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Amex has implemented a few changes to The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum® from American Express that should you undoubtedly be aware of, but I’m not 100% sure everyone will agree on whether they are entirely negative or not.
This is a the reason for the AU changes…
The biggest change: Authorized User fee increases
Before today, you could add up to 3 Platinum Authorized Users for $175. Yes, 3 more Authorized users, and then $175 per user starting with the 4th. This was very advantageous for lounge access since Amex changed the lounge access and required a minimum annual spend of $75k to bring guests into the lounge or pay a fee.
Now, the cost of an authorized user has increased from $175 to $195, but it’s per Authorized User meaning the cost for 3 AUs is now $585…up from $175.
This should dramatically reduce the number of people that are coming into the lounge. Sure, this is negative to those who were adding 3 AUs, but not really a big deal if you’re just bringing in a single guest and adding them as an AU. Many cardholders without families will consider this a positive change as it will have an impact on reducing crowd size and kids in the lounge. Those who have used the 3 AU trick will find this painful.
Additional Platinum Card fee is already in effect
The Free Gold Authorized Users are now called Companion Platinum Card® from American Express
Amex Business Platinum Changed a bit too
You used to be able to get Green Business Cards free of charge, now they’re called Employee Business Expense Cards…
Up to $240 Amex Platinum Digital Entertainment Credit – Audible gone on 10/1/23
As of October 1st – Audible is dropped and replaced by The Wall Street Journal. I use all of my credits on Hulu and add in Showtime or Cinemax. This isn’t a big move to me, but I’d presume that many will be happy to WSJ added to the list, and some will be annoyed that Audible is removed. It’s a push to me.
the list now looks like this:
- Get up to $20 per month at Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The Wall Street Journal
The minimum spend requirement has increased
Currently the public offer is 80k Membership Rewards after $8k spend in 3 months. This had been set at $6k in 6 months. The same goes for the Resy 100k Membership Rewards after $8k in 6 months + 10x on dining for 6 months, and I’d guess that once the new referral offers begin to populate that they will include the higher spend as well.
Personally, I don’t really think this is a big deal. $8k over 6 months is a low bar and if you can’t hit that spend, maybe you shouldn’t have a $695 annual fee card to begin with.
Overall
This really comes down to whether or not you value adding AUs on to your account or not and I suppose if you really valued the Audible credit…which I did not.
For rates and fees of the The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
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