Is The Amex Centurion Card Worth It? (Black Amex Card)

The Amex Centurion Card is perhaps one of the most exclusive cards you can get your hands on. You can’t apply for it and need to be invited if you want to get your hands on one. What’s more, there is very little information on the card, its benefits, and its cost of it in the UK. In this post, we want to share with you what we know…

How much does the Amex Centurion card cost?

If you are lucky enough to be invited to apply and are accepted for the Amex Centurion you will not only be on the hook for a £3,400 annual fee BUT ALSO a £3,400 joining fee. That means your first year will cost you a whopping £6,800.

You do get ONE free supplementary titanium Centurion card as well four additional supplementary cards as standard. For your other four cards, you can choose from Platinum, Gold or Green American Express cards.

If you want any additional supplementary titanium Centurion cards they will set you back £1,700 a year per card.

How do I get invited to Amex Centurion?

There is no published criteria that will help you get invited to apply for an Amex Centurion Card. Anecdotal evidence suggests that you need to spend at least £300,000 per annum to even appear on Amex’s radar for consideration. It also matters what your spending is on. Putting through high numbers on business-related expenses e.g. advertising? You’re unlikely to get invited. Putting through high spend on luxury goods, holidays and other expenses? You’re much more likely to be considered.

You can also request an invitation on the Centurion website here – https://iforms.americanexpress.com/iFormsSecure/un/iforms.do?cuid=centurionEx_en_US&evtsrc=link&evttype=0&intlink=loginpageEOI – but if you don’t come close the criteria mentioned above it’s unlikely you will be considered!

What is the earning rate on the Amex Centurion Card?

You might think with the steep annual fee and being Amex’s most premium card that the card would have a higher earning rate than other cards in Amex’s portfolio but it doesn’t. The Amex Centurion card earns 1 Membership Reward points per £1 spent or 2 points per £1 spent on Amex Travel. Unfortunately like all American Express cards in the UK there is a 2.99% fee on all foreign transactions.

It’s likely Centurion cardholders will put most spend onto other cards with a higher earning rate. The BA Premium Plus Amex, for example, earns 1.5 Avios per £1 spent, or 3 points per £1 spent on BA/BA Holidays.

What benefits does the Centurion Card have?

The Centurion card comes with Amex’s best packages of benefits, as you might expect with it being Amex’s top-of-the-range card…

Airline Status

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club – Gold
• Emirates Skywards – Gold

The Centurion card is the ONLY UK card that offers Airline status as one of it’s benefits. Emirates aren’t a part of any alliance but in 2023 Virgin are joining the SkyTeam airline alliance. This means you should get benefits on Air France, Delta, KLM, ITA Airways to name a few…

Hotel Status

• Hilton Honors – Diamond
• Marriott Bonvoy – Gold
• IHG One Rewards – Platinum
• Melia Rewards – Platinum
• Radisson Rewards – Gold
• Jumeirah One – Gold

Out of these Hilton Diamond, Melia Rewards Platinum & Jumeirah Gold are probably the only ones worth having. Unfortuatenly both Melia & Jumeriah have a very limited footprint which means the only one you could use frequently would be Hilton Diamond.

The others have very few guaretneed benefits and whilst we’ve had good experiences with Marriott Gold status it has very few guaretneed benefits.

Addition benefits at high-end hotels

Centurion cardholders get additional benefits when booking an Aman, Belmond, Mandarin Oriental, The Oetker Collection, Peninsula Hotels, St Regis, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts or Waldorf Astoria hotel through the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts programme. You will recieve…

• A room upgrade when booking (if availiable)
• Upto $200 hotel credit with a minimum two night stay

Car Rental Status

• Hertz – President’s Circle
• Avis – President’s Club

These both includes an additional driver for free and various benefits such as a complimentary upgrade on every rental. Again their value depends on how much you hire cars…

Airport Lounge Access

The Airport Lounge Access benefit is almost indentical to that of the Platinum Card. You’ll recieve…

