Credit Cards (Amex Platinum)

[Los_Pepes]

OK..I'm convinced! My next trip I will pay the final balance with a credit card! DH takes care of the checkbooks and I asked him about this, he said the final payment letter only offered two options: bank check or e-check. Since we don't do e-checks, we paid with bank check. Not any more...I'm getting dizzy just thinking about all the goodies I can get with my LLBean card!! THANKS GUYS!!! :D

 

There is a guy on Facebook named "The Points Guy". He gives you all the tricks to maximize value from credit card spend. My wife and I scored two Upper Class tix on Virgin and two Biz Class on Air France just by changing what cards I spent on per his guidance. check him out.

[jpalbny]

AMEX Platinum works for me...on cruises. Both Uniworld and SS give $300 OBC when you deposit and pay with that card (so, yes you can pay for those cruise lines with a CC). More than one cruise per year and you've recouped your membership fee.

 

Agree with you about the Centurion Lounges. Visited the one in Las Vegas a while back and really enjoyed it. Why are you telling everyone else? ;)

 

I've heard on other threads that one of the Chase cards (maybe Sapphire, IIRC) offers travel insurance when you pay with it. No idea of the details of said coverage, though.

 

Jazzbeau - should we make this another thread?

Edited October 28, 2015 by jpalbny

[Hydrokitty]

There is a guy on Facebook named "The Points Guy". He gives you all the tricks to maximize value from credit card spend. My wife and I scored two Upper Class tix on Virgin and two Biz Class on Air France just by changing what cards I spent on per his guidance. check him out.

 

checking him out!! After reading these posts, I might have to convert from clothes to points!!

 

Centurion Lounges are very nice but I fly business so it doesn't pay me to upgrade my Amex....but the points are sounding very interesting!

[xpcdoojk]

A lot of stuff here;

 

I know that from personal history that Oceania, Viking, and Uniworld all take credit cards for full payment. I will say that since we always use a TA, I don't know who takes the hit, or how, on the cc charges to the merchant. Not my concern.

 

Travel insurance is offered on my CitiCard AAdvantage Platinum MC and also I believe on my Chase United Explorer Card (Visa). It probably does not cover medical evacs and the such but trip cancellations and expenses.

 

Love all the airmiles I get when paying for the cruises and air on my cc's. :)

 

I have the aadvantage card, so I went to look at the benefits, and there are some protections, but they are a bit head scratching, I am using AA frequent flyer miles for the airfare, so, according to what I read that would disqualify this trip from being covered.

 

Thanks for the information though. My personal unverified feeling is that the protections offered by credit cards, is that I imagine collecting on some of these things would be hard. I like the tangible benefits, ie cash back, points, miles, free centurion lounge, refund for global entry, annual airline benefit, etc. And not so much purchase protection and travel insurance.

 

jc

[Los_Pepes]

checking him out!! After reading these posts, I might have to convert from clothes to points!!

 

Centurion Lounges are very nice but I fly business so it doesn't pay me to upgrade my Amex....but the points are sounding very interesting!

 

I love collecting points. I have an Amex Gold Premier Rewards card and I certainly collect a lot of them because I spend mostly on airfare, restaurants, gas and groceries. Those are the bonus categories for the card. I used to have the Platinum but did not utilize enough of the benefits to warrant the fee (plus I love points more!).

Edited October 28, 2015 by Los_Pepes

[Hydrokitty]

I love collecting points. I have an Amex Gold Premier Rewards card and I certainly collect a lot of them because I spend mostly on airfare, restaurants, gas and groceries. Those are the bonus categories for the card. I used to have the Platinum but did not utilize enough of the benefits to warrant the fee (plus I love points more!).

 

I've been using my LLBean for everything...groceries, restaurants, domestic travel....and I now have a substantial travel wardrobe plus household stuff....but I am beginning to find it harder to find stuff to spend my coupons on! Going to check out Amex gold premium too. :D

[twinkletoes4445]

AMEX Platinum works for me...on cruises. Both Uniworld and SS give $300 OBC when you deposit and pay with that card (so, yes you can pay for those cruise lines with a CC). More than one cruise per year and you've recouped your membership fee.

