American Express has updated the terms and conditions of its Platinum card to restrict guests in its Centurion Lounges starting in 2023. Calling this a “devaluation” may be too simplistic, but calling the policy an attack on families is eminently reasonable.
American Express Restricts Guests For Platinum Cardholders In Centurion Lounges
American Express will no longer permit Platinum cardmembers to bring two guests into the lounge at no additional cost:
- These changes go into effect on February 1, 2023
- Both primary cardmembers and AMEX Platinum authorized users will continue to receive lounge access
- Guest access is available…for $50 each.
- Platinum cardmembers who spend over $75,000 per year on the card will continue to receive lounge access for two guests at no additional charge.
- Centurion (Black) cardholders will continue to be permitted to bring guests and visit the lounge either before or after their journey (versus only before for Platinum cardholders)
The change was first noted by One Mile at a Time, who notes the new language in the terms and conditions for the Centurion Lounge.
Not A Devaluation For Everyone, But A War On Families
My point is simple: American Express is telling families like me to take our business elsewhere. As much as I enjoy Centurion Lounges (and I truly do enjoy them), the idea that $50 per child for my children is proportionate to the amenities they consume is absurd.
And it’s not like I can add my children as authorized users, since you must be 13 years of age or older in order to be added. Thus, American Express suddenly becomes worthless when I travel with my family unless my wife and I dump the kids outside the door (not going to happen…).
It is what it is. Do I like he change? Not at all. I think American Express “throws the baby out with the bathwater” by going from two Platinum guests to zero and charging so much for passes. Frankly, it is not children that crowd lounges, it is single travelers. That likely won’t change, especially as business travel starts to return.
I know some of you will be rejoicing today over this news. And I’m not going to lie: even if this reduces crowding a little bit, it is a positive enhancement, not a devaluation, for those cardholders who travel alone. I get that.
But for those who are willing to pay the $550 annual fee (rumored soon to be going up to $650 with more worthless credits) and have children, this is a blow. My son Augustine, for example, travels only a couple times per year. It’s not like he was hanging out in the Centurion Lounges every Thursday evening on the way home from work. He’s only been in Centurion Lounges on four occasions over his fours years on this Earth. But it was sure was nice to be able to hang out in these lounges.
CONCLUSION
I appreciate that American Express is trying to control crowding. Perhaps this was the only way. But I feel that by totally eliminating guests instead of reducing Platinum guest allowance to one or offering a number of passes to be used throughout the year, American Express fundamentally disrespects its Platinum members with families.
Woo hoo! Lounges were too crowded anyways. This is the best news from Amex for a while. And priority pass lounges are still wide open.
Agreed. I’m currently in the Denver lounge and it’s packed. When I was sitting outside of the entrance some random guy asked if I wanted to be his guest. I appreciate the sentiment, but that doesn’t help the overcrowding, either.
Also, the catering staff were dumbfounded by how messy the buffet line was – they had to clean the table every time they brought more food out and commented on this each time. When I was in line, guess which individuals were being the sloppiest and messiest? Not the ones paying $800 a year for this privilege.
You gotta pay to play! Shrink those crowds!
American Express wages war on *OVERCROWDING
Fixed the title for you.
I love how everybody sees it different. The consensus on FT among many is the groups of 3-4 are the ones taking up all the space. I’ve seen that at SFO for sure. Do I think they should have went down to 1 guest? Yeah. However, something had to give. I’d skip the SFO club since it was always so crowded.
I don’t see any other alternative. The crowding was becoming unreasonable and everyone identified the issue as families. While I’m sure you take great care to assure your kids are well behaved, most do not. The DFW lounge as an example was truly like walking into a nursery with kids running wild all over. I mostly just turned around and walked right out. Add in the pandemic and needing to control a bit more the space and I can’t see any other choice.
if he’s only visited once per year, then why not pay the $50? if it’s not worth $50 for you to visit the centurion with your kid, then you can avail yourself of one of the many priority pass lounges, or simply hang out at a restaurant or the gate.
Woohoo! Your screaming babies won’t be able to enter for free anymore.
