CloseWhy can't you do that everywhere? I've never had a problem feeling "too wealthy looking" unless I was in places like South America and places where'd you're told to blend in and not look like a rich tourist. Pretty much every major capital in the world is full of rich people who you could never pick out from a crowd...
SciFrog, is that you?
noone1:Why can't you do that everywhere? I've never had a problem feeling "too wealthy looking" unless I was in places like South America and places where'd you're told to blend in and not look like a rich tourist. Pretty much every major capital in the world is full of rich people who you could never pick out from a crowd...
SciFrog, is that you?
C'mon, seriously? 
As to many "major capitals" in the world and rich people there: Thats the point, Miami is not a major capital, life is not that crowded there, South Florida is quite big and there are lots of "quiet" and relaxing places. Not many cities/regions of this size with so many rich people who actually fly under the radar.
I had a woman in front of me at the counter in the supermarket, she was wearing flip flops and looked like a bum (even more than me 
) and paid her stuff with a Centurion Amex. The cashier didn't even blink when she saw the card. This is Miami.
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991.2 Carrera GTS Cabriolet (2018), Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mini JCW (2015)
Why you always have to bring everything back on a personal level Noone1?
Walk in Paris, Nice, Barcelona or Rome simply with a nice gold watch, and your wife with nice diamond hearings and a nice designer bag and come report back... Paris was actually the worst of them and I am French! Look at all the members here buying dull color or unmarked cars just to fly under the radar... That’s not how I want to live, I want to be able to do whatever I want when I want, sometimes under the radar, sometimes not as much, and not having people judging you for having been somewhat successful. There are very few places in the world this can happen.
PS: did you end up anywhere for your holiday break?
As an American, I consider Miami a "capital" city in the US whether it's a capital or not. In the US, the state capitals are often not the defining cities. For example, Chicago is not a "capital" city. The capital of Illinois is a small place called Springfield, population 100K.
Sorry RC but Miami is one of the largest agglomeration in the USA and the second largest financial center after NYC... Your problem is that you only see “Sunny Isles” and around. To me that’s not even the real Miami, that’s where the rich tourist buy a condo to use 4 weeks a year. Now that I think of it I havent even been close to the ocean in that area for many years.
SciFrog:Why you always have to bring everything back on a personal level Noone1?
Walk in Paris, Nice, Barcelona or Rome simply with a nice gold watch, and your wife with nice diamond hearings and a nice designer bag and come report back... Paris was actually the worst of them and I am French! Look at all the members here buying dull color or unmarked cars just to fly under the radar... That’s not how I want to live, I want to be able to do whatever I want when I want, sometimes under the radar, sometimes not as much, and not having people judging you for having been somewhat successful. There are very few places in the world this can happen.
PS: did you end up anywhere for your holiday break?
It's a joke, you know that.
Wait, are you saying that you get treated worse by not looking rich, or that you get treated worse because you do look rich?
We didn't go yet. The other half changed her mind rather last minute about what she wanted to do.
noone1:SciFrog:Why you always have to bring everything back on a personal level Noone1?
Walk in Paris, Nice, Barcelona or Rome simply with a nice gold watch, and your wife with nice diamond hearings and a nice designer bag and come report back... Paris was actually the worst of them and I am French! Look at all the members here buying dull color or unmarked cars just to fly under the radar... That’s not how I want to live, I want to be able to do whatever I want when I want, sometimes under the radar, sometimes not as much, and not having people judging you for having been somewhat successful. There are very few places in the world this can happen.
PS: did you end up anywhere for your holiday break?
It's a joke, you know that.
Wait, are you saying that you get treated worse by not looking rich, or that you get treated worse because you do look rich?
We didn't go yet. The other half changed her mind rather last minute about what she wanted to do.
Do we really have to start this discussion again?
Some people don't get the subtleties of other people, some people do. If you lived in Germany and say there is no envy here, then you clearly don't have the necessary subtlety "radar" to detect anything other people are feeling. 
You should be worried.