 

Agree with you about the Centurion Lounges. Visited the one in Las Vegas a while back and really enjoyed it. Why are you telling everyone else? ;)

 

I've heard on other threads that one of the Chase cards (maybe Sapphire, IIRC) offers travel insurance when you pay with it. No idea of the details of said coverage, though.

 

Jazzbeau - should we make this another thread?

 

AMEX Platimum rocks. Love the $300 OBC and the little extras that come along with it. We haven't used it in a year or so, but they also had the $200 free luggage allowance. Lately we've been flying business class so we haven't used it, but it was nice to have that extra $200 to use for luggage fees or even purchasing food and drinks on a flight. I think it's $600 a year for our fee, but we more than make it up in free stuff and upgrades. And our AMEX also paid the $200 fee for our Global Entry fees for hubby and me. I don't know if they still do that, but they did a few years back.

[xpcdoojk]

AMEX Platimum rocks. Love the $300 OBC and the little extras that come along with it. We haven't used it in a year or so, but they also had the $200 free luggage allowance. Lately we've been flying business class so we haven't used it, but it was nice to have that extra $200 to use for luggage fees or even purchasing food and drinks on a flight. I think it's $600 a year for our fee, but we more than make it up in free stuff and upgrades. And our AMEX also paid the $200 fee for our Global Entry fees for hubby and me. I don't know if they still do that, but they did a few years back.

 

With the Amex Platinum card, I think the annual fee is $450. You get a refund every 5 years for either global entry or TSA Pre check. I did the TSA pre-check, should have done Global Entry. Which makes getting thru security easier. They offer a $200 a year refund on your chosen airline for any incidental fees (paying for luggage, things ordered on the plane, day pass the AAdmirals club, etc. Not directly for airfare). Little tip if you don't spend all of your $200 during the January thru December time frame, you can buy $50 gift cards from many of the airlines. So, far this year I have paid for $80 worth of things that were refunded on AA this year. If after our upcoming trip, I have leftover funds, I will order gift cards, IE will probably spend $20 on the upcoming trip, and then I will get two $50 gift cards for future AA expenses including to pay for a future flight.

 

Other perks, you become Hilton Gold, and SPG Gold. My favorite perk is the centurion lounge (hope they add more). The food and drinks are very good at DFW, and the lounge is nice. You also get access to lounges with Priority Pass that is a bit anticlimatic, free Boingo wifi, another so so perk. Then they have the regular, rental car insurance, etc, it is also a card that has no foreign exchange fee, many cards have 3% charge when you travel overseas.

 

So, with the preferred airline credit, the card really only costs $250 a year.

 

jc

[twinkletoes4445]

With the Amex Platinum card, I think the annual fee is $450. You get a refund every 5 years for either global entry or TSA Pre check. I did the TSA pre-check, should have done Global Entry. Which makes getting thru security easier. They offer a $200 a year refund on your chosen airline for any incidental fees (paying for luggage, things ordered on the plane, day pass the AAdmirals club, etc. Not directly for airfare). Little tip if you don't spend all of your $200 during the January thru December time frame, you can buy $50 gift cards from many of the airlines. So, far this year I have paid for $80 worth of things that were refunded on AA this year. If after our upcoming trip, I have leftover funds, I will order gift cards, IE will probably spend $20 on the upcoming trip, and then I will get two $50 gift cards for future AA expenses including to pay for a future flight.

 

Other perks, you become Hilton Gold, and SPG Gold. My favorite perk is the centurion lounge (hope they add more). The food and drinks are very good at DFW, and the lounge is nice. You also get access to lounges with Priority Pass that is a bit anticlimatic, free Boingo wifi, another so so perk. Then they have the regular, rental car insurance, etc, it is also a card that has no foreign exchange fee, many cards have 3% charge when you travel overseas.

 

So, with the preferred airline credit, the card really only costs $250 a year.

 

jc

 

I am sure that's what we pay. It may have been higher because we at one time had a card for our daughter.

