ohcanada

I've been with Amex for over 40 years, and the majority of that with the Canadian Plat, but this may require a rethink. Essentially have taken away 0.25 points/dollar on most purchases while increasing on some and giving us a metal card (eventually - my card is good until 2022). Fairmont was the best benefit of the Plat from my point of view and now that's gone, so it's hard to justify the expense. I've been super loyal to Amex for a long time but there are now many other options.

ohcanada

But - I did get a pack of Amex playing cards with the package announcing my points are reducing. So there's that.....

24left

Package arrived. Complete waste of paper and materials. Someone in marketing thought that part of my annual fee should be spent on wrapping, a leaflet and the underwhelming "gift" of a box of cards. All other purchases will now only earn 1 point per dollar because someone has to pay for the marketing materials, lol

All of this could have been announced in a nice email and then send out the metal card.

Doors Closing

Finally got the "refresh", and not very sure how does it help the plat to be an attractive travel card.

The 2x on travel merely mirrors the Gold card, and it is truly the one category that could have been the edge of the refreshed plat. TBH even a 2.5x would have tilted the decision whether to switch to plat yet this is by far the most disappointing element of the "refresh".

Moreover, the travel insurance on the card amounts to 15days, which is nowadays an average coverage of mid-tier cards. The competition has a 21-31 days range, which a "premium' travel card would have to match. This is another core element of a great travel card.

The FX item is the last core element to look it in a travel card: I was thinking Amex could have at least reduce it, if not fully doing away with it. A 1-1.25% or so FX rate would have made the refreshed card a much more attractive option.

If anything, I can hardly see the added value of the "refresh", unless we are a heavy dine out person that is...The metal card is solely a boon, and in real life means nothing, hardly anyone would see it, and if someone does, it wont change anything! This is still "an airport lounge card" yet with more cards offering some type of lounge access, I can hardly see the added value of the refresh. Will stick to the Gold, and look forward to another "refresh"...

Clipper801

The CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Privilege provides $2,500 up to $10,000 prior to departure cancellation protection. I can have my whole family covered. Amex Plat only covers $1,500 up to $3,000.
This is supposed to be a premium card!
Also the 3X MR dining is in Canada only.
Overall, I am very disappointed with the "refresh".

Schweden

Does the metal card get shipped out at card renewal or at the annual renewal date? If it's the former, looks like I might need to call in.

cmb88

specboi

Oh wow I missed that, that's terrible then, cause majority of my big resturrest bills are in the US or Japan when I tend to indulge on the Michelin star establishments there.....I was excited about earning 3x on those, but if it's Canada only then that's terrible.

Toronto1970

nabeelj

Seems to be $2500/$5000: https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/e...insurance.html

Clipper801

Thanks for pointing that out. They must have increased since I last look at the Policy a while ago.
In any case, the total coverage is still half of that on another card.

pauq

Or restaurants in hotels, even here in Canada.

Vasco

The more I think about this, the more upset it makes me. I've been with Amex since 2000, and most of it with a Platinum Card. Currently, I have both the Platinum Card and the Gold Card. Travel, fuel and groceries went on the Gold card, while most everything else went on the Platinum. Now, the Platinum has been devalued from 1.25 to 1 point per $, meaning that there is no real advantage in earning over the Gold Card. The exception is restaurants. But does that make up forthe loss of 1.25 points elsewhere, plus the loss of the Fairmont benefit, plus all the other consecutive losses of benefits and priviliges we have taken over the years?

They can't even be bothered to give us a free supplementary card like every other market gets; and even the Gold Card gets. So I currently pay $699(-$200)+$175+$150 for my wife and I to each have a Platinum Card and a Gold Card. But now really there is hardly a difference between the Gold and Platinum, and hardly a difference between Gold and Cobalt. I'm now looking at getting rid of both Platinum and Gold and instead getting a Cobalt ($120+$0) plus an HSBC World Elite Mastercard ($149(-$100)+$50) that has NO FX FEES as a replacement strategy. And seriously even considering not even adding the Cobalt, and just going all-in with HSBC.

But its a metal card, so... that makes it all ok.

I love Amex. I'm in many ways an Amex loyalist; but the Platinum Card is no longer competitive. The only place where Amex still holds the lead is lounge access, but I pay to sit up front so I get lounge access without Amex anyway - but even then, most lounges these days are so overcrowded I give them a miss.

mia

If the restaurant uses the hotel's merchant account you dined at a hotel, not at a restaurant. All card issuers who offer category bonuses use the merchant account category to classify expenses.


There are no free supplementary Platinum cards in the USA market, but the choice isn't between American Express (Canada) and American Express (Elsewhere), nor between American Express (2019) versus American Express (2018), it's American Express versus HSBC or other issuers.

RoutingWonk