The American Express Centurion Card (often referred to simply as the ”Black Card”) is probably the most famous credit card in the world. Talk about a hyped card, as it’s exclusively available to those who are invited, and a countless number of rap songs reference it. While I’m a fan of rap, I generally don’t…
Continue reading: Amex Centurion Card (Black Card) Revealed: Cost, Perks, And More
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Nah … anything that’s even remotely valuable is the delta status. Rest is garbage and can be obtained much cheaply. If a person flies a lot then they’d have status already. And how many times you will need to visit LF first lounges or Amex lounges to make up for $5000 dollars? lol .
For status symbol yeah, it’s cool. But it’s hardly worth it….
The Centurion in NY is a great restaurant/bar also if living or visiting the city
This. They are trying to turn this into a social club. There are much more prestigious social clubs in Manhattan, but the location at One Vanderbilt will be appealing to a certain type of businessperson.
The internet is full of stories of troubles with Saks credits. I refuse to value it even at 50% of the face value.
DL status nice. Hilton diamond status likely not bad either, likewise visiting LH F lounges. But at least for me, not worth $5000.
Afterthought …. One wonders if Apes has one …. he is certainly the sort to covet the thing …. 🙂
I do have this card. I pay no fees. They are marketing concepts intended to drive allure. I do not know anyone who has the card who pays fees.
Was lucky enough to have had it in my early 30s and accepted just to see what it was about.
Attention it did attract, but I'd say it attracts the wrong type of attention in most places, especially in Asia where I was at the time.
Now in my late 30s, retired and haven't had it for years, don't miss it one bit. For bragging rights it may be worth it, but otherwise, not much use, especially when you pay with your phone etc most of the time.
Isn’t the amex FHR credit significantly expanded as well?
I also think the article misses some of the concierge value prop with the card. One of my close friends who got lucky in crypto has one and his wife raves about their service
I was close to someone who had it, they made good use of the concierge. They also did pay the full fee for themselves and an AU. I was a Platinum AU on the account but my card would show up as a Centurion in my mobile wallet
At some point around 5 years ago they changed the design from a polished metallic black to a more minimal plastic-y texture that IMO looked way cheaper and ended up peeling apart after a year of use. I wonder if they revised that yet.
Equinox Destination is way more than $300 a month. That's the cost for the standard membership. I vaguely recall it being $600-700/mo
I've been invited to upgrade my Amex Platinum to Centurion in Spain for several years in a row, despite spending only about 50k€ per year. I've always declined due to the high costs and fewer benefits compared to the US (it's not published anywhere, but I'm sure we don't have PS or Equinox memberships). I asked about hotels, and the status you get were the same as Platinum, with the exception of Meliá, where you get Platinum instead of Gold.
In Spain, the initiation fee is 4k€, followed by 3.5k€ annual fee, in case anyone's interested.
The Equinox destination access membership has a few major locations in major cities (ie NYC, LA) that are not included. In addition, if you have one equinox gym you go to you don't need that membership as a membership to your home gym will cost well below $300. Seriously if someone is travelling soo much they need a gym membership all over the place like this then wouldn't they already have airline status? The hotel status can be gotten with other cards for way less cost. The Saks credits are a joke given the pricing of their inventory. If they think they are impressing people with their black card don't they realize they come across as a total sucker to people in the know? Add in the opportunity loss on spending and I'm hard pressed to think this card is worthwhile to anyone.
The best is that Saks is soo overpriced you can't get anything even a small item with the credit. I bought a bunch of gift cards and one year went into make a purchase. Saks refused to let me use more than one gift card and would not consolidate the gift cards. Instead they gave me some number I needed to call.
These days you can pay a few dollars to have the chip from one of your other cards transferred to a look-a-like black card or any design you want, and most people probably wouldn't notice any difference, if you're just looking to impress.
@Ben: You value the platinum card so highly but not the black card even though they both earn just 1 pt per dollar? I have the platinum card but hardly use it due to its low earnings and only 0.6c redemption value. CSR is so much better with 3 pts for travel, the $300 travel credit, and 1.25x redemptions. Other no annual fee cards get 5% cash back on gas, groceries, etc., so why would anyone put money on the platinum card.