 

That's interesting about the Global Entry. I thought they only paid for the one time. We need to renew ours after our Paris trip. What I didn't realize was that the TSA pre-check works when you have GE.

 

We never use all the $200. I was telling hubby about your suggestions (he thanks you).

 

When we first got the platinum card, there were four or so airlines that you could use their lounges, but they are down to one, aren't they? We don't travel all that much, but when we do, we use, or try to use, as many of these things as possible. So I guess the Centurion Lounge is AMEX's own and replaces those we lost? It seemed like matter what airline we were on, we were always close to a lounge that we could use, but no so with Centurion ones. We need to check it our more and find out exactly what's out there. We don't travel as much as I'd like to, but I am optimistic that he'll cut back at work one of these days. :)

 

One thing I do is use the concierge to get concert tickets. That is a great service.

 

We do use this card for anything and everything we can because I love the points! Thank you so much for the info!

[xpcdoojk]

I am sure that's what we pay. It may have been higher because we at one time had a card for our daughter.

 

That's interesting about the Global Entry. I thought they only paid for the one time. We need to renew ours after our Paris trip. What I didn't realize was that the TSA pre-check works when you have GE.

 

We never use all the $200. I was telling hubby about your suggestions (he thanks you).

 

When we first got the platinum card, there were four or so airlines that you could use their lounges, but they are down to one, aren't they? We don't travel all that much, but when we do, we use, or try to use, as many of these things as possible. So I guess the Centurion Lounge is AMEX's own and replaces those we lost? It seemed like matter what airline we were on, we were always close to a lounge that we could use, but no so with Centurion ones. We need to check it our more and find out exactly what's out there. We don't travel as much as I'd like to, but I am optimistic that he'll cut back at work one of these days. :)

 

One thing I do is use the concierge to get concert tickets. That is a great service.

 

We do use this card for anything and everything we can because I love the points! Thank you so much for the info!

 

We go to a lot of concerts and the concierge thing hasn't worked well for me so far.

 

Yes they started the Centurion Lounges when they lost the AA lounge. Which saddened me, because that was one of the reasons I got the card. The Centurion Lounge is superior (I really have only visited the DFW Centurion lounge) to any AA lounge I have been to. That said, I wish they still let you visit those lounges. You can use the card and the annual airline credit and get your money back from the day pass, but the day passes are massively overpriced unless you have a massively long layover. The food in the Centurion lounge is very good. The bar is very good, the facilities are very good.

 

Basically Delta is the only lounge that still takes the Amex Platinum, United dropped this year. The Priority Pass gives you the $30 option for a guest to places at O'Hare like the Swissair lounge, which got pretty low ratings, from what I have read. We may go there, but kind of sad.

 

On our upcoming trip, we have such a long layover in Chicago, that we will take the L downtown and shop and eat all day before returning the O'Hare for the overnight flight. On our return we have a 3 hour layover in Dallas, so, we will be hanging happily at the Centurion lounge there.

 

jc

[twinkletoes4445]

We go to a lot of concerts and the concierge thing hasn't worked well for me so far.

 

Yes they started the Centurion Lounges when they lost the AA lounge. Which saddened me, because that was one of the reasons I got the card. The Centurion Lounge is superior (I really have only visited the DFW Centurion lounge) to any AA lounge I have been to. That said, I wish they still let you visit those lounges. You can use the card and the annual airline credit and get your money back from the day pass, but the day passes are massively overpriced unless you have a massively long layover. The food in the Centurion lounge is very good. The bar is very good, the facilities are very good.

 

Basically Delta is the only lounge that still takes the Amex Platinum, United dropped this year. The Priority Pass gives you the $30 option for a guest to places at O'Hare like the Swissair lounge, which got pretty low ratings, from what I have read. We may go there, but kind of sad.

 

On our upcoming trip, we have such a long layover in Chicago, that we will take the L downtown and shop and eat all day before returning the O'Hare for the overnight flight. On our return we have a 3 hour layover in Dallas, so, we will be hanging happily at the Centurion lounge there.

