American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card Review: Milestones on Hold

What Platinum Travel costs to hold

₹5,000 in the first year, ₹5,000 from the second year on, and GST on top, because every Amex charge is exclusive of it: ₹5,900 a year at 18% (₹5,000 plus ₹900). Amex lists no spend-based waiver, so a ₹10 lakh year and a ₹1 lakh year cost exactly same. The first two supplementary cards are free and further ones are ₹1,500 each, though new supplementary applications are on hold since 27 October 2026.

Interest and the late fee

• Interest: 3.5% a month, 42% a year. On this card it rise to 3.99% a month (47.88% a year) once the minimum payment is missed three times in 12 months, while most other Amex credit cards move after two misses.
• Late fee now: 30% of the Minimum Payment Due, at least ₹500 and at most ₹1,000, plus taxes. A ₹4,000 minimum due draws ₹1,000, because 30% would be ₹1,200 and the cap is ₹1,000.
• Late fee for statements generated after 15 November 2026: slabs on the Total Amount Due ranging from ₹500 to ₹1,250. Amex hasn't published the slab table yet, so what a given bill would draw, nobody can tell.

Cash, over-limit and forex

• Cash advance: a 3.5% transaction fee with a ₹250 floor, and interest running from the withdrawal date. Cash withdrawal in India is suspended for now; ATMs abroad still works, capped at whichever is lower of 20% of your credit limit and USD 333 in any 14 days.
• Over-limit: Amex lists no charge, since it switched off over-limit spending on its cards from 1 October 2022, for now.
• Forex: a currency conversion factor of 3.5%. ₹1,00,000 spent abroad carries ₹3,500 (3.5% of ₹1,00,000) plus GST.

Fuel, rail and other charges

Fuel attracts a convenience fee rather than a waiver. At HPCL there's no fee under ₹5,000 and 1% from ₹5,000; BPCL and IOCL charge 1% with a ₹10 minimum, and other oil companies 2.5% with the same minimum. A ₹2,000 fill at IOCL so cost ₹20 (1% of ₹2,000), and ₹50 at another company (2.5% of ₹2,000). Railway tickets on IRCTC carry 1.8% with a ₹10 minimum, plus gateway charges and GST. Bounced cheques and NACH debits cost ₹250 each, asking for a statement more than 3 months old costs ₹100, and Amex adds its own 0.94% on GRAS government payments made through SBI ePay up to ₹90,00,000, 0.99% beyond that, on top of SBI ePay's fee.

Points and milestones on Platinum Travel

The base earn is 1 Membership Rewards point for every ₹50, which works out to 2 points per ₹100. Nothing is earned on fuel, insurance or utility bills, on cash transactions, or on EMI picked at a merchant's site or terminal, a rule since 15 March 2020. The real value sit in the milestones:

Amex doesn't publish a rupee value for points used on the Platinum Travel Collection, so the e-gift card is the only part you can price with confidence. Points don't expire while the card is active and in good standing, a rule in place since 3 May 2022, but they are forfeited within 30 days if you cancel. No redemption fee is stated.

What changes from 15 November 2026

• Milestones are judged on each transaction's posting date, and the reward comes at the end of the calendar month in which you cross the line. A purchase on the last day of your membership year that post after it may count towards the next year instead.
• Each Basic Card keeps its own balance, and shifting points across your Amex cards ends permanently.
• If a payment is still overdue after the next statement date, points neither build up nor can be redeemed till you clear it.

Three holders, worked through

Each example splits spend between eligible categories and the excluded ones (fuel, utilities, insurance), counts only eligible spend for milestones to be safe, and uses the ₹5,900 fee with GST. Because Amex give no point value, the last line is what a point would need to be worth for the card to pay its fee.

Light: ₹20,000 a month

That is a high bar for points Amex doesn't put a price on, so the light holder is mostly paying ₹5,900 for keep a card open.

Typical: ₹40,000 a month

This holder clears ₹4 lakh but fall ₹2,80,000 short of the Taj card (₹7,00,000 minus ₹4,20,000). If the points are worth less than ₹0.32 each on the Platinum Travel Collection, the fee wins.

Heavy: ₹65,000 a month

Here the card does exactly what it was designed for. The e-gift card alone covers the fee more than three times, and 24,400 points come on top. On the e-gift card only, the return is about 2.78% of eligible spend (₹20,000 divided by ₹7,20,000), which is good for a card with a fixed ₹5,900 cost.

Applying: the old rules and the signs of a reopening

Nobody can apply for Platinum Travel right now. What follows are the rules the card page set out for applicants before Amex stopped accepting new applications, and they are the nearest guide we have for when Amex start taking applications again.

