You know, I don't think such a policy exists (and if it exists, the threshold is surely higher than 10K/year os spend). He didn't seem to be very knowledgeable of the rules applicable to the different cards.

That seem to be common.
A few years ago, I almost fell for a salesman that swore, on the phone, that the Amex AFKL Plat came with PriorityPass membership because « all Amex platinum cards do ». Nice try, but selling premium cards like stolen carpets doesn’t work well in the long run. Recurring businesses need satisfied customers.

I guess it is quite easy to get full or partial discount on the Gold and Platinum cards but you have to negociate and play hardball by phone. Saying the world "canceling" works fantastically. I red positive posts in forums from people who got the Gold card for free with around 20k spending on the card. The same applies for internet providers when you ask the termination service : one call and you get a magical yearly discount.

Being loyal and nice is worth nothing those days with those companies. And remember, most of those calling agents are working short term, most of the time with pretty bad working conditions, so they are often not very aware of all the fine prints and and they don't value loyalty as you would. They mainly care about their monthly target.

As Canadavid mentioned, the Fortuneo Mastercard World Elite + classic American Express Gold for free is by far the best deal around and there is no call to make as long as you have 12k of spending.

Hi there,
did you ever receive a reply?

To be honest, I cancelled my AFKL cards 2 years ago, and switch to AMEX Platinum card that offer real perks such as Priority Pass, and I have been nothing but totally satisfied since then.

Yes, but in Dutch. The written reply is worded slightly differently from the telephone conversation.
More specifically, it's now mentioned that the exclusions relate to countries with a negative travel advice (etc) only.
Further it states that car-rental should be part of TRAVEL (reis), where as the way I read it that it would always covered as long as paid for with AMEX and not in the place of residence.De uitsluiting treft u aan op pagina 9 onder Algemen uitsluitingen

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.



Dat er uitzonderingen worden gemaakt staat uiteraard niet op schrift. Op de American Express website staan onder de Covid FAQ´s een aantal instructies omtrent welke uitzonderingen er eventueel overwogen kunnen worden.

https://www.americanexpress.com/nl/s...ondom-covid-19



Wat betreft de autohuur, geeft de polis aan een overzicht aan van de dekkingen die vallen onder uw reis-en annuleringsverzekering. De definities van reis en van reisduur gelden voor alle dekkingen van de polis, inclusief autohuur.



3. Waarvoor bent u verzekerd?

The Flying Blue – American Express Platinum Card biedt u de volgende verzekeringen met bijbehorende dekkingen: The Flying Blue – American Express Platinum Card Reisverzekering en Annuleringsverzekering • Medische hulp en vergoeding van kosten • Annuleren, uitstellen of afzien van uw reis • Afbreken van uw reis • Persoonlijke eigendommen, geld en reisdocumenten • Autohuur, diefstal, schade en aansprakelijkheid • Reisongemakken • Persoonlijke ongevallen gedurende de reis • Reisrechtsbijstand en schadevergoeding • Overbruggingsjaarverzekering



4.1 Belangrijke informatie

4. Reisduur: reizen kunnen maximaal 120 opeenvolgende dagen beslaan of maximaal 240 dagen gedurende een periode van twaalf maanden, maar dienen aan te vangen en te eindigen in uw land van domicilie



Land van domicilie

Het land waar u officieel als inwoner geregistreerd staat, hetgeen met een officieel document bevestigd dient te worden.



Reis

Een reis buiten uw land van domicilie, of een reis binnen uw land van domicilie mits een vlucht is inbegrepen, of ten minste een gereserveerde accommodatie voor één nacht buitenshuis. Zie hiervoor ook de bijzondere voorwaarden. De reisduur wordt verlengd tot 365 opeenvolgende dagen voor uw kinderen jonger dan 25 jaar in een overbruggingsjaar, voor zover van toepassing. Zie hiervoor ook de bijzondere voorwaarden

So it seems like the same conditions as what we were told in France... that travel does not need to be "essential", just not on the Foreign Ministry's red list (Afghanistan, Somalia, etc).

Drives me crazy how some of the AXA agents will say any old BS....

I've had my platinum card 2 or 3 years and never paid full fare yet. As said in previous post, you need to play it hard and I'm willing to cancel it if they don't discount, but so far they have always discounted

Well said. maalloc would easily save the annual 165 euros with a quick call with 50k/70k of expenses. But always say you think about canceling, never play the nice and loyal guy card, especially with the new discounted benefits. Or just downgrade to Silver to avoid any headache.
They have a very hard time to recruit new people. So they try to upgrade as much as possible their current customers base. The last thing they want is losing current customers.

you would think! My spending has been around 10k/mo and I’ve never been able to get any reduction on the Platinum card- just miles or MR points.

I’m going to downgrade my AF Plat because the insurance benefits (for me the most important thing) are increasingly less valuable. But before that say I want to close… we shall see what happens….

Found the info I was looking for....

That seems good

AFKL Gold: just received an offer for 20 € cashback for every 60 € spent, valid 3 times.

So in practice, they are effectively reducing this year's fees by 60 € That's almost a 40% discount, which sounds fair given the current travel restrictions .

For the brave (generous?) AFKL Plat holders: did you have the same kind of unofficial discount this year?

I had 50€ every 150€ (x5) for purchase at selected stores (carrefour, Fnac-Darty , veepee, total etc...)
that is also a 40% discount

Yes, in France, there are quite a bit of different offers for the AFKL Amex Platinum that more or less reimburse the annual fee (but you have to spend money for that ).