FINALLY. This might actually make them usable again…
I am happy that Amex has done this, frankly too many “hackers” in the club rooms, extended families, loud kids who continually touching all the food laid out and leaving a mess. Too many times I have stopped in wanting a snack glass of wine and just sit and relax for a few minutes only to be bombarded by families/kids etc. I am sorry to all those who have a card limited usage and expect everything. I have been “banging away” at my PLT since 2002 always well into 6 digits.
The PLT card was designed for those who are high usage/travel while I won’t give out my annual usage but its well into six figures and for that I expect to get into a lounge when I want to and not be subjected to the mess it’s become.
Sorry and apologize if I offend anyone but this is a fact. Spend six digits pay $650 then talk to me.
@cam
Matthew has two kids, so that’s $100. The amenities are nice but the kids barely eat much, certainly not $50 per person worth. Sure he can go elsewhere, or why bother traveling at all. That seems like an easy fix!
I agree, this is not a family friendly move. The lounges are crowded with road warrior types.
I am also affected by this. I can easily divert $75K of business spend onto the card but this is a bad move from Amex. Just cut back to one guest per card, that’s plenty fair.
“but calling the policy an attack on families is eminently reasonable.“
I’d call it hyperbole myself, along with the phrase “waging war”, but to each their own.
Centurion lounges have always been a zoo. But in my view the problem is not family with children but adults with friends. This change won’t affect me since my kids are older than 13 so I can easily add them to my card but very bad for families with young children. Now, usually families get a corner on the lounge or go to a kids room and kids don’t eat or drink much. Now, I find adults bringing co-workers the biggest problem. Your friend or co-worker can afford a credit card so enough with the free alcohol for them. Young kids cannot apply for the card and they do not eat or drink enough to justify a $50 charge. Yes, families that travel a lot will dump the card.
Every parent thinks their child is an angelic traveler in the majority of cases…::eyeroll::
Who cares, they don’t belong in a lounge for frequent travelers whether it’s true or not, so I’m happy to see Amex day care being cut. Travelers and their kids in tow are not the target audience of the card and associated benefits.
A Well overdue update. as a frequent visitor of SFO, SEA, LAS Centurion clubs, and the others on occasion i can attest to the impact of children. yes less than 10% of attendees are family’s, but they make up for 90% of the noise and commotion, and are always looking for special accommodations, joining tables, etc… Looking at the benefits of a platinum card at a high level it never has been cut out for a family and has always been marketed as a “business travelers” card. This is a net win, and all those who are upset should cxl their cards and spend the money saved at cheesecake factory or somewhere else you feel welcome.
@Chase: Maybe one day you will have children so your eyeroll maybe be different. I can tell you that the number of children you may find in a lounge is pretty small. First, unless it is vacation time kids are usually in school so you won’t see them in lounges with parents. Second, if you see kids in a lounge they are usually in a corner or in the kids lounge so not a big deal. Again, I couldn’t care less since I am passed the age of having small kids but that is my view. Before Covid I used to travel at least 4 times per week and what really crowds the lounges are obnoxious coworkers of people that have the card. It is the typical “drinks are on me” so the guy wants to look fancy with his coworkers and bring them in to load on booze before a flight. They take space, drink a lot and eat. Kids don’t. Kids cannot have their own cards. Your coworker can.
I love how people keep saying the lounges are meant for frequent travelers. The Centurion lounge is meant to holders of the cards , whether you travel once a year or every week.
The issue of crowding is not going to be fixed by this. The lounge is crowded because the setup is many tables with one occupant per table. If Matthew goes to lounge with wife and son , they take up one table. Same space as the single traveler.
How about limiting to 2 related guests ? If you come with a family of 5 , yes you are taking up 2 tables, and you should pay
Don’t leave poor little Claire Marie and Augie outside the door while you sip on your fancy cocktails inside the lounge. I know parents who would do this.
Guests are guests. We can argue whether co-workers or kids are the issue but the fact is AmEx did its calculations and made a business (financial) decision. This change is obviously fairly polarizing depending on whether you do or do not travel with young kids, but anyone who keeps the card will certainly enjoy less crowding.
