Amex Black Card

YES!!! I got it, the exclusive invitation to American Express Centurion Card!!!! To get this epitome of cool, you need to spend a minimum of $250K, and over a million dollars in liquid assets. The card credit limit is determined by the credit history of the holder. This will definitely aid in my long-untreated alcoholism, and my inconspicuous spending which is sure to hide deep emotional issues back from my days at Philips Exeter (Andover, you suck, our endowment is more than yours!)

The card, available for both personal and business use, offers numerous exclusive privileges including a dedicated concierge and travel agent, complimentary companion airline tickets on international flights on selected airlines with the purchase of a full fare ticket, personal shoppers at retailers such as Escada, Gucci, and Neiman Marcus, access to airport clubs, first class flight upgrades, membership in Sony's Cierge personal shopping program, and dozens of other elite club memberships. Hotel benefits include one free night when at least one paid night is booked during the same stay in every Mandarin Oriental hotel worldwide once a year (except for the New York City property[citation needed]), one free night at one LXR Luxury Resorts hotel (EXPIRED), once per year, and privileges at hotel chains like Ritz-Carlton, Leading Hotels of the World, and Amanresorts. All of the benefits mentioned above are for United States-issued cards. American Express Centurion cards issued in other countries may include different benefits. The card has recently added new amenities, including access into the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Gold, as well as US Airways Platinum Preferred status as of June 1, 2007. As of August 14, 2007, American Airlines Admirals Club access was added to the long list of amenities.[citation needed]

A new Centurion card crafted from anodized titanium was issued as a replacement for all plastic U.S. Centurion cards in the first half of 2006, with the titanium version being rolled out to certain other countries as well. This new card is slightly thicker than a standard credit card, and therefore is sometimes difficult to insert and remove from some card readers, such as the ones found on gas station pumps, as well as automatic readers, such as the ones found at Target. There have also been rumors that some airport metal detectors are set off by the titanium black card. This problem can generally be alleviated by sending a wallet through the x-ray machine in the provided plastic bins.

Travel benefits include enrollment in:

* Continental OnePass Gold Elite
* Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Gold Medallion
* US Airways Dividend Miles Platinum Preferred
* Virgin Atlantic Airways Flying Club Gold
* Priority Pass Membership
* Hilton HHonors Gold

American Express has changed certain benefits of the card in the years since it was introduced. For example, Hyatt Diamond Elite status was included up until January 2005, and Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum status was included up until January 2006. Status level at Starwood Hotels & Resorts is now Gold[citation needed]. UK members had access to Virgin Upper Class lounges, but this privilege has been removed.

American Express sent an email to about 250,000 customers on September 20, 2006, describing certain benefits of the Centurion card. The email was supposed to be sent to the 10,000 black card holders.[citation needed] Phone calls to their customer service line revealed 1) the email was sent to the 'wrong list' in error 2) qualifications for the Centurion card were one year of card membership with a $250,000 annual cash flow through the card account.[citation needed]

Additionally, as a token of American Express's appreciation (and in light of the recent membership fee increase), some primary cardholders received a Canon PowerShot SD850 digital camera, beginning in late November/early December 2007. A note from Kenneth Chenault, CEO and Chairman of American Express, was included inside the characteristic black box with a liner captioned "what do you want to capture." Other gifts to cardmembers have included a $2000 Judith Ripka gift card, a $1000 Van Cleef & Arpels gift card (and Reflections of Eternity book), tote bags, Gucci gift card, etc.