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991.2 Carrera GTS Cabriolet (2018), Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mini JCW (2015)
SciFrog:What I am saying is that you are treated THE SAME. I know, it is groundbreaking but so refreshing
True. My wife went to a shoe store in Bal Harbor, the sales woman didn't even look at here. Same happened to the wife of a multi-millionaire we know and she really isn't the kind of woman to run around dressed "subtle". Same bad treatment for everyone... 
OK, maybe a dumb example but people don't really judge people by looks/appearances, simply because you often can't tell who is rich or not. Most people are dressed casual, even worse than casual, so no way to tell if he/she is loaded.
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991.2 Carrera GTS Cabriolet (2018), Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mini JCW (2015)
nberry:Can anything be more gauche and garish than a Centurion Amex card? My Visa does just about everything it does without a fee and don't scream "My, my, look what I have"
I have one, but I rarely actually use it. I keep it for the travel statuses. Have used it occasionally for warranty coverage, but generally I just use cash back cards. It's definitely paid for itself in long haul upgrades.
You can just call and ask for the centurion card. I never got an invite, just called and they processed it like any normal card application.
I have no idea what the initiation fee is now. Think I paid 2500 a decade ago. I believe there was a minimum annual spend to qualify, but it's a one time thing. Once you get it, they'll never take out away for lack of use. I barely use mine.
Free business class tickets to Europe? Please explain.
Free breakfast? Meh. Most hotels do that with whatever card you're using.
What you're paying for is the appearance of status and frankly waiter, hotel clerks and other businesses gloss over the card you're using. As long as the charge is approved, that's all that matters.
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
May 18, 2018 7:10:17 PM
I always read you guys very surprised each time this topic comes up again.
I've never had any problem (being juzged, harassed, whatever) in any European country/city I visited/lived. You can walk around Madrid, Paris, Milano, London, Amsterdam, etc. well dressed, wearing fine watches, driving nice cars and no one is gonna be disturbed because of it.
Yes, there might be one envious neighbour but that can happen in every single latitude.
SciFrog:They are called Miles Nick
. Every card has them but AMEX ones you can actually use.
Free breakfast with a cheaper/free card? Seems doubtful in luxury hotels.
I thought it was miles. Not sure what you mean about using them. I agree with airplane miles its difficult to book the flights you want but with bank card miles you're able to book whatever flight you want. 
Even luxury hotel give deals which often included breakfast.
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
nberry:Free business class tickets to Europe? Please explain.
Free breakfast? Meh. Most hotels do that with whatever card you're using.
What you're paying for is the appearance of status and frankly waiter, hotel clerks and other businesses gloss over the card you're using. As long as the charge is approved, that's all that matters.
Not free. They are usually things like buy one full fare business class ticket, get the second one for free. I used to pay about $3K per round trip trans-Pacific flight due to the flying status that came with it. Those were normally like $7-10k tickets. So SciFrog isn't saving money per se, he's just getting more for his money. He might spend $20K on 4 business class tickets when he could have flown coach for $8K or something like that. They give you free upgrades to business on full-fare domestic flights, then again, business on a short-haul domestic flight is like 1 inch more leg room than coach and the full-fare ticket is way more than a coach ticket anyway. I would never use that perk since I see no value in it, but there probably are people who will pay $300 more for those seats and save $100 or something.
The Centurion doesn't give you free stuff, it just gives you better stuff when you're already paying something (usually a lot) anyway. For example, a couple months ago they sent me a $500 gift card to Roche Bobois or whatever it's called. Did I use it? No, because there is nothing in Roche Bobois that's $500 or less that I actually wanted. Had you actually wanted a $4K chair or something, then sure, it's $500 of free money.
I just used my President's Club status with Avis a couple weeks ago. Paid for a small sedan and they upgraded me to an SUV for free. Probably saved me a couple hundred dollars. I wouldn't have paid for an SUV in the first place, so I didn't really save money, but I just got something better for the same price.
The Centurion value really depends on what you normally use for travel. If you fly Delta a lot, then you get the flight status of someone who flies like 100K miles per year. Free economy comfort, access to all the Skyteam lounges, etc. If you fly United though, then no, the card loses an insane amount of value since they don't give you any United perks.
noone1:nberry:Free business class tickets to Europe? Please explain.