The Centurions have truly become a victim of Amex’s success in marketing and acquiring new card members and something had to be done. I would imagine that a lot of the crowding is due to a subgroup of frequent guesters rather than folks like Matthew. I think giving Plats something like 4 guest passes a year would go a long way to keeping infrequent users happy without causing much additional crowding.
SFO is my hub. Children are not the issue IMHO. The main reason Centurion in SFO always crowded are the “single traveller who have the card that bring 2 guests inside as a tag along” Centurion Lounge should implement “ONE CARD ONE ENTRY ” policy with 12 yrs old and below can enter with their adult companion for free. These tag along friends or co-workers can afford this card, you want to enjoy the card perks? PAY THE ANNUAL FEE!, you do not want to pay stay outside.
I’ve never had a kid to bring in to the Centurion but I’ve never had issues with families. It’s the bros or the groups of adults who take up a ton of space and are loud who diminish the ambience more.
I wonder what they will do with the “family rooms.”
Has anybody actually asked AmEx? Given that they’ve invested in children’s areas, etc. this seems more like a policy oversight than anything else. I have a feeling there’ll be an “oops!” moment and children under 13 years old will be permitted with a parent that’s a cardholder.
@Amol: I could not agree more. Kids may eat a cookie and drink a glass of milk or soda. I never seen kids running around a lounge but usually they are in a kids area (some lounges invested in family rooms) or stay in a corner watching a movie on their iPads. Now the bros!!!! They are obnoxious since they feel entitled and they are drinking and eating for free, they are loud and obnoxious and they are the ones crowding the lounges. Amex is making a bad decision here. Ideally they should limit to 1 or 2 guess maximum per family and not allow “bros” to come to the lounge. They are welcome to use the lounge as long as they have their own card.
The problem is that for every kid like your’s who behaves (I assume), there are five that are allowed to run rampant and make the Centurion Lounge feel like The Club at MCO.
This move is the price we pay for the sort of permissive, hands-off parenting that is frequently at greatest display at airports.
They should go further and make the lounge adults only.
Aside from the pros/cons of this change, why are they delaying this until 2023?
Great news. What value is a lounge that’s overcrowded and full of families that allow their children to treat the lounge as a playroom?
I agree, the lounges should be limited to adults only.
@Jason: what age do you consider adult? For Amex, they are glad to take my money if I pay them to give a card to my 13 yo. Thus, he is allowed to access the lounge with his own Amex Platinum card. 🙂
@William: I don’t disagree with you that are kids that should stay home. My point here is that apart from vacation months where parents will travel with kids the majority of the overcrowd is caused by adults bringing adult friends. It is very rare to see kids in lounges during school months or during the week. The crowd is not caused by kids.
The unfair aspect is not that they’re charging, but that you are unable to buy an annual pass for children under 13 on at least the same terms as adults who can be authorized users. So $50 a pop versus $175/3AUs less $100/5yr Global Entry = $38 per person per year. Amex could create a kid’s lounge pass that would take up an authorized user slot, but not be a full charge card, or get rid of the age requirement for platinum AUs (it’s not a legal requirement, just Amex policy and some issuers require older while others will allow infants as AUs). This strikes as particularly egregious given that Amex’s costs are actually lower for children than adults and it should rub anyone who values family the wrong way.
It’s obviously a racist policy.
The kids are not the problem, and I say this as a traveler who usually travels alone and has one adult child who is also a cardholder. The problem is the groups of adults, many of whom are high impact. The worst group in any lounge – or first class cabin for that matter – is: The group of 4-6 adults that is typically composed of two parents who have paid for all or nearly all of the trip, two adult children who are more often than not aspiring social media influencers, and the gf/bf’s of the two adult kids. You can spot these groups from a distance and you can usually hear them from more than 30 feet away. The four non-paying members of these groups are always the most impactful people in any setting. No matter how hard you try to ignore them they will not allow anyone to be oblivious to their presence.
I’ll believe the new policy reduces overcrowding when I see it with my own eyes.. in 2023. Waitlisting is already a well oiled machine for the lounges and should be used well before the lounge is at capacity.
