Reply To: Amex Platinum benefits into 2025

[Kent]

I just got rid of my platinum amex.. I’ve held it since 2004!…I used to see the benefits as a nice to have on the side, didn’t mind the fee for what you got back then but now I don’t think I really get much value back vs the increased annual fee.. car/travel insurance is nice to have but I can pay for that on its own elsewhere. The other benefits just aren’t doing much for me.. priority pass is useless for me as I travel in first/biz anyway the odd time when I’ve need to and I’ve used a priority pass lounge or indeed the centurion lounges they’ve all been very full/disappointing, probably due to the way/times I travel but that now scores zero in my view. Then again I think 90% of airline lounges are not what they used to be when all I would be looking for is a quiet sanctury with good refreshments.

Secondly I’m outside of London and find the dining credit commands a special trip into london to make use, when abroad I don’t tend to have time to go find the restaurants on the offer.

Third, I’ve had a few times when I’ve tried to make use of credits like HN or the shop small and they’ve either not tracked or on shop small you find on the map, go into the retailer who is showing on the door a shop small sign and then make the transaction in store, during the timeframe and Amex says not a valid transaction.. so I stopped tryin to track for cashback offers. I don’t want/need the hassle to try to chase amex for £5 here or there..but I digress back to benefits on platinum…

Forth Hotel loyalty.. little value now.. take Hilton gold yes I’ve got some extra points from it, but the included breakfast has been dialed back especially in the USA, but in 20 years and regular use I’ve never enjoyed a ‘space-available room upgrades’ maybe I’ve had a preferred room but never an upgrade.. again maybe I’m doing something wrong in hotel selection.. point is the loyalty benefit ONLY get me a few extra points every stay.. not a game changer.. then I also had my hiccup this year with Marriot.. I had a bunch of points racked up, hadn’t used Marriot much in the last year or so, then at end of year cycle when my amex benefit was supposed to keep me at gold elite it didn’t, net was I lost a load of marriot points with no come back .. amex weren’t interest nor was marriot.. net is I won’t get back to marriot

While we stay on travel – every time I’ve looked at booking through amex travel I’ve found the prices way more than you can get direct or via corporate/other benefit routes (know not everyone has those but again this is my experience) – point is I don’t use their travel booking…nor am I thank interested in their entertainment booking options..

So when this amex said the fee was going up.. I decided it just wasn’t worth it anymore.. I also then had a look at the other cards avialable but in doing so also looked out of interest what the other country Amex cards offer just as a comparison and it’s obvious that Amex is taking the michael out of UK consumers- you only have to compare what the USA folks get for their amex platinum .. similar fee in $$s but they get loads of addtional benefits like Global entry/TSA precheck, clear plus memebership,airline fee credits, digital entertainment credits etc.. then I think (I could be wrong as I’m no guru) but they also get zero foreign transaction fees vs the UK one which charges 2.99%. I know UK is a different market to the USA but to me Amex keeps ramping up the membership fees and reducing the values I get back from it..hence why I got out.. still got my BA amex but that could well go too if they keep the fee going up on that ..