New list of uninspiring Amex Platinum member events launched

UPDATE – JUNE 2025:  This is an old article, and the credit card information given is likely to be out of date.

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If you have an American Express Platinum charge card, you may be interested to know that the latest batch of ‘exclusive member events’ have been loaded onto the website (log-in required).

You will no doubt receive an email about them in the next day or so, but you could book now without any competition for them.

However, unfortunately, the deals are poor in my opinion.  I’m really not sure what Amex is playing at here.

Last year, they relaunched their Platinum events programme with some free events.  Here is my review of their evening at Berry Bros wine merchants.

Since then, ‘free’ has disappeared from their vocabulary.  Fair enough.  But there is still a difference between a fair price and a crazy price.

Take their Private View of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in June.  The Summer Exhibition is primarily a bit of fun in the art calendar, it is – by no means – on a par with a ‘blockbuster’ exhibition such as the Degas show last year.

A standard ticket to the Summer Exhibition is £10.  A ticket to the Amex Platinum Private View evening is a whopping £46 per person!  Unless they are serving Dom Perignon in unlimited quantities together with caviar canapés, I struggle to see the value in that.  (Knowing Amex, it will be some dodgy £7 prosecco!)  It is difficult to see this event as a special reward for my £450 Platinum membership fee.

To be fair, some of their other offerings with English National Opera and the Othello theatre evening are better priced (ie closer to the cost of a standard ticket). 

However, Mastercard runs regular ‘meet the cast and have a free drink’ evenings for cardholders (see this website) and those are open to anyone with any MasterCard – no £450 membership fee required! 

(I have also been to private James Morrison and Jessie J gigs courtesy of Mastercard in the last couple of years, which topped anything that Amex has ever offered me.)

So, again, Amex has failed again to offer an additional reason to justify the card fee.  There are also rumours of another Membership Rewards partner pulling out as I will write about tomorrow.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – June 2025 update

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British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

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Earning miles and points from small business cards

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