What Amex asked for

• Age over 18, resident in India, with a bank account in India.
• A personal annual income of ₹6 lakh or above, salaried or self-employed, which work out to ₹50,000 a month (₹6,00,000 divided by 12).
• For the self-employed, a company trading for more than 12 months.
• A good credit history.
• A home in one of Amex's listed cities; the Platinum Travel list has 19.

Documents

A PAN card, or Form 60 for anyone not eligible for PAN; one recent passport-size photograph; and one officially valid document with your present address on it. That could be a passport, driving licence or Voter ID, an Aadhaar possession proof with its first 8 digits masked, an NREGA job card or a National Population Register letter.

How applying used to work

Applications were made online on Amex's India website, and cards went only to people living in the listed cities. There was no branch route that we could found.

Signs to look out for

• A notice on the card page saying applications have restarted. Until then, any offer of this card from an agent or a third party should be ignored, because only the issuer decides who gets a card and Amex is not taking applications.
• Whether the income bar, the city list or the fee is changed when applications return.
• The 15 November 2026 changes, which will apply to new cards too.
• Your own credit file. Under RBI's 2025 card Directions a bank must judge your repayment capacity and count your existing limits, and Experian India treats scores above 750 as generally good.

When applications reopen, approval will be Amex's decision. The Platinum Travel helpline is 1800 419 2122.

Who should keep it, and who should look elsewhere

Keep it if you reach ₹7 lakh of eligible spend in a membership year. The ₹20,000 Taj e-gift card is worth more than three years of fees, and the 10,000 points at ₹4 lakh comes on top. Holders who stay at Taj, SeleQtions or Vivanta properties get the full value from that card.

The middle ground is harder to call. Between ₹4 lakh and ₹7 lakh you pay ₹5,900 for 10,000 milestone points plus the base points, and Amex doesn't say what those are worth on the Platinum Travel Collection. If you are close to ₹7 lakh, moving one or two big purchases onto the card can be worth ₹20,000, more so after 15 November 2026, when the posting date decide which year a spend falls in.

Look elsewhere if you spend under ₹4 lakh, mostly on fuel and bills, or a lot abroad, because a 3.5% mark-up plus GST is a costly price for a card with travel in its name. Priority Pass is free to hold, but every visit is charged at the retail rate, so abroad it is a membership and not a free lounge. And if you don't hold the card yet, you simply can't get it until Amex reopens.

The trade-off

A fixed ₹5,900 a year buys a card that pays most of its value in one ₹20,000 voucher. Reach ₹7 lakh and it is very good; miss it, and you are paying for points of unknown value plus a few lounge visits at home.

Open travel cards to consider instead

With Platinum Travel closed to new applicants, here are three travel cards in a similar fee range that is open today. The table on this tab sets their numbers side by side.

SBI Card Miles Elite

Miles Elite costs ₹4,999 plus taxes a year, reversed on ₹15 lakh of spend in a membership year. It earns 6 Travel Credits per ₹200 on travel and 2 per ₹200 elsewhere, worth ₹1 each when moved to partner airlines and hotels (1:1 or 2:1 by partner) and ₹0.50 on travel bookings, plus 20,000 bonus credits at ₹12 lakh. Lounges: 8 domestic visits a year plus 1 extra for each ₹1 lakh spent (up to 15 extra), and 6 international visits a year. The mark-up is 1.99%, and SBI Card publishes no minimum income for it.

Axis Bank Horizon

Horizon is more cheaper at ₹3,000 plus GST, with no spend-based waiver. It earns 5 EDGE Miles per ₹100 on Axis Travel EDGE and direct airline spends and 2 per ₹100 elsewhere, and Axis's value chart puts 1 EDGE Mile at ₹1. Its lounge allowance is generous and needs no spend: 8 domestic visits a quarter on the Visa Signature variant or 6 on Mastercard World, and 2 international visits a quarter. The mark-up is 3.5%, the same as Amex.

Adani One ICICI Bank Signature

The Adani One Signature card matches the ₹5,000 plus GST fee but waives it from the second year on ₹6 lakh of spend. It earns 7 Adani OneApp Rewards per ₹100 on Adani One, gives a ₹5,000 flight voucher and a ₹2,000 hotel voucher in year one, and adds Pranaam and lounge upgrades at Adani-managed airports. Domestic lounges need ₹75,000 of spend a quarter, and the mark-up is 3.5%.

Which way to go

Holders who reaches ₹7 lakh should keep Platinum Travel. New applicants who fly a lot and want lower forex can try Miles Elite; those wanting many lounge visits for a lower fee, Horizon; and frequent users of Adani airports, Adani One Signature. Amex's everyday points card, the Membership Rewards Credit Card, is paused too. Open options are listed in our best travel credit cards page and on the credit cards hub.