Jul 1, 2021, 1:23 pm
Last edit by: Global Adventurer
*Equinox $25 Credit will not be issued for ANY products you buy online at their merchandise Shop which is coded as "Equinox The Shop". However, it appears that you can purchase Gift Cards straight off the site, but lowest denomination is $100. Gift cards can be used for merchandise and memberships.
USA personal Platinum annual fee increase to $695, July 2021.
Jul 2, 2021 | 10:39 pm
#302
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Programs: American Express, Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 214
I'll sign up since it's now free with the Platinum card but in my past experience, Clear is only a benefit if the TSAPre line is long, ie. during very heavy travel days (when I don't tend to travel).
I tend to travel early in the morning when there's usually no line for TSAPre or just a few people in line there. In these cases, Clear would only save me a minute or two, max. Especially since now they don't just have a card that you can flash like they used to. You still have to scan your boarding pass with them and your fingerprint or your face.
I tend to travel early in the morning when there's usually no line for TSAPre or just a few people in line there. In these cases, Clear would only save me a minute or two, max. Especially since now they don't just have a card that you can flash like they used to. You still have to scan your boarding pass with them and your fingerprint or your face.
Jul 2, 2021 | 11:32 pm
#303
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Rockies
Programs: UA Platinum, HHonors Diamond, Bonvoy occasionally Bonvoyed Mostly
Posts: 488
The bulk of my spend when traveling internationally is hotels, dining and car rentals. Those charges earn at least 3X for me (CSR)
2X on everything else is probably not sustainable for any credit card issuer. You cant really compare it to 2% cash back cards since the transferable points are worth more than 1c a piece.
2X on everything else is probably not sustainable for any credit card issuer. You cant really compare it to 2% cash back cards since the transferable points are worth more than 1c a piece.
Jul 3, 2021 | 2:24 am
#304
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, AS MVP Gold, MR LTT, HH Dia, IHG Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 37,297
That's good to know! That was for a pre-paid stay? Just to confirm. I know I get benis and stay credit for FHR stays when I pay at the hotel, but pre-paid has been very YMMV.
Jul 3, 2021 | 4:43 am
#305
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
After this increase in annual membership fee, and following with the changes in lounge guest practice, I am expecting Amex to raise the fee for additional user Plat cards too. If not announcing a more pricey fee structure for additional user Plat cards on these accounts in 2022, then I expect that in 2023 Amex will advance further in that direction of increasing its fee revenue per Platinum member account.
Jul 3, 2021 | 6:31 am
#306
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS Plat, AA EP, Bonvoy Plat, Hilton Dia, Hyatt Glob, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 21,434
After this increase in annual membership fee, and following with the changes in lounge guest practice, I am expecting Amex to raise the fee for additional user Plat cards too. If not announcing a more pricey fee structure for additional user Plat cards on these accounts in 2022, then I expect that in 2023 Amex will advance further in that direction of increasing its fee revenue per Platinum member account.
(right now I am not having any AU card on my account, but if I decide to keep the Plat, I would probably have to get one to avoid having to pay $50 for my wife for each CL visit starting in early 2023)
Jul 3, 2021 | 7:23 am
#307
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Global Entry
Posts: 4,337
I remember when the discussion was around premium service and experience. Not coffee mugs, gym memberships, and a bunch of other balancing acts.
I would never travel again without TSA precheck. Worth every penny even if I had to pay out of pocket. With that said, I don't see a need for clear, for me. I guess if it's "included" then we gotta take advantage of all of the free free free. I suppose if I think really hard, I can remember a time or two when my precheck like was 5-10 minutes, creating this need for this $179 a year service. Whether or not you are really paying that isn't the point. Clear isn't giving away their service for free. So either they are trying to get more people to eventually buy this or AMEX is paying something and passing the cost onto us.
I would never travel again without TSA precheck. Worth every penny even if I had to pay out of pocket. With that said, I don't see a need for clear, for me. I guess if it's "included" then we gotta take advantage of all of the free free free. I suppose if I think really hard, I can remember a time or two when my precheck like was 5-10 minutes, creating this need for this $179 a year service. Whether or not you are really paying that isn't the point. Clear isn't giving away their service for free. So either they are trying to get more people to eventually buy this or AMEX is paying something and passing the cost onto us.
Jul 3, 2021 | 8:14 am
#308
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: EWR
Programs: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,650
Hopefully you activated the benefit on the Amex site before you paid.
We avoid traveling at holidays. My best guesstimate is that my wife and I would use it at most 2-3 times a year (we have Pre, our local airport doesn’t have Clear, and a lot of our trips are international).
