Amex food news: no more Moevenpick Cafe access in Berlin, Platinum Dining adds Thailand

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• david says:

  13 Jan13 January 06:28

  With the amount of people who will move to Plat during this tier point debacle, surely they can afford to bring it inline with other PP providers?

  • Thegasman says:

    13 Jan13 January 06:31

    Or surely they can’t if a large number of people who are currently Amex Plat & BA Silver/Gold lose their BA lounge access?

    • Andrew J says:

      13 Jan13 January 06:59

      Agreed. With my mass exodus from flying BA and having lounge access, the PP and other Amex lounges will become even more crowded.

      • daveinitalia says:

        13 Jan13 January 07:16

        At some point you have to wonder whether a lounge is worth it? If there’s a queue to get in then you know it’s going to be a suboptimal experience as it’s likely to be busy on the inside too. If I end up losing all BA status in the future I’ll more likely go back to using bars and restaurants in the airport rather than trying my luck to get into an overcrowded contract lounge.

        • JDB says:

          13 Jan13 January 09:07

          These paid lounges ceased to be worth it a good while back as they not only got busier making them much less comfortable, but also leading to cost cutting of the food/drink on offer. While people hold on to expensive cards that give them “free” access to such lounges it seems they will keep using them, however bad they are. As you say, either the concourse or an airport restaurant/bar is often a much more comfortable experience, and you get to choose your own food/drink rather than PP lounge slops/drain cleaner wine.

      • Paul says:

        13 Jan13 January 08:06

        The idea that the BAEC changes will see dramatic changes to lounge congestion is overplayed. There may be a reduction in Gold and Silver card holders but BA will simply unbundle lounge access from CE and CW fares and flog it to anyone willing to pay, and a great many will.just as a great many buy overpriced BA holidays!
        I suspect that galleries North isn’t going to be a lounge for long post the changes. They might consolidate into South complex, expanding into the huge area of wasted space between First and the Concorde Room. It has always been odd that access to the Concorde room required traipsing through the great unwashed hoards of gold card holders they now intend to cull. So even more dramatic changes may follow, but whatever they may be, lounges will always be busy.

        • Andrew J says:

          13 Jan13 January 09:24

          Or not. Time will tell.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          13 Jan13 January 09:25

          I don’t think they will sell lounge access.

          Theres enough CE and CW departures a day to keep the lounges very full for the next few years. Especially with refurbs.

        • JDB says:

          13 Jan13 January 09:34

          @TGLoyalty – BA is going to sell lounge access by virtue of unbundling fares, some of which will no longer offer lounge access and other currently standard inclusions which will then be able to be purchased as extras. This is a way of offering lower headline fares and then either upselling you or selling individual extras.

          The new Nevio IT system everyone has been clamouring for will make this much easier.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          13 Jan13 January 18:02

          So lite business fares and full service. Let’s see I think that will really pee off customers.

        • Track says:

          14 Jan14 January 04:10

          Bingo. Unbundling will happen one way or another.

          Post-Covid drop in the quality of catering at Galleries First was enough for me to stop chasing BA Gold.

          First Wing security was nice idea but they always had 1 line operating at time — shortage of HAL staff or some ridiculous reason like an escaped prisoner alert. It was seriously cited to me as a reason for 1 line working at First Wing.

          Surely there was no crowding but the queue extended the First Wing barriers and security took just as long as other channels.

• Luke says:

  13 Jan13 January 07:19

  I’m hopeful that Amex may look to bolster the platinum dining options in the UK, as beyond London, the options are quite limited (only 6 in Scotland). There’s quite a bit more variety in the Amex dining offer that you can sometimes save to your card, so hopefully some of these can move over to the ‘main’ offwr

  • TGLoyalty says:

    13 Jan13 January 09:26

    Rob posted an article with Amex / their supplier trying to drum up business for the 10% off offer. So perhaps it in reality I doubt they will because the restaurant is asked to fully fund it and more plus they’ll be asked to part fund plat dining credit.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      13 Jan13 January 09:27

      But I’m not it in*

      • sayling says:

        13 Jan13 January 14:50

        I think your autocarrot messed up your manual erection

    • Luke says:

      13 Jan13 January 09:56

      That makes sense to be fair – an excuse for a London trip anyway!

• Barrel for Scraping says:

  13 Jan13 January 07:44

  “anyone who gets their Priority Pass from HSBC Premier or another bank”

  Lloyds is a better example. They have a card that gives you a full Priority Pass (including the restaurants) for £15/month. There’s no need for a high end bank account. Just one visit to a lounge or airport restaurant a month and you’re ahead. There’s product is called World Elite Mastercard and as well as Priority Pass includes fast track in certain airports.

  There’s also an identical product under Halifax branding.

  Most travel blogs only ever mention this product in passing if at all because Lloyds doesn’t pay them a commission.

  • Rob says:

    13 Jan13 January 08:03

    Reason we don’t put it in the directory is that it doesn’t earn points. HSBC doesn’t pay us either and they get loads of coverage here. Feel free to keep up your conspiracy theories though 🙂 – we look forward to your views on the Kennedy killing.

