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Back in the good old days, an AMEX Platinum card granted access for you and your family or 2 guests to American, Continental, Northwest, and USAirways lounges.
One by one, those airlines merged and stopped allowing lounge access for AMEX Platinum cardholders. You can still access Delta lounges, though you can no longer bring in any guests with you. The good news is that additional cardholders do get access to Delta lounges.
Originally, Centurion Lounges were designed for free access only for Centurion cardholders. You know them as those black cards that cost a whopping $5,000 per year with a $10,000 initiation fee.
Once the Platinum card started losing airline lounge partners they opened the Centurion lounge up to Platinum cardholders for free as well. Platinum cardholders used to be able to bring a spouse and kids into a Centurion lounge for free, and then later AMEX changed that to 2 guests.
Unfortunately that still hasn’t solved overcrowding in the lounges, and effective 2/1/23 most Platinum cardholders will no longer be able to bring in any free guests.
Guests, including kids, will cost $50 each. That’s absurd considering that all kids used to be free and it’s a massive devaluation for cardholders traveling with their family.
If you do spend $75,000 on your Platinum account during the prior calendar year you can still bring in free guests. If you spend $75K on your Platinum account in 2023 by March you’ll be able to bring free guests from March 2023 through January 2025.
Alternatively, you can add up to 3 additional cardholders onto an AMEX Consumer Platinum card for $175, or just $58.33 per year per card. Officially authorized users must be 13 years old, though there are workarounds for that.
Additional cardholders can access premium lounges like Delta and Centurion.
What do you think of these changes? Will you appreciate less lounge crowding or will you cancel your Platinum card over these changes?
HT: DoC
Cancel since the plat now has little value over the delta reserve
Rumor says fee on the consumer card will increase to 695
Hmmm… I really enjoy lounge access. It “saved” me possibly $100 the other trip, but I’m paying $550 plus $175 for authorized users every year. We are leisure travelers. It may be time to part ways and just eat in the food court. I suspect it’s quite a challenge for me to break even on the benefits. Business travelers clearly make use of it easily.
“ If you do spend $75,000 on your Platinum account during the prior calendar year you can still bring in free guests.”
How many guests would you be able to bring in?
I do enjoy the Delta lounge at JFK though… Should I just get a Delta CC that gives access?
Been on the fence about whether or not to keep my business plat for a while now. Agree with the person above who said this makes the decision easy. Will likely apply for the gold to get the current bonus, accrue 4x on dining moving forward and keep MR points. At 10 dollars/year for the gold ($250-$240 in Uber/dining credits=$10) this is a no brainier over the 550/year plat. Maybe would then look at adding CSR as my new premium travel card.
@Dan, Do Business Platinum and additional cardholders also get lounge access or only Consumer Platinum ? TIA
Both do.
This makes the decision easy. I’ll be dropping this card. Its amazing to me from a branding perspective this card they’ve built up for years is now going to the dogs. They are really missing the mark here from a high quality travel/luxury card now to a “lifestyle” card – I don’t want any of that.
We’ve got three, and they are so gone next year.
What I don’t get is why we can’t use amex flight credits for bringing guests into the centurion lounge. I’m sure Amex gets some kind of kickback from the airlines, but surely paying yourself would cost less than partially paying an airline.
Ummmm what are the workaround to add kids as AU?… please don’t plea the fifth on that one….
Dont use Ssn so can make up older bday
DO use ssn and make up older bday. Not sure how to confirm card without ssn
But online they require SS It used to work without bit not anymore, am I wrong ?
‘If you spend $75K on your Platinum account in 2023 by March’ what if I can’t spend 75k in just January and February
It’s an example. You have the entire calendar year.
But unless you spend $75K on airfare earning 5x, why spend that much on this card?
Business platinum is a heavily used product as it gives 1.5x for purchases of 5k+
Yes, that’s decent I suppose. Not as good as Blue Business Plus though.
Is the blue business plus capped at $50,000?
You can have more than 1 🙂
Blue Business plus 2x is capped to 50k
Doesn’t the skypass allow you to bring guest?
What is the workaround adding an auth user under 13?
No need ssn so can make up older birthday 4 the child
I am all for it. Of course free is great but I understand Amex and it is better for the brand.
No one will cancel because this is removed.
Personally I use the Delta lounge way more than the Centurion so I’m used to not bringing in guests. Though now that Kennedy has the centurion lounge in Terminal 4, this may be a bummer. (haven’t had the chance to use since flying for business is wayyy down)
I personally find lounges highly overrated for the kosher traveler, but it is indeed really absurd to not allow even one guest in.
Depends on the lounge.
-Lounges with designated kids areas (AA in ORD and UA in CLE come to mind, but there are many more) are worth their weight in gold during a connection or delay.
-Airline lounges during a delay can be worth their weight in Platinum if the agents are worth their salt. Been saved many times by lounge angels.
-I like filling up a bottle with ice water without paying $6 in the terminal 😀
-Nothing wrong with a shot of single malt at a Centurion lounge.
-And then there’s extreme lounge hacking, kosher edition:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLSkMVlLGjy/
But yes, many are overrated.
Airline lounges during a delay can be worth their weight in Platinum if the agents are worth their salt. Been saved many times by lounge angels.
what does that mean that they got you onto a earlier flight?
Earlier flights, sold out flights, flights on other airlines, upgrades, etc.
In cases of delays and connections, lounges can be very useful, but otherwise, to arrive at the airport early to enjoy a lounge is nice, but kind of pointless.
But if they do sell lounge access as a selling point they need to include at least one guest, and ideally spouse and kids. If you’re traveling with family, you’re not leaving them behind while you go enjoy a lounge.
I wonder what percentage of Centurion lounge users are traveling with their family.
So how did you get a bottle of kosher wine ( plus a kosher corkscrew?) into the lounge?
I don’t think you need a kosher corkscrew halachically. All you’d need to do at most is washing off since it’s all cold and even that’s being machmir for a chshash that there’s something on the corkscrew and that the corkscrew will touch your wine.
That’s for a future TR 🙂
Amex preparing for there new “ultra premium” card…
LOL, Zync 2.0
Dan, we don’t cancel. We downgrade to Green, don’t we?
If you get value from Green, sure.
Otherwise, just open a Blue Business Plus to keep MR points alive for free and earn 2 points per dollar everywhere:
https://www.dansdeals.com/amex-business-cards-2/#The_Blue_Business%C2%AE_Plus_Credit_Card_from_American_Express
The blue business card only gives you 2 points per dollar for the first 50,000 dollars.
There are 2% cash back cards that you can convert to miles and they give you unlimited 2% or 2 miles for every dollar spent anywhere.
Opened today using your link. thanks. Not traveling so soon and have points elsewhere if I do. I know on Platinum card you can redeem at.01 for Home Depot gift card, I imagine this parking strategy is just until next time to use for travel or move to another higher end amex down the road with another offer when makes sense. (Eg i noticed the bpp doesn’t do exchange for gift cards, but like you said great no annual fee card to park points for now)
Is downgrading to Green free? is there any free downgrade from Biz Plat?
I have Biz Plat now, but the annual fee is in December.
No, there is no free downgrade.
Sorry, can you please explain-
You mean open up the blue business and then cancel the platinum entirely.
Or is the blue business considered a downgrade?
The former.
Canceled mine last month. So glad I did.
+1
Geez, not even just one guest? Pretty chintzy.