 

jc

 

The best seats we got one time for a concert was when the concierge did a three-way call with the ticket people. We were able to pick our seats. The last two Jimmy Buffett concerts we attended (AMEX sponsored and you'd think we would have gotten the same type of thing) but it was done differently. Certain seats popped up and we could take them or decline. I don't know if that's how it's going to be from now or not. I hope not.

 

We will have to check out the Centurion lounges. It was noce to have access to all those other lounges.

 

I thought there was only one lounge left on the list. It really is too bad. Most of our flights these days don't allow for much time to hang out in a lounge. It seems like we are running for our connection, or we are stuck there for the day. But mostly, thankfully, we catch our connection.

 

But for every cruise we've been on, we've gotten $300 OBC and some other stuff, so that alone almost pays for the fees.

 

Enjoy your trip through Chicago! It sounds like you have a good plan. We're going to have to get with the program and find out what all is available for what are spending, but hubby is still working and it's been busy (thankfully) so we don't travel all that often. He travels on business but most all the time they fly SW. It seems like that airline gets them to where they need to be almost always on time.

 

Next time we're going through Dallas, we'll have to check the Centurion lounge out there.

 

I really appreciate you taking the time to post this information. I copied the first post and emailed it to my husband. :) Thanks!!

Edited October 31, 2015 by twinkletoes4445

[gowilk]

I hesitate to renter this discussion but as an Amex platinum card holder, another benefit that we frequently use is the Fine hotels and resorts, you get free upgrade (most of the time), always free breakfast and free wifi. Usually another meal or massage dependent on property plus checkin at 10-11 am and checkout up till 4 pm. This is very useful coming off a cruise and hotel personnel are almost always are aware that u got there via Amex and are anxious to get a positive rating from u.

 

As for Viking, we have no experience relative to on ship experience but still consider their pre-trip customer service the "worst" in the industry and await our refund 10 days later after it took them only one day to hit the credit card, this is purely punitive and guaranteed to leave a bad taste in our mouth.

 

Yes Viking we still think You suck.

[xpcdoojk]

The best seats we got one time for a concert was when the concierge did a three-way call with the ticket people. We were able to pick our seats. The last two Jimmy Buffett concerts we attended (AMEX sponsored and you'd think we would have gotten the same type of thing) but it was done differently. Certain seats popped up and we could take them or decline. I don't know if that's how it's going to be from now or not. I hope not.

 

We will have to check out the Centurion lounges. It was noce to have access to all those other lounges.

 

I thought there was only one lounge left on the list. It really is too bad. Most of our flights these days don't allow for much time to hang out in a lounge. It seems like we are running for our connection, or we are stuck there for the day. But mostly, thankfully, we catch our connection.

 

But for every cruise we've been on, we've gotten $300 OBC and some other stuff, so that alone almost pays for the fees.

 

Enjoy your trip through Chicago! It sounds like you have a good plan. We're going to have to get with the program and find out what all is available for what are spending, but hubby is still working and it's been busy (thankfully) so we don't travel all that often. He travels on business but most all the time they fly SW. It seems like that airline gets them to where they need to be almost always on time.

 

Next time we're going through Dallas, we'll have to check the Centurion lounge out there.

 

I really appreciate you taking the time to post this information. I copied the first post and emailed it to my husband. :) Thanks!!

 

There are a few other places, that have lounges. I know Vegas, think Miami, think, SeaTac, think San Fran, and maybe LaGuardia, and possibly more to come.

 

As far as the $300 OBC, I can literally find no mention of it on their web page, and I have booked with my Amex many times and beyond points, Nada. That said, I have never used them for booking a cruise, I have a TA that I am happy with for the last decade plus. Maybe that is a sometimes thing, IE a special deal for a limited duration? If you are sure it still exists I will look harder!!!!