    • Barrel for Scraping says:

      13 Jan13 January 09:10

      Not every article is about points. Today there’s that article about travel apps, yesterday about eSIMs. There’s an article about a new Eastern airlines route. No points to be earned on that.

      As there’s no compulsion to actually use the card for transactions it could be considered by many as a cheap way to get a Priority Pass subscription then they can use another card such as the Barclaycard or BAPP for earning points on.

      In my opinion the £18 restaurant credit is the best thing about Priority Pass in the UK as it means you can still get some value out of the card in airports where the lounges are full.

      Amex has one thing going for it. You get a free guest, the other cards whether Lloyds, HSBC or Priority Pass direct charge for guests

      • TGLoyalty says:

        13 Jan13 January 09:30

        HSBC offers a supp with access for £75 (I think) used to be a paper form don’t know if they’ve fixed that.

        Can you get a supp for the LBG product?

        • JDB says:

          13 Jan13 January 09:37

          It’s supposed to be £60 but frequently waived…

        • HampshireHog says:

          13 Jan13 January 11:01

          Yes free for a supp with Lloyds, all benefits included, an excellent product, the Priority Pass includes restaurants and the Mastercard also includes fast track security at many airports tho not Heathrow

        • AeT says:

          13 Jan13 January 11:37

          JDB, have you seen forum discussions about the supplementary card fee being waived? Do you know under what conditions? Hadn’t seen anything along those lines until you mentioned it.

      • David says:

        13 Jan13 January 10:04

        You actually get a free supplementary card with Lloyds World Elite card. I actually with you Barrel but when glad it’s not on hfp as it’ll get oversubscribed and start rapid decent downhill.

        • AeT says:

          13 Jan13 January 11:39

          The Lloyds free supplementary card comes with its own Priority Pass?

        • HampshireHog says:

          13 Jan13 January 11:44

          Yes

        • HampshireHog says:

          13 Jan13 January 11:51

          Shh leave the gullible to take out the ludicrously overpriced Amex plat with its useless travel insurance and equally useless priority pass

• Paul says:

  13 Jan13 January 07:52

  The so called IT glitch that left Thailand off the Global dining list must still be being fixed! This so called global programme covers just 16 countries globally out of 197* who are represented at the UN.

  There is nothing in the Middle East, nothing in central or South America and nothing in Africa.

  I note that Amex call it dining abroad but when you click to the list of places it still states Global Dining Credit.

  It’s a dreadful highly restricted offer.and the addition of Thailand, while welcome is just lipstick on a pig.

  * appreciate that some agencies recognise over 200 nation states.

  • The Paw 🐾 says:

    13 Jan13 January 08:52

    There should definitely be a few Dubai restaurants on the list….

    • TGLoyalty says:

      13 Jan13 January 09:34

      Cards in the Middle East are offered under franchise by Bahrain they aren’t actually run by Amex themselves. So I suspect very highly that unless the franchisee wants to offer the credits it can’t happen.

      The same reason why only 16 countries will be covered. Some Amex has no cards issued at all, some only business focused and others are completely franchised to a 3rd party who may not want to participate

    • Navara says:

      13 Jan13 January 15:29

      Probably better looking at getting the Entertainer app in Dubai

• Matthias says:

  13 Jan13 January 08:05

  The Tegel lounge in Berlin is quite decent (in an efficient Germanic sort of way), so I think that’s an upgrade.

  It also has a dedicated passport control desk that gets you straight into the non EU (=London bound) zone, which is very helpful.

  Otherwise Berlin airport in my experience is still a bit of a disaster especially when it comes to security, but you can pre book a “BER runway” security slot which I’ve found helpful, certainly as a backup.

  • Alastair says:

    13 Jan13 January 08:19

    Are you confusing Tegel and Templehof? Templehof is the lounge BA use, at the south end of the pier, almost directly above the Movenpick cafe. And it has an immigration desk.

    Tegel, is at the northern end, used by AF/KLM and AFAIK doesn’t have a desk.

  • m says:

    13 Jan13 January 09:57

    There’s nothing decent about BER airport. Lounges are no exceptions.

    • AndyC says:

      13 Jan13 January 12:46

      +1 – the distances between facilities are horrendously long, with only a tiny number of automated walkways to ease the experience…

• Djdjdj says:

  13 Jan13 January 09:04

  Any recommendations for Bangkok, I was hoping blue elephant would be on the list ,
  We have a 3 night visit in April.

• executiveclubber says:

  13 Jan13 January 09:45

  Last time I was at Berlin airport the Movenpick cafe was teeming with flies and a long queue, good riddance!

  • AeT says:

    13 Jan13 January 11:42

    Except the majority of those likely don’t get their Priority Pass via Amex so won’t be deterred by the removal…

• jjoohhnn says:

  13 Jan13 January 11:26

  Someone mentioned Hawksmoor on the Amex Dining post the other day. Sadly the list has reduced to just two now, Seven Dials and Liverpool.

  It’s not particularly helpful to have restaurants that you have to book in advance and then they get removed from the list the day before you go!

  • executiveclubber says:

    13 Jan13 January 11:32

    and Edinburgh!

    • jjoohhnn says:

      14 Jan14 January 09:44

      I only see Seven Dials and Liverpool on the list at amexdining.com!

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