amex platinum travel card expert

Amex Platinum card review: High annual fee with loads of perks

Editor's note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

The Platinum Card® from American Express overview

The Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the top premium travel rewards cards on the market. As a cardmember, you'll earn valuable Membership Rewards points, receive over $1,500 in annual statement credits (as long as you can take advantage of them) as well as access to an extensive network of airport lounges worldwide. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

* Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG's editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

Nowadays, it seems every bank, airline and hotel offers a premium travel rewards card . But for a long time, The Platinum Card from American Express was the only premium rewards card on the market. With its sleek design and hefty metal weight, there was a bit of prestige attached to being an Amex Platinum cardholder.

That still exists, even though a few competitors in the luxury card category have emerged in recent years, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card . When you stack them up against one another, the Amex Platinum shines in ways the others don't. Then again, it falls flat in some areas, too.

The Amex Platinum has undergone significant changes in recent years and carries a steep $695 annual fee (see rates and fees ) — one of the highest on the market. That's why people often ask whether the Amex Platinum is still worth the annual fee , even with the new perks.

The recommended credit score for this card is above 690 and it ranks as one of the best travel cards , but that doesn't mean it's right for every traveler.

Let's dig into the details and benefits to see whether having the Amex Platinum in your wallet makes sense for you.

Amex Platinum pros and cons

Amex platinum welcome offer.

The current welcome bonus for the Amex Platinum is 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. This is slightly above the standard welcome offer we have seen.

THE POINTS GUY

According to TPG's latest monthly valuations , Amex Membership Rewards points are worth 2 cents each, making this bonus worth $1,600. That's nearly three times the card's $695 annual fee.

Amex sometimes offers up to 150,000 points to targeted individuals through other channels — like the CardMatch tool , so it's worth checking out if you're targeted. Just remember that offers are subject to change at any time and are not necessarily available to everyone.

Related: How to redeem Membership Rewards points for maximum value

Amex Platinum benefits

What truly sets The Platinum Card from American Express apart is the fact that it confers so many valuable best perks and travel benefits. Let's take a look:

• Up to $200 in statement credits annually for incidental fees charged by one airline you select*
• Up to a $200 annual hotel credit , in the form of a statement credit, on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel when you pay with your Amex Platinum (Hotel Collection stays require a two-night minimum)*
• Up to $200 annually in Uber Cash , valid on Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. (split into monthly $15 credits plus a $20 bonus in December)*
• Up to $189 in statement credits to cover your Clear Plus annual membership *
• Up to $240 in annual digital entertainment credit — with the exception of SiriusXM, which will be removed effective May 8 and no longer be eligible for this benefit — disbursed as up to $20 monthly statement credits when you pay for eligible purchases with the Amex Platinum at eligible partners*

• Up to $300 in annual Equinox credit on Equinox gym and Equinox+ app memberships (subject to auto-renewal)*
• Up to a $155 statement credit that covers the cost of a monthly Walmart+ membership when paying with the Amex Platinum (subject to auto-renewal); Plus Up excluded.
• A $100 statement credit for Global Entry every four years or an up to $85 fee credit for TSA PreCheck every 4½ years (depending on which application fee is charged to your card first)
• Up to a $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit , split into two up to $50 statement credits between January and June, then July through December*
• Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection , including Centurion Lounges , Priority Pass lounges, Airspace lounges, Escape lounges, Plaza Premium lounges and Delta Sky Clubs (when traveling on same-day Delta flights; Effective February 1, 2025: Eligible Platinum Card Members will receive 10 Visits per Eligible Platinum Card per year to the Delta Sky Club or to Grab and Go when traveling on a same-day Delta-operated flight)*
• Complimentary Gold status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy *
• Complimentary car rental status : Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President's Circle, Avis Preferred Plus and National Emerald Club Executive*
• Access to Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection
• If your trip is delayed by more than six hours because of a covered reason, you may be eligible to be reimbursed up to $500 per covered trip for reasonable additional expenses**
• If you need to cancel or interrupt your trip because of a covered reason, you may be eligible for reimbursement of up to $10,000 per covered trip**
• Extended warranty benefit extends eligible manufacturer's warranties of five years or less by up to one additional year***
• Purchase protection protects recent purchases against theft, accidental damage or loss for up to 90 days from the purchase date***
• Terms apply to the benefits listed

Even if you can use just a handful of these perks, it's easy to cover most (or all) of the Amex Platinum's annual fee.