Free breakfast? Meh. Most hotels do that with whatever card you're using.
What you're paying for is the appearance of status and frankly waiter, hotel clerks and other businesses gloss over the card you're using. As long as the charge is approved, that's all that matters.
Not free. They are usually things like buy one full fare business class ticket, get the second one for free. I used to pay about $3K per round trip trans-Pacific flight due to the flying status that came with it. Those were normally like $7-10k tickets. So SciFrog isn't saving money per se, he's just getting more for his money. He might spend $20K on 4 business class tickets when he could have flown coach for $8K or something like that. They give you free upgrades to business on full-fare domestic flights, then again, business on a short-haul domestic flight is like 1 inch more leg room than coach and the full-fare ticket is way more than a coach ticket anyway. I would never use that perk since I see no value in it, but there probably are people who will pay $300 more for those seats and save $100 or something.
The Centurion doesn't give you free stuff, it just gives you better stuff when you're already paying something (usually a lot) anyway. For example, a couple months ago they sent me a $500 gift card to Roche Bobois or whatever it's called. Did I use it? No, because there is nothing in Roche Bobois that's $500 or less that I actually wanted. Had you actually wanted a $4K chair or something, then sure, it's $500 of free money.
I just used my President's Club status with Avis a couple weeks ago. Paid for a small sedan and they upgraded me to an SUV for free. Probably saved me a couple hundred dollars. I wouldn't have paid for an SUV in the first place, so I didn't really save money, but I just got something better for the same price.
The Centurion value really depends on what you normally use for travel. If you fly Delta a lot, then you get the flight status of someone who flies like 100K miles per year. Free economy comfort, access to all the Skyteam lounges, etc. If you fly United though, then no, the card loses an insane amount of value since they don't give you any United perks.
Let me guess, they gave you a RAV4!!!
May 18, 2018 8:21:21 PM
Segueing slightly and away from Centurion Cards, a friend sent this link about Dragtime’s Brooks Weisblat. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2018/05/01/broward-illegal-drag-racing/.
You can use miles any way you want to get $1 for 100 miles. But with travel you can get much better than that. Up to $3 per 100 miles. The 2 to 1 perk is useless unless you buy full fare tickets which barely no one does for personal purposes.
Yes many hotels will offer free breakfast, but far from all of them...
Avis President status also come with Platinum if I remember well.
May 21, 2018 2:02:46 PM
alexalex88:I always read you guys very surprised each time this topic comes up again.
I've never had any problem (being juzged, harassed, whatever) in any European country/city I visited/lived. You can walk around Madrid, Paris, Milano, London, Amsterdam, etc. well dressed, wearing fine watches, driving nice cars and no one is gonna be disturbed because of it.
Yes, there might be one envious neighbour but that can happen in every single latitude.
Maybe it has to do because you live in Europe already. Coming from the USA, it is quite unnerving.
noone1:Wait, not long ago you said you often used the 2 for 1 on business class tickets to Europe for your family even though I said the full fare pricing was way higher than normal prices for business class.
I mentioned the program but rarely use it. My last 3 trips to EU were fully paid with miles.
May 21, 2018 7:44:30 PM
alexalex88:I always read you guys very surprised each time this topic comes up again.
I've never had any problem (being juzged, harassed, whatever) in any European country/city I visited/lived. You can walk around Madrid, Paris, Milano, London, Amsterdam, etc. well dressed, wearing fine watches, driving nice cars and no one is gonna be disturbed because of it.
Yes, there might be one envious neighbour but that can happen in every single latitude.
Agreed
1992 Mercedes-Benz W124 500E / 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (sold) / 2011 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Performance / 2014 BMW-Alpina D3 biturbo Touring / 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Clubsport
I don't know how you could even tell the different between rich people and middle class people in Europe. They look the same as far as I can tell.
Unless I quite literally saw you get out of a very expensive car, I'd just assume you were not rich since probability says the average person at a seemingly rather normal place is of average wealth.
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