Unless you’re using a specific transfer partner not offered in the other currencies, or buying flights, you’re leaving money on the table by spending 75k+ on an Amex plat.
It was needed badly. Most lounges have turned into playgrounds/USOs for new boot camp grads getting wasted drunk. Keep doling out cards freely to the entirety of the military if you must but the zoo-like behavior of the 5-kid families needs to stop. I only wish the new rules were in effect now.
You’re totally exaggerating. Five-kid families were not in lounges unless parents were Centurion card holders. Even then, unlikely. The limit was two guests…
To all the parents, you are wrong. I can tell other adults to pipe down and stop being a clown. Some adults seem to have lost the ability to speak to other adults but that’s their problem. In practice, I cannot and probably should not approach you about the impact of your kid on others. I absolutely will not speak directly to your child – that role is correctly limited to parents and family. It is this asymmetrical dynamic that many resent and nearly all parents seem unwilling or unable to acknowledge. Honestly, pay $50 and move on. You spend far more annually on gluten-free pasta for your tike.
“…Wages War…”, “…an attack on Families…”
Hyperbole to ‘T’, LoL
I think it’s important to remember that AMEX isn’t targeting families specifically. This will certainly lead to less crowding, and most frequent users of the lounge won’t ditch the card. Members that only use the lounge a few times a year with their family, may very likely be the ones to ditch it, and I suspect AMEX isn’t too keen to keep their business anyway.
What a ridiculous title.
Matthew,
You can easily add your kids even if they aren’t 12. Just make up a date of birth. I’ve done this and never had any issues. I’ve also gotten an extra card for family members that lived abroad that have no SSN. They just asked for their passport #. There is no way for Amex to know the true DOB and it works for additional card purposes.
Well, to be clear I am against lowering standards.
@Mike Saint: I included my 15yo son on my Amex Platinum it asks for his full name, DOB, SSN and address. It says very clear that your som has to be 13yo or older. If you lied in any of those fields that is your problem.
I’ll gladly pay $50 for each of my kids and make sure they’ll scream even lauder…lol
Literally no one cares that you’re being a giant baby because you can’t have your mass of kids and family in the lounges. As a matter of facts. It’s the best thing to happen. Limiting people bringing in several guests and unruly spawn. Maybe just fly like the rest of the world a bit more and get your head out of your behind. You’re not special. I don’t blame them at all.
The alternative to continually limiting guests/numbers in the lounge is just to keep hiking the annual fee of the until demand and supply in the centurion lounges hits something closer to equilibrium. In Singapore, the Amex Platinum’s annual fee is USD1,300… so $550 or even $650 is quite low relatively speaking.
@Justin:
This was my thought. It seems an unpopular opinion, but I’m actually okay with the AF being in the $800 range. I travel enough for personal reasons that I’d easily eat/drink that much when compared directly to airport or O/D restaurants in town. Plus, it’d absolutely reduce the current overcrowding – kids, families, colleagues, whatever. As it is, the Plat card is essentially given away – literally, for active duty military – and the liberal guesting policy is killing Centurion Lounges. I’ll be considered elitist but let’s be honest: if we truly want to enjoy the CLs again, we need to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s a privilege some people are willing to pay for. So let them.
You mean children under 13 will be less likely in the lounge misbehaving and screaming while their parents do nothing to discipline them? Sign me up.
Amex should expand the size of current facilities and open new ones. The current policy is already antifamily for parents who have more than two children under 13.
I have held a Platinum card for over 30 years. It’s time I took my business elsewhere.
Everyone in the lounge should have to pay. This is not a government entitlement program. Either you pay as a cardholder, an authorized user or you pay the daily fee.
Until this policy takes effect AMEX should give priority entrance to cardholders and authorized users. Those who pay nothing should have to wait for those of us who pay.
SFO has already started back with the wait lists, even for us solo travelers who check in through the app beforehand. This new policy will reduce wait times.
I am looking forward to visiting the LAX CL once grab-and-go is over and we can sit in the lounge.