Friday, May 25, 2007

Inside American Express' Centurion (Black) Amex card

Great article in Upgrade:Trave Better with an even better link. The original story is a discussion about whether or not having a Centurion or Black Amex card entitles you to automatic upgrades (the answer to which is that the Centurion card gives you automatic top status on a number of airlines which may lead to upgrades). The best part of the story is the link to a poorly laid out geocities page with detailed information on Centurion offers from around the globe.

Why is it so interesting to have insider information on an Amex card? The answer is because the Centurion/Black Amex is the top tier card and is very exclusive and secretive. You cannot apply for the Centurion/Black card, you have to be invited...and you have to be rich. The qualification details are not published but assumptions are that a spend of more than US$250k per year on a Platinum card is required. The upfront fees measure in the thousands of dollars year. As you well see from the Centurion Card geocity page the benefits vary country by country but basically you get:
  • Top tier status and lounge access with a major carrier
  • Top tier with a series of hotels
  • Concierge services including booking travel and guaranteed seats/tables
  • Travel insurance
  • Limo collection and drop off from/to airports; and
  • A very sexy titanium card, luggage tags and packets of marketing materials
Check out the link and see how the other 0.1% live.

UPDATE - Lots more information and commentary on the Black American Express card here at the Black Card Forum (reg'd required)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i recently purchased much merchandise for my boss on my Amex and was then sent a box with my "fancy plastic".

12 months later they sent me a renewal for a fee of $3000 per annum.

so i told them NO THANKS

they where amazed as i was the first to ever knock it back.


irony is i know work for Amex

Anonymous said...

crap...ur full of urself, like ur the first to knock it back, or couldn't u afford the 3000 $, reality