One overlooked perk is getting a 50% points rebate on flights on Amex travel. Up until this year, it was unlimited but they now capped it at 3 million points. So that puts a redemption value at 2cpp. I assume people who have the card have a lot of Amex spend and could be outearning their spending.
The benefits are a lot better than I thought. But the loss of points earning would be a big drawback for me. Then again I guess if you can truly afford this maybe you don't need the points!
Amex Platinum does give 5X MR on airfare or prepaid FHR bookings so those could be useful for certain use cases.
Yeah, I could see that. An entrepreneur who earns millions of Amex points annually could basically redeem 50K MR per $1000 in airfare on the business platinum up to that cap and it will be competitive with or objectively better than most other points redemptions (assuming you can't find or don't want to bother searching for partner J/F awards on routes you are likely to fly). Plus you earn status points towards top-tier (global/systemwide upgrades) since they will be "paid" tickets.
This is not correct. The centurion membership includes access to all Equinox gyms except the E clubs. It includes Hudson Yards in NY for example.
If your income is a million dollars a year and you spend a quarter million on the card, I think 5K yearly cost and even the 10K initiation fee is just the cost of life. It is like having a 7K a year fee for concierge medicine. Nobody has proven that it makes you healthier or will live longer except it is incredibly convenient. If I would be invited I would accept it. Not to show off a black card to anybody. I appreciate the great service this card brings. My 2 cents.
Apes …. “Hook, line and sinker” …. only a real numpty would fall into such an obvious trap and Oh boy, you are up to your neck is it Sonny Jim.
How remiss of me …. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I know of a little man in Sitra, Bahrain. He will sell you a Centurion Card for a few BHD. Is this how Apes obtained his? They do come with no annual fees!
I received my invitation in 2001 (when there was no initiation fee and annual fee was $1k, I think). Things have changed substantially over the years but for now at least I still have my card for a few reasons: Delta status, Equinox membership (although I don’t use as much as I should), overall service, and lounge benefits. (and for those of you who hate the SFA benefit, I’ve actually acquired some pretty nice gear over the years, gratis) It is helpful to have DL status on the occasions I have to use them. Overall concierge service is pretty good- they can be quite helpful with things that would otherwise consume a fair amount of time (that I don’t want to spend). And while this sounds a little crazy, the reserved seating in the centurion lounges is a big benefit for me when I travel. Maybe I’m the odd bird who finds himself at CL airports a lot but cutting the ridiculously long lines and not having to hunt for an open seat is a very nice situation to have when you’re on the road. Is this a hard value proposition? Not for me- lots of other propositions that are genuinely worthy of careful consideration. Just my 2 pesos (and my discretion to spend as I see fit).
He’s gonna use it to buy controlling interest in Apple, then redeem his MR points for a Gulfstream G700.
I'm fascinated by Centurion in other countries where cost and benefits (unpublished) vary vastly. I know someone in a certain ME country with Centurion where there was NO initiation fee and annual fee is only $2000 and allows 2 additional AU's (so splitting the fee it's not much more than the Amex Plat) with full access to centurion and LH 1st lounges and free medical travel insurance worldwide.
Status symbol to impress strangers and people you will never see again or care about. Humans are so strange and insecure.
Definitely worth it if traveling often
The free arrivals and departure services on first and business class tickets are amazing and speed the process, fast tracking security in nearly every country, even USA
And don’t forget Hertz Platinum, free upgrade to the best available option, and they pick you up and bring you back to the terminal limo style, no riding the trams and shuttles
I’ve had this for the last 10 years, when traveling it has saved me countless hours and dollars
to me this is the best perk and why i keep it. it negates the initiation fee and yearly fees. it allows MR to be used with any airline available on amex travel, but one needs to be savvy on when it is a good deal or not.
A number of years ago, I was making around $2.5 million a year personally and also putting in about $1 million spend, split between my two Amex’s.
Every year, I wanted to see if I would be invited to the Centurion program as I thought I qualified, but it turns out, the TYPE of spend you put on it matters too.
For example, I was putting some business expenses on one of the cards, such as $400k for FedEx, etc…so that didn’t seem to count.