Here's how TPG director of content Nick Ewen describes it:

"I have no use for some benefits of the Amex Platinum, and others (like Walmart+) I utilize just because they're there. However, I always max out the digital entertainment credit ($240). I also easily use all $200 in Uber credits and all $200 in airline statement credits annually. In other words, just three of these perks put $640 back in my pocket every year. As a result, I think of it as paying $55 for all of the other benefits on the card — and that makes it a no brainer to keep in my pocket."

Your exact situation may vary, but crunch the numbers to see how much real-life value you can get from the card.

* Enrollment is required for select benefits.

**Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

***Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

Related: How to maximize benefits with the Amex Platinum

Earning points on the Amex Platinum

With the Amex Platinum, you'll earn 5 points per dollar on airfare purchased directly with the airlines or through the Amex Travel portal (on up to $500,000 of airfare purchases per calendar year). Plus, you'll earn 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel .

These 5-point categories are an excellent way to earn lots of Membership Rewards points. Based on TPG valuations , earning 5 points per dollar provides a 10% return.

All other purchases earn just 1 point per dollar, but Platinum cardmembers are eligible for targeted Amex Offers that could boost earning rates at various merchants (including Amazon ).

Related: The ultimate guide to saving money with Amex Offers

Redeeming points on the Amex Platinum

Membership Rewards points are one of the most valuable and flexible loyalty currencies ever created for redeeming points. The best way to maximize your points is to transfer them to one of their loyalty program partners.

You can also use your Membership Rewards points to book travel directly through American Express Travel. But if the personal Amex Platinum is the only Amex card in your inventory, using points for airfare and hotel redemptions this way won't get you amazing value.

You'll get only 1 cent per point when you redeem the points directly for airfare at Amex Travel and less than 1 cent per point when redeeming for hotel rooms.

From my experience, 9 out of 10 times, you should never redeem Membership Rewards points for flights through American Express Travel, as you will get much better value utilizing transfer partners .

However, suppose you also have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express . In that case, you'll get one of the very best direct point redemptions available . This results from the 35% points rebate for first- and business-class flights on any airline plus economy flights on your selected airline (up to 1 million bonus points back per calendar year).

Related: Here are 9 of our favorite ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points

Transferring points on the Amex Platinum

Each Membership Rewards point is worth 2 cents, thanks largely to the program's airline and hotel transfer partners . Those include at least one helpful option in each major airline alliance ( SkyTeam , Star Alliance and Oneworld ).

Transferring your points to the right airline or hotel program is usually the best way to maximize your Membership Rewards points value.

Here's how TPG senior editor Matt Moffitt likes to transfer and redeem his Membership Rewards points:

"I look out for transfer bonuses to maximize my points to book long-haul business-class flights. I often transfer to Iberia Plus for lie-flat seats to Madrid. Sometimes, I'll transfer to Qantas Frequent Flyer to secure hard-to-find business- or first-class flights back to Australia."

Which cards compete with the Amex Platinum?

Some other compelling premium credit cards go head-to-head with the Amex Platinum:

• If you want a slightly lower annual fee: Try the Chase Sapphire Reserve , which comes in at a $550 annual fee but offers a $300 travel credit and some of the best travel protections available . However, it can't beat the Amex Platinum when it comes to perks such as lounge access and hotel benefits. For more information, read our full review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve .
• If you want a much lower annual fee: Capital One's premium rewards card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card , packs a punch and comes with a more affordable $395 annual fee (see rates and fees ). The Venture X is potentially more lucrative than the Amex Platinum when it comes to earning, accruing 10 miles per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked via Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked via Capital One Travel and an unlimited 2 miles per dollar on everything else. For more information, read our full review of the Venture X .

