American Express Centurion Lounge Guest Policy
There was recently a change the the American Express Centurion Lounge guest policy that started on February 1st of this year. It wasn't a popular change at all, charging $50 for adult and $30 for children guests. This was instead of Amex Platinum and Amex Business Platinum cardholders getting 2 free guests each visit. Amex made this change in an attempt to fight lounge overcrowding, an issue at pretty much all of their lounge locations. There was only one way to get around the guest ban, by spending $75,000 on your Platinum card within a calendar year.
Amex Sending Out Complimentary Lounge Guest Access To Unexpected Cardholders
Well, it appears American Express may have backtracked on that change for some Platinum cardholders, or did they? It looks like they may be including spend across ALL Platinum cards a cardmember has, personal and business. At least that is the common theory going right now. That makes the $75,000 a bit easier to manage, especially during the no lifetime language offer days of 2022 (and still ongoing in 2023).
The really weird thing is that American Express told people that this wouldn't be the case. Our friend Eric over at The Miles Man asked this very question and was told that it had to be $75,000 in spend on ONE Platinum card, not across all of his Platinum cards. However, he was pleasantly surprised with an email saying he could bring up to 2 guests to Centurion Lounges with him through 1/31/24.
Was this a case of an misinformed Amex rep or was this another case of American Express' IT systems acting differently than they expected them too? Who knows at this point, but we'll take these small wins wherever we can get them.
American Express Centurion Lounge Guest Policy: ToP Thoughts
I am glad some people get to keep their Amex Centurion Lounge guesting privileges one more year, especially since it is unexpectedly. My guess is that this still won't play a role for most since the Platinum cards don't offer a ton of good options for return on spend. That means putting $75,000 on them is a losing battle.
I think the fact that people were able to get multiple Business Platinum cards last year via no lifetime language offers is why this email went out to more people than we would normally see. Hopefully spending across all Platinum cards is how it works going forward. But, more importantly, hopefully those no lifetime language offers keep rolling in!
