i have a platinum amex card and would like to know what criteria are
used to decide who gets a centurian card. the support staff are vague
about what is required beyond saying something along the lines of
"spend lots".

Dear kebleite:

Thank you for your question. After conducting an online search, I have
found some resources that may help answer your question.

The specific criteria for American Express Centurian Cardholder
selection appears to be a closely guarded secret by American Express.
However, from online posting from people who do have the Centurion
card, I have found that it depends on a combination of several
factors, in order of importance:

Monthly and Annual Spending
Net Worth
Brand Loyalty
Expectation and/or Dissatisfaction with Platinum Service

According to this thread from AmexSux.com

"Actually the qualifications for 'The Centurion(SM) Card' by American
Express(R) are kept under tight wraps. Appropriately each financial
lending institution has a basic guideline for the card, however many
many factors are taken in consideration when determining the credit
risk involved in extending a line of credit or charge acct to an
individual. Tenure, income, personal resources, previous spending
patterns, payment history, etc."
Source: http://www.amexsux.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=credit;action=display;num=1009672335

Anecdotally, the follwoing comes from FlyerTalk.com:

"When I called in the past about Centurion membership, they stated
that the program was being piloted to only the top 1% of Platinums,
and expanding the program was under review."

"When I called last week, they stated that the card will be offered to
all Platinums who spend 150K a year. Period."

Source: http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum69/HTML/000347.html

"I've called about 3 different times, and here's what the Centurion
reps. have told me: you need to travel extensively using your Plat.
card, and charge about 100K-150K a year to qualify."

"Your occupation is irrelvant. While your age does not matter, they
are typically looking for tenured Platinum card holders."
http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum69/HTML/000289.html

And finally, probably the most accurate information you will be able
to find, is the following:

"This was given to an associate of mine by Amex

Criteria for Acceptance

- >$45,000 in Amex charges for last six months
- No late pays with Amex in prior 12 months
- Beacon Score of 720 or higher
- Income requirement loose but over $200K/yr
- Willingness to pay $1,000/yr for the below:

(1) Airline FF Packages
- Delta Gold Elite
- TWA Aviator Elite
- Continental Gold Elite
(2) $1.5M Travel Accident Insurance
(3) Hotel Gold Status
- Hilton
- Hyatt
- Starwood
- Intercontinental
(4) Airline Lounge Clubs
(same as Platinum)
(5) Personal Concierge and Travel Agent
(6) Free International Cell Phone
- No shipping fees
- No rental fees (just pay for calls)
(7) Buyer's Assurance Extended to 3 years beyond manf. warranty"


Source: http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum69/HTML/000516.html

There are a lot of additional threads on the FlyerTalk forums, all
linked to in the following thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ftpasttalk_forum/Forum69/HTML/000336.html

I hope this was the information you were looking for! If you need any
clarifications, please don't hesitate to ask. I would be more than
happy to assist you further.

Best Regards,
blader-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by blader-ga on 30 Jun 2002 14:46 PDT

Dear kebleite:

Almost forgot my search strategy! Here it is:

Google Search Strategy:

   American Express Centurion Card
   ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=%22american+express%22+centurian+card

Best Regards,
blader-ga

excellent response and quick too! thank you very much

You will get more information if you use the correct spelling for
"centurion", such as this site from the Wall Street Journal online:

http://doit.circles.com/corp/New_art_wallstreetjournal_apr2002.html

The Google search with correct spelling can be done from:

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=%22american+express%22+centurion+card&spell=1

When you are unsure of the spelling of a word, you can use the
spellchecking interface of searchspell, that will spellcheck your term
and place what it determines to be the best spelling match for your
search into a series of search engine submission boxes (including one
for Google)

http://www.searchspell.com/search.cgi?SEARCH=american+express+centurian+card