I've read through much of this thread and I thank everyone here for the data points and information.
I'm now 100,000+ pts into this years Amex journey (75k gold + plat upgrade a week ago) and I have a small question that I haven't seen addressed directly: does Amex at all differentiate between someone who, at the point at which I am now (+PGGM), chooses to cancel (or go green and cancel) and restart the clock, and someone who (for instance) downgrades back to gold and pretends to be a better customer for a few more months? Suppose I do the former and "come back" next year, will there be anything in my record that would suggest I may not be a great customer (aside from my continued patronage of the Blue card)?
Thanks again.