a Canadian benefit. Amex Canada did not negotiated with NW and CO for this benefit. It is just that they couldn't really tell the Canadian cards apart from the US ones, or they don't really bother, that this benefit exist. On a sneaky note, even after you've cancelled your Amex Platinum, you can still "use" the card itself to get into lounges, couldn't you ?
In the meantime, as already noted, Amex will still be of some value to me, since I plan to use the MR program to add mileage to a dormant DL account from which I will transfer miles into Hilton HHonors points (at a 2 for 1 ratio) to boost that program balance.
The same can be done using the CO account. I've been trying to research if this 1-to-2 conversion to HHonors is a good deal or not. I know the 1000:233 ratio to Starwood Preferred Guest is not a good deal.
But the crux of the Amex/Cdn dispute seems to be about how much Amex was prepared to pay Cdn for these tickets, miles, etc.
No. The dispute came because CP wanted to terminate the deal at the end of this year instead of 2002 (a la pressure from AC/CIBC). However, the only reason why the Amex MR program works financially for Amex Bank Canada is because people don't cash out all their miles. If news of a "hard" termination date was announced (say, December 31, 2000), they would have seen most members cash out. I know from personal experience that I was going to cash out as much as possible prior to the May 1 3.5K fee. The source of this tidbit of information comes once again from my friend who used to work at Amex Canada MR.
If your scenario was correct, CP would not be publicly offering to continue their relationship with Amex until the end of this year. See
http://micro.newswire.ca/releases/Ap...8.html/87005-0 and note "same financial terms". I understand perfectly why Amex chose to protect their behind, but not at the expense of Platinum card memebers such as myself who has yet to excercise the 2000 (nor 1999) certificate. All Amex has to do to prove CP as a liar is to accept their terms, but instead they've chosen to point the finger at CP by brandishing their legal request (faxed) of immediate termination.
Just to clarify your comeback on Royal Bank's role in the Cdn/AC refinancing. My understanding is that creditors do not get 97% of what they are owed paid off immediately.
I doubt that. Otherwise, why was AC getting money from LH/UA/CIBC ? Surely they didn't need it for the $2.00 / share CP offer. The cash was used to pay off CP's debt so that it can be absorbed. If existing CP debt holders become new AC debt holders, can't see why those unsecured debt holders .....ing and complaining.