I was told by a friend (who didn’t have a black, but was more attuned to these things than I) that spend at places like hotels, restaurants, and luxury boutiques needs to be more than $1 million and not business spend. Thought I would share that.
The benefits are not worth the price and the points value do not make up for it. Typical Amex the benefits are very specific. Not a gym membership but a specific gym, for example. Dividing benefits per quarter or month. I also want to point out that the status at each hotel group seem good but are not equal. IHG Platinum is almost meaningless - equivelant to gold at Marriott. I guess given that Marriott has a credit card with Amex giving Platinum status, it is not on the list.
@iamhere It is not worth it. It is another coupon clipping card. Even with those offerings, you can get them without having this card. It really is just a prestige factor.
Well, AMEX issues Hilton branded credit cards that automatically offer Diamond status and they also issue Delta branded credit cards that do not offer any immediate status. It could just be that Marriott agreed to gold status way back when and it has never been updated as that is how Marriott wants it. Spending on this card will not benefit Marriott but spending on AMEX Marriott cards will.
I am a Centurion card holder but my card is issued in Brazil, by Bradesco. Our annual fee is roughly 4.5k but with good bank relationship, they will make it for 3.2k usd minimum. But we get 5 points per dollar in any purchase and 7 points per dollar on selected categories. Transfer partners are 1:1 including United, Copa, AF, aLL etc.. it is by far the best credit card issued in Brazil now. Althought we dont get TSa precheck credit, no hotel status, no equinox credit etc..
And althought I also have US issued amex platinum card, I don't think I could justify another 5k annual fee since I wont use the equinox credit for example.
Are the benefits for the Centurion US business the same?
We have a household income of 1+ million in Seattle which is a VHCOL area. And I can tell you that getting this card is not worth it. You aren’t considered financially free with this income with kids. You need to have 10 million + income to maybe get this card for giggles.
We pay over $4000 in total for various credit cards and would never pay this much for a single card with very bad perks.
I think the bar is lower than you mentioned or people think but people who get the card don't really care about the benefits that much, especially points earnings. I have some friends who are super rich and have seen them giving away points like a candy to their poorer friends, who in return redeem them for awfully bad flight awards For the rich, they don't really nichel and dime like most of us, especially the point collectors. But I also have seen some people who got rich and have this sort of hobby or habit that never changed. I think they will die with a lot of points and money in their savings account. Then I have seen people use this card simply for the prestige or showing off. Sometimes these prestigious items create new opportunities such as lovers, friends, and even business partners...
I would love to hear more about what the airport butler/fast-track services are. For those who travel internationally with any frequency, that’s a huge value-add.
When thinking about the opportunity cost of spend on the card, recall that most people who have this card were previously putting a lot of spend on the Plat—most of which is 1x, also with terribly high opportunity costs.
I have the Plat but don’t spend on it currently other than flights/FHR/using credits. If Chase gets rid of the 3x travel multiplier as rumored for the CSR, I will strongly consider shifting more of my spend to the Amex ecosystem (with Gold/Green).
I’ve been a holder of the Centurion Card for about five or six years. I’ve never paid a fee (always been credited). Same with my business partner and some of our sales reps.
Have the business one, and the status boosts are my main draw. My travel is inconsistent so having Delta status and hotels and Hertz without trying is very nice. The 50% refund on MR points for travel is huge, though the 3 million cap is a bit of a bummer. Haven’t used the arrival/departure service though my partner has and he really enjoys it, as well as the PS access.
I have the Centurion Card. The initial fee is 15k plus 5k. Thereafter, 5k annual fee. I like the perks and access to various events or access to buying tickets before they become available to the public. It worked very well obtaining access to USA Open before the public was able to purchase. Must check out Centurion Restaurant at 1 Vanderbilt in New York. The food is amazing and the experience is remarkable. Overall, I love the card - concierge services are great! I have been a member with American Express since 2000. I was invited to apply for the Centurion card in 2021. I think there are about 20k cards in the USA and the other cards 80ish are in other countries. I only know one other person with the American Express Centurion Card. I do meet people in the lounges at the airports. Some of the lounges are nice, but majority of them need to elevate the space for the Centurion customers. DCA open their lounge last year. It's very nice, but the customer service was bad. I was harassed a few times in DC, because I did not LOOK like a Centurion cardholder.... Interesting!!!! After I wrote a 5 page letter about my experience, I believe my name got flagged in their system and now - the service is great. Overall, I like the card. What I like most is how people look at you and say, how did she get the card??????
