zaf

Don't get me wrong, I am not going against you on this one. I was merely highlighting a point thats all.

Come Fry With Me

Yep, absolutely!

edscholl

for me, the math is pretty easy. i'd pay $350/year for delta lounge access and american is my secondary carrier for which i don't have a club membership; i'm basically break even just on lounge access.

i'm also a starwood whore, but i already have status, so the spg gold does nothing for me - but planet hollywood just left starwood, so i'm hoping the fhr benefit works out for me in vegas. if it does, it'll continue to pay, if not, well, i'll reevaluate. ^

HITtraveler

Thanks for all the info on these post I'm too considering upgrading to Plat card and had a question about airport lounge access. I'm US GP but have yet to purchase club access so my choices are $425 for 1st year US club access ($375 + $50 new member fee) or $450 year plat fee or keep my Amex Gold for $125/year. So $550 for Amex Gold and US club access or $450 for Amex Plat and assume I can use it to access US club the same as a direct membership?

TAHKUCT

You can only assume that you can use Amex Platinum card to access US clubs . However, in reality, Amex Platinum does not participate with US in a lounge access program. See this link for participating carriers: https://www217.americanexpress.com/c..._c&benefitId=1

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk. Further to TAHKUCT's reply, American Express Platinum cardholders are permitted to use AA, CO, DL/NW clubs only when flying on the carrier which operates the club. It does not give the cardholder a "membership" in any of those clubs. This means their is no reciprocal access to US (or UA) clubs as there would be with a CO President's Club membership.

AMA

The ticket does -not- have to be charged on AMEX, does it? If this is correct, I could see how some would justify the cost via lounge access alone.

I had the Platinum card for a while many years ago; may look into getting it again.

mia

Correct. Read the rules here:

https://www217.americanexpress.com/c..._c&benefitId=1

Be sure to click on and the footnote link (superscript 1 at end of first sentence) to read the rules.

samh

I recieve Platinum signup offers every few months, look through them, and have decided the card is not worth it. I carry Amex gold and use it, but the additional cost of Platinum seems to me to be very high compared to what it offers. In particular, the airline lounges are limited (I generally fly UA) and the other benefits (call a concierge to make a restaurant reservation) are questionable. I would consider it if Amex made the offer more attractive.

jbcarioca

There are some Platinum cards, as in OPEN, that don't have annual fees, but they also don't have MR, but have rebates instead. The rebates seem to usually be worth the same as or more than the points anyway, and you save the annual fee.

mia

While the SimplyCash Business credit card is platinum colored it does not include the benefits of the Platinum charge card.

http://www201.americanexpress.com/bu...dit-card/29790

schecke

I am debating upgrading from Gold to Plat, but it sure seems like most are skeptical of the value. May I request some advice from those who carry, or used to?

The impetus for doing the upgrade is for the 2-for-1 international, which seems to just be getting dogged on this board. I'm pretty savvy when it comes to finding deals, but maybe in this instance, I'm looking at it wrong.

By my research, 2 economy tickets from Iberia (using their own website) to Spain would cost me $2,236. One business class ticket costs $2,108. That's a difference of $128.

I went to AMEX' travel site and found pretty similar numbers - $2,123 for a single business ticket, and $2,502 for a pair of economy tickets. By those numbers, a savings of $379! So it seems as though AMEX is overcharging by about $15 on the biz ticket, and $266 for the econ tickets. I've also used Kayak to cross-reference, and the prices seem pretty much around there, so what am I missing? Even when comparing two econ direct from Iberia ($2,236) vs. one business w/companion from AMEX ($2,123) it comes out cheaper. Are the AMEX full-fare prices not advertised online? Is it something you can't see until you have the Plat card?

Okay, so I still have to factor in the cost to upgrade the card. $125 up to $450. A nice $325 chunk of change to make up throughout the year. I am already putting a $113 dent with the Spain airfare (never mind getting to fly business on a 9+ hour flight). At worst it would be like paying an extra $212 to upgrade a pair of econ tickets to business class, no? If I use the lounges or any of the other perks its all gravy. I do live in NYC so the concierge may come in handy with restaurants, but I really don't have the sort of taste that would require such posh indulgences.

Again, if I am misunderstanding what a full fare ticket is, could someone please clue me in? Does my research seem correct to everyone else? I get that it might not be valuable to most people to take this upgrade, but on the surface it seems like I'd be the ideal candidate. I certainly don't want to get ripped off by AMEX, that's for sure. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

First problem is that Iberia does not participate in the International Airline Program. See description here:

https://www217.americanexpress.com/c..._c&benefitId=5

Second problem is that the program requires purchase of an unrestricted full fare ticket. The $2,108 far you have found is a deeply discounted business class fare with advance purchase, minimum stay or refund restrictions.

Most airlines publish several different fares for each cabin. Here are some sample IB business class round-trip fares from MIA to MAD to illustrate:

$8,220 C
$7,160 J
$3,994 D
$3,245 I
$2,842 I
$2,739 I

All of these are valid for identical seats on identical flights. The only differences are the restrictions in the fare rules. If Iberia participated in this program you would probably have to buy the "C" fare, but they might offer "J".

Okto

Mia, would you kindly explain how you're able to obtain all the different class fares shown above? I tried the Iberia website and it'll only show the lowest-cost, restricted fares. Thanks.

mia

I use http://www.expertflyer.com/ but there are other sites that show the same information.

To start look at these threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...es-thread.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...tool-here.html