GOOD NEWS: American Express reinstates the old rules for Platinum travel insurance

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• Lee says:

  11 Apr11 April 14:41

  OT – AMEX gold card
  2 points for foreign currency 2 points for every £1 spent directly with airlines
  will those earning stack? ie. 4 points for every £1 spent directly with airlines using foreign currency?

  • Crafty says:

    11 Apr11 April 15:28

    No.

    • Crafty says:

      11 Apr11 April 15:30

      Hang on I’m wrong! Just double checked and unless I’ve got some weird coincidences going on with amounts spent, then they do in fact stack. I have 117 pts for “outbound spend” and a further 117 pts for “airline bonus”.

      • jc says:

        12 Apr12 April 08:36

        They stack 1+1+1, not 1*2*2!
        So 3 per pound not 4

• massivekettle says:

  11 Apr11 April 15:11

  Do you have to rent a car with the Platinum Card to benefit from the car hire insurance?

  Is the car hire provided by AMEX Plat equivalent to say Insurance4CarHire?

  • Rob says:

    11 Apr11 April 18:35

    Pay how you want. Insurance is fully fully comprehensive, you can decline everything.

    • massivekettle says:

      11 Apr11 April 18:58

      Thanks, Rob. I guess what I meant was, does AMEX Plat’s car hire insurance have any excess?

      • Yorkieflyer says:

        11 Apr11 April 19:25

        No excess

• Kazim says:

  11 Apr11 April 17:13

  Great so the HfP outcry caused them to reverse these rules, can they now reverse the rules on sign up bonuses from a few weeks ago- surely the outcry regarding that was greater??!

  • Lady London says:

    11 Apr11 April 23:45

    Ooh look I just saw a pig fly past the window

    • Lady London says:

      11 Apr11 April 23:47

      *translation : relates to an old British saying “and pigs might fly” as a comparative to the credibility of something being proposed

      • Bazza says:

        12 Apr12 April 07:38

        Now that’s funny!

• Travel Strong says:

  11 Apr11 April 17:56

  If American Airlines move my flight to the next day (they have) and I have to pay an extra nights hotel stay and extra day car hire (I will have to) – should I claim from Amex travel insurance? (I paid for the flights on Amex Platinum). The flight is a few weeks away.

  I was just going to suck it up. And probably still will. But I am still interested if this sort of stuff is covered.

  • AndyGWP says:

    11 Apr11 April 21:52

    Please give it a try and let us know… I’d be interested to know for sure 👍🏻

  • Lady London says:

    11 Apr11 April 23:50

    I think that sooner than stretch and possibly abuse the conditions of travel insurance for something that you know perfectly well will happen when you travel now and that you could still avoid if you wanted to, I’d sooner tell the airline to ‘shove it’ and request them to provide whatever flight you like that you’ve identified that does not incur any additional expense.

• Mike says:

  11 Apr11 April 18:52

  OT but AMEX related:

  Does anyone have experience with appealing AMEX refusals?

  I cancelled an SPG card last week and applied for a BAPP online immediately afterwards.

  Recieved a rejection letter in the post today. I still hold a Platinum charge and platinum companion credit card.

  Is it even worth appealing?

  How long should I wait before re-applying?

  • Bonglim says:

    11 Apr11 April 19:33

    Often in your situation it is because the ‘total’ credit being offered to you from Amex is maxed out. They would be counting your credit on SPG card (even though just cancelled) and platinum credit card and something for plat charge card. The credit limits have probably ballooned while you had them.

    I have heard in the past people calling after rejection and getting accepted by reducing the credit available on another card. In your case that would be the cancelled card, but you just acted to quickly. I have not done it myself.

    I would say that if you called and explain you had just cancelled one card you would have a good chance of turning over the decision. I have not done it myself though, so wait for others to reply.

    • Shoestring says:

      11 Apr11 April 19:43

      yep SPG gave my wife something pretty stupid (£20K or so, no laughing down the back if that’s chickenfeed for you but I just thought it silly). So if it’s still counted when next application goes in too soon, no surprise if Amex think they’re potentially over-exposed.

• S music says:

  11 Apr11 April 20:47

  So for the last time can you please make it clear for all of us,
  If I have a platinum card but booked travel with a non amex card am I still covered for medical insurance?

  • Rob says:

    11 Apr11 April 21:04

    Yes. I thought that was totally clear from the original article?

    Although you should obviously read the policy document as there are various exclusions for existing ailments etc.

• Ben says:

  11 Apr11 April 21:53

  Sorry, I’m not sure if this has been asked before. I have the following scenario:

  What if I added my dad as a supplementary card holder, but my dad paid for his flight ticket using his own BA card. Would my dad be covered by the plat travel insurance, including the travel inconvenience cover? Thanks

• Kenneth says:

  12 Apr12 April 05:36

  In order to be fully covered by the Platinum Card car insurance, do I need to decline the car insurance that comes as standard with the car hire? I have two trip coming up shortly: one to the US, one to Sardinia. Plan to book through Avis. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • George says:

    12 Apr12 April 06:52

    As far as I know you don’t need to – Platinum picks up whatever you’d have had to pay up to its limits. If you keep CDW and your excess is therefore £1000, Platinum should cough up for it.

  • Shoestring says:

    12 Apr12 April 07:16

    It’s the complete opposite with most excess policies, ie you *must not* decline the free insurance that comes with your car rental or you’d invalidate the excess cover being offered by Plat or any of the excess ins specialists.

    What you decline at the car rental place is the optional (expensive) extra insurance.

    • Utter says:

      12 Apr12 April 14:32

      “decline the free insurance that comes with your car rental ”

      Nonsense. Nothing is free.

  • the_real_a says:

    12 Apr12 April 19:20

    Decline whatever you can decline and AMEX will pick up the rest.

    In the US its common for car insurance to also cover rental vehicles so they are well versed to have ALL insurance removed, and then become 100% liable for any and all costs in an accident. AMEX plat also allows you to do this, but i would not be comfortable. I`d much rather limit my exposure to just the excess since the regular insurance costs almost nothing. Its the “Super CDW” that is the extortionate cost.

    • Shoestring says:

      12 Apr12 April 19:48

      no – don’t decline what comes included (ie free/ standard insurance that comes with your car rental) or you will invalidate the excess cover

      • the_real_a says:

        12 Apr12 April 20:24

        I do agree that there is no benefit in declining something thats included free – and practically from a UK national’s perspective its virtually impossible to decline the CW element anyway.

    • Rooster says:

      12 Apr12 April 21:21

      I thought Amex plat was effectively just excess insurance not a full replacement car rental insurance

      • Rob says:

        12 Apr12 April 21:47

        It is 100% full replacement. The old terms brochure used to say in big letters at the top ‘Decline everything – it’s on us!’ or words to that effect.

  • Rooster says:

    12 Apr12 April 21:22

    Decline excess reduction insurance

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