By coincidence, three pieces of news have come up in the last few days regarding the airport lounge access that American Express Platinum cardholders receive.
1 – The deadline for applying for the Cathay Pacific Gold Card (=BA Silver) has been extended to 31 March
I’m not sure what is going on here. After saying for 9 months that this deal was ending in mid February, the Amex website now shows 31 March as the closing date:
This is good news if you haven’t yet decided whether or not to go for this. Cathay Pacific, like British Airways, is a member of the oneworld alliance. This means that your Cathay Pacific Gold card gives you the same benefits as a British Airways Silver card when you fly with BA.
In particular:
You can use BA lounges, even when flying economy – and bring a guest
You can use the lounges of any other oneworld airline when flying with them (Qantas, Qatar, Cathay, Finnair, Royal Jordanian etc)
You can select seats on BA flights for free
You can get an additional baggage allowance
You can check-in at business class desks
The full list of benefits from a oneworld Sapphire card (which is what both BA Silver and Cathay Gold offer) can be found here. You can find our more about this offer in this post.
(PS. There is no mention of the Cathay Gold benefit on the official Amex Platinum application website. This appears to be linked to Amex’s close relationship with British Airways. Don’t worry, it definitely exists!)
2 – American Airlines and US Airways removing lounge access for American Express Platinum cardholders
I wrote about this back in December, when Amex Plat cardholders in the US received a letter saying that they would no longer be able to access American Airlines or US Airways lounges.
As the screenshot above shows, this will definitely now apply to UK-issued Platinum cards as well. The last date to gain entry is March 20th. Of course, Amex has not bothered to write to UK cardholders to tell them about this change …..
As long as you retain the Cathay Gold card this will not be a problem, since that will get you into American Airlines and US Airways lounges anyway. However, once your free year of Cathay Gold ends, you won’t be able to get access.
3 – Delta Air Lines to charge for guests brought in by Amex Plat cardholders
Delta Air Lines announced on Thursday that it will be introducing a $29 charge for American Express Platinum cardholders who want to bring a guest into their lounges. At present, Amex Plats who are flying Delta can use their lounges and bring in a guest for free.
It is 99% certain that this will also apply to UK cardholders. The charge will be in effect from May 1st.
So, what is left?!
Once all these changes have worked through, lounge access for Amex Plats will comprise:
Priority Pass – access to all 600 lounges in this network. Unlimited free visits and you can bring a guest for free. Your main supplementary cardholder also gets a free Priority Pass and can also bring a guest, so a family of 4 could enter the lounge OK.
Eurostar – access to their business class lounges, although no guests are allowed (unless they are the supplementary Platinum cardholder on your account, of course)
American Express lounges – Amex runs its own airport lounges in Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico and the USA (only two so far I think). These are free to enter for Platinum cardholders.
Delta – Platinum cardholders will still be able to gain access to Delta lounges when flying Delta, although they cannot bring in a guest unless they pay.
(Click on this link Amex Plat lounge shenanigans – Cathay Gold extended, AA/US going, Delta charging? throughout the day to read comments on this post from other readers, or to leave your own comment. To see all of our recent posts, visit our home page here.)