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American Express Platinum Benefit


lilant
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Also, when we were at Bradley Airport we found an Explorer lounge. There are only three in the US, and admission is 45$ pp for those not holding AMEX plat. It was a lovely lounge with premium drinks, freshly made healthy food, such as quinoa and carrot salad, kale salad, homemade soup, baked goods and sandwiches. They even had a cookie and milk bar, with small plastic bags for one to take cookies with them. The food is from local area and coffee is too.

A welcome respite!

Apparently Aer lingus and Norweigan Air are flying out of Bradley now.

Norweigan Air advertising 99$ fares to Europe.

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Spins, do you mean an Escape lounge? I think that's one of the ones that you can access via AMEX. Bradley, MSP, and Oakland are the U.S. locations.

 

We really liked the Centurion lounge in Las Vegas. There's one in SFO too, but it's in another terminal, not the one DL usually uses. So we've not been there yet.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

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  • 1 month later...
2 weeks on land in the south (Barossa, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Tasmania). No cruise this time. Even though we limited this trip to a relatively small area, it will be ridiculously busy.

 

So I needed an open-jaw itinerary starting and ending in a tiny airport where it took two legs to get to LAX for the Transpacific flight. Complicated itinerary, and I was pretty impressed that they saved me so much $$.

 

Hi JP,

Not sure if you have already departed yet, but we spent almost a month in Australia and quite a bit of time in these area's with some Aussie friends. I highly recommend a visit to Rockford Winery in the Barossa, see if you can score a lunch/wine pairing, and don't miss the sparkling black Shiraz. We stayed at the little inn right next door and it was a fantastic day. Also, have some friends that are located at the Te Aro Winery in Barossa. Stop in and see Norm at the cellar door, he is like family and they have beautiful wines. You will love this trip and especially the Aussie people!

Edited by RJ007
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AMEX Platinum Travel service is terrible, especially for cruises. Worst of all, they are slow to respond or fail to respond at all. I've been a member for nearly 30 years. Service now is at an all time low in my opinion, even though the market competition (internet, concierge travel services) is tougher than ever. I predict they will eventually fail.

 

I had a situation where I asked our AMEX cruise agent via email to book a hotel pre-cruise for 3 nights. My requests were ignored. Weeks later, after I followed up to see if the booking was made, I learned it hadn't and rates went up substantially in the intervening time. AMEX agreed to compensate me $500 for their costly screw up (which, by the way, did NOT make up the cost difference). After our stay at the hotel, I asked that the credit be applied. Several emails...ignored again. So frustrating... I contacted a supervisior, and after a series of emails it was finally resolved. Just terrible, terrible service for a near 30 year Platinum customer booking a vacation which was approximately $20,000 (which we've virtually every summer through AMEX Travel... not to mention extensive travel throughout the year for business etc.) including hotel stays on each side of a cruise at AMEX FHR properties.

 

I'm done with AMEX and will do everything on my own, or through Virtuoso, which offers amenities/benefits that are at least as good as AMEX's.

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I'm done with AMEX and will do everything on my own, or through Virtuoso, which offers amenities/benefits that are at least as good as AMEX's.

 

If your in the USA, your routed to Phoenix. Over the years since 1980, I also have noticed some bad travel agents that work for AMEX. But when you find a good one, just get their direct number and email and things will go very smooth for you till that agent moves on. I have a good one that caught a time change on an upcoming air flight that would narrow my layover time. I would have never have known till close to the departure date. She called the airline and made them book us on a different flight at their expense. She said even its a minute change we have the right to change our reservations at no additional cost to the customer. SO I guess I'm staying with them...

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Thanks to JP for the AMEX air update. Never would have thought they were in the game. Over time, AMEX has proven you can consistently extract value beyond the annual fee. Chase.....great today, but the party could end tomorrow. Last year I had three $450 annual fee cards. Easy decision with sign up bonus offered by Citi and Chase. Something had to go this year, so Citi was dropped because the only real benefit used was fourth hotel night free and they altered that to be less attractive. I'll keep Chase through at least a second year. No bets on Chase being an attractive deal when third year fee is due.

 

Had booked a couple cruises through AMEX with a good PHX agent. So good, that I bought whatever air ticket was needed, even though my preference has always been to book own fare. The $35 fee for booking the airline ticket in conjunction with $15,000 cruise fare tossed me for a loop. That was nine years ago and the last time I called AMEX Travel.

 

Point being, AMEX has been doing this much longer than Chase. You can depend on their insurance, not so much with Chase. I think Chase is losing big time dollars chasing AMEX credit card business. They'll figure it out some day and withdraw from this particular market segment. . So the AMEX card with 1969 printed on it will be kept.

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