For additional options, check out our full list of the best cards for travel rewards and lounge access .

Read more: The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison

Bottom line

If you can take full advantage of more than $1,500 in annual statement credits yearly, The Platinum Card from American Express is one of the most compelling rewards cards, especially if you travel enough to make the hotel statuses and lounge benefits useful or shop enough to get substantial value from the shopping protections .

The Amex Platinum's $695 annual fee is steep, but the various annual credits can recoup the entire cost (and more), even before considering the card's other perks.

Apply here: The Platinum Card from American Express

Check the CardMatch tool to see if you're targeted for a 150,000-point Platinum Card offer (after meeting minimum spending requirements). These offers are subject to change at any time.

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum, click here .

• • Credit card strategy
• • Credit card comparisons

Bankrate expert Garrett Yarbrough strives to make navigating credit cards and credit building smooth sailing for his readers. After regularly featuring his credit card, credit monitoring and identity theft analysis on NextAdvisor.com, he joined the CreditCards.com and Bankrate teams as a staff writer to develop product reviews and comprehensive credit card guides focused on cash back, credit scores and card offers.

• • Credit scores
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Courtney Mihocik is an editor at Bankrate Credit Cards and CreditCards.com specializing in credit card news and personal finance advice. Previously, she led insurance content at Reviews.com and worked as the loans editor at The Simple Dollar.

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At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money and how we rate our cards . The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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Bottom line

Amex’s enhanced Platinum Card luxury travel benefits, rewards and yearly credits are a fantastic value for frequent flyers since the perks nearly recoups the increased annual fee. Still, the price point is certainly steep if you’re not sure you’ll regularly maximize its features.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Our writers, editors and industry experts score credit cards based on a variety of factors including card features, bonus offers and independent research. Credit card issuers have no say or influence on how we rate cards.

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Intro offer

Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Offer valuation

We calculate this number by multiplying the card's intro offer by Bankrate's valuation of this issuer's rewards program , showing you how much your points or miles are worth in dollars.

Rewards rate

Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year. Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.

Regular APR

On This Page

• Current offer details

American Express Platinum pros and cons

• Reasons to get this card
• Reasons to skip this card

First-year value vs. ongoing value

• Expert experience
• American Express Platinum vs. other travel cards

Best cards to pair with the American Express Platinum

• Is this card worth getting?
• Rating Methodology

Frequently asked questions

American express platinum card overview.

The Platinum Card from American Express has been a long-standing favorite among the best credit cards for its luxury travel benefits. Its high hotel and flight rewards rate, ongoing offers and extensive travel access can save you a fortune on exclusive opportunities, though it will come at a premium cost.

Although the $695 annual fee might be tough to swallow, the Amex Platinum is well worth it if you travel enough to take advantage of its features and credits, as they can easily recoup the card’s cost. However, the limited reward categories and unfocused assortment of annual credits may steer you toward a competing card if you care more about simplifying and saving on travel than high-end coupon cutting for luxury experiences.

• 5X points on up to $500,000 per calendar year spent on directly booked airfare, flights and prepaid hotels through American Express Travel
• 2X points on prepaid car rentals through American Express Travel
• 1X points on all other purchases
• Rewards value: up to 1 cent per point when redeemed through American Express (around 2.0 cents on average through the right transfer partner)

Expert Appraisal: Typical See our expert analysis

Welcome offer

• 80,000 points after $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership

Expert Appraisal: Good See our expert analysis

Rates and fees

• $695 annual fee
• No foreign transaction fees
• No intro APR on purchases
• No intro APR on balance transfers
• 21.24 percent to 29.24 percent variable APR

Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive See our expert analysis

Other cardholder perks

• Recurring travel credits toward eligible airline incidental fees, CLEAR® Plus membership, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fees, prepaid hotel bookings through American Express Travel, benefits with Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection properties and more
• Annual credits for Uber rides and Uber Eats orders, Walmart+ membership, Equinox fitness membership, Saks Fifth Avenue products and several digital entertainment subscriptions (Terms Apply)
• Airport lounge access through American Express Global Lounge Collection, including complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, Delta Sky Club membership and more
• Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance, trip delay insurance, emergency evacaution and transportation coverage
• Purchase protections, including cellphone protection and return protection
• Premium status with complimentary car rental programs (Avis Preferred®, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® and National Car Rental® Emerald Club) and a variety of other travel perks
• Flexible spending limit and access to Pay It Plan It alternative payment plans

Expert Appraisal: Exceptional See our expert analysis

It offers the highest travel rewards rates of any American Express card available.

It has the most extensive lounge access and travel benefits of nearly any mainstream rewards card available to the public.

Monthly and annual credits are worth more than the annual fee, potentially providing around $1,700 in recurring yearly value.

Its $695 annual fee, niche perks and less-competitive reward rates may alienate some applicants.

Elevated rewards in certain bonus categories are a bit limited; you’ll only earn boosted rewards on flights, hotels and rental cars through Amex or the airline directly.

Some of the perks and annual credits, such as the fitness-related credits and private jet program offers, aren’t practical for many cardholders.

Why you might want the American Express Platinum

The Platinum Card is the cream of the crop when it comes to credit card perks, offering first-class travel benefits, top-notch rewards value and a treasure trove of bonus credits worth more than $1,000.

Premium perks like extensive airport lounge access, annual travel credits, elite hotel status and comprehensive travel protections are some of this card’s main attractions. However, you can also use several perks to save on everyday expenses, including credits for select digital entertainment subscriptions, Uber and Walmart+.

Rewards: First-class rewards value

While earning rewards with the American Express Platinum card is limited to a few categories, it offers some of the most versatile and valuable credit card rewards , thanks to Amex’s diverse list of transfer partners. Our latest point valuations estimate Membership Rewards points can be worth around 2.0 cents if you transfer to the right partner.

You’ll get the most value using your Membership Rewards points for booking flights, hotels, cruises and other travel options through American Express or its transfer partners’ loyalty programs. Transfer values vary by partner, but typically convert at a 1:1 ratio. However, your points are less valuable if you redeem with the issuer — even through the American Express Travel portal .

Amex’s rewards calculator shows your points have a maximum value of 1 cent each if you redeem them through the issuer portal, including travel and:

• Redeeming points toward statement credit to cover card charges
• Redeeming points to pay at checkout with select merchants and for prepaid rental cars booked through American Express Travel
• Redeeming points for gift cards
• Redeeming points to shop at partner merchants

Just keep in mind that these other redemption options often get you a point value of less than 1 cent per point, so you might be better off saving rewards for later if you aren’t flying through Amex or a transfer partner soon.

For example, you’ll get a full 1-cent-per-point value if you redeem for airfare or itinerary upgrades through American Express Travel, but booking other travel options like hotel stays, rental cars and vacations waters your points down to a value of just 0.7 cents apiece. This is a bit strange considering rival rewards programs usually offer at least a 1-cent point value toward hotels and other issuer-booked travel.

Your points’ value also drops for most non-travel options, which is more common for travel card rewards. Ultimately, the rewards you earn with the Amex Platinum are more valuable than most competing travel cards’ rewards, but only if you stick to strategic transfer partner redemptions.

Perks: Leading annual credit list

The complimentary airport lounge memberships are some of the most valuable Amex Platinum perks year to year. However, the wealth of travel credits and other annual reimbursements that cardmembers receive can be even more valuable — worth up to $1,709 each year. Frequent travelers who spend heavily on airline incidentals (like baggage, in-flight purchases and seat upgrades), hotel bookings through Amex and expedited airport security can almost make up the steep $695 annual fee in credits alone.

You’ll also have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of this card’s laundry list of perks when you’re not traveling. Since the 2021 Amex Platinum upgrade , cardmember can take advantage of various credits for popular day-to-day purchases, like Uber rides or Uber Eats orders, digital subscriptions, Walmart+ and select fitness expenses.

Take a look