I didn’t use my Centurion card upgrad at the Wynn this time because our Casino host set up everything and comp’d it, so there was no need.  They sent a driver yo pick us up from the Airport in a Rolls Royce Phantom, first time I have been in one and they are awesome.  The quietest and smoothest car I have ever been in.

The Casino host put us up in a great suite at Encore, which is a really nice addition to the Wynn.  I’ve stayed at the Wynn before, but this was the first time I have stayed at Encore.  The Wynn really showed us a good time this weekend, especially on like 6hrs notice.

I am just glad I finally got my first class upgrades though.  I thought that I might not since booked last minute, but I Delta apparently processes the upgrades at time of booking as long as you give them your Medallion number.  Hopefully my future flights will be this easy.  I am flying to Orlando on thursday on US Airways, hopefully that upgrade will be just as smooth.

No wonder Amex keeps slashing everyone’s limits.  Idiots like Courtney love are defaulting on huge payments.  They need to be hassling her to pay early instead of calling their other cardholders in good standing and demanding early payment before the bill is due.

Original news source here

I thought, well that’t neat, it auto flags my login and sends me to a custom Centurion site for the iPhone.  Honestly, the site is pretty well done and very helpful.  I can do things like Help you find airport lounges or find a nice restaurant.

It lets you sort by the city you’re in to find a nice restaurant.  In addition to these two services, it also has a Centurion phone number directory in case you need to call the concierge, travel, roadside assistance, just about anything.  It also has a section where you can view balances, recent activity and even pay your bill.  As you can see from the screen shots below, the panels shows my Plum card, which I use for business, my personal Centurion, my recently cancelled personal Platinum, and my personal Blue Cash that I have as a backup.  You can select an individual card, view its activity and pay its bill.

Pretty nifty if you ask me.  I have found myself actually using this portal quite frequently.  Anyone else been using the iPhone Amex portal?

It draws attention to you fast. I knew it would, but I don’t think i realized the magnitude that it would. Having used it everyday for 2 months, hundreds of transactions, I think maybe a total of 5 people have NOT said something to me about it. I almost don’t like using, in fact some places I have started not to use it. I get comments anywhere from “ohh this is that black amex, man it’s heavy” to “is it true you have to have $5 Million dollars to get one?”. I don’t mind people asking about it, but sometimes, especially at a bar, people tend to cross the line asking way too personal questions, barely any of which I answer.

You can’t really book Hotels through a service like Hotwire and expect to get upgrades/benefits. For example, I recently stayed at the Wynn in Vegas, which is great and I love it there. However, I wasn’t allowed the Centurion benefits of late checkout, $40/day breakfast credits, or free lunches because my friend booked the rooms through Hotwire. In fact, after losing a small fortune, they decided to comp our rooms, then said they couldn’t because we booked through hotwire. Lesson learned, book through Amex or the Hotel directly.

Airfare upgrades are not guaranteed.  Centurion gets you first class airfare upgrades on most major airlines like Virgin, Delta, US Air, Continental, Northwest.  I have a terrible habit of getting to the airport late and because of this I couldn’t get airfare upgrades because they were already taken.  Also, I live in Charlotte, which is decent size, but often flights have to run through other cities.  So what ends up happening is you are on a 1 class plane, making it impossible to get an upgrade.  For my trip to Vegas/San Fran I was unable to get an upgrade on any of the 5 flights I was on either because I was late or it was a coach only plane.  Lesson learned, stop showing up 25 minutes before departure and expect an upgrade.

The Starwood upgrades really aren’t that great.  All they basically do is give you a higher room or a room with a better room, and some free water.  I have been less than impressed with the SPG Gold status upgrades and I have stayed in 3 different starwood property hotels so far.  I am going to try Intercontinental next.

