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It looks from the offers pages that both the Harvey Nichols and two dining benefits are expiring at the end of 2024. Does anyone have any idea if these are extending into next year, or being replaced at all?
Without these, I would seriously doubt the Plat fee remains justifiable.
I am considering cancelling anyway, as my personal offers have been way less valuable this year compared to years past. Also, Priority Pass is of next to no value these days – not due to access issues, but the awful quality of most lounges and the people that inhabit them…
Am planning on dropping to either gold or a basic card, and getting insurance via the Nationwide Flex account (which also has phone insurance, which I would value).I was about to post a similiar question. I thought (given its September) we would start to see news on this soon, I have been looking out for an article but not seen anything concrete on it… (apart from the survey news a little while back).
I had lunch with a very senior UK Amex person recently and I made it very clear that their behaviour on this wasn’t on. From a purely selfish point of view, its very hard to promote Plat when I can’t confirm that the benefits will remain.
This is especially true given that I was told unofficially that HN was being scrapped, except for Centurion. No-one at Amex will confirm this.
Forget about benefits expiring end of 2024, the deliveroo benefit on gold card is expiring on 17th Oct and still no news if it’ll be extended.
the deliveroo benefit on gold card is expiring on 17th Oct and still no news if it’ll be extended.
It’s been quietly extended 2-3x by now but I think it’s probably going to get changed as well.
its very hard to promote Plat when I can’t confirm that the benefits will remain
I’ll actually laugh if there’s £5 per month for some coffee shop.
If the dining credit is not extended then I am definitely out. The HN credit was a bonus as it offset lunch twice a year, The insurance is now pretty useless given my OH health issues. I did get 50,000 MR for staying and combined with the HN and Dining credit worked for me. If lost however then the £650 fee is simply unjustified when its only 1 point per £
Seems as if Amex are taking their Platinum membership for granted – not at all impressive. From memory, the fee went from £400 to £650 a few years back, and the HN and dining credits were seemingly designed to offset this. If either goes without equivalent replacement then I am out.
Yes my membership just came up for renewal a week or so ago, I spoke to an Amex rep on chat, mentioning the increase of the card fee, lack/quality of offers on this card vs my other Amex cards and you can’t tell me if the dining credits will be extended to 2025 but you expect me to pay more money. I only stayed as i asked for a retention bonus and got one and still have a UK dining credit to use for this year. Without the dining/HN credits it doesn’t become such a good proposition, I wish they’d also give preferential treatment/booking for the o2 lounge access for plat as well as it’s becoming difficult to get in there
Also If they are surely going to remove pro-rate refund on the annual fee, then they must improve the benefits. I wonder if they increase the dining credit to £200 from £150, that would cover the HN loss.
American Express will lose a large number of customers if these benefits fall away with no replacement. I probably won’t be hanging around – although, to be fair, the past 12m have delivered savings exceeding the annual fee from FHR exclusive offers alone (Emyr couldn’t match the price and the hotel front desk wouldn’t).
I’d like to see the Platinum become a ‘frictionless’ travel card – you pay a high fee (£650) but all the benefits are focussed on travel / eating out / entertainment with little to no reasonable exclusions.
Fix the travel insurance to allow pre-existing to be covered for a small charge, get rid of overseas transaction fees, reduce the interest rate so that people could be encouraged to hold a balance (15% say), keep the hotel and car statuses, continue with the ‘free’ lounge reservation for UK, keep dining statement credits. Let people pay for their holiday and allow them to spread the cost across six months for a reasonable fee. Offer ‘travel’ statement credit for airport spend such as FBH, Fast Track Security etc.
In short, Platinum should be for travellers and Gold for domestic customers. People have the option to have both if their needs merit it.
@Rob, when you challenged the very senior person at Amex regarding their behaviour on this topic, if you are able to disclose, what was their response?
@vzzbuckz – I responded similarly to Amex’s survey – that the Platinum card is marketed and sold as a card for travel yet it is not the optimum for travel in their suite of products.Its not a good idea to compare different markets, but the direction Amex is taking is not great.
Friend in India confirmed the latest changes to the plat card there: addition of Amazon prime, Disney+ and WSJ subscriptions; basic accor plus membership, postcard hotels and i prefer hotel memberships; removal of guest access for supplementary card holders to Centurion lounges(!)
