GUWonder

Amex is so hooked to annual membership fees that I doubt they would do any kind of fee waiver. A card downgrade with a fee reimbursement may be more likely.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Amex were now to want to see some more of its customers drop out of their card portfolios in part or entirely since maybe the people most eager to seek a fee waiver are the most in need of the fee waiver and thus perhaps a bigger lending risk of sorts.

Stgermainparis

With all Centurion lounges and SkyClubs closed and travel so limited and hotels closed, the benefits of the Amex Plat over low or no fee card are almost non-existent. Spouse just renewed in January with a $200 retention offer, and then there's another $175 for the AUs. The only reason we have the AUs is for the club access. I would hope that Amex credits some of the very high fee back this year due to inability to use benefits.

lsquare

I'm going to have to agree with you on this point. AMEX needs to make this up for us since they closed the Centurion Lounges. Given the potential bad publicity if they don't do something for its members, I'm sure there will be some form of compensation.

satman40

The leases, employee and equipment payments goes on, this is a two way street, why pay if they are not a future service,

My gym membership goes on, and I hope they are there when this is over,

This will be short term in the scope of things,

mia

If you think this is primarily about money, weigh that publicity against the type they would receive if a staff member infected guests. There is not much point to operating lounges when there have been mass flight cancellations. If you feel wronged by this decision mention it at renewal time, and cancel if the card no longer provides value. High fee credit cards provide a bundle of benefits. No one uses all of them. The inability to use this specific benefit is a minor side effect of a pandemic which will strain every sector of the global economy.

lsquare

The card provides value which is why I pay the AF. I'm still going to mention the fact that they did closed the Centurion Lounges, which is a fair comment to make since that was true.

To be fair, if you're going to be making a statement like that, then perhaps the entire airline industry should shut down right now given the potential for its staff to get infected.

notquiteaff

find a better gym.

My gym is closed and isn’t charging for April. I checked a couple of other large chains (Equinox, Planet Fitness) and they appear to have the same policy.

Meanwhile, I am paying my Amex membership fee and can’t use many of the included benefits (lounges, airline credit).

satman40

Did not know PF was not charging, good to hear, good stock for a rebound was 99 now 30

eponymous_coward

So you’ve had your Platinum card for a year, right? So call in and product change and downgrade to Gold or Green, problem solved, fee should be prorated, right? Or if you have AMEX Everyday you transfer points, CANCEL the Platinum, and you have no AF and keep the points.

Stgermainparis

My understanding is that Amex doesn’t prorate fees. And I just paid mine 45 days ago for the year.

LondonElite

Yes, Amex does pro-rate fees. If you were to cancel now you would get the majority of it back.

mia

That's the policy. In practice American Express (USA) may prorate. Seems to depend on the other cards held, spending, and whether you are cancelling vs downgrading. Discussion here:

Bye Bye pro-rated Annual Fee refunds (USA), September 2016, exceptions reported.

Recent USA prorated refund mention here, BUT note this is for a discontinued product:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32220154-post1156.html

LondonElite

I recently cancelled a UK-issued Platinum card about a month after having paid the annual fee. The phone agent initially tried to dissuade me, but when I told her I no longer lived in the UK and had no use for it, she thanked me for my business and said that they would be refunding 335/365 of the annual fee back.

kdm31091

The lounges have been closed less than a week. If they remained closed for 6 or 8 months I would see your point. But a short term closure I don't think really is going to make Amex want to refund anyone's fees. Normal retention offers will still go around I'm sure, but I doubt they will just totally waive the fee because of COVID-19.

The risk you take with any AF travel card is that for any reason you may not end up traveling or using the benefits as much as you thought you would. Even if there was no pandemic, you could have personally gotten sick, or had a family emergency, or a job loss, or any number of things that would make you unable to travel/use the benefits. It sucks that the fee has already been paid, but it's a calculated risk you take, assuming you will get more benefit vs the fee. Sometimes, it doesn't work out, and it is what it is. $550 a year is not cheap, but there's plenty of other things people spend money on that are even more expensive that they should cut back on if money is a concern right now (and for many of us, it is).

eponymous_coward

As has been mentioned, yes they do. Now, if you product change and downgrade you might hose yourself out of a future Gold or Green sign up bonus (assuming you would otherwise be eligible because you never had those cards), but if you’re not using the Platinum benefits and you don’t care about those bonuses, it’s completely an option. Amex Everyday is a credit card so you can’t PC to it from Green/Gold/Platinum, but if you get it it’s also an option to stay alive while dropping an AF card (same with Blue Business Plus- can’t PC to it from a personal card, can use it as a way to keep a foot in MR).