beofotch

Hello,

I wanted to get some insights from the crew here on the best way to proceed as a Charlotte based flier.

• My company will pay for EITHER an American Express Platinum Card or a Lounge Membership of my choosing
• I am a Charlotte Based US Airways Chairman Member whose status at April 1 will probably be demoted to Silver
• I currently have the American Express Green Corporate Card and no Lounge Memberships
• I currently access *A Lounges in the USA, including the US Club, using a SAS Eurobonus Gold *A Card which Expires 8/14

If I get the American Express Platinum Card, I will lose lounge access at Charlotte which is where I find it most handly, especially for personal travel. Maybe Priority Pass Select which comes with the Card will one day be accepted in Charlotte?

If I get the US Air Club or AA Club Membership (which is best?), I will be able to use Charlotte lounges, which is good. But will I materially miss benefits of the Platinum Card versus the Green Card? I just got United to Status Match my Chairman Status to 1k Status so I just signed up for the $100 Global Entry Credit that United offers 1ks.

What would you do in my shoes given your travel preferences?

AccentOnTheFuture

AMEX sent a note implying that you will get a $500 credit towards AA OR US Airways lounge access starting in April. So Plat Amex is still best deal.

heyeaglefn

Isn't that only if you have the card? I didn't hear that is for new card holders applying now?

WNLuvr

I believe these offers from Amex are highly targeted, as many others on this board have reported receiving just $100 or $200 (others, $0) toward a club membership if they keep their Amex Platinum.

Proceed with Amex Platinum at your own risk if AA or US club access is important to you.

flyingmusicianlax

I'd go ahead and get the US Club membership. If AMEX opens a CLT lounge (no indication of this anytime soon), you can always get the Platinum card.

jhalapin

The US Air membership will allow entrance to *A until the end of March then will be OneWorld. And it gets you into all the AA clubs as well.

Priority pass is pretty much useless in the US (as far as i'm concerned. YMMV).

I have a United and US air membership as well as the Plat AMEX. Unless AMEX ups the benefits I can't see folks finding value in this card any longer.

Go with the US Air membership since you are CLT based.

Phoenixtinct

EXCEPT there is a MAJOR difference in what club membership gets you in *A and OW. In *A, AC, UA or US membership will get you in ALL *G lounges. HOWEVER, in OW, a club card will ONLY get you in Qantas and AA/US lounges. To get into the rest, you need either OW status or fly in a premium cabin. So, having a club membership in OW is a LOT LESS valuable.

US Club membership can get you into hundreds of *A lounges until March 30th. After that, you only have access to AA/US and QF lounges worldwide, I. e. probably less than a 100.

dtremit

I think it's worth asking -- where are you planning to fly this year, and on what airline? The UA 1K status will get you into international *A lounges for this year, but do you plan to maintain it? The US or AA membership won't do you much good if you spend most of your time connecting in IAD or IAH.

If you are flying AA/US, one thought that occurs to me is to get the AmEx from work, and use the $200 Amex airline fee credit towards a US Club membership before your CP status (and discount) runs out. You'd be out of pocket $175, but you'd get both the membership and the benefits of AmEx Plat, plus 5k PQMs on US.

JDiver

AMEX Platinum has discontinued its relationship with Admirals Club effective March 22 of this year, so the card will get you bupkis: USA AMEX Platinum Members Lose Access to Admirals Club/US Airways Lounges 22 Mar 2014 .

I think lounge issues will be in a bit of flux until we know what the realignment of US Airways and Admirals Clubs will offer us, and whether they will offer any affiliations with existing cards, from CitiBank AAdvantage Executive World Elite ($450, which includes Admirals Club membership to any potential alignment with Priority Pass.

Your best bet may be to sit tight a little while.

acvitale

I would agree with using the 200 airline credit from Amex for a club membership. Then you could also use the Amex card for free global entry application, normally 100.00 also the insurance benefit for rental cars is notable and Amex has baled me or where Airlines have failed. it would also get you into centrium lounges and priority pass as noted. You would be out a couple bucks but would come out way ahead

beofotch

Thank you for the insightful discussion up above.

Most of my travel will be domestic this year. For now CLT - IAH each week (I am using the US and UA clubs now thanks to SAS EuroBonus Gold). Later this year mostly domestic trips out of Charlotte and back each week.

I have some international trips booked, but these are business/first award tickets where I will get lounge access anyway.

The UA 1K status I don't plan to do much with - I'll credit all my flights to US / UA.

Your idea of get the card and then do the lounge subsidy is a clever idea.

nall

How about the AA Exec Card with 60,000 mile bonus?

davewho??

"The UA 1K status I don't plan to do much with - I'll credit all my flights to US / UA"

?? Do you mean US/AA

beofotch

Yes - my fault - US/AA.

dfwgolfer1

They were targeted, and most of us got screwed with less than $500 or $0