The Euro one is much better for travel insurance, international airlines and general events service. The US version instead is ideal if travelling within the country since thanks to the airline programs one can easily get upgraded all the time. Also some of the by invitation only events are very interesting, especially if you have kids.

I enjoy both in the same way even though in Italy the fee is 3,000 Euros per year and in the US it is now 2,500$. However, doing alot of travelling with my family it always justifies the cost.

If the fees will go up again and the service and perks don’t get a big upgrade I will probably drop the card and go back to Platinum which is still amazing for the cost.

When the annual fee was about £600 I absolutely loved having the card. I travelled a lot and found the upgrades and insurance made it worthwhile. Many years later, I rarely travel and the fee is now £1,800. This year I’ve made some travel enquiries and the concierge promised to get back to me and never did (this happened twice). Recently I telephoned to pay my bill with a credit card, the operator duly took the number. 2 weeks later i called about something else, and found out they had not actually taken the payment. I had to give the number again and it was duly processed.

Everyone always very polite on the phone but the service is unreliable. I dislike the titanium, it is pointlessly flash. Several times in Waitrose the card jammed the machine, rendering it temporarily inoperable for the next customer.

If you are a WAG or desperate to impress I suppose it’s for you, but if this is your way of impressing people I suggest you need therapy. I increasingly find the whole thing a bit flash and am currently replacing it with a platinum version. it will be a relief not to receive the heavy magazines featuring so called `deals’ which are far more expensive than anything you could book yourself.

The Platinum card is just as good. It has almost all of the same benefits with the exception of airline status on Delta, US Airways, Continental (which is ending in October) and Virgin Atlantic. You also get Avis President’s Club and Intercontinental Hotels Platinum level. There are several other perks as well, but nothing significant.

I guess the biggest perk is that you can flash you’re titanium card and impress other people next to you, unless you live in LA or NYC. There are so many Centurions in those cities that you’d think they were standard issued along with a Mercedes and BMW.

The holder had decided that he did not like his meal (too something or other) and that he wanted a discount (we are talking about £20 or so) and was making a scene.

The Front of House manager was not being as responsive as he would’ve liked, so he pulled out the card, and said “Look – see that? Do you know what THAT means?”

Well, he didn’t (egg-on-face for the cardholder) and was suitable unimpressed. The restaurant was a small business, not affiliated with AMEX in any way.

I then decided that I didn’t ever want to get this card.

I had graduated college during a very bad recession, similar to now, where it was hard to find work so took what I could. I waited tables through college, and while it wasn’t my ideal, waited tables after college to pay my bills.

I was trying to establish credit (this was before the credit card companies handed out cards willy-nilly) and was surprised when AMEX mailed me a pre-approved credit card offer. I decided to respond to it to boost my creditworthiness.

About two weeks later, I received a curt response from AMEX saying that I wasn’t elegible to receive a card and could call a certain number to find out why. I called, did not get any reason why and wrote them a response saying they sent me an unsolicited, pre-approved offer. I accepted in an effort to build my creditworthiness; what criteria had they used to send me such a thing in the first place if they hadn’t intended to make good on it? Never mind, just remove my name and information from all the lists, as I shall never do business with AMEX.

That was twenty-eight years ago, I never looked back, and three years ago, they started their mail barrage again. How I deserved their status card, what benefits I’d have with their membership.

I did look at the literature they sent, and were I charging a lot of business expenses or travelling and dining out frequently, then perhaps it might suit. I treated this as I would any product that has a certain cost threshhold: i.e., I review it to see if I find it a good value for me. Apparently, my 800+ credit rating caught their attention, which is why they wanted me as a customer. I called and asked them if they would kindly remove my name and contact info from all their lists. Simply put, I didn’t need their product, and am glad that I don’t need a piece of plastic to boost my self-esteem.