 

I have not used the fine hotels booking option, but I do know it exists. I am usually too cheap to stay at the really luxurious hotels unless I have some sort of freebie deal. For example from the Hyatt card if you got a card, and did so much business when you first get the card, you get points plus two nights at any hotel. So, after we left Budapest after our four nights there after the River cruise, I booked the Grand Park Hyatt in Vienna for two nights for free, and the going rate was around $800 a night while we were there. I always check it because the DW loves fancy hotels, but she is even cheaper than I am.::D:eek:

 

jc

[papa B me]

There are a few other places, that have lounges. I know Vegas, think Miami, think, SeaTac, think San Fran, and maybe LaGuardia, and possibly more to come.

 

As far as the $300 OBC, I can literally find no mention of it on their web page, and I have booked with my Amex many times and beyond points, Nada. That said, I have never used them for booking a cruise, I have a TA that I am happy with for the last decade plus. Maybe that is a sometimes thing, IE a special deal for a limited duration? If you are sure it still exists I will look harder!!!!

 

I have not used the fine hotels booking option, but I do know it exists. I am usually too cheap to stay at the really luxurious hotels unless I have some sort of freebie deal. For example from the Hyatt card if you got a card, and did so much business when you first get the card, you get points plus two nights at any hotel. So, after we left Budapest after our four nights there after the River cruise, I booked the Grand Park Hyatt in Vienna for two nights for free, and the going rate was around $800 a night while we were there. I always check it because the DW loves fancy hotels, but she is even cheaper than I am.::D:eek:

 

jc

 

We leave 4 weeks from today on Uniworld and we are getting $300 OBC, box of chocolates, and a bottle of Champaign from the Amex Plat card. We are also staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Munich pre cruise and are getting the free breakfast($45 each), $75 for a dinner, room upgrade and early checkin. So this one trip easily covers the annual fee. I believe I've also gathered enough points this past year to get about $1000 off our nex airline ticket purchase. We are going to Italy with Uniworld in Sept next year so plan on using the points in Jan when I book the airline tickets. Plus will get all the benefits mentioned above. Amex doesn't give OBC for all cruise lines but certainly does on Uniworld

 

We also used a Priority Pass lounge last Feb in Antigua. Just the air condition during our 2 hour wait and quiet setting with foods and drinks probably was worth the cost of the card LOL

Edited October 31, 2015 by papa B me
forgot to mention

[jpalbny]

There are a few other places, that have lounges. I know Vegas, think Miami, think, SeaTac, think San Fran, and maybe LaGuardia, and possibly more to come.

 

As far as the $300 OBC, I can literally find no mention of it on their web page, and I have booked with my Amex many times and beyond points, Nada. That said, I have never used them for booking a cruise, I have a TA that I am happy with for the last decade plus. Maybe that is a sometimes thing, IE a special deal for a limited duration? If you are sure it still exists I will look harder!!!!

 

I have not used the fine hotels booking option, but I do know it exists. I am usually too cheap to stay at the really luxurious hotels unless I have some sort of freebie deal. For example from the Hyatt card if you got a card, and did so much business when you first get the card, you get points plus two nights at any hotel. So, after we left Budapest after our four nights there after the River cruise, I booked the Grand Park Hyatt in Vienna for two nights for free, and the going rate was around $800 a night while we were there. I always check it because the DW loves fancy hotels, but she is even cheaper than I am.::D:eek:

 

jc

 

jc, your list of Centurion lounges looks about right. We've been to the LAS one and it's great. Couldn't use the SFO one when we were there earlier this year, as it was in the wrong terminal relative to our flight...

 

The $300 OBC is real; we've used it 3x on Silversea in 2013/4 and twice so far on Uniworld. Your TA has to work a little bit to get it, as they *prefer* to have you book directly with AMEX travel to get this benefit. But you can get it even if you don't book through them - though for some cruise lines this may be different. Our experience with Uniworld and SS is that it does work. On SS, they throw in a bottle of Dom! :D

 

Yes, agree about the Fine Hotels. Have only found one decent deal so far but it was definitely worth it for a one-night stay at the Charles in Munich last year. Great place and excellent amenities! Usually the rates are pretty steep and we too are cheapos... :rolleyes:

[Host Jazzbeau]

As far as the $300 OBC, I can literally find no mention of it on their web page...

