No more Gogo or Boingo on Biz Plat - Jan 1, 2020
Nov 13, 2019, 6:45 pm
#16
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 539
Nov 18, 2019, 7:30 pm
#18
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,385
*typing this from a cx flight right now
Nov 19, 2019, 3:48 pm
#19
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: AMEX Business Centurion
Posts: 418
Originally Posted by nyc2cal;[url=tel:31733931
31733931[/url]]Business Centurion lost the same four benefits, along with the annual fee doubling (and also lost the $200 airline credit!). I couldn't care less about the WeWork benefit, used GoGo and Boingo heavily (more upset about losing GoGo), and the roadside assistance led to my canceling AAA when I got the Platinum card years ago.
Looked into roadside assistance since this is going away and what American Express has called "Premium Roadside Assistance" (four incidents per year you don't have to pay for, versus the normal roadside assistance, which you do pay per incident) is a benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, which I have. Net $150 fee per year if you use the $300 anytime/anywhere travel credit.
I'm not a big fan of how all of this was done by American Express.
Looked into roadside assistance since this is going away and what American Express has called "Premium Roadside Assistance" (four incidents per year you don't have to pay for, versus the normal roadside assistance, which you do pay per incident) is a benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, which I have. Net $150 fee per year if you use the $300 anytime/anywhere travel credit.
I'm not a big fan of how all of this was done by American Express.
Nov 20, 2019, 6:15 pm
#20
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,242
The Gogo benefit on American Airlines has been worthless this year. The majority of aircraft seem to be fitted with Viasat and it wasn't possible to use the Gogo passes on those aircraft.
Nov 20, 2019, 9:09 pm
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,028
Nov 21, 2019, 3:52 pm
#22
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Mexico City, MX
Programs: No airline/hotel status use, Chase UR, Amex MR, CapOne etc
Posts: 266
Amex totally slashes wework, gogo, and boingo the benefits from Amex Biz platinum, raises annual fee to $600.
"The Points guy: Amex Biz Platinum is better than ever with their incredible refresh!"
The hilton and spg/marriot gold are overrated, every year they give you less and less with that access level, they don't even guarantee you free breakfast or lounge access anymore. One time at a sheraton the spg gold status got me a water bottle and a bag of chips at check in, wow thanks.
The Centurion lounge access is ok but I fly biz on points most the time anyways, and when I don't the priority pass from my CSR usually suffices. Here in Mexico City where I live the aeromexico/priority pass lounge is on equal footing to the Amex lounge.
Delta lounge when flying Delta is useful but half the time I fly Delta I get into the Delta lounge anyways cause i'm flying biz, and its of limited use. Plus I'm almost absolutely positive they are going to remove this perk after Dec 2020.
The 1.5x on spending over $5k is a nice touch but with the 2x up to $50k on the amex blue which I usually only hit towards the end of the year, its of limited use.
The concierge is "ok" I used it once to book a 5 star tasting course at Centraal in Lima Peru (rated #4 restaurant in world), but other than getting you into some top restaurants, which usually you can get reservations by planning 2-3 months in advance anyways, its not that useful.
I guess if you still stay at lots of hotels or fly delta economy a lot, maybe the card could be useful to you. Otherwise i'm failing to see the value.
One "hack" I do if I don't have status in a lounge and its a conference or event where I know somebody going is I have someone with status check me in under their name and just pay them back and then I get all the benefits. Did this to get Hilton Diamond benefits at a 5 day stay at the Conrad Bangkok this year.
Amex really needs to add some major bonus categories to this card to make it useful. The wework unlimited was kind of overkill anyways, if they gave 5-10 access passes per year, that would be perfect.
I know most of you guys don't use Boingo but for those that live abroad being able to use it in foreign airports when in a pickle and without a SIM was really nice ....
RIP Amex Biz Platinum.
p.s. Gonna sign up for the Amex personal platinum once I get retargeted for the 100k, for now signed up for the green card, 35k points is kinda meek but the 3x on same categories as CSR was compelling to gain some MR points for those juicy transfers to ANA, since I was loaded on Chase UR points anyways.....
"The Points guy: Amex Biz Platinum is better than ever with their incredible refresh!"
The hilton and spg/marriot gold are overrated, every year they give you less and less with that access level, they don't even guarantee you free breakfast or lounge access anymore. One time at a sheraton the spg gold status got me a water bottle and a bag of chips at check in, wow thanks.
The Centurion lounge access is ok but I fly biz on points most the time anyways, and when I don't the priority pass from my CSR usually suffices. Here in Mexico City where I live the aeromexico/priority pass lounge is on equal footing to the Amex lounge.
Delta lounge when flying Delta is useful but half the time I fly Delta I get into the Delta lounge anyways cause i'm flying biz, and its of limited use. Plus I'm almost absolutely positive they are going to remove this perk after Dec 2020.
The 1.5x on spending over $5k is a nice touch but with the 2x up to $50k on the amex blue which I usually only hit towards the end of the year, its of limited use.
The concierge is "ok" I used it once to book a 5 star tasting course at Centraal in Lima Peru (rated #4 restaurant in world), but other than getting you into some top restaurants, which usually you can get reservations by planning 2-3 months in advance anyways, its not that useful.
I guess if you still stay at lots of hotels or fly delta economy a lot, maybe the card could be useful to you. Otherwise i'm failing to see the value.
One "hack" I do if I don't have status in a lounge and its a conference or event where I know somebody going is I have someone with status check me in under their name and just pay them back and then I get all the benefits. Did this to get Hilton Diamond benefits at a 5 day stay at the Conrad Bangkok this year.
Amex really needs to add some major bonus categories to this card to make it useful. The wework unlimited was kind of overkill anyways, if they gave 5-10 access passes per year, that would be perfect.
I know most of you guys don't use Boingo but for those that live abroad being able to use it in foreign airports when in a pickle and without a SIM was really nice ....
RIP Amex Biz Platinum.
p.s. Gonna sign up for the Amex personal platinum once I get retargeted for the 100k, for now signed up for the green card, 35k points is kinda meek but the 3x on same categories as CSR was compelling to gain some MR points for those juicy transfers to ANA, since I was loaded on Chase UR points anyways.....
Last edited by PointsPanda; Nov 21, 2019 at 3:58 pm
Dec 17, 2019, 6:54 am
#23
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: OKC
Programs: DL DM/2.768MM, Global Entry, Titanium_Marriott, GHertz
Posts: 6,748
I do not remember noticing the loss of GoGo passes until AMEX sent me a brochure yesterday.
All their great "improvements" are meaningless to me. However, I depended on the GoGo passes and was able to use them for international flights to most locations except like 13 hour flights to Asia. There was a time that a single AMEX GoGo pass worked on an international flight of any length including LAX-SYD.
With the bump in annual fees, I need to search for a replacement card but not loss Priority Pass privileges.
All their great "improvements" are meaningless to me. However, I depended on the GoGo passes and was able to use them for international flights to most locations except like 13 hour flights to Asia. There was a time that a single AMEX GoGo pass worked on an international flight of any length including LAX-SYD.
With the bump in annual fees, I need to search for a replacement card but not loss Priority Pass privileges.
