Addison Lee Credit Removed From Amex Platinum

In rather unexpected news American Express has announced the removal of the Addison Lee credit from the American Express Platinum Card. From the 1st of October 2022, the Addison Lee credit will no longer be applied to any journeys which means you have until the 30th of September to use what will be your last credit.

What was the Addison Lee Credit?

The Addison Lee Credit gave users up to £10 back per calendar month on any Addison Lee taxi. You simply used your Platinum Card to book a taxi and then you’d receive up to £10 back on your spending as a statement credit.

The problem…

Not only was Addison Lee very London-centric but in recent months it has been increasingly difficult to book a taxi even days in advance! That combined with the fact that Addison Lee is nearly always more expensive than Uber basically made the offer pretty much worthless. Whether this is a problem with Addison Lee recruiting drivers or a conscious decision to lower availability for Amex Platinum cardholders we don’t know.

What’s next?

Well, it appears that the removal of the credit at such short notice suggests that American Express wasn’t expecting it to happen. It also appears that according to the letter that this was Addison Lee’s decision as opposed to American Express. Bearing all this in mind it appears that if there is a replacement coming it won’t be coming any time soon!

It would of course be nice to see an Uber credit similar to what they have in the US market as Uber has a much wider geographical spread. This combined with the ability to use the credit for food or taxis would make the credit much more valuable for the majority of Platinum Cardholders.

Unfortunately, however, I would imagine as they’ve recently added a brand new dining credit to the card that the chances of them adding another similar credit at this time is unlikely.

What do you feel about the removal of the Addison Lee Credit?