Amex Platinum dropping American Airlines and US Airways lounge access

I have written a fair bit on Head for Points about the lounge access benefits of the American Express Platinum card.  Indeed, my other post today reminds you that you can even use it to access Eurostar business class lounges.

The Cathay Pacific Gold card (= BA Silver) and the two Priority Pass lounge cards are also very useful.

There has, though, been another lounge benefit for Amex Platinum cardholders.  You would receive access to lounges operated by American Airlines and US Airways if you were flying with them on an economy ticket.

This email was just received by Amex Platinum cardholders in the US though:

And, with Amex, what happens in the US tends to happen in the UK at the same time.

The pill has been sweetened for US cardholders with a $200-$500 cashback offer for the purchase of American Airlines or US Airways ‘incidental fees’ such as luggage charges or lounge passes.  I doubt that will be available here, if only because cardholders would have made less use of the benefit.

Access to Delta lounges is still available, however, when flying Delta.  And, according to the Amex Platinum UK website “bmi Business Lounges”.  Good luck with that one ….

Amex also has, interestingly, ‘American Express Platinum’ branded airport lounges in Argentina, Brazil, India and Mexico.  These can be used for free with your Platinum card – I did pop in to the Mexico City one about 8 years ago!  They have also recently started rolling out their own lounges at various US airports (eg Las Vegas) although it is not yet clear if UK Platinum card members can get access.  (EDIT: yes you can, according to the comments below.)

You can, of course, continue to gain access to American Airlines lounges for now with your Cathay Pacific Gold card.  However, these are unlikely to be renewed beyond February 2015, given that Cathay will stop issuing them to new Amex Plats in March 2014.

(To see our complete list of all current credit card bonuses, click here to visit our ‘Credit Cards Update’ page or use the link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)