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Amex Premier Rewards Gold new benefits and higher annual fee, 6.1.2015

Old Feb 27, 2015, 9:22 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: italdesign
Summary of Premier Rewards Gold costs and benefits, effective 6.1.2015:

Cost
$195 Annual fee
$100 Reduced by Airline Fee Reimbursement
$ 95 Net

Benefits
No foreign transaction fee

Travel Protection:
Auto rental CDW (Secondary)
Roadside Assistance
Baggage Insurance (lost, stolen or damaged; not coverage for delays)
Travel Accident Insurance (Life insurance, excludes award redemptions)

Shopping Protection:
Return Protection ($300 maximum per item, 90 days)
Purchase Protection (damage or theft, 90 days; no coverage for lost)
Extended Warranty (Up to one extra year; 5 years maximum)

Rewards
3x Airfare
2x Gasoline
2x Dining
2x Groceries (no cap)
1x General


Compare with American Everyday Preferred

Cost
$ 95 Annual fee

Non-Benefit
2.7% Foreign transaction fee

Travel Protection:
Auto rental CDW (Secondary)
Roadside Assistance
Baggage Insurance (lost, stolen or damaged; not coverage for delays)
Travel Accident Insurance (Life insurance, excludes award redemptions)

Shopping Protection:
Return Protection ($300 maximum per item, 90 days)
Purchase Protection (damage or theft, 90 days; no coverage for lost)
Extended Warranty (Up to one extra year, 5 years maximum)


Rewards (assuming 30 transactions per month)
4.5x Groceries (capped at $6,000 per year)
3.0x Gasoline
1.5x General


Compare with Chase Sapphire Preferred

Cost
$ 95 Annual fee

Benefits
No foreign transaction fee

Travel Protection
Auto Rental CDW (Primary)
Lost or Delayed Luggage Reimbursement (covers award tickets)
Trip Cancellation or Interruption Insurance (covers award tickets)
Travel Accident Insurance (Life insurance, $500,000)

Shopping Protection
Return Protection ($500 maximum per item, 90 days)
Purchase Protection (damage or theft, $500 per item, 120 days; no coverage for lost
Price Protection ($500 per item, 90 days)
Extended Warranty (Up to one extra year, 3 years maximum)

Rewards
2x Travel
2x Dining


Compare with Citi Premier, effective 4.19.2015

Cost
$ 95 Annual fee

Benefits
No foreign transaction fee

Rewards
3x Travel
3x Gasoline
2x Dining
2x Entertainment
1x General
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Amex Premier Rewards Gold new benefits and higher annual fee, 6.1.2015

Old Feb 27, 2015, 1:45 pm
  #46  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,684
Originally Posted by WheelsFirst
These are all really good changes with two caveats. One, unless you spend a lot on dining, airfare, and foreign spend and not a lot on anything else the EDP is still the better product (assuming you don't care about charge vs credit). Two, this makes the Platinum card worth a lot less. This is just commenting on earning MR points, the benefits of the Plat card are obviously a lot better (FHR, DL lounge, Cent lounge, PP Select)
Keep in mind there are rumors of changes to Plat also. See
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ng-2015-a.html
eajusa is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2015, 3:57 pm
  #47  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DCA/IAD
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Posts: 1,628
Originally Posted by travelmad478
Also, dieuwer2's point about the ridiculousness of the sign-up hoopla,
Is it really that big a deal to spend a few minutes (tops) on the AmEx website to designate your airline of choice?
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 4:05 pm
  #48  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Is it really that big a deal to spend a few minutes (tops) on the AmEx website to designate your airline of choice?
You shouldn't be forced to become a slave of one airline. Reimbursement of ANY airline fee, or no deal.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 5:22 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
You shouldn't be forced to become a slave of one airline. Reimbursement of ANY airline fee, or no deal.
It's hardly being a slave to one airline. You mean to say you don't have a primary airline, or one you know you'll spend at least $100 on a ticket on?

I agree with letterboy, it's really not a big deal. At the end of the day, if that's a deal breaker for you that's fine, you then get to save the annual fee and not get the card.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 6:23 pm
  #50  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 122
Originally Posted by krazykanuck
It's hardly being a slave to one airline. You mean to say you don't have a primary airline, or one you know you'll spend at least $100 on a ticket on?