You are correct about that. It is the type of spending. I can go in more detail of the type of spending if this helpful for anyone.
Yes, the Centurion Restaurant - 1 Vanderbilt is very nice. It is an experience. Everyone must try it.
Pretty pointless hype/ego booster in the age of ApplePay...
Nah … anything that’s even remotely valuable is the delta status. Rest is garbage and can be obtained much cheaply. If a person flies a lot then they’d have status already. And how many times you will need to visit LF first lounges or Amex lounges to make up for $5000 dollars? lol .
For status symbol yeah, it’s cool. But it’s hardly worth it….
The Centurion in NY is a great restaurant/bar also if living or visiting the city
This. They are trying to turn this into a social club. There are much more prestigious social clubs in Manhattan, but the location at One Vanderbilt will be appealing to a certain type of businessperson.
Yes, the Centurion Restaurant - 1 Vanderbilt is very nice. It is an experience. Everyone must try it.
The internet is full of stories of troubles with Saks credits. I refuse to value it even at 50% of the face value.
DL status nice. Hilton diamond status likely not bad either, likewise visiting LH F lounges. But at least for me, not worth $5000.
The best is that Saks is soo overpriced you can't get anything even a small item with the credit. I bought a bunch of gift cards and one year went into make a purchase. Saks refused to let me use more than one gift card and would not consolidate the gift cards. Instead they gave me some number I needed to call.
In many quarters, this subject card is known simply as the “Vanity Card”.
Afterthought …. One wonders if Apes has one …. he is certainly the sort to covet the thing …. 🙂
He’s gonna use it to buy controlling interest in Apple, then redeem his MR points for a Gulfstream G700.
I do have this card. I pay no fees. They are marketing concepts intended to drive allure. I do not know anyone who has the card who pays fees.
Apes …. “Hook, line and sinker” …. only a real numpty would fall into such an obvious trap and Oh boy, you are up to your neck is it Sonny Jim.
How remiss of me …. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I know of a little man in Sitra, Bahrain. He will sell you a Centurion Card for a few BHD. Is this how Apes obtained his? They do come with no annual fees!
Was lucky enough to have had it in my early 30s and accepted just to see what it was about.
Attention it did attract, but I'd say it attracts the wrong type of attention in most places, especially in Asia where I was at the time.
Now in my late 30s, retired and haven't had it for years, don't miss it one bit. For bragging rights it may be worth it, but otherwise, not much use, especially when you pay with your phone etc most of the time.
Isn’t the amex FHR credit significantly expanded as well?
I also think the article misses some of the concierge value prop with the card. One of my close friends who got lucky in crypto has one and his wife raves about their service
I was close to someone who had it, they made good use of the concierge. They also did pay the full fee for themselves and an AU. I was a Platinum AU on the account but my card would show up as a Centurion in my mobile wallet
At some point around 5 years ago they changed the design from a polished metallic black to a more minimal plastic-y texture that IMO looked way cheaper and ended up peeling apart after a year of use. I wonder if they revised that yet.
Equinox Destination is way more than $300 a month. That's the cost for the standard membership. I vaguely recall it being $600-700/mo
I've been invited to upgrade my Amex Platinum to Centurion in Spain for several years in a row, despite spending only about 50k€ per year. I've always declined due to the high costs and fewer benefits compared to the US (it's not published anywhere, but I'm sure we don't have PS or Equinox memberships). I asked about hotels, and the status you get were the same as Platinum, with the exception of Meliá, where you get Platinum instead of Gold.
In Spain, the initiation fee is 4k€, followed by 3.5k€ annual fee, in case anyone's interested.
