Following the changes to the personal version of the Amex Platinum card, the expectation is to see new benefits to the business version too. Via Viewfromthewing, Amex has said following about new benefits coming soon:
Beginning March 30, 2017, Business Platinum Card Members will get 5X Membership Rewards Points on flights and prepaid hotels at amextravel.com.
Business Platinum Card Members also get access to the recently announced new Global Dining Collection, as well as the expanded Global Lounge Collection and the Global By Invitation Only Events.
5x prepaid hotels at amextravel.com is the same benefit which they they just added to the personal Platinum card, and isn’t hugely exciting since you’re losing out on discounts offered by other OTA and also for loyalty/status reasons. However, the 5x airfare at amextravel.com which is new for the business version can be very interesting. There isn’t usually any reason not to book via amextravel.com and earn 5x in the process.
The personal card also got a 5x airfare benefit added back in October. The card earns 5x on airfare booked directly with the airline or via Amextravel.com. Starting March 30, the business version will also earn 5x on airfare but only flights booked via the Amex Travel portal.
Notably missing is any mention of the annual fee increasing from $450 to $550, but of course this is all preliminary info and there might be more changes including a higher fee and/or other benefits. Update: Annual fee will remain at $450.
Essentially, the business version will now have almost all the best benefits: the huge 50% rebate on MR redemptions for select flights (as described in this post), the 1.5x earning on $5k+ purchases, and now the 5x airfare on flight booked via Amex Travel. Maybe the fee will even remain the same at $450, although it’s likely it’ll go up to $550 like the personal version did.
Of course, the $200 Uber benefit on the personal card is a big edge of the personal card over the business version.
The big question is does this come with the the free guesting privileges for PP that the personal does now? If so I’ll likely make this switch to this during the next big sign up bonus. I’d most likely be able to recoup the extra $100 AF with Uber on the personal but why bother if this will get me basically all the other personal benefits plus the 50% MR rebate. And for $100 less each year.
Yes they both come with the guesting privileges.
Doc, Is there any information out there on what the global dining colection is? Is it the same as there taste program?Thanks
Yeah it’s not a new program, just some new partners. Nothing that special IMO.
I wonder if it will be a metal card.
I had pretty much convinced myself that the 50% back on airfare on the Business coupled with the 5x on the Personal was sufficient motivation to keep both cards. Then the +$100 on the AF for the Personal started discouraging me — I’m not a monthly Uber user and can’t become one. So this would be huge, because it would allow me to 86 the Personal. Tough luck for my AUs on the Personal, but saving money on credit cards trumps family sentimentality. Plus it was a lot easier keeping the AUs when Amex was forgetting to charge me for them.
You can get the ameriprise financial version for a year and get it for free and the AU’s for free too….at least extends it a year.
I think the restriction of needing to book flights via amextravel.com is a downer – this means you cannot earn 5X points on YQ or miscellaneous fees incurred when redeeming award flights
For revenue flights, less of an issue, one could regard amextravel portal just like another OTA
Except with the other OTAs, you can use portals and get extra cashback. So there’s no reason not to use the personal card which gets 5x on airfare everywhere, and go through the OTA and get the portal cashback as well. That’s why this new benefit is worth nothing to those that also have the personal version.
Also- what is the 24-hour cancellation policy on amextravel.com? I know that for me, that is a huge factor when picking an OTA. Orbitz and Priceline actually give almost 48 hours if booking at the right time, whereas others only give exactly 24 hours.
True. Forget abt the CB portal for OTA. Agree this is nothing better compared to the personal 5x , but honestly how many people gonna own 2 versions and paid 2x AF? I probably would need to choose when AF is due…
And the 24 hr cancellation is a US government regulation, right? So I should think amextravel.com should have it too. Agree would need to check beforehand
https://faq.amextravel.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/20265/~/how-do-i-change-or-cancel-a-flight%3F
Steep fees 🙁
Rather stick with the Priceline possible >24hr free cancellation when plans are uncertain…
The link refers to cancelling tickets beyond the 24 hours. Amex has a simple no fee airline ticket cancellation policy.
What portals offer cash back for airfare bookings?
Many of them do- and the rates are different depending on the OTA. Topcashback has offered a flat $5 (regardless of price of transaction) on Priceline for quite some time now. If you have energy to break up bookings (e.g., family of 4 round-trip into 8 separate one-way bookings) that one can add up fast. For more expensive tickets, Splender has had 3% on Orbitz for a while, though now it’s down to 2%. That’s still the best combination out there for anything above $250 (otherwise $5 is more). The best combination frequently changes and it’s a bit annoying to find since cashbackmonitor doesn’t display the airfare price prominently, but the info is out there.
Thanks for the info, might have to investigate further.
amex platinum is pushing away users who do not live in big cities
I will definitely cancel it this year before AF posts
I prefer the Business at $450 without Uber and with all the other enhancements.
I second that.
Uggh. I think the worst thing to come from this will be Chase and Citi getting the idea that it’s OK to rais the fees for their premium cards with semi-useful enhancements… AX should allow people to keep the old version of the card if they don’t want the additional benefits. I don’t even have Uber in my area!
The Uber benefit in the personal version is only an edge for people who use that service. As I never use it, I will have to recalculate whether or not the card is still worth the higher AF given no useful additional benefits.
Uber “benefit” is a farce for most cardholders.
why?