Priority Queue, My Arse!

Eric Banana has had enough with so-called priority queues. If it is a queue, call it a queue. Don't slap the "priority" descriptor on it to mislead people!

The priority queue in question that got on Eric Banana's nerves was the American Express Platinum Priority Queue at Orchard Cineleisure and The Cathay. Well, both cineplexes are popular with movie-goers and long queues can often be spotted at the box offices. The exclusive benefit for AMEX Platinum cardholders *theoretically* allows them to use the priority queue to reduce their waiting time and purchase their movie tickets quickly.

Now, that is all good, if only the darned priority queue works...

More often than not, the counter serving the priority queue is not open, which means AMEX Platinum cardholders have to join the main queue(s). Having to do so probably do not make them feel like they are getting any form of priority. And when the priority-queue counter is open, it serves non-AMEX Platinum cardholders as well, which means legitimate AMEX Platinum cardholders have to queue behind those who should rightfully not be in the queue.

The annual fee for an American Express Platinum Credit Card is S$300 and it cannot be waived. Eric Banana thinks that as a whole, the benefits and privileges are worth that amount of money and he is fine with paying the annual fee. Yet, whenever he is in a so-called priority queue (assuming the counter is even open in the first place), he loses out to those people who pay cash (and do not need to pay any annual fee whatsoever) and those people who use some other credit cards (and pay less annual fees or get them waived). Seriously, Eric Banana cannot profess to be too pleased about this situation and he cannot imagine other AMEX Platinum cardholders to be any happier either.

Of course, Eric Banana can easily complain to the cineplex box-office manager and create a huge scene. But that is mightily childish and it will not solve the problem either. The box-office manager's primary concern is to ensure that cinema patrons are served as quickly as possible. If an "exclusive" portion of the population have to wait a bit longer on some priority queue, too bad. So it's really AMEX's fault. In negotiating for a priority queue, they should have worked out a deal whereby the priority-queue counter is always open and serves only AMEX Platinum cardholders. This reminds Eric Banana... if the person manning the counter tells you that there is a discount for AMEX Platinum cardholders, please do not embarrass yourself by flashing your AMEX Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Gold Credit Card. Therefore, to the blind man queueing in front of him last night, please refer to the visual identifier next time (Note: Eric Banana could not find the exact picture):

And Eric Banana also thinks that AMEX should work on its feedback channels. Currently, cardholders can only either send them a snail mail or call them on a toll-free hotline. Eric Banana is so not going to kill trees and blow postage on snail mail or waste time talking to people who are not able to do anything over the phone. So what the hell happened to the email option?!