yngdiego

If you want the same effect of people commenting "this is heavy" for us mere mortals, then you can get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. It's mostly metal as well, and quite heavy. When I was in New Zealand and used it whereever AMEX was not accepted, at least 50% of the time they would comment on the weight. One shop even passed it around to a couple of employees so they could feel it. LOL

jspira

By contrast, my metal JPM Palladium card has the same number as the plastic Palladium card I asked for - and the CID is the same as well (although I was told the CID would be different).

jimikim

Another question, can my friend who has the card make the res for me, a non-centurion holder? Thanks in advance.

Simpleton

Even if that will not work, he can always put you as the other person in the room, and then you can just show up and check in. I have done this before, but possibly YMMV.

jimikim

Ah good idea. thanks.

mia

Three posts discussing the concierge service have been moved to this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-done-you.html

edrags

I have had the Saphhire card for less than two months and already had three merchants assume it is a Centurion like card because of its weight! On the other hand, my name on the front of the card is already starting to rub off!

BonViveur

We get few comments. mainly about the heft, as others do, but I do have 1 great story.

New Year's Eve, shopping in Yokohama, we walked out of a store and I was just putting card back in the wallet. There were a bunch of young people marketing for Amex at a kiosk - about 6 of them. Surprisingly, as I am not Japanese and obviously a tourist, they asked if I was interested in a card. I replied I had enough already, flipping my wallet open.

The sight of the black card had them in schisms. They all wanted to touch it and one of the girls asked if I was a president or a rock star. If I had been alone, I could have had a lucky NYE, I think.

reft

In the "Could be worth doing" Department:

Create a properly sized fake Centurion card using one of the currently available images.

When accosted in the airport to sign up, flash your [fake] card. Optional: Ask why they did not properly greet you, bow down, prostrate themselves, etc.

(if you actually have a Cent Card, then you can do the same thing, except with your real card)

forumpersona999

Hey people already offer a service on ebay... Where they encode your card number onto a fake Cent...

And people try to sell dead / expired Cent on ebay, too. Crazy!

Father-of-3

So maybe you could get the card and then lose one every month. Sell them on eBay and cover half the annual fee that way?

Aaron01

I think AMEX would catch on

correa07

Terrible example. I am a Colombian Centurion cardmember and live there, and you DON'T get kidnapped in Colombia for having or showing a Centurion, or for being wealthy. There is no kidnapping in Colombia nowadays... It's important to be informed about such inaccurate stereotypes.

It is true though, that the card is not particularly recognized in certain countries, but does not necessarily have anything to do with the economic or social development of that country. It only has to do with the strength Amex representation that country has.

In France Amex representation is weak and is not widely accepted. Due to this fact you do not see many people that recognize it. As somebody said, Amsterdam is another example. (even though a bouncer saw it and joked at the fact I could get everyone drinks with one of those).

In DF ,Mexico or Buenos Aires, Argentina you can see how top end merchants do recognize the card in hotels, car rentals, certain restaurants, etc.

Wanna test the recognition of a black amex in any country? Go to the particular google page of a specific country and write "american express centurion" card (write card in that country's language). You will easily see that depending on the country there will be no results of citizens commenting on the card or writing about it (Colombian example). Whereas you type the name of the card in google.co.uk, google.com, google.com.mx, and you will see a lot of activity around the card from citizens of the country. The list of common searches will also tell you information. Nobody searches for "american express centurion colombia", while there are a lot of different combinations of people searching for "american express centurion us".

Just some thoughts. Enjoy your Centurions to impress yourself and the ones you love, not to show off with a waiter or a clerk.

MrAndrew

I'd like to weigh in on this, but from the perspective of the guy on the other side of the counter.

I rent cars for a living, and have probably swiped dozens, if not a hundred centurion cards. I've known what they were from day one. I assure you most people recognize them, it's just not appropriate to mention.

It would be like if you opened your wallet, and somebody leaned over and was like HOLY .... YOU HAVE A TON OF MONEY IN THERE WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH MONEY?!?!?!

InsaneTravel

Wow 59 posts and only a couple of people mentioned some of the benefits of the Centurion.

Speaking of "High End Credit Cards", does anyone have : 'Royale' MasterCard from Dubai ? It has a diamond embedded in it.