The American Express India Platinum Travel Card is a premium card offered by American Express, designed to cater to the travel enthusiasts which offers tremendous value if used with careful planning. It is the only dedicated offering by American Express in India. It is packed with attractive welcome & joining benefits and attractive milestone rewards where you get bonus Membership Rewards Points once you reach the milestones. These Membership Rewards can be redeemed not just for travel-related expenses like booking flight tickets, hotels, and taxis on the Amex Travel portal but also be redeemed for online shopping vouchers at e-commerce sites, and e-vouchers on American Express’s own website.

Like any other mainstream American Express card, the users earn 1 Membership Rewards Points for every ₹50 spent. However, as with the case of most banks, there are exclusions for Govt payments, utilities etc where you usually don’t earn reward points. This is a great offering for Taj enthusiasts as you can also redeem the membership rewards for Taj Vouchers and use the milestone rewards vouchers at Taj properties across India. As with any other travel card, you also get access to Airport lounges via the card itself at domestic lounges and via Priority pass in lounges abroad.

Benefits

The Membership Rewards Program

The American Express Platinum Travel Card offers 2 Membership Rewards for every 100 INR spent. Additionally, you also earn 15,000 Bonus MR when you reach a milestone of 1,90,000 INR in a membership year and then another 25,000 Bonus MR when you reach a milestone of 4,00,000 INR in the same anniversary year. So technically when you spend 4 lakhs, you end up with 40000 & 8000 that is a total of 48000 MR in one anniversary year.

Travel Voucher on Milestone

When you reach a total spend of 4 lakh INR, you also get a Taj Stay voucher worth 10,000 INR, which can be used at the Taj, SeleQtions, and Vivanta properties across India.

Movie & Dining

The users can get upto a 20% discount on their dining at select partner restaurants on payment via the Platinum Travel Card. Further American Express regularly partners with various websites to bring additional benefits on eating out, or ordering in from portals like Zomato, Swiggy & Taj Qmin.

Lounge Access

The user also gets 8 domestic lounge access (restricted at 2 per quarter) and complimentary membership of Priority Pass, though you have to pay an access fee of 35 USD for each entry with the Priority Pass for any lounges abroad.

Rewards Multiplier

3X Membership Reward Points on all purchases through the Reward Multiplier portal including voucher purchases. If you plan your large purchases via online portals and purchase the vouchers for those on a regular basis, it can be an excellent way to maximize reward points where the Membership Rewards can go as high as 60,000 in a year instead of the standard 48,000. That is enough for a person to fly to London on Virgin Atlantic in Premium Economy. You can watch our video on this here.

https://youtu.be/TU2cdoNnTnc?si=6gXTaU3oT5PoMPF3

Reward Redemption Options

Membership Reward Points can be redeemed for

§  For INSTA purchases at stores, buying e-vouchers from Amex’s online shopping portal, and making credit card bill payments (under the Cash + Points scheme) at 0.25 INR or 25 Paise, which is not a preferred choice.

§  Transfer to air miles & hotel loyalty programs like British Airways Executive Club, Asia Miles, Club Vistara, Emirates, Skywards, Finnair Plus, InterMiles, Qatar Privilege Club, Etihad Guest, Singapore KrisFlyer, Virgin Atlantic Points, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy.

§  Marriott Bonvoy redemption is done at a ratio of 1:1 while for airlines the ratio is mostly 2: 1 that is 2 Membership Rewards for 1 airmile. This works really well for some currencies which have no other partners in India like Virgin Atlantic.

18 & 24 Karat Gold Collection

If you already have the Gold Charge Card you can also club your Membership Rewards point cto access the American Express 18 & 24 Karat gold collection which we talked in our other post on Gold Charge Card (add link)

However, as always the most lucrative redemption strategy involves transferring points to airline partners, often yielding values greater than ₹1 per point, making it the preferred choice for savvy cardholders

Annual Fees and Value Proposition

The American Express Platinum Travel Card comes with the below fee structure

Joining Fee – INR 5000 + GST

Annual Fee – INR 5000 +GST

Welcome Benefits - 10,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points. 2,000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards Points (Enhanced to 4000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards Points).

Besides the annual and joining fee, there are other charges as below based on specific transactions

Fuel Surcharge

Waived at HPCL fuel stations for transactions up to Rs. 5,000, 1% surcharge on BPCL and IOCL stations, and 2.5% surcharge at all other fuel stations.

Foreign Currency Markup

3.5% of the transaction amount + GST

Cash Advance Charges

3.5% of withdrawal amount + GST subject to a minimum amount of Rs. 250

 This fee structure reflects the card's positioning as a provider of exclusive travel benefits, such as travel rewards, concierge services, and access to airport lounges. Though the fee may appear high, but you can mint much higher value from the card if you use it smartly.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants should be an Indian resident between 18-60 years of age and have an annual income of 6 lacs and can be salaried or self-employed. Those who are self employed should be in the business for atleast 12 months.

While American Express is expanding its network, the card is currently available to individuals residing in cities such as Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh/Tricity, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Ernakulam, Vijayawada, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Nasik, Trivandrum, Mysuru, Cuttack & Vizag.

 

How To Apply

To get the bonus 4000 Membership Rewards points, you need to use our referral link here to apply and then complete the KYC process which is now completely online and you will get your card delivered to your home within the next 7 days.  

Final Verdict

While it is not a completely premium credit card but it is a fantastic tool for a medium heavy user to rack up great returns on their everyday expenses. This is also the most rewarding card in the Amex Trifecta which can help you get almost 12-25% returns on your spends. That clubbed with a superior customer experience makes it a card worth 4 Stars.