American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card

Card Details

Issuer: American Express
Card type: Travel, Milestone
Joining fee: ₹5,000 + GST
Annual fee: ₹5,000 + GST
Rewards currency: Membership Rewards points
Forex markup: 3.5%

Our Rating

4.4

Highlights

Welcome Bonus: 10,000 MR points on spending ₹15,000 in first 90 days
₹10,000 Taj Experiences e-gift card on ₹7 lakh annual spend
Membership Rewards never expire while the account remains in good standing

Welcome Benefit

Start your Membership Rewards journey with a sizeable welcome bonus.

Requirement	Reward
Spend ₹15,000 within 90 days	10,000 Membership Rewards points

Reward earning

Spend type	Earn rate
Eligible card purchases	1 MR / ₹50
Amex Reward Multiplier	3 MR / ₹50

Most people treat this as a milestone card to spend ₹7,00,000 in the card anniversary year.

Exclusions: fuel, insurance, utilities, cash transactions, and in-store EMI conversions.

Milestone bonuses

Milestone	Reward
₹1,90,000 annual spend	7,500 MR Points
₹4,00,000 annual spend	10,000 MR Points
₹7,00,000 annual spend	22,500 MR Points + ₹10,000 Taj Voucher

Redemption options

Marriott is the sweet spot for redemption with a 1:1 conversion ratio.

Convert MR points to Airline Miles at 2:1 ratio.
Convert MR points to Marriott points at a 1:1 ratio.
Convert MR points to other hotel chain points at a 2:1 ratio.

Lounge access

Channel	Allowance	Notes
Domestic lounges	8 visits / year	Capped at 2 visits per quarter for the primary cardmember
Priority Pass	Membership fee waived	Visits for primary cardmember and guests billed at prevailing US$35 rate

Eligibility

Annual Income greater than ₹6,00,000

Review

A no nonsense card. Rewards on this card are mostly milestone linked and almost everything counts towards Milestone. So you can just swipe it and not worry about exclusions

It would had been great if Amex provided a clear marker for Renewal fee waiver. The power of this card mostly depends on how much value you can extract from marriot points.

Swipe this card for categories that might be excluded on you other cards.
Marriot is the sweet spot for redemption.
Use Amex multiplier to buy vouchers for accelerated rewards.
When redeeming marriot points try to use 5th Night free offer
Some great use cases for spending on this card are tax payments, NPS or any other goverment payments

Travel support & protections

Dedicated Platinum Travel assistance with zero lost card liability once reported.
Fuel convenience fee waivers at HPCL locations, plus EMI options on eligible purchases.
Up to 20% dining savings at partner restaurants with American Express offers.