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Just had a notification from Amex that UK issued consumer Centurion and Platinum cards can get 4 complimentary lounge pre-book entitlements between 9 July and 31 December available at Birmingham, Inverness Humberside, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Belfast, Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton.
Late article on the front page from the team, reported about 2pm.
Just tried it now via the Priority Pass app. Looks like the vouchers are automatically applied at the end, at checkout.
Am I the only one who is not really fussed by this offer and hope it does not replace other AMEX Platinum offers? I suspect a fair proportion of Platinum card holders will be travelling on a premium ticket and/or hold airline status and will thus get lounge access in the UK without needing Priority Pass. Having to book a lounge seems to be a UK issue, whenever I have used Priority Pass abroad I have had no problem getting in.
@Tony_D I think you’re combining two separate issues.
One is does the Priority Pass make sense as a Plat cardholder benefit, considering many such cardholders may already have lounge access via ticket class or airline status. I’d suspect the prevalence of such access is weighted heavily towards Greater London. Those who live elsewhere in the UK tend to have to spread their flying across the alliances, and indeed sometimes resort to airlines offering only economy.
The second issue is, with the Priority Pass eatablished as a core benefit of UK Plat card but near impossible to actually make use of, does 4 free bookings a year move the needle. IMO as I said in the article comments a few days ago, 4 is so insufficient as to be more an insult than a benefit. If Amex are genuinely interested in ensuring this core benefit of the Plat offering is usable, then there would not be an upper limit on booking.
The fact they’ve made this announcement simply proves a long-held suspicion that they are in fact uninterested in making this benefit useable.
Will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many have used up their entire allocation. 4 (x 2) over a 6 month period seems like a good starting point.
I’m not sure I’ll even get to use any of them but I actually do value the addition.
Based on my flying patterns it pretty much guarantees me access to any lounge while they are accepting Priority Pass entries. Not sure what more they can do without coming up with some turnkey solution.
Will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many have used up their entire allocation. 4 (x 2) over a 6 month period seems like a good starting point.
This is not a good metric and it is commonly used in the industry to justify removing or reducing the value of benefits/product features.
There will always be some users that are not happy because the product becomes insufficient for their needs. As AMEX Platinum is a premium product, they shouldn’t aim for such practices. Instead they should ensure the maximum allowance is offered, ideally unlimited, as lounges are starting to charge extra for a guaranteed spot. This will closely match what was offered before lounge access became popular for every card provider and will give AMEX a differentiator.You’re right @kpinc.
Making it unlimited and not just the 4 measly covered lounge booking fees which convert.the Priority Pass into..well… an actual pass, so far as UK lounges are concerned… would reinstate the Lounge Pass benefit promised by Amex to cardbolders in the UK.
Priority Pass should also be prepared to contribute to Amex’s costs for this. As the problem has been caused by Priority Pass refusing to pay a sufficient rate to Lounge operators once they’ve sold the pass. So the UK lounge operators are refusing to honour the Priority Pass. As they’ve already proved they can get much better earnings from multiple other sources. The free prebooking goes a long way to solving this.
Priority Pass wins. As presumably a deal can be crafted where Priority Pass is only contributing to the booking fee when a cardholder uses the service. Guessing it’s possible all of the cost could be accepted by Priority Pass for, say, up to 4 passes or 8 passes a year.
For the remaining cost of sponsoring lounge booking fees in the UK, Amex could reasonably take a pretty accurate measure of their expected share of the costs out of the dining credit offering, which is not stellar. They’d better not diminish the Harvsy Nicks benefit though unless they find a better retailer to substitute.
So come on Amex, are you willing to make the Priority Pass an actual Lounge pass in the UK? Or are you just going to stick wuth this nonsense of only 4 lounge entries assured. That should please a family of 4 that does 1 annual holiday whose cardholder othereise flies in Business. But well insufficient for many other profiles of your cardholders.
@kpinc, Instead they should ensure the maximum allowance is offered, ideally unlimited, as lounges are starting to charge extra for a guaranteed spot.
As I said above, I’m not quite sure how they offer this without coming up with a turnkey solution for No 1 lounge pre-bookings. Hand out unlimited complimentary lounge pre-book entitlements? People are guaranteed to take advantage of this, pre-booking slots that there’s every chance they don’t turn up to. Therefore you need some bespoke mechanism to disincentivise this behaviour. It’s possibly what Amex will end up doing should the pre-booking trend continue but it wouldn’t be that simple to roll out.
No 1 introducing pre-booking for lounge pass holders into the mix has clearly complicated matters. Amex are at least trying to address the issue and 8 No 1 pre-booking entitlements every 6 months isn’t a bad place to start (the offering very much seems to be an initial trial / work in progress).
People are guaranteed to take advantage of this, pre-booking slots that there’s every chance they don’t turn up to. Therefore you need some bespoke mechanism to disincentivise this behaviour.
They could charge for no show, unless a flight has changed / cancelled on short notice. Changes can already be made up to 48 hours in advance should plans change in advance.
People are guaranteed to take advantage of this, pre-booking slots that there’s every chance they don’t turn up to. Therefore you need some bespoke mechanism to disincentivise this behaviour.
They could charge for no show, unless a flight has changed / cancelled on short notice. Changes can already be made up to 48 hours in advance should plans change in advance.
They may end up doing so as it probably is the solution that best serves all parties. My assumption is that it was easier to roll out the 4 auto pre-booking entitlement per card capabilities to initially test the waters.
Any news if this is going to apply to business platinum?
Do you get fastrack security with the the 4 complimentary pre booking credits does anyone know?
Do you get fastrack security with the the 4 complimentary pre booking credits does anyone know?
I did at gatwick with a clubrooms prebooking.
I had to book MyLounge for LGW South.
Does anyone knows if that comes with Fast Track security?
And, jumping on the bandwagon, do any LGW North bookings include fast track?! Or is there
any other way to ensure it?It’s not clear from the booking if you do get it perhaps it is just clubrooms that gets it?
As it hasn’t been mentioned above. The 4 free bookings are shared between the main and supplementary cards.
As it hasn’t been mentioned above. The 4 free bookings are shared between the main and supplementary cards.
Me and my other half both seem to have 4 each.
I had to book MyLounge for LGW South.
Does anyone knows if that comes with Fast Track security?
I don’t think any PP bookings now cone with Fast Track. You need to book and pay for it direct.
Clubroom bookings still include security fast track at Gatwick. Just show reservation to the staff before going through.
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