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Amex Platinum Card Losing Its Complimentary Boingo Wi-Fi Perk

Darren Murph
Darren Murph
Senior Strategist/Writer
Darren holds the Guinness World Record as the planet's most prolific professional blogger, a feat he achieved in 2010. He's a seasoned storyteller, instructor and communicator, working across marketing, editorial and public relations for some of the world's most progressive brands. He's an explorer at heart, having traversed nearly 50 countries and all 50 US states. He's flown over one million miles on Delta alone, and takes pride in facilitating unforgettable excursions using points and miles.
March 08, 2019
•
3 min read
Puerto Rico Jan 2019_American Express Amex Platinum Credit Card-1
Amex Platinum Card Losing Its Complimentary Boingo Wi-Fi Perk
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Among the many benefits of holding The Platinum Card® from American Express is a lesser-known perk: complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi at over 1 million hotspots worldwide. Card holders need only head to the Amex portal at Boingo.com, punch in their Amex Platinum card number and register.

Come May 1, 2019, however, that perk is apparently going away.

Some Amex Platinum members are receiving a notification that the perk will be eliminated in a few short weeks, though anyone who signed up before Apr. 30, 2019 will maintain membership through the end of the year.

Effective May 1, 2019, Boingo Preferred Plan will no longer be a benefit on the Platinum Card®. Card Members who are enrolled in Boingo Preferred Plan as of 4/30/2019, will continue to have access to this benefit until 12/31/2019

Given that the closest non-Amex Boingo plan sells for $14.99 per month, losing access is a costly blow to those who used it frequently.

The Boingo perk was outstanding for those traveling abroad, where it can be tough and expensive to secure a local SIM card for mobile data. The Amex Boingo plan includes access on up to four devices, enabling a single card member to connect, for example, a laptop, tablet and a couple of phones. Boingo hotspots are found at hundreds of airports, thousands of hotels and on street corners the world over.

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Boingo has partnerships with hot spot operators in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific., including AT&T, Time Warner Cable (TWC), T-Mobile, Orange, BT Wi-Fi, NTT Docomo, Telin and China Mobile.

It appears that select HSBC Mastercard card holders in Argentina, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom will still have access to complimentary Boingo via a separate-but-similar partnership announced in 2017, though that benefit does not extend to Mastercard products in the United States.

For now, Boingo membership is still included with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card

As of now, Boingo Preferred membership is still included with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, as yours truly just received his new card and enrolled earlier this week. I have reached out to Amex to inquire whether this perk will remain on the Bonvoy Brilliant card and will update this post if I hear back.

H/T: FlyerTalk

Featured image by (Photo by Isabelle Raphael/The Points Guy)