12 October 2008

Amex Cancels Domestic Companion Ticket

American Express has long tried to raise the bar with its personal services to its premium card holders. Since the Green US card was canceled a few years back - they have tried to reposition the Platinum Card as the standard product.

However there are now many different flavors of the card. Debit and Credit. Branded, Co-Branded, special services etc. Its hard to keep up with all the flavors in one country let alone the differences in many others. Of course in the USA market there has been little penetration of a joint bank card version of Amex. However in International Markets there are quite a few examples.

American Express services are not consistent by card color/type. For example a Straightforward Platinum Card does not carry the same privileges as the Delta card does. So you don't get a companion ticket on the Delta Platinum card.

In late 2006 Amex introduced the domestic companion free ticket with much fanfare. However my contacts tell me it was a resounding flop. So few people buy a full fare domestic premium ticket at full wack that it would be a hard thing to do to purchase one, even if they were readily available - which they just were not.

So with little fuss other than a letter to the affected card holders - they have quietly canceled the program.

Cheers

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