scubadu

sbm12, I agree with both of your conclusions. If this benefit was not being fully exercised by the membership, that should represent good value to Amex Corp. (i.e. your getting the great marketing from the benefit w/o people actually using it). I also agree with your final conclusion. They are shutting it down because it's costing them too much.

I guess Amex feels they know best though. I'll be curious to see if this impacts their number of card holders going forward though. I wonder how many new customers for Amex were brought in the fold with this benefit. I'm actually a great example. I've never had an Amex in my entire life. But as I started learning on FT, I determined this would be a great way for the girlfriend and I to continue flying more frequently to see family, maintain status, etc. I would have NEVER been an Amex Platinum member w/o the offer of this benefit. And it's possible that my time as an Amex customer will have been a short run (though not guaranteed, I'm still assessing the impact of this).

Finally, I also agree re: IAP. Is Amex kidding? I'd be surprised if usage of that benefit even hits 10%!

Regards

JRA2000TL

I just got my letter today. Piss on Amex for this one! Keeping the fees the same (and they will probably raise them again soon) and taking away value-added services. If I didn't use the airport lounges, I'd dump this right away and downgrade it. In fact, I should just dump it and buy a discounted lounge access membership since I'm elite on CO and DL. The lounge and 2 for 1 domestic tickets have been the greatest value to me. The airport lounge customer service agents have saved me tons of times when a regular ticketing agent wouldn't have pulled any strings to help me. Again, for the same price, I can dump this card and just buy their lounge membership (with fewer restrictions too--can't get internet in the DL CRCs with the Amex).

I hope lots of Plat. members downgrade or cancel because of this. Amex has always had the attitude that it's a privilege to have their card. BFD, anyone with decent credit can get an Amex. There's no prestige--just whomever will pay the exorbitant fees. I've had ok customer service from them and anything I disputed, they took care of; however, their services continue to diminish in value.

sbm12

What I find interesting is that the program has only been around 18 months, and it wasn't put in to replace anything else; it just was added. Yet 18 months ago people weren't running away because of the lack of benefits for the cost. Then again, the cost has increased and benefits do seem to be disappearing more than being added.

I guess the other part is that other cards are now offering similar options, making that a viable approach rather than having to put up with whatever AmEx offers.

JRA2000TL

I didn't upgrade my card until the 2 or 1 was already in place so during my card membership, I've always had it. Before that, I had a MR Plus Gold.

hnewman

Since I purchased a lifetime NW WC membership this was the only signficant benefit. If DL had not purchased NW I would not have purchased the membership.

lsossen

My wife and I both had Green/Gold cards for 10-12 years and went back and forth over the regular Platinum solicitations, never pulling the trigger. We finally decided to upgrade only when the Domestic 2:4:1 program was announced. We have used the program twice, with one being a New York-Bozeman, MT trip where we saved ~$400.

It turns out we also used the extended warranty service since we had a relatively new but outsde warranty DLP television run into problems, and Amex cut us a check for ~$550 or so to cover the repair (which they sent based on the estimate we got from an tv repair company). Hopefully, that won't need to be a regular occurrence.

FHR is nice--we got a great upgrade at the Lake Las Vegas Ritz and a pretty nice lunch at the Boston Ritz--and we have used airport lounges a few times, which is nice now that we have a 1.5 year old daughter running around, but we are not huge travelers and the 2:4:1 was our justification for paying the yearly fee.

I'm still not sure whether I will continue paying nearly $600 for a Platinum + second card. I'm actually interested to see whether my wife and I decide to vote with our wallet and go back to the Green or Gold. It's been useful hearing people's thoughts on how they value the card.

horseguy

I've never seen discounted international F fares that low, from any carrier I would use (BA, AA, Qantus, SA, Cathay, JAL), on any international route. Can anyone enlighten me on how to find something like that?

sbm12

First off, it is Qantas.

Beyond that, the discounted fares certainly depend on the route, the date of travel and the advance purchase. For the more common routes the discount fares are less than half of the full fare price that you pay for the IAP deal. For some routes/purchase date combinations it can make sense, but it isn't a slam dunk.

wuhoo

i'll need to make a decision pretty soon what to do since my renewal comes up in december. havent used the domestic ticket program yet (although called a couple times to get prices), but it was one of the selling points along with airport lounge access. might end up going back to the cash rebate card for 1.5% cashback instead of the 1% membership rewards (cash out for giftcards).

sbm12

Since you never used the benefit you're in a pretty good position to evaluate the value of the card without that benefit. You received zero value for it in the past year. Do you think that you realized $450 value through the other benefits? And, more to the point, do you think you will do so again next year? If so, renew. If not, cancel.

If your typical redemption is for retail merchandise then the MR program is not for you.

JRA2000TL

The good thing about these charge cards are that you can go back and forth from Green or Gold to Plat. at any time. You keep your same account # and as long as you are in good standing, it shoudln't matter. Amex will downgrade you at your wish and they are always happy to upgrade you to get more $ in fees as well. If I quit traveling for work so much, I'll drop mine back to Gold. If I change my mind later, I'll up it again. No big deal. They prorate the fees anyway.

divemistressofthedark

Hmmmm. YMMV, but my experience with the domestic program was this: over six weeks of blackout dates throughout the year prevented me from using it any of the three times I called to book tickets.

Like others, I think it really sucks that they're devaluing the program this dramatically without offering any discount in cost. Maybe it's costing them too much in fees to the airlines to support too few members using it. Just a thought.

Only thing is, the trip insurance from PLAT is really pretty great, and it covered a $300 IPhone spouse dropped in a river a week after I bought it for him. Also the triple MR points are awesome if you really make a habit of using BonusPointsMall.

jwhite4

I don't buy that as an excuse. Every program tries to offer as many benefits as possible to appear to justify it's cost. These benefits are often dropped because too many people take advantage of them, not too few.

I went thru that with the companion voucher program with the Delta AMEX card. I think the purchase requirements have been changed half a dozen times since I've had it, and most of the time it's seemed like the change has been to make them more difficult to use than before. Sort of like rebates - sellers love to advertise the low, after-rebate price, but then it's a different store when it comes to paying out.

Jeff

mrEzE

I am also looking to exit my Platinum. When I first got it, I was traveling every week, and the lounge access was a big plus. I actually had the Gold with the domestic 241 before moving to Plat and was PISSED that my Plat didn't offer domestic 241 - only international. When they started domestic 241 with Plat, I was very happy. I also liked pulling out the Platinum card when I was out with clients.

With my travel severely curtailed and the 241 gone, I don't think I can justify the price, especially since the majority of my spending goes on the SPG Amex which I feel has a much higher rewards payback.

I just need to figure out how to get a good bonus on transferring my rewards points out, and then bye-bye platinum.

chriswufgator

They're routinely that low, if you buy well in advance, search for deals, and aren't sensitive to specific dates. If you can deal with biz instead of F (and let's be honest it's 95% the same thing), then you can fly Lufthansa or similar for in the $2k's per seat.

Meanwhile, Amex's 2-4-1 Int'l will have you paying $10k for the same itinerary.