I have the French FB AFKL Amex (Gold) and received exactly the same statement as you for my holidays in ZNZ during Christmas/new year time. Covid expenses were also clearly mentioned and I was never asked if my trip was essential or not.

Thank you for his feedback. I now have summarized my call with AXA and asked them in wiriting to clarify their statements.

So now Platinum AF-KLM card holders are covered till 2 millions for their medical expenses but :
- only if they flied with AF-KLM
- only if the travel was essential

It is becoming pretty comical.
This card is giving headaches. Probably it is better to buy a separated insurance or to pay the extra fee when buying the ticket than counting on that card.

Again, I cannot find any written evidence for the second point, at least in the terms & conditions of the French card. Can you please provide some reference?

Hi everyone,

I have a couple of questions regarding the French AF/KL Amex Gold card.

1) My renewal date is coming up shortly but I am seriously considering canceling my card sometime this year. If I do cancel my card after the annual fee is collected, I will be partially reimbursed, correct? (Depending on how long I wait to cancel it, of course) What happens to the 30XP that will have been added to my FB account?

2) As many of you have recently expressed, the change of terms and conditions is a HUGE slap in the face to customers. Since moving to France I've booked most of my trips via AF/KL but I also frequently travel by train and sometimes book trips with other airlines. Long story short, I don't want to have to take out insurance every time I don't book via AF/KL. However, I would still like to hold a credit card that has a good level of insurance and allows me to rack up miles/points when making purchases. Do any of you have a "classic" card (whatever the level/color)? Due to the heavy influence of the US credit card market, I've found very little information and reviews when it comes to the Membership Rewards scheme in Europe. Does it operate similarly to the US? Are we also able to transfer points to different partners? Any differences I should be aware of compared to the AF/KL co-branded cards?

I'd appreciate any information regarding the insurance available on the "classic" Amex cards in France, the points scheme, etc.

I wasn't able to find an existing thread on the matter, but apologies if there is!

Thank you all in advance

Point n�1: You get the full amount of xp.
Point n�2: For the French market, I have the feeling that the � fortuneo � offer is one if the best and may match your expectation for nearly free. With this online bank, you can get a � World elite MC � (for the insurance part - with no issue on your travelling company) and an Amex classic gold card (free 1st year and every year if you spend 12k�) to rack up points on your purchases. You can transfer those points within the membership rewards even though i think it is 5:4 ratio so less valuable to AF/KLM). And I don�t know a lot of card except Amex that allow to rack up points/miles on the French market.

PS: for all of those who try to negotiate their yearly fees, 12k� seems to be a good base to start if you can get it for free.

My comments only refer to the Dutch FB-AMEX Platinum card.

During my conversation the words "suspended" and "essential" travel were absolutely used, but the written clarifications are more precise and IMHOP less disturbing:4. Algemene uitsluitingen

16. Reizen in, of geboekt naar landen waarvoor een overheidsinstelling een negatief reisadvies heeft uitgebracht of die officieel door de Verenigde Naties onder embargo zijn geplaatst.
Thus travel to countries for which government in the country of residence has published a negative travel advisory is not covered. Whereas in rare cases special consideration can be given to essential travel, such as in case of death of family.

Another interesting point is that, contrary to AMEX saying that car-rental is always (even in the country of residence) covered, this cover is limited to car-rental as part of "travel", even though the T&C do not mention "travel" explicitly as they do for each and every other item of travel related cover.

AMEX should republish the T&C I think.

Has anyone received a written clarification?

I have called several times asking about a similar issue.. the issue of �destinations�d�conseill�es� or discouraged travel destinations. (I never believe just one person and I believe what is in writing above all).

Each time I was told that the meaning of that was countries with severe levels of violence, instability etc � la Syria, Afghanistan etc.
I asked the question in the context of the French government�s blanket statement of �all foreign travel is not advised.. � d�conseill� �.

Again, Amex needs to update its policy. Very sloppy indeed.

This kind of behavior is what I would expect from a cheap policy- not a premium credit card. Or is it a premium card anymore?

Thank you canadavid

If anyone else has any insight on the French classic Amex cards, I'm all ears!

Are there temporary deals like in the US where you can transfer your points to another program for less?
Do some of you have "go-to" programs which they often transfer points to?

was any of the destinations on list of negative travel advisory?

not sure how to answer this. In France, the Quai d�Orsay has a general statement for all countries that any trip abroad is not recommended (because of Covid). So the statement is the same for Syria or for Monaco . Apart this, there are some countries or regions that are for sure on a red list because of general safety like Syria, Afghanistan, etc. Tanzania is not in that kind of category.

Just a few more data points regarding the cumbersome NL based identification process for holders of the Dutch FB Amex. I know it is still running and some here are still struggling with it:.

-in my case, the process started on Jan. 28, I'm based in Belgium
-I uploaded my ID, a copy of an insurance policy and an electricity bill, the last 2 docs with my address on it
-got a rejection email 2 weeks later, without explanation
-uploaded the same docs again, since I was thinking of a technical glitch
-another rejection email 2 weeks later, no details about the rejection in the email
-called AMEX, they checked and said the ID was ok, but the other docs would have to be in Dutch or English (I'm in the French/German speaking East of the country, so the docs were in French and German....)
-switched my home banking to Dutch and printed bank statements, uploaded them
-got another rejection email 2 weeks later...
-called AMEX and asked them to fix this insane process for me or... to f... off
-got a confirmation today that the process has been completed
Bottom line - besides the ID - the proves they are asking for really need to be in Dutch or English (which can be a bit of a challenge for cardholders who are living outside NL, and there are quite a few). And on top of providing the right documents, it appears one need to escalate this with AMEX agents....

To share with you an interesting experience this morning : I was called by Amex (I have the French Gold AFKLFB card). The guy who called started the discussion asking me if I was satisfied with the card (I am sure the primary goal of this call was to have me subscribe to the profesionnal card because he asked me if I would be interested in and I declined). I said that I was very unhappy of the last changes of T&C for insurances and about the expensive annual fee that Amex consistently refused to waive despite I have this card since 1998 (23 years !!), despite my high spendings with the card and while I know that they are waiving it regularly for some people above a certain spending level. The guy was super nice but:
- he had no clue what I was talking about for the insurances. So I explained to him.
- annual fee : he was very surprised as, for him, the rule was to have the fee waived if spending was above 10K/year. I said that I was wayyyy above that and that the fee has never been waived for me (not even once).

He promised to follow-up. He called me back a couple of hours later but I could not hear anything so I hung up and they did not call back.

Very interesting [MENTION=225231]Goldorak[/MENTION]... thank you for sharing.

I am making the call tomorrow to downgrade from the AFKLM Plat to a Silver. I just don't see the value anymore... as you stated the insurance benefits have been eviscerated. The only reason in my case to keep the card is that I can pay airfare over 3 months. The reason is sometimes it takes me 1+ months to be reimbursed by clients so when I have 5k in airfare alone in one month, that can have a negative impact on my cash flow.

My average annual spend is between 100-150k€ and when I asked for a fee reduction I was refused by Amex France... they say "we never discount our Platinum card".

Right. They just discount the benefits.

Interesting indeed !

Never got any discount either on my AFKL gold in the past 15 years despite billing 50-70k/ y on it. I wasn�t even aware they had this policy.

As for the platinum one, every time an agent tried to upsell me I said I would consider it if the first year was discounted. They never accepted.

These days the silver Amex looks more and more appealing... way to retain customers !