Here is the math for my personal situation:
So the question for me is whether I can derive about $70 of value out of other Plat benefits: lounges, IAP, 5X airfare, Amex offers
The answer is “probably yes”. My card renews in late January, so I have half a year to evaluate further. Research tasks include IAP and the hotels program, both of which I have never used. In 2023 this will change significantly with the CL access policy change. My effective membership fee will increase by another $175 for my wife’s AU card.
Assuming you are talking about the digital only plan, you are paying about 4X what I pay.
That blame should be directed at Amex for creating confusing product names.
We must have been there at roughly the same time. I received my “you can come in now” text after 72 minutes. I declined at that point since boarding for my flight was only 15 minutes away. Lounge access is the primary reason for having the card for me, and if this becomes unusable, all the coupon book “benefits” won’t be enough to keep it.
This may be the deciding factor for keeping the card for me in the future (2023, when the fee goes up by another $175 for my wife’s AU card).
Just checked. Same for my account, shows cancelled on the shoprunner site, but re-enrolling fails with “already enrolled”. Guess I will spend my time chasing that issue with customer support so I can once or twice a year get free shipping on $50 Saks orders.
We avoid traveling at holidays. My best guesstimate is that my wife and I would use it at most 2-3 times a year (we have Pre, our local airport doesn’t have Clear, and a lot of our trips are international).
Here is the math for my personal situation:
- entertainment credit: $108 value
- will try to get the $5/month Sirius plan; if it was just me, I would have canceled Sirius a while ago, but it keeps my wife happy
- we pay $4/month for NYT; already switched payment method
- no interest in Audible; I like reading books, and for listening I have a ton of podcasts that I can’t keep up with
- little interest in peacock
- hopefully they will add additional options
- Equinox: $0 value
- Airline fee: $200 value
- assumes UA Travel Bank remains an option
- Uber Cash: $170 value
- I can get Uber gift cards at 10-15% off
- GE credit: $0 value
- just renewed
- Saks credit: $50 value
- overpriced stuff; didn’t buy anything first half of this year; semi-useful for entertainment (people buy this crap?)
- Hotel credit: $100 value
- never used it in the past, don’t think it’s likely I would use it every year, but needs more research
- CLEAR: $0 value
- I haven’t paid for it in the past because it wouldn’t be terribly useful
So the question for me is whether I can derive about $70 of value out of other Plat benefits: lounges, IAP, 5X airfare, Amex offers
The answer is “probably yes”. My card renews in late January, so I have half a year to evaluate further. Research tasks include IAP and the hotels program, both of which I have never used. In 2023 this will change significantly with the CL access policy change. My effective membership fee will increase by another $175 for my wife’s AU card.
Assuming you are talking about the digital only plan, you are paying about 4X what I pay.
That blame should be directed at Amex for creating confusing product names.
We must have been there at roughly the same time. I received my “you can come in now” text after 72 minutes. I declined at that point since boarding for my flight was only 15 minutes away. Lounge access is the primary reason for having the card for me, and if this becomes unusable, all the coupon book “benefits” won’t be enough to keep it.
This may be the deciding factor for keeping the card for me in the future (2023, when the fee goes up by another $175 for my wife’s AU card).
Just checked. Same for my account, shows cancelled on the shoprunner site, but re-enrolling fails with “already enrolled”. Guess I will spend my time chasing that issue with customer support so I can once or twice a year get free shipping on $50 Saks orders.
Airline Credit: $200 as long as Travel Bank keeps working, $0 if not
Entertainment: $52 — wife and I switch off on the $1/wk plan with NYTimes. Don’t have any of the other services.
Equinox: $0
Uber Credit: I was going to value this as $200 because I typically only take Uber for work and submit for reimbursement…but I could still buy gift cards at 12%-15% off and submit for full reimbursement as we…so I’ll go with your $170 valuation
GE: $0 - get from other cards
Saks: $40 — I buy a nice $50 Lacoste or Ralph Lauren T-Shirt every 6 months. But I wouldn’t normally pay more than $20 for a T-shirt so I give it $40
CLEAR: hard to value. I like CLEAR but I wouldn’t pay for it so I’ll give it a $54.50 value (1/2 normal price)
Hotel: $0 I never stay at FHR, I might now but no idea if it’ll just make the prices comparable to what I would have done anyway.
Lounges: $100 — no lounges worthwhile using at my home airport. Might occasionally get a Centurion Lounge visit two or three times a year.
Value is only $564.50 to me. AMEX can make this up with very good Platinum exclusive offers and retention offers. But it’s an awful lot of work to justify speculatively giving $695. I will likely keep my MS Platinum since they bumped up the engagement bonus to $695/yr + fee free AU, but I feel it’s only a matter of time before they increase the requirements making it not worthwhile.
