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AMEX Centurion Lounges will cut complimentary guest access effective February 1, 2023. Back in July 2021, AMEX announced the upcoming change, which is as follows:
-AMEX Centurion members cardholders may continue to enter with immediate family (spouse/partner and children under 18) or with up to two guests at no extra charge
-AMEX Platinum and AMEX Business Platinum card members will receive complimentary access for the cardholder and authorized users only
-AMEX Platinum and AMEX Business Platinum card members will have to pay $50 per guest ($30 per guest under eighteen with proof of age, except for babies under two, who are free with proof of age).
-If an AMEX Platinum or AMEX Business Platinum cardholder spends $75,000 per calendar year, s/he will continue to receive complimentary lounge access for up to two guests.
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Why AMEX Cut Guest Access for Platinum Members
AMEX Centurion lounges have struggled for years with overcrowding, for several reasons. AMEX Centurion lounges have much better food and drink offerings than other domestic airline lounges, creating high demand, and many U.S. consumers have these cards. U.S. military service members and their spouses are able to have the AMEX Platinum card with no annual fee (instead of the usual $695 annual fee), which also increases the number of card holders.
Back in 2019 the Centurion Lounges cut access for arriving card holders and instituted a 3 hour limit prior to flight departure time, but these measures didn't fix overcrowding.
AMEX noted back in 2021:
“The Centurion Lounge is one of the most popular benefits of the Platinum Card. We want to make sure we continue to back our Card Members when they travel by delivering a comfortable space for our Card Members to recharge and relax, which is why we are making some changes to our Centurion Lounge guest access policy.“
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Will AMEX Platinum Card Holders Drop the Card After Complimentary Guest Access is Cut?
The changes may impact the renewal decision for AMEX Platinum card members, at least the ones who pay the $695 annual fee, particularly if they often travel with family or guests. And perhaps AMEX if fine with that, if the data show that lounges are primarily crowded with guests of lower spending card members, rather than higher spending card members who travel solo for work.
It's a fairly family-unfriendly policy change, however, since the most cost-efficient way to avoid the fee is to add additional card members to a personal AMEX Platinum (up to three additional members may be added for $175 per year), yet these members must be age 13 or older. For kids who are ages 2-12, a parent would have to spend $75,000 on the AMEX Platinum per calendar year to retain access for two complimentary guests. Even for those with that level of credit card spend per year, there's a high opportunity cost to put that spend on an AMEX Platinum, unless much of it is on airfare, which earns 5X per dollar. Other than that spend pattern, there are no good category bonuses with the AMEX Platinum: you'd be far better off putting spend on the no annual fee AMEX Blue Business Plus, which earns 2X Membership Rewards points everywhere, or on a combination of other Chase cards so as to earn 5X on all Whole Foods and Amazon spend, 3X on all travel and dining spend, and rotating 5X categories such as groceries.
For several years, given the annual fee increases, overcrowded Centurion Lounges, hard to use airline incidental fee credit, poor category bonuses compared to our Chase cards, and worse trip cancellation insurance compared to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, we haven't found it worth it to hold AMEX Platinum cards or any other AMEX card except for the AMEX Blue Business Plus, and these changes certainly are going in the opposite direction of wooing us back.
Will the AMEX Centurion Lounge guest access policy change impact your decision to hold an AMEX Platinum card?
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