I agree with letterboy, it's really not a big deal. At the end of the day, if that's a deal breaker for you that's fine, you then get to save the annual fee and not get the card.
Citi's figured it out with the Prestige. Heck, their credit is $250, too! Amex, yet again, is unimpressive.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 6:27 pm
  #51  
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
2x on dining will probably make me use it heavily from June until my AF is due in October. Then I'll cancel it.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 6:43 pm
  #52  
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Originally Posted by mia
This is a marketing blunder.

It's counterproductive to announce a price increase, from $175 to $195, when you are actually lowering your price, from $175 to $95. I understand why they want to offer the Airline Fee Credit rather than an outright fee reduction, but increasing the top line fee is a distraction. They should have left the annual fee alone, and implemented an $80 credit.

What is the benefit to announcing these changes three months before they become effective? I suppose they want to use them as a retention tool to reduce cancellations in March, April and May, and to counteract Citi's forthcoming Premier card campaign, but how difficult or expensive could it be to implement at least some of these changes immediately?
It's not a price drop. Many people don't use the airline fee credit. A price drop to $95 would be much more expensive to them.

Clearly, cash (which you can spend on anything, at any time you want) is worth more than a credit which you must spend on a very limited selection of items, in a very limited amount of time. So, to call the net cost $95 is misleading.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 6:45 pm
  #53  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: MSY
Programs: BA GfL
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Originally Posted by krazykanuck
It's hardly being a slave to one airline. You mean to say you don't have a primary airline, or one you know you'll spend at least $100 on a ticket on?
My primary airline is BA. I don't incur fees (other than award booking fees, which aren't eligible for reimbursement) on ANY airline. And yes, it is pretty ridiculous that the only way to get the $100 is to first buy a gift card and then spend that gift card on an airline ticket.
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Old Feb 27, 2015, 10:37 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by ffflllyyyeeerrr
Citi's figured it out with the Prestige. Heck, their credit is $250, too! Amex, yet again, is unimpressive.
And their annual fee is $450.
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Old Feb 28, 2015, 6:17 am
  #55  
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Originally Posted by travelmad478
....to first buy a gift card and then spend that gift card on an airline ticket.
You can buy a gift card and then sell it to a site like giftcards.com. You'll get about 75% value.
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Old Feb 28, 2015, 8:35 am
  #56  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Adelphi, MD
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Posts: 731
Amex Premier Rewards Gold new benefits and higher annual fee, 6.1.2015

Anyone know if the airline credit fee bonus applies to fuel surcharges? Thanks
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Old Feb 28, 2015, 10:17 am
  #57  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: Airline Free Agent/MR Gold/ HH Diamond/National/MGM/Amex
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
It's not a price drop. Many people don't use the airline fee credit. A price drop to $95 would be much more expensive to them.

Clearly, cash (which you can spend on anything, at any time you want) is worth more than a credit which you must spend on a very limited selection of items, in a very limited amount of time. So, to call the net cost $95 is misleading.
While I totally understand/agree with the sentiment, the discussion is on Flyertalk. A $100 airline reimbursement is about as "gimme" as you can get and I don't think its misleading given the audience.
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Old Feb 28, 2015, 10:29 am
  #58  
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
It's not a price drop. Many people don't use the airline fee credit. A price drop to $95 would be much more expensive to them.

Clearly, cash (which you can spend on anything, at any time you want) is worth more than a credit which you must spend on a very limited selection of items, in a very limited amount of time. So, to call the net cost $95 is misleading.
It is a price drop and it's not misleading in the least.

In exchange for the $20 fee increase, you get a variety of benefits. But let's just stick with the $100 airline credit. Even if you don't use it, you can simply buy a gift card and sell the gift card back to a variety of websites for 75% of face. So at the very least you're getting $75. That brings the AF down to $120, a $55 price drop from the current AF.
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Old Feb 28, 2015, 12:24 pm
  #59  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 405
Can the $100 airline credit be used for lounge access?
DetailsIM is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2015, 1:45 pm
  #60  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 122
Originally Posted by DetailsIM
Can the $100 airline credit be used for lounge access?
This is one of the few things the Platinum's airline credit is actually designed to be used for, so I would imagine the Gold can also do it.
ffflllyyyeeerrr is offline  

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