Well, that was surprisingly easy.

[Anonymous]

I called AMEX this afternoon and asked them if they had an option to upgrade to platinum with the first year's membership fee waived. The (very nice) CSR put me on hold for 3 or 4 minutes to confer with another department, and when she returned, she told me that she would go ahead and upgrade me if I wanted. So I took the offer and now love AMEX even more.

[Anonymous]

Cool!  And did they waive the AF for the first year like you asked?

What did you upgrade from and how long had you had that card?

[Anonymous]

Yep, they waived the fee. I probably wouldn't have done it so soon had they not, but I also hinted that the fee waiver would be a deciding factor for me, after all, they'll get the $450 AF from me next year and so on.

I got an AMEX Green in May 2006, upgraded to Gold in January 2007. When I got the Green, I had no immediate plans to get the Gold, but they offered me a fee waiver on that upgrade as well.

Come to think of it, I got a fee waiver on the Green, too, in fact, I've never paid AMEX an annual fee.

I suppose I've maxed out my upgrade options with AMEX, at least for a long, long time... (considering my annual purchases via AMEX have been less than the monthly minimums for that next step up...)

[Anonymous]

I had been thinking of switching out my Green for a Gold, but I still don't see any real reason too. Except for maybe some kind of exclusive seats at a ballgame or something, but that doesn't really constitute $125.

[Anonymous]

I will be doing the Green to Gold upgrade soon-

I have 2 AU's and can't find a reason NOT to upgrade.

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FretlessMayhem wrote:
I had been thinking of switching out my Green for a Gold, but I still don't see any real reason too. Except for maybe some kind of exclusive seats at a ballgame or something, but that doesn't really constitute $125.

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[Anonymous]

The attraction I had to Platinum ( besides the so-called "coolness factor" ) was the fact that there were a few times in the past year that my wife and I wanted to fly instead of drive to Washington, DC, etc and the companion ticket option would have made it a much more viable option. Even with the $450 AF, I can see it paying for itself. Plus there's the customer service, which I hear is even better than Gold customer service.

Message Edited by bchroneos on 04-27-2008 09:56 AM

[MidnightVoice]

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bchroneos wrote:
The attraction I had to Platinum ( besides the so-called "coolness factor" ) was the fact that there were a few times in the past year that my wife and I wanted to fly instead of drive to Washington, DC, etc and the companion ticket option would have made it a much more viable option.

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Be careful with companion tickets.  Sometimes they require that the first ticket be full fare.  I had a couple of these but threw them away because I could get two cheap tickets for less than the price of one full fare ticket!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I figure I have a year to try it all out.

[Anonymous]

I thought the free companion tickets with Amex Platinum were limited to international first-class.

What are these companion tickets to DC of which you speak?

[Anonymous]

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cheddar wrote:

I thought the free companion tickets with Amex Platinum were limited to international first-class.

What are these companion tickets to DC of which you speak?

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