American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card Review
I recently had to cancel my Amex SmartEarn Credit Card because I wanted to upgrade to the Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card, and American Express allows only two Credit Cards and one Charge Card per customer (I swear 3 Amex cards are too less 😅😅). So as of now the 3 Amex cards I have are the American Express Membership Rewards Card (Amex MRCC), the American Express Gold Charge Card and the American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card. Let us see the features of this Credit Card.
Fees
Joining Fee
Rs 3,500 + GST (18%) (None if you apply through the referral link. Additionally, you get 2000 4000 Membership Reward points on spending Rs 5,000 within 60 days of card activation)
Annual Fee
Rs 5,000 + GST (18%)
Annual fee waiver: None mentioned on the website. However, if you use the card regularly and spend good amounts in the previous year, Amex might make you a renewal offer you can’t refuse 😅.
Eligibility for Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card
- Age: 18 years and above
- Annual Income: Greater than Rs 6 Lakhs per year (both salaried and self employed)
- Good Credit Score (CIBIL score above 750 should be good to qualify for this card)
- Should be a resident of Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat & Vadodra. However, once the card is issued, you can change the address to different cities too.
Benefits of Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card
Reward points
1 membership reward point = Rs 0.25 when redeemed directly for cash credit into the card account, Rs 0.30 if redeemed for Flipkart vouchers or for bookings on Amex Travel portal.
Regular Reward points: 1 reward point earned every Rs 50 spent. (0.5% return rate if redeemed for cash credit, 0.6% return rate if redeemed for Flipkart vouchers or for bookings on Amex Travel portal)
Milestone Benefits
- On reaching annual spends of Rs 1.9L, you get 15,000 membership reward points.
- On reaching annual spends of Rs 4L, you get 25,000 additional membership reward points . On top of this, you also get a complementary Taj Experiences E-Gift Card worth Rs. 10,000 redeemable on the Taj, SeleQtions and Vivanta Hotels.
Note: The Membership Reward points earned in Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card are separate from the membership reward points earned in Amex Gold Charge Card and Amex Membership Rewards Card. These points cannot be combined to reach the Amex 18K or 24K Gold collection faster.
Amex Reward Multiplier
You earn 3x membership reward points when you purchase on selected websites through the American Express Reward multiplier with your Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card. This means you will earn 6 reward points every Rs 100 spent.
Airport Lounge Access
1 domestic lounge access per quarter.
You get complementary membership to Priority Pass with your American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card, but no complementary international airport lounge access. The international lounge visits are charged $32 per visit.
Zero Lost Card Liability
If your Amex Credit card is stolen and misused, and you report it within 3 days of the misuse, then your liability will be NIL. Even if the fraud transaction is reported after 3 days of the transaction, your maximum liability will be Rs 1,000.
Emergency Card Replacement
Doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you lose your Amex Card, you will get a replacement usually within 2 working days of reporting, that too free of cost.
Restaurant Offers
You get up to 20% every time you dine at select restaurants.
Spend Based Offers and user specific offers
American Express comes up with user specific spend based offers regularly. In last 3 years, I’ve earned American Express Travel Vouchers worth Rs 20K (2*Rs 10K) with their spend based offers. Also, I’ve got many other user specific offers such as Bonus points/cashback/Amazon Vouchers on spending above a defined threshold etc.
Drawbacks
- The normal Reward rates (if we ignore milestone benefits) for normal transactions is too less (only 0.5%) Many other Credit Cards like HDFC Regalia provide better returns on normal spends. Even some entry level Credit Cards like the SBI SimplyCLICK Credit Card give up to 1.25% returns on online transactions.
- While this is a ‘Travel’ Credit Card, there is no complementary International airport lounge access. Even the number of complementary domestic Airport Lounge access is 1 per quarter. This is a huge disappointment IMO.
- The reward points earned using the Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card are called Membership Reward points (same as that of the other Amex Cards), but there is no relation between the two. It would have been awesome if all these points could be clubbed together and be utilized for Amex Gold Collections.
Should you get it?
It depends on your usage. If you cannot use the Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card for Rs 4L in an year, then you should not apply because you would hardly be able to recover the annual fees paid (not counting any ad-hoc spend based offers or user specific offers).
However, if you are able to spend Rs 4L using your Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card in a year, the total membership reward points you get is 48,000 (8000 regular points + 15,000 points for reaching 1.9L milestone + 25,000 points for reaching 4L milestone), which converts to Rs 12,000 when we redeem for cash credit (~3% returns) and Rs 14,400 when we redeem for Flipkart Vouchers or for bookings on Amex Travel portal (~3.6% returns) which is pretty decent. In addition, you also get the Taj Vouchers which is a cherry on the top. Including the Taj vouchers, the reward rate goes up to 6.1%.
In addition, you get 2000 4000 membership reward points worth Rs 500 1000 without paying any joining fees if you apply for the card through the referral link.
Let me know your thoughts or queries on the American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card in comments below. Want me to review any other cards? Let me know in the comments below or using the Contact Me section of this website.
Hi! I’m Gaurav, a Software Engineer by profession and a credit card enthusiast by heart. I love earning reward points and cashbacks from credit cards and giving ‘gyaan’ on credit cards and personal finance.