The Equinox destination access membership has a few major locations in major cities (ie NYC, LA) that are not included. In addition, if you have one equinox gym you go to you don't need that membership as a membership to your home gym will cost well below $300. Seriously if someone is travelling soo much they need a gym membership all over the place like this then wouldn't they already have airline status? The hotel status can be gotten with other cards for way less cost. The Saks credits are a joke given the pricing of their inventory. If they think they are impressing people with their black card don't they realize they come across as a total sucker to people in the know? Add in the opportunity loss on spending and I'm hard pressed to think this card is worthwhile to anyone.
This is not correct. The centurion membership includes access to all Equinox gyms except the E clubs. It includes Hudson Yards in NY for example.
These days you can pay a few dollars to have the chip from one of your other cards transferred to a look-a-like black card or any design you want, and most people probably wouldn't notice any difference, if you're just looking to impress.
@Ben: You value the platinum card so highly but not the black card even though they both earn just 1 pt per dollar? I have the platinum card but hardly use it due to its low earnings and only 0.6c redemption value. CSR is so much better with 3 pts for travel, the $300 travel credit, and 1.25x redemptions. Other no annual fee cards get 5% cash back on gas, groceries, etc., so why would anyone put money on the platinum card.
Amex Platinum does give 5X MR on airfare or prepaid FHR bookings so those could be useful for certain use cases.
One overlooked perk is getting a 50% points rebate on flights on Amex travel. Up until this year, it was unlimited but they now capped it at 3 million points. So that puts a redemption value at 2cpp. I assume people who have the card have a lot of Amex spend and could be outearning their spending.
Yeah, I could see that. An entrepreneur who earns millions of Amex points annually could basically redeem 50K MR per $1000 in airfare on the business platinum up to that cap and it will be competitive with or objectively better than most other points redemptions (assuming you can't find or don't want to bother searching for partner J/F awards on routes you are likely to fly). Plus you earn status points towards top-tier (global/systemwide upgrades) since they will be "paid" tickets.
to me this is the best perk and why i keep it. it negates the initiation fee and yearly fees. it allows MR to be used with any airline available on amex travel, but one needs to be savvy on when it is a good deal or not.
for most ppl the fees are business expense so doesnt really cost that much
The benefits are a lot better than I thought. But the loss of points earning would be a big drawback for me. Then again I guess if you can truly afford this maybe you don't need the points!
If your income is a million dollars a year and you spend a quarter million on the card, I think 5K yearly cost and even the 10K initiation fee is just the cost of life. It is like having a 7K a year fee for concierge medicine. Nobody has proven that it makes you healthier or will live longer except it is incredibly convenient. If I would be invited I would accept it. Not to show off a black card to anybody. I appreciate the great service this card brings. My 2 cents.
If your income is a million dollars a year and you spend a quarter million on the card, I think 5K yearly cost and even the 10K initiation fee is just the cost of life. It is like having a 7K a year fee for concierge medicine. Nobody has proven that it makes you healthier or will live longer except it is incredibly convenient. If I would be invited I would accept it. Not to show off a black card to anybody. I appreciate the great service this card brings. My 2 cents.
We have a household income of 1+ million in Seattle which is a VHCOL area. And I can tell you that getting this card is not worth it. You aren’t considered financially free with this income with kids. You need to have 10 million + income to maybe get this card for giggles.
We pay over $4000 in total for various credit cards and would never pay this much for a single card with very bad perks.
I received my invitation in 2001 (when there was no initiation fee and annual fee was $1k, I think). Things have changed substantially over the years but for now at least I still have my card for a few reasons: Delta status, Equinox membership (although I don’t use as much as I should), overall service, and lounge benefits. (and for those of you who hate the SFA benefit, I’ve actually acquired some pretty nice gear over the years, gratis) It is helpful to have DL status on the occasions I have to use them. Overall concierge service is pretty good- they can be quite helpful with things that would otherwise consume a fair amount of time (that I don’t want to spend). And while this sounds a little crazy, the reserved seating in the centurion lounges is a big benefit for me when I travel. Maybe I’m the odd bird who finds himself at CL airports a lot but cutting the ridiculously long lines and not having to hunt for an open seat is a very nice situation to have when you’re on the road. Is this a hard value proposition? Not for me- lots of other propositions that are genuinely worthy of careful consideration. Just my 2 pesos (and my discretion to spend as I see fit).