The Centurion Concierge is very friendly and helpful, but so far the service is no different than the Platinum concierge I used to have.  I have used the concierge service for 2 things so far, neither of the tasks were they able to do, but it wasn’t necessarily their fault.  I tried to use them to get into Club XS in Vegas at the Wynn, for me and 3 other guys.  The host at XS told American Express, who told me, I couldn’t get in/skip line unless I brought at least 3 girls with me or got bottle service.  Which is Vegas for you, but feels like High School at the same time.  We ended up not going because we were all in reationships and our significant others weren’t there.  Looking back on it we should have just gotten bottle service, which you don’t need Amex to do to skip line/set up.  Secondly, I tried to get them to make reservations on a Saturday night with 2 hours notice at a nice steakhouse for 8PM, they couldn’t get anything before 10PM.  Not necessarily their fault, they just couldn’t make it happen.

I can’t use the credit card at most gas pumps.  Generally speaking, the card is supposed to fit in any card reader, but I can;t seem to make it work at Gas pumps and I don’t want to force it through.

The card is surprisingly scratch resistant.  I thought it would mark up easy, but so far my card has no visible signs of wear.  I guess that’s titanium for you.

All in all, I’m still happy I got it, mostly so I will be able to blog about it, but I haven’t been overjoyed from the benefits SO FAR.  But I still have a lot more traveling to do this year, so I am sure it will still end up paying for itself and being worthwhile.  But I think if the Centurion program still had SPG Platinum status, instead of Gold (which Amex Platinum also has), it would make it much better.  So Amex, if you’re reading this, please add it back.

What’s even more interesting, and im not sure how they’re getting away with this, is that this rapper/his company/someone he works with is selling clothing with “kiss my black amex”.  Surely American Express has seen/heard this song, heck they might even endorse it, but I would be completely shocked if they let someone sell clothing with their trademarked brand on it.  Especially considering I couldn’t even use it in my domain name.  Here is the link to the site that has the clothes - http://kissmyblackamex.com

The Process For Calling In

When I decided that I wanted to get one, I called the number on the back of my platinum card and told the concierge I would like to speak to someone about upgrading to Centurion.  They transfered me to a really nice representative who helped me apply.  He clearly explained to me that the requirements were to have been an Amex member for at least a year, spend AND pay off 250K or more in the last 12 months, then asked me if I understood was I sure that I wanted to apply.  I of course said that I understood and wanted to apply.  The whole process took about 5 minutes, they said I met the criteria and then said congratulations (like I was part of a new fraternity).  That was it.

About 3 days later the UPS man delivered my welcome package and card.

I eagerly tore into the box and found a nice welcome letter, my benefits information, some forms to fill out, and my new black card, all enclosed in a very nice “Nice to have you with us” box.

First impressions are that it is extremely well packaged, as it should be, the card is obviously made from metal, but it wasn’t as heavy as I expected.  I am not sure if I expected it to be like a brick or what, but it is heavy enough to notice that it isn’t a regular card, but not heavy enough to be cumbersome.  It is not flexible at all.

So far I have been very happy with it, while it most certainly seems to make a scene every where I go.  My friends have given me a hard time about getting it, but so far it seems like a good decision.  I will post more on my initial thoughts a little later, as well as using it on a few trips since I got it to NYC, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.  But hopefully I will have a lot more good content in store for you all.

Unveiled at Forbes House, in London’s Belgravia in front of an exclusive audience of American Express black card holders, card members had the option to buy this new car for either 88,315 pounds (US$124,205) for the 400-hp or 94,185 pounds (US$132,461) for the430-hp version. The 400-hp model has a 4.2L V-8 engine backed by a ZF six-speed automatic transmission, good for 0 to 62 mph in 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 167 mph. Tthe 430-hp trim has a 4.7L V-8 with the same six-speed transmission, but does 0 to 62 mph in 5.4 seconds and has a top speed of 174.

Both models feature Nero Carbonio (black carbon) paint, a Bianco Polare (polar white) Poltrona Frau leather interior, titanium trim, polished 20-in wheels, American Express Centurion logos embossed in the headrests and a special dash plaque that mimics the Black Card.

I think this is a pretty cool idea, especially since Amex is trying to revamp the UK Centurion benefits.  I am not a big maserati fan but I like it.  Now all Amex needs to do is pair up with Aston Martin and offer one in the US, i’d be all over that. Visa Black card who?