<p>I have a platinum colored Amex from Costco which they turned up their noses at for airline lounges. Recently my American Airlines MC was upgraded without my permission. When I called to question it they told me it would get me into AA lounges. Of course, the next time I flew I went in to the AA lounge and they also turned up their noses. Said AA has no affiliation with the AA MC and the MC agents had been telling all kinds of people this and causing all kinds of problems.
sigh…guess I’ll just wait for my planes with the unwashed public. Luckily I fit right in :)</p>
<p>My H got one of these invites in the mail–I was amused. I had heard of the black AmEx card, so now Visa is getting all fancy-schmancy? LOL</p>
<p>And the $495 annual fee had me falling on the floor too. :D</p>
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<p>My D worked at a upscale restaurant on Nantucket one summer and she had several customers who paid using a black AMEX. One guy told her to handle it carefully–another time she realized that the woman who was with the guy with the Black AMEX was Uma Thurmond.</p>
<p>We’ve got a Platinum AMEX because of the companion ticket for international fares–that’s no longer available. We have also used it to get into airline lounges. Other than that, I haven’t found the Platinum travel service to be any better than a regular non-AMEX travel agent.</p>
<p>ebeee - Costco platinum doesn’t work. It has to be regular AmEx Platinum. The fee is around 400/year.</p>
<p>I’m going to be interested to see what happens to the merchant charges from the credit card companies. </p>
<p>I pay a LOT of money every month to process credit <em>and</em> debit cards. I do have a pretty good deal – it’s been shopped – but those credit card companies want to make their money. If they aren’t making it directly from the consumer, they’ll raise the merchant fees and <em>presto</em> as a business owner I’ll have to raise prices to cover. </p>
<p>What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts!</p>
<p>2 1/2 year old thread…:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Had the same thought, momof3sons. Ad the post is from a new poster with a 0 post count</p>
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<p>I began to read before realizing it’s an old thread. Still liked this quote from NYT.</p>
<p>Continental changed the AMEX Platinum perks in October.</p>
<p>This thread is 2 years old. What I posted 2 years ago is no longer true. My bank gave me Priority Pass, so I am able to access those lounges. American Lounge is nicer than the United Lounge at MEX.</p>
<p>A true billionare in the Bill Gates category has a different class of service from Amex. I have a friend who is an Amex concierge that provide services to the elite. Those elite ppl don;t carry cards, the concierge does carry for them, if they want any thing they just call him and he will personally deliver any thing they wanted. For example, he will order and drive a Porsche to their door or hire a limo to take them to the private jet and he goes to whereever they go (pleasure only). Its very personal, whatever they wanted. He only has two or three accounts.</p>