Jul 3, 2021 | 8:19 am
#309
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: UA Plat, DL Credit Card Holder, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,476
I would imagine Amex negotiated a very deep discount in exchange for a guaranteed min amount of spend, or new members. Like you I'd probably never pay what Clear charges, even though I can sign up for $109/yr. I'd probably pay $50 cash if I could. But for clear, it's marketing too. They get more users, albeit not very profitable users, but then more people in the regular lines see more people cutting the line, and hope to get them.
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:04 am
#310
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1MM 0P, AA, DL, *wood, Lifetime FPC Plat., IHG, HHD
Posts: 7,174
As everyone goes through a tick list of their individual benefits values, compared to the annual fee, I would suggest to also think about all the OTHER discounts and credits that AMEX offers throughout the year that aren’t being taken into consideration. Just in the past year, I saved/made over $800in additional credits or value with things like the 100$ Dell credit, the $100 Best Buy credit, the $100 Home Depot credit, the $150 instacart credit, the, $75 credit for Marriott stays, $100 credit for Hilton stays, $180 for paypal usage, and the list goes on. I fully expect many of these types of credits and offers to continue for many retailers that I continue to buy from. While the pandemic related credits (like the mobile phone plan credits, Best Buy, Home Depot, etc) probably won’t be renewed or repeated, I’m sure I’ll continue to get probably $200-$300 MORE value in addition to all the standard ones listed on the new / renewed benefits list.
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:17 am
#311
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Queretaro
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, Marriot Gold, IHG Silver, Choice Platinum, Wyndham Gold
Posts: 5,226
Go to Amex Travel website while logged in, and search for the hotels you want to see in a particular city, and then click the "search filter" to the left/bottom to look either Fine Hotels & Resorts or The Hotel Collection, or both at the same time. Only those hotels will then be listed. There's some under the "Hotel Collection", that if you book 3 nights for instance you get a free night. The free night is generally built into the price, which would be a reduced price. Some of those hotels even have their own "F&B credit", so you get that credit and the Amex Credit. However, I only saw one like that so far when searching.
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:21 am
#312
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Queretaro
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, Marriot Gold, IHG Silver, Choice Platinum, Wyndham Gold
Posts: 5,226
The only airports that make me feel safer are the ones that do a full body scan or similar. Those regular magnetometers people walk through are only sensitive to metal, not plastic (like plastic explosives).
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:25 am
#313
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Queretaro
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, Marriot Gold, IHG Silver, Choice Platinum, Wyndham Gold
Posts: 5,226
I'm signed up with Premium Car Rental and it never records on my platinum card after the rental. I've called and it still doesn't work. So, not sure what's wrong with their system, it just doesn't work even though it says I'm enrolled. Shoprunner is a new one that automatically canceled and can't be fixed unless I call CS, which I won't because I'm tired of dealing with these issues.
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:29 am
#314
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Queretaro
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold, Marriot Gold, IHG Silver, Choice Platinum, Wyndham Gold
Posts: 5,226
As everyone goes through a tick list of their individual benefits values, compared to the annual fee, I would suggest to also think about all the OTHER discounts and credits that AMEX offers throughout the year that arent being taken into consideration. Just in the past year, I saved/made over $800in additional credits or value with things like the 100$ Dell credit, the $100 Best Buy credit, the $100 Home Depot credit, the $150 instacart credit, the, $75 credit for Marriott stays, $100 credit for Hilton stays, $180 for paypal usage, and the list goes on. I fully expect many of these types of credits and offers to continue for many retailers that I continue to buy from. While the pandemic related credits (like the mobile phone plan credits, Best Buy, Home Depot, etc) probably wont be renewed or repeated, Im sure Ill continue to get probably $200-$300 MORE value in addition to all the standard ones listed on the new / renewed benefits list.
Jul 3, 2021 | 9:50 am
#315
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Manhattan, Palm Beach Island, San Francisco, Boston, & Hong Kong
Programs: Lifetime United Global Services, Delta Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Ambassador, & Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,165
As everyone goes through a tick list of their individual benefits values, compared to the annual fee, I would suggest to also think about all the OTHER discounts and credits that AMEX offers throughout the year that aren’t being taken into consideration. Just in the past year, I saved/made over $800in additional credits or value with things like the 100$ Dell credit, the $100 Best Buy credit, the $100 Home Depot credit, the $150 instacart credit, the, $75 credit for Marriott stays, $100 credit for Hilton stays, $180 for paypal usage, and the list goes on. I fully expect many of these types of credits and offers to continue for many retailers that I continue to buy from. While the pandemic related credits (like the mobile phone plan credits, Best Buy, Home Depot, etc) probably won’t be renewed or repeated, I’m sure I’ll continue to get probably $200-$300 MORE value in addition to all the standard ones listed on the new / renewed benefits list.
The streaming/paypal/whatever covid credits were nice but it seems they ended on June 30 as Amex has not announced anything to replace the PayPal credit.