tjk1976

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, but I just noticed an apparent inconsistency in the Amex Platinum Card benefits. The full fee Plat card (Canadian) published benefits state that they include:

"Complimentary Hertz #1 Club Gold Membership and FREE car class upgrades When you rent with Hertz, your complimentary program membership entitles you to routinely enjoy benefits such as Enjoying complimentary membership in Hertz #1 Club Gold, which includes Complimentary One Car Class Upgrade (subject to availability)."

Yet, the Hertz Gold Membership Guide now states that the Hertz #1 Club Gold level no longer includes complimentary upgrades, not to mention the fact that the #1 Club Gold membership tier is now offered for free to the general public. Upgrades do not appear to be included at levels below Hertz #1 Club Gold Five Star and President's Circle.

A call to Platinum Customer Service yielded the "we'll have to look into that" response that I expected. I'm assuming it is what it appears to be and the benefit has been diluted to be of zero value. Does anyone have any info about this?

fluffydot

The plat card still provides a discount code that can get you pretty good rates depending location and vehical type. (seems to work better on luxury class)

edcli

AAA rates are better (+ free extra driver and 1 child seat)

Plat AMEX gives you a 4 hr return grace period (1 hr normally) though

tjk1976

A friend of mine pointed out that entering the Amex Plat. or Centurion CDP Code "should" trigger an upgrade independently of Gold status, though I have not tested this since they diluted the upgrade benefits of #1 Club Gold.

DelrayChris

Can we edit the title to include American Express Platinum (Canada)?

mia

We will if the problem is unique to Canadian Platinum Cards. It sounds as if the change has occurred at Hertz and would affect the value of Gold status for all American Express cards which offer this benefit.

tjk1976

Thanks. I would be interested to know if, in fact, it is unique to Canadian cardholders. From what I can tell, I suspect it's not.

tjk1976

Three weeks and four phone calls to Amex later and still no answer on this. So far, all I have been able to get out of them is that they're "looking into it" and I had a call back the other day in which they said their marketing department doesn't believe there have been any changes to the Hertz program. Apparently, they don't have Internet access at American Express, otherwise I'm sure they would simply look at the Hertz Website to see what I'm talking about. #annoying.

MoneyBagger

PTS UK certainly don't seem to be aware of any changes to Hertz. I have a car hire booked for Vegas in a few weeks and was told I would get a one class upgrade.

It was the only real reason I booked it through them....

garykung

I rarely rented cars with Hertz (but I did get my Hertz #1 Club Gold from AMEX Platinum USA).

In those time, only 1 time that I did not receive upgrades (as in a lot of time, my upgrades are more than 1 class).

For that time, I ended up with something else.

neos

Hertz #1 Gold membership is a joke.

It's not a bad thing per se but anyone searching the web can easily obtain free membership. It's just another of the Platinum card's underwhelming benefits, making it harder to justify its (soon to be even more) exorbitant annual fee!

NiceLanding

One thing I'm not clear about is whether an Amex Plat on your reservation triggers anything special at Hertz if you don't use their CDP code. On the other hand, if you do use their CDP code, does Hertz even verify that you pay with a Plat card? In fact, if you already have #1 Gold 5-star status and a better corporate CDP code, does it make any difference at all using a Plat card versus, say, an Amex Gold card?

mrkymark

I totally agree
- Hertz is always the most expensive for the same car
- Gold #1 can be obtained pretty darn easily via other methods
- discounts are maybe 10% max on an already expensive rate

The only time I would see it benefiting is the 4hr grace to return the car.

Top10Buys

Right but you can still find PC and discount codes online (google search) that can make Hertz some pretty decent deals.

mjshaw7

I have confirmed with agents from both AMEX and Hertz that the PLAT "one car class upgrade" is independent of the published Hertz benefits. I have received this benefit by asking what AMEX Platinum upgrades are available when picking up the car.

I have also never seen the 4 hour grace period benefit published on any Canadian AMEX literature but I have made use of it for bookings in the US with no issues (although I've had to mention it each time when returning the car late).