• Priority Pass membership (+1 guest only)
• Access to the Amex Centurion Lounge (Centurion cardholders can bring in their entire family whereas Platinum cardholders can only bring in upto TWO guest. In addition to this there is generally a table reserved for Centurion cardholders AND you will recieve a complimentary glass of champagne or top-shelf whisky in the lounge)
• Eurostar Lounge (Identical to Platinum Card)
• Lufthansa first class, Senator or Business lounge access (when flying Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian)
• Delta Sky Club lounges (when flying Delta or on a Delta-marketed, WestJet-operated flight)

Airport Fast Track

Both the main cardholder and supplementary cardholder can use fast track security at Heathrow, Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports. This benefit allows each cardholder to bring one guest with them also. You just need to flash your card and a valid boarding pass.

Airport Transfers

If you book a business class or first class seat through the Centurion Travel service you get a free limousine service from the airport to any destination within 20km of the city centre. The service is availiable at the following Airports…

Bangkok, Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, New York JFK and LGA, Orlando, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto.

Some locations also offer an International Meet & Greet service where you and your guests will be met at the airport door on arrival and escorted through immigration and luggage collection. The service is availiable at the following Airports…

Bangkok, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney.

In addition to this you can recieve up to eight complimentary return airport transfers in the UK, but the snag is you must book the flight with Centurion services. This offer is valid for all travel classes including Economy.

The service is run by Blackline and is valid for trips upto 40 miles. If you live further away you can still use the service but wither fewer trips e.g. you’ll get 4 complimentary return transfers in the UK upto 80 miles rather than eight. You can view the airports serviced here – https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/en-gb/benefits/centurion/limo_airport_locations.pdf

Travel insurance

Like the Platinum Card the Centurion Card also comes with comprehensive travel insurance. The policy is predominately the same as the Platinum Card policy except it covers you upto 80 rather than 70, it has higher payout amounts and there are less restrictions on paying on Amex cards. You can view the Centurion documentation here – https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/uk/benefits/UK-Centurion-insurance-documentation-July21.pdf

Lifestyle Credit

Similarly to the Platinum Card the Centurion Card has a lifestyle credit which offers upto £1,000 worth of cashback a year split between Harvey Nichols & Clos19. £125 is available quarterly, per retailer, for a total of £1,000 per year. You need to opt-in to the cashback via Amex offers.

Lifestyle benefits

The Centurion Card also has a selection of benefits at various spas, fitness clubs and members clubs. For example the spa benefits include 20% off all future spa treatments, use of facilities and first gift of departure when you spend £250 in the spa at The Dorchester, London. If members clubs are more your thing cardholders plus 2 guests get complimentary entry, Queue jump and access to the most desirable tables at COYA Mayfair.

Events

Similar to the Platinum Card American Express runs a variety of different events and access to private suites for cardholders. These, as you might expect tend to be considerably more valuable than the ones on the Platinum Card. Events include exclusive pre-show champagne receptions with cast and crew at the National Theatre, Royal Ascot with dining in a private box, and invite-only Royal Enclosure badges & a weekend-long experience where guests test drive Ferraris and Lamborghinis and explore the thrills of Silverstone.

Choose your card design

As well as the traditional ‘black card’ there are also two different art designs that you can choose from by Kehinde Wiley and Julie Mehretu.

You can also opt for a Prada Centurion Wearable, a leather bracelet with an embedded chip for contactless payments. User feedback suggests it doesn’t work very well and looks like a piece of bondage kit…

Refer a friend…

Yes, Amex Centurion Cardholders can also refer a friend for bonus Membership Reward points! Unfortunately, the referral link just brings up the regular Platinum Card for whoever uses it. Cardholders only receive the same 12,000 Membership Reward points for referring a friend as Platinum Cardholders.

Is it worth getting an Amex Centurion Card in the UK?

It would be very difficult to make a case for the £3,400 annual fee considering there isn’t a night and day difference in benefits to justify an almost 6X on the annual fee. The key differential factors seem to be that the customer services are a step above the Platinum ones and the events/experiences offered to Centurion cardholders are a step above the Platinum ones and really genuine ‘money can’t buy’ experiences. If you was invited to apply for the Amex Centurion Card would you?