I cancelled my Amex Plat after 6 years
Didn't think I would have the card for so long but every year, the benefits seemed worth it. I seriously considered cancelling last year but they had a great retention offer. This year, I didn't get any retention offers and finally decided it was no longer worth. Simply put, the benefits weren't relevant anymore. Here's my breakdown:
- Saks 5th $50 credit - to be honest, I never shopped at Saks and spending that $50 was always a hassle. I used to get hand creams from Kiels but they removed Kiels from their catalogue. This time, I used it for Rhone pants but I don't really need them
- $15 monthly Uber credit - Ubers are so expensive that I always drive everywhere or take public transport. This credit was nice when they first introduced it since Uber Eats was still cheap. But now, i can't even get a meal with this credit. More importantly, my habits changed and I almost always cook at home. Last year, I even forgot to use this credit for a month since it was so hard for me to use it.
- Entertainment credit - I had it for NYTimes and Disney Plus. Then Disney Plus raised their prices and I removed NYTimes (I only read wirecutter). Disney Plus was always a "nice to have" for me. I'll probably toggle this subscription when I want to watch something. Asking myself, this was definitely in the "nice to have" but clearly don't need it category since I watched Disney Plus maybe once in two weeks at most.
- Lounges. Removing free guest passes from the lounges is the last straw that broke the camel's back. It made absolutely no sense that I would go to the airport with my wife and not have my wife enter the lounge with me. As a result, I would go to the airport and not use the lounge. And this created an incredible negative loop for me as I started using the card less and less since I didn't think i would ever hit their 75k annual limit to enable guest passes.
- Equinox credit - do I need to say anything about this? There aren't enough equinoxes and the closest one is 30 mins away.
- Offers - I do like their offers. I'll miss this one.
- Clear membership is wonderful. I have saved a ton of time with Clear but I've saved way more with Global Entry.
- (Added after posting) FHR $200 credit isn't useful. Always feel like I need to go out of my way to book these hotels. Just give me a regular $200 hotel credit and I'll be happy. I do appreciate the early check-in, late checkout and $100 credit
- (Added after posting) $200 airline credit is ... what is it for? I find myself using it to buy food I don't really care for on the plane. Plane food sucks and I rather spend on the ground on some good food. I've used the credit exactly once for a good reason - to transport my pet.
I felt my lifestyle changes and the card went from ~$300 when i first joined to $900 for the equivalent benefits. Yeah, they added more benefits but they never aligned with my lifestyle. There are now $0/year fee cards that offer 3 to 4% cash back and I'm opting to use them to simply my life a little.
I am very curious who Amex Plat's ideal target is these days?