What irritates me is that they don’t have a separate line for Plat/Centurion cardholders to access their lounge at Wimbledon, you need to queue with ordinary cardholders 🙁
And even when you get in there is no decent champagne.
Just on the phone to Amex as I was considering cancelling the Platinum card. My rationale is that I have used both my Dining Credits and HN Credits this year, and it isn’t clear to me what will be replacing them.
The CS Agent initially said that they will definitely roll over into 2025. When I asked why they had an end date of 31-Dec-24 and had dropped off my list of active Statement Credits for the first time since they were launched, he went away to check.
When he came back his stance had changed, “we definitely wouldn’t remove those benefits without replacing them”. Which is great but to what? More importantly, I don’t think anyone customer facing at Amex knows what is going on yet!
They need to make a decision pretty damn soon for me as I am going to be clobbered with the new fee this month and I need some certainty and reasons to stay. At the moment I would have to say that I have more reasons to leave.
They need to make a decision pretty damn soon for me as I am going to be clobbered with the new fee this month and I need some certainty and reasons to stay. At the moment I would have to say that I have more reasons to leave.
You can still cancel and get a pro rate refund, I’m same as you..,mine will post next week
reduce the interest rate so that people could be encouraged to hold a balance (15% say)
The interest rate for purchases is around 30%, the advertised APR is massive because of how representative APR is calculated. You calculate the cost of borrowing £1,200 and repaying it over 12 months – the £650 account fee counts as a ‘cost of credit’ which makes the cost of borrowing £1,200 over 12 months £1,850 plus interest.
reduce the interest rate so that people could be encouraged to hold a balance (15% say)
The interest rate for purchases is around 30%, the advertised APR is massive because of how representative APR is calculated. You calculate the cost of borrowing £1,200 and repaying it over 12 months – the £650 account fee counts as a ‘cost of credit’ which makes the cost of borrowing £1,200 over 12 months £1,850 plus interest.
I was talking about the fact the interest rate is 30%! 🙂
For example, Nationwide Flexplus revised pricing is £216 per year but includes 14.5% APR, no overseas fees, annual travel insurance, phone insrance and AA cover. Now AMEX provides a lot more for the £650 but falls over in the card APR and overseas fees.
Another month and still nothing on this…surely it can’t be going into Q4?!
Another one – pre book entitlements, are they going to be extended for another year with more than 4?
Its not a good idea to compare different markets, but the direction Amex is taking is not great.
Friend in India confirmed the latest changes to the plat card there: addition of Amazon prime, Disney+ and WSJ subscriptions; basic accor plus membership, postcard hotels and i prefer hotel memberships; removal of guest access for supplementary card holders to Centurion lounges(!)
Dutch Amex Platinum holders get Privium included. We don’t even get FastTrack (officially).
Additional points on airline and fx spend as per gold.
Accor Gold, Iprefer Gold and discovery gold would be nice since Platinum should be about travel and dining out.
Heathrow Fast track would be useful even if it was just a limited number of passes a year like the pre booking for lounges.
Widen the list of places covered by the 10/20% off
Amazon Prime would be a genuine saving for me so why not BUT it’s nothing to do with what I consider the key customer for Platinum.
It looks from the offers pages that both the Harvey Nichols and two dining benefits are expiring at the end of 2024. Does anyone have any idea if these are extending into next year, or being replaced at all?
Without these, I would seriously doubt the Plat fee remains justifiable.
I am considering cancelling anyway, as my personal offers have been way less valuable this year compared to years past. Also, Priority Pass is of next to no value these days – not due to access issues, but the awful quality of most lounges and the people that inhabit them…
Am planning on dropping to either gold or a basic card, and getting insurance via the Nationwide Flex account (which also has phone insurance, which I would value).Nationwide flex is increasing its fee in December I believe to £18 a month from £13. Just an fyi
Nationwide flex is increasing its fee in December I believe to £18 a month from £13. Just an fyi
Thing with Nationwide flex plus is that all the benefits are useful. Worldwide Travel insurance that covers pre-existing (for a small fee), AA breakdown, Mobile Phone Insurance and zero commission on overseas cash withdrawls. Their free credit card also offers zero commission on overseas spend. It’s almost as though it’s designed for travellers.
I recently received an email from Amex stating that their insurance provider for the platinum card is changing from the 1st of January 2025. They are no longer working with AXA and will instead work via an insurer based in Spain.
I’m also disappointed that there is no alternative arrangement set-up going forward for both Platinum and Gold cards.
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