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@aq.1988 – the Deliveroo offer doesn’t carry across to a Platinum upgrade. That sort of offer which is an advertised benefit is tied to the card type. Only the ‘random’ offers will be put on the new card.
I’ve read someone else say the same thing (that the credits continue), but I suspect that it may be a bug not a feature!
The Deliveroo offer also carried for me, when upgrading gold to platinum.
It does indeed feel like a bug not a feature. Highly likely to occur, but no come back if it doesn’t!Happy wife* happy life is also a great tenet (*other types of spouse are available, but don’t rhyme as well!).
I go with Happy spouse = Happy house 🙂
I like it! Thanks @AJA 😀
I continuously weigh up the numbers myself and here’s my breakdown.
– Harvey Nichols = £70 (probably a ~30% mark up on products I’m likely to buy anyway)
– UK restaurant credit = £140 (have been spending £150 on breakfast at The Ivy in the years before this benefit was added anyway. £10 deducted as I’d obviously prefer if the fee was just reduced by £150)
– Foreign restaurant credit = £75 (got zero use out of it last year, will be getting full use of it this December and at the type restraunts I’d be eating at anyway)
– Hotel statuses – £100 (it’s definitely changed my behaviour by moving a lot of my spend to Hilton but those free breakfasts add up)
– Priority Pass – £300 (controversial given it’s tarnished reputation around here but this is still the cards primary benefit in our household, would be higher if we didn’t have to reserve a few times when flying out of UK at peak times)
– Amex offers – £50 (difficult to quantify given some offers may be available on other, potentially free, cards but I think this is about right)
– Insurance – £100
– FHR access – £50Total = £885
I don’t factor any retention points into the equation but I do avail of them given I’m aware of how likely I am to receive them each year. Would need more than happy if they improved the offering and ditched the loyalty handout though. Given they are on offer it makes holding onto the card a no-brainer.
@aq.1988 – the Deliveroo offer doesn’t carry across to a Platinum upgrade. That sort of offer which is an advertised benefit is tied to the card type. Only the ‘random’ offers will be put on the new card.
I’ve read someone else say the same thing (that the credits continue), but I suspect that it may be a bug not a feature!
The Deliveroo offer also carried for me, when upgrading gold to platinum.
It does indeed feel like a bug not a feature. Highly likely to occur, but no come back if it doesn’t!Agreed. Working for me a year after upgrade.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Was this an upgrade from Gold, or did you sign up to a new Platinum card? That’s very interesting that they’re offering such a large retention bonus in such a short time!
As with all Amex it’s aubjectvie about what you like
I had Centurion. Went cold turkey, I.e. didn’t take Platinum or other Amex. I’m trying Revolut Ultra at the moment, So far Iike it.
Has some interesting Insurance offerings, lifestyle stuff, cashback, hotel discounts etc.
Not the same as Amex obviously.
Savings rates are good too, No FX fees, free share trading etc.
Deliveroo Silver, FT subscription and others, wework and so on. They want suit everyone. Callback and chat is very quick.
I’m hoping Rob will do an article
As with all Amex it’s subjective about what you like
It’s almost comical how much Amex has to bribe people to sign up for or retain its ‘flagship’ card.
I guess one day they will realise that nobody else in the UK market needs to do this and that they are also being played by the few cardholders they have. When they do, perhaps they will fix the product which wouldn’t be difficult. In the meantime, the newcomers will continue to eat Amex’s lunch.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Was this an upgrade from Gold, or did you sign up to a new Platinum card? That’s very interesting that they’re offering such a large retention bonus in such a short time!
New sign up. I’ve had BAPP for donks and a corporate Amex for longer than that so my ‘member since’ date is a long time ago. Maybe that helps.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Was this an upgrade from Gold, or did you sign up to a new Platinum card? That’s very interesting that they’re offering such a large retention bonus in such a short time!
New sign up. I’ve had BAPP for donks and a corporate Amex for longer than that so my ‘member since’ date is a long time ago. Maybe that helps.
I assume you are a higher spender and have had a history of high spends to reach the £10k spend in 2 months. That is probably part of the story.
New sign up. I’ve had BAPP for donks and a corporate Amex for longer than that so my ‘member since’ date is a long time ago. Maybe that helps.
