allure

hi all,

i'm a disgrunted platinum card holder in sweden who just got offered a dollar currency platinum card - probably thanks to, in my opinion, some limited usd spending per year. this card would be issued from the UK.

however, i have some Qs for other Europeans who may have the card --

1) does this mean i can use the plat card service in the UK, or US? The swedish service are complete amateurs who usually can't get you a tickets to an event which is not even sold out yet.

2) how about travel/insurance benefits? the complimentary airline upgrades in Sweden are a joke (with regional airlines who doesn't even fly Scandinavia). Don't mention the travel agency service - they can't even match the full rack rate of the airlines official list. same for hotels.

3) are there any other financial/tax benefits that I may not know of?

I am actually considering giving up the amex altogether if it wasn't for the decent line of credit . I am probably one of the top 3% customers feeling i should take my business elsewhere.

kuroneko

I've actually been considering a switch to this card. The benefits are posted here: http://www10.americanexpress.com/sif...351,00.asp#a16

Will update this thread if I decide to make the switch and it is successful. I currently have the US Plat card.

(BTW, I don't know what the Swedish plat service is like, but I can't believe that the US service can be that much better)

troyb

Is there anything that prevents a current US Plat cardholder from getting this card? It seems that the benefits (Priority Pass, Hilton Gold, etc) are better than the US Plat at the same cost. Are there any cons to switching to the International Card?

-Troy

miikka

American Express International Currency Cards (ICC) in Europe are issued by American Express UK and the service is through them. Until now, the service has been very similar to UK Sterling cards. Now they have upgraded the benefits in Sterling cards and Customer Service told me that they are most probably also upgrading the ICC cards in the future but not yet.

Service is through AMEX UK, so you would be calling them anytime you need travel services or customer service (some of the other country organizations will also help you if needed).

obs

I was thinking of getting the Amex Plat card as they keep offering it to me. The Current cost is about �300. The ICC plat card is $400 about �250, and the benfits for the cards seem to be the same. Is this correct or have I missed something?

miikka

Pretty much the same - the major difference is that recently the Sterling Platinum changed it's benefits and is now better than ICC cards, especially the travel insurance.

BA97

I'm a UK Plat Charge Card holder who may be relocating to the US for a while - does having a UK-issued USD ICC card mean I would avoid any FX surcharges for US spending? If so, then Amex might win themselves a lot of business!

miikka

IDC card is charged and billed in USD. I cannot see any reason why it wouldn't be perfect solution if you are looking a temporary card, which is based in USD instead of EUR or GBP.

mia

The Hilton Gold status is for one year only. You can earn and maintain Hilton Gold status in the USA by spending $20,000 annually on the Amex Hilton credit card.

mia

At current exchange rate ($1.80 per GBP) I make the annual fee about GBP 220. However to the extent you use this card for transactions denominated in any currency other than dollars you will incur a 2.5% conversion fee. Annual non-dollar purchases in excess of about $5,700 would wipe out the savings on the annual fee. Also you must settle the bill in dollars which could involve additional currency exchange expense if, for example,your salary is paid in Sterling.

The IDC version of Membership Rewards has different redemption ratios than the UK version, reflecting the currency values.

dennis

obs

Thanks,

Thats cleared things up nicely for me ^

chalf

Note also that the Platinum travel services for the IDC bills in GBP (from the UK), so this may easily result in conversion charges.

allure

If you compare the travel benefits, which is basically all I care about -- Amex Plat Swe and the IDC offer free companion on Continental. Period. (US offer at least a dozen different airlines). Oh yea, and free upgrade on Air Portugal, which is as useful as offering free peanuts on Air Siberia on wednesdays.

miikka

Well, most of the people do not think that Flight Companion program is very useful but there are other airlines participating also besides Continental or Air Portugal:

From UK: http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/flightcompanions/

From Sweden: http://www.americanexpress.com/sweden/flightcompanions/

And then there is similar collection of airlines from Germany and France ...