American Express To Make Changes To Personal & Business Platinum Cards Later This Year

[Vinjints]

I care for your opinion, Gregory! I've been looking for a card that provides a Youtube sub, similar to the AmEX Hulu or Flagship Prime coverage. Maybe with a little more time it will come.

[dfwxjer]

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@swankytiger wrote:

Part of this is likely from how hard it is to get into AMEX lounges and how crowded they are. There is one solution that will help but they likely wont do it for the optics.  The military not having to pay the annual fee.

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I highly doubt the military AF waiver is what causes the lounge overcrowding. 

I'd posture it is due to them overmarketing the Platinum during a period of time where the public was flush with stimulus money. The lounges have been thinning out as more people are opting to skip the AF, and each time they up the AF the lounges get more accessible. The biggest change I noticed was when they upped it to $695 and changed the AU fee to $195 *per card* while limiting guest access. 

[unsungivy]

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@swankytiger wrote:

Part of this is likely from how hard it is to get into AMEX lounges and how crowded they are. There is one solution that will help but they likely wont do it for the optics.  The military not having to pay the annual fee.

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? Active duty military already gets AFs waived.

[CreditCuriosity]

Likely higher AF and more coupons.  Don't they get sick of doing this every few years?  They are going to hit a brick wall more and more as the AF is increased as it isn't an exclusive card anymore you just need to be able to afford the AF that scares off many being myself as one as don't see the value and prefer the UR eco system as it is easier and more friendly for me to personally understand.  Don't like trends of AFs going up overall as echoed in past across all lenders and adding "perks".

[Tiggr]

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@swankytiger wrote:

Part of this is likely from how hard it is to get into AMEX lounges and how crowded they are. There is one solution that will help but they likely wont do it for the optics.  The military not having to pay the annual fee.

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Thats the only reason AMEX cards are even on my radar/plan tbh.

[Tiggr]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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@swankytiger wrote:

Part of this is likely from how hard it is to get into AMEX lounges and how crowded they are. There is one solution that will help but they likely wont do it for the optics.  The military not having to pay the annual fee.

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? Active duty military already gets AFs waived.

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Yes, that's what they are pointing to as the cause.

[dfwxjer]

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@Tiggr wrote:

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@unsungivy wrote:

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@swankytiger wrote:

Part of this is likely from how hard it is to get into AMEX lounges and how crowded they are. There is one solution that will help but they likely wont do it for the optics.  The military not having to pay the annual fee.

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? Active duty military already gets AFs waived.

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Yes, that's what they are pointing to as the cause.

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There's always one, even in the FB platinum group, that think the few military members are why the lines are wrapped through the terminal. 

They don't blame Amex for overselling the card to anyone with a pulse that can scrape together $695. The card hasn't been exclusive in quite some time, and the underwriting standards seem to focus more on driving AF revenue than protecting their flagship product. 

[quickstep_knoll]

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@Gregory1776 wrote:

As part of the "entertainment" credit, zoomers and millennials are not ever subscribing to NYT or whatever other ... rag they offer, they should IMO make it easier to earn the credit with something we'd actually organically use.
For me, YouTube subscription (I cannot do ads), Substack, Twitter, or twitch / Discord would be a big fat yay from anyone in their 20s. Throw in an AI subscription. 🫶

IDK nobody is going to care for my opinion lol

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I don't know, people went nuts for Wordle.

But you're definitely right that a YouTube or AI subscription would make a lot of sense, for me as well. All I really want is a base 1.5x, not even 2x! I know 2x is likely unprofitable. But 1.5! I'd actually use my Platinum card and put the majority of my family's spending on Amex.

[dfwxjer]

Something to note on the merchant offers/credits they include... 

Amex is likely not paying a dime for most of the credits. NYT and the other streaming services they partner with are probably offering the service/discount to Amex to drive subscriber base so they can boost ad revenue and hope to convert those customers to long time subscribers. YouTube/AI subscriptions/etc more than likely aren't offering their services at a discount/free. 

[Zoostation1]

To add on to my previous comment any new credits will not be useful to a majority of cardholders.  Just look at what Chase did to CSR.  The market for Peleton monthly credits to be useful is small, and if you're buying tickets on StubHub you obviously already don't care how much you're paying and are ok with being ripped off.