 

Here is the list of participating cruise lines:

Azamara, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Paul Gaugin, Princess, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea, Uniworld, Windstar.

[Celebrity used to be a member, but has dropped out. Note that there is only one river cruise line: Uniworld -- although when Crystal starts their river cruises they may also be covered.]

 

And here is the link to the AmericanExpress website:

https://www.americanexpresscruise.com/cruises/promos/amex/cruise_privileges.jsp?cobrand=15558&webpagerecno=2357

[twinkletoes4445]

There are a few other places, that have lounges. I know Vegas, think Miami, think, SeaTac, think San Fran, and maybe LaGuardia, and possibly more to come.

 

As far as the $300 OBC, I can literally find no mention of it on their web page, and I have booked with my Amex many times and beyond points, Nada. That said, I have never used them for booking a cruise, I have a TA that I am happy with for the last decade plus. Maybe that is a sometimes thing, IE a special deal for a limited duration? If you are sure it still exists I will look harder!!!!

 

I have not used the fine hotels booking option, but I do know it exists. I am usually too cheap to stay at the really luxurious hotels unless I have some sort of freebie deal. For example from the Hyatt card if you got a card, and did so much business when you first get the card, you get points plus two nights at any hotel. So, after we left Budapest after our four nights there after the River cruise, I booked the Grand Park Hyatt in Vienna for two nights for free, and the going rate was around $800 a night while we were there. I always check it because the DW loves fancy hotels, but she is even cheaper than I am.::D:eek:

 

jc

 

Our son used AMEX to book a stay at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was really a good deal. They were in a suite. A limo picked them up at the airport. They were checked in a private area. He's pretty tight and he was very pleased with what they got for what it cost.

 

Two free nights in Vienna at that hotel is a heck of a deal! You can't beat free, especially at a place like that. You did good!!

 

I don't know if they still do it, but we got the $300 and chocolates and usually wine or champagne on our last 4-5 cruises. I think you can also upgrade one level, but we had booked suites so we didn't get that. This was on Holland and Uniworld.

 

Our TA was able to get it for us. You don't have to book through AMEX to get this particular benefit.

Edited November 1, 2015 by twinkletoes4445

[twinkletoes4445]

We leave 4 weeks from today on Uniworld and we are getting $300 OBC, box of chocolates, and a bottle of Champaign from the Amex Plat card. We are also staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Munich pre cruise and are getting the free breakfast($45 each), $75 for a dinner, room upgrade and early checkin. So this one trip easily covers the annual fee. I believe I've also gathered enough points this past year to get about $1000 off our nex airline ticket purchase. We are going to Italy with Uniworld in Sept next year so plan on using the points in Jan when I book the airline tickets. Plus will get all the benefits mentioned above. Amex doesn't give OBC for all cruise lines but certainly does on Uniworld

 

We also used a Priority Pass lounge last Feb in Antigua. Just the air condition during our 2 hour wait and quiet setting with foods and drinks probably was worth the cost of the card LOL

 

You do have the annual fee covered!

 

We both just got new cards for the airport lounges outside the US. I need to check and see where they can be used. I am hoping that soon we are traveling enough that I actually know what's going on! Can't wait for hubby to retire or at least cut back! I have BIG plans. :)

 

Does anyone know if AMEX still does the buy one get one free 1st class? I checked on that time we were on Uniworld, but we were able to get a better deal in business class.

 

They keep eliminating things and it's a bit of a bummer.

[twinkletoes4445]

Here is the list of participating cruise lines:

Azamara, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Paul Gaugin, Princess, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea, Uniworld, Windstar.

[Celebrity used to be a member, but has dropped out. Note that there is only one river cruise line: Uniworld -- although when Crystal starts their river cruises they may also be covered.]

 

And here is the link to the AmericanExpress website:

https://www.americanexpresscruise.com/cruises/promos/amex/cruise_privileges.jsp?cobrand=15558&webpagerecno=2357

 

 

It's not going to surprise me one little bit if HAL drops out of this program. So many changes going on with that cruise line. And not for the good...