Sounds like I’m in a similar position to you. Just waiting for the 75k bonus to post then I will cancel and see what they offer to stay.
I am in exactly the same position and was veering towards keeping as have a lot of trips next year and the no nonsense insurance is a bonus. HOWEVER they have just suspended my ability to refer which has left a sour taste in my mouth. So now as soon as i receive the 80k MR i will be cancelling
I am in exactly the same position and was veering towards keeping as have a lot of trips next year and the no nonsense insurance is a bonus. HOWEVER they have just suspended my ability to refer which has left a sour taste in my mouth. So now as soon as i receive the 80k MR i will be cancelling
Amex Plat is far from a “no nonsense” insurance policy!
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Can you pls tell me how long the SUB took to post after meeting spend target? Thanks
Adding another perspective
– Harvey Nichols = £90 (there is always stuff that will come useful there)
– UK restaurant credit = £75 (wouldn’t necessarily go to most of those on the list, but it’s a nice meal out)
– Foreign restaurant credit = £75 (same as above, but this will be hard to use given the locations)
– Hotel statuses – £0 (am Hilton Gold anyway)
– Priority Pass – £600+ (with ca. 30 visits per year x 2 pax and the ability to bring guests, even valuing this at £10 per visit which would otherwise get a soggy sandwich and a bottle of water at an airport shop, this alone is by far the most valuable benefit for us – we don’t have any airline status as we fly either on miles or low cost)
– Amex offers – £0
– Insurance – £60 only for the car rental insurance (HSBC gives free travel insurance anyway)
– MR for Year 1 – 75k @ £750Total = £1650 for Year 1
In a few months, I’ll have the same decision to make and I thought I’d collect my thoughts out loud. Currently gold with BA, but child #1 turned 2, so no more cheap travel, child #2 is on the way, so we probably won’t be travelling much anyway, for 2024. Then I reckon we’ll start again in 2025. So here is what I was thinking. I’ll soft land into silver for 2024, and unless I do anything about it, I’ll soft land to bronze in 2025. It would be nice to have silver, I found gold good, but not as good so that I’d chase it again. Silver would be just fine. So for me to maintain silver for 2025, I’d do a TP run towards the end of 2024, during the grace period before landing to bronze. I did the math today, and the cheapest to get silver is to do 2 nested SOF trips back to back on two weekends, that gives me 640 TP for £1110 (if I booked today).
Or, alternatively, I could just keep the platinum amex, with the annual fee of 650. For 2 years, that’s £ 1300. The benefits I’d use:
– HN credit 2×50 = probably £ 60
– dining credit 1×150 = about 100 (where we normally eat out, it’s usually 2/3 the cost)
– family travel insurance = 150 (we’d have this, which would normally cost around this amount)
– hotel gold statuses = about 150 (20% off with melia we used a few times)
– car rental = about 20 (we rarely rent, but when we did once, it was a good benefit)So I can see 60 + 100 + 150 + 150 + 20 = £ 480 / year actual benefit vs £ 650 cost / year. So far math says not to keep the card. However, a BA silver onlyt gets us to a lounge when flying BA and with 2 kids I can imagine we’d have to lower our expectations and do flying with ryanair and similar. Where silver doesn’t do much, but the PP still would get us into a lounge. So basically I’m looking at £ 1100, the cost of silver for 2 years, vs £ 1300 – 960 = £340 net cost. So math says keep the card as it’s cheaper than chasing silver. Or, just bloody pay for lounge access for 2 people (assuming kids go free) with every travel which would be around £100 per return trip or so. Meaning that as long as we do more than 3 trips, it’s cheaper to have the card, than pay as you go priority pass.
Still not overly convinced, but signs point to keeping the platinum for the next two years, unless my maths is wrong.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Can you pls tell me how long the SUB took to post after meeting spend target? Thanks
I don’t recall exactly, but I think it was pretty much to the day. The tracker says “progress updates daily”. And the retention bonus posted within 24 hours, so currently I have 165k MRs.
I am in exactly the same position and was veering towards keeping as have a lot of trips next year and the no nonsense insurance is a bonus. HOWEVER they have just suspended my ability to refer which has left a sour taste in my mouth. So now as soon as i receive the 80k MR i will be cancelling
Amex Plat is far from a “no nonsense” insurance policy!
