WOW you sure started a thread here !!!!
I will add my 2 cents !
AMEX is prestiege, you have to pay the balance at the end of the month so i feel lenders see that as he can handle his / her credit. i know they have added credit cards lately but they have been known for charge cards.
ill be new to the backdating game soon and if it works out for me that a huge bennifit.
Also customer service. i remember onetime i was stranded at a airport and i needed to get a ticket, i was at my limit. i called the sub-prime credit card company i had at the time, i think it was 1st Premier and they were so reluctant to help me. finally after about a hour they pushed through the charge. i received a ton of over limit, cash advance fees it was insane.
With AMEX that wouldnt happen.
Starting Score: 617
i feel you speak the truth, anyone that works in retail plays that game.
i remember one time i was in NYC, during the Puerto Rican Day parade, the parade goes right by Gucci and i wanted some shoes. i try to pull the door open and its locked, the dick salesman says the bathrooms are not for public use. i was dressed in basketball shorts and a sweatshirt i think. when i yelled at him and put my Plat card on his door he was all red faced and apoligetic, and offered me the world. his manager chased me down the street and appoligized and gave me a celebrity discount card. i would not shop at that store any more.
Moral of the story is, everyone discriminates as unfortunate as it is it happens. i was renting a car yesterday (CDW another AMEX Bennifit) and i saw a sign that said if you use your debit card for the rental they will run a credit report http://hertzhelp.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1007 im my opinion thats favortisim as well.
Hotel wise if you have The Platinum Card you already get VIP treatment via Fine Hotels & Resorts program and if you truly have $$$, you would more than likely already be booking a AAA 5 Diamond hotel and staying in a top room. I remember booking via FHR for the Bellagio, got picked up at the airport by a Benz, VIP check-in and a Bellagio Suite with a lakeview room. Also welcome gifts and very attentative service 
Again these amentities and treatments are exclusive for The Platinum/Centurion Card and not other American Express issued card products. You're not going to get the above at the Bellagio with a Zync or Blue unless you pay for it.
i remember one time i was in NYC, during the Puerto Rican Day parade, the parade goes right by Gucci and i wanted some shoes. i try to pull the door open and its locked, the dick salesman says the bathrooms are not for public use. i was dressed in basketball shorts and a sweatshirt i think. when i yelled at him and put my Plat card on his door he was all red faced and apoligetic, and offered me the world. his manager chased me down the street and appoligized and gave me a celebrity discount card. i would not shop at that store any more.
That shopping scene in "Pretty Woman" comes to mind.
BIG mistake..big...HUGE...I have to go shopping now.
Stores do not love people...they love credit cards...PERIOD.
I guess I'm going to have to look into AMEX after all because the last time I rolled up to the Motel 6 in Vegas in my 82 Chevy and gave them my Hooters card, I just didn't feel the LOVE!!!!
Did you feel the bedbugs?