In what sense not no nonsense?
For me I will renew my DAN insurance for diving as the Amex insurance is limited to 30 metres, but that’s typical for non-specialist insurance. Some don’t even cover buddy diving in that they require a professional guide.
I got a Platinum card in October. Reached the SUB last week. Just chatted to cancel and got offered 75k MRs. They are obviously desperate.
Can you pls tell me how long the SUB took to post after meeting spend target? Thanks
I don’t recall exactly, but I think it was pretty much to the day. The tracker says “progress updates daily”. And the retention bonus posted within 24 hours, so currently I have 165k MRs.
Thanks, I don’t have a tracker and almost certainly will need to get in touch with customer service, good to know when I should do that.
I am in exactly the same position and was veering towards keeping as have a lot of trips next year and the no nonsense insurance is a bonus. HOWEVER they have just suspended my ability to refer which has left a sour taste in my mouth. So now as soon as i receive the 80k MR i will be cancelling
Amex Plat is far from a “no nonsense” insurance policy!
In what sense not no nonsense?
For me I will renew my DAN insurance for diving as the Amex insurance is limited to 30 metres, but that’s typical for non-specialist insurance. Some don’t even cover buddy diving in that they require a professional guide.
I’ve only ever used it for flight cancellations and associated impacts maybe handful of times for the family and payout has always been quick and efficient
In a few months, I’ll have the same decision to make and I thought I’d collect my thoughts out loud. Currently gold with BA, but child #1 turned 2, so no more cheap travel, child #2 is on the way, so we probably won’t be travelling much anyway, for 2024.
[….]Still not overly convinced, but signs point to keeping the platinum for the next two years, unless my maths is wrong.
With a 2 year old and a newborn, I wouldn’t have been able to do 2 weekend TP runs without substantial domestic disharmony. If you have supportive grandparents of the babies, or paid childcare, things might be different.
PP will not reliably get you in to lounges; it often does, but at busy times they are full. “Pay for lounge” vs “pay for restaurant” is not compellingly in favour of lounge; very small kids don’t cost a lost at restaurants, restaurants have high chairs, etc.
If I were travelling Y on BA with kids I’d lose interest in free seat selection given that they will sit us together regardless of whether we pay for selection.
Finally – hopefully the true cost of Amex plat for 2 years will be substantially less than £1300, as you can have two “I want to cancel” conversations with customer services and get tens of thousands of avios (which you can turn to cash via Nectar if not redeeming) back each time.
Thanks, I don’t have a tracker and almost certainly will need to get in touch with customer service, good to know when I should do that.
I didn’t have a tracker displayed but the bonus still posted fine. Web chat were able to tell me what my progress was (how much I needed to MS at the end to exactly get the bonus 🙂 )
I am in exactly the same position and was veering towards keeping as have a lot of trips next year and the no nonsense insurance is a bonus. HOWEVER they have just suspended my ability to refer which has left a sour taste in my mouth. So now as soon as i receive the 80k MR i will be cancelling
Amex Plat is far from a “no nonsense” insurance policy!
It’s been zero nonsense for me, despite living overseas and making four claims over the years; 3x CDW, which were incredibly straightforward, 1x cancellation.
The cancellation took a bit longer due to circumstances – I was in DXB, due to fly DOH-ADL-AKL-MEL in J (with time in AKL in the middle) – flooding in Auckland meant I changed my plans – cancelled DOH-ADL-AKL (redemption, easy) and AKL-MEL (revenue J, non-refundable), rebooked myself onto EK F DXB-MEL using QF points and around $1k fees/taxes/etc.. My claim was for either the cost of the AKL-MEL flight or the cash element of DXB-MEL (acknowledged that upgrading to F was a choice, albeit the only seat available, but made it clear I was making no claim for the Qantas points redeemed in the booking).
Ultimately, once they’d confirmed I’d paid for the new flight using an Amex card (which was issued in a completely different country), they were happy. I find the insurance one of the biggest benefits, since travel insurance in Australia is quite expensive and this covers both my OH and I.
Of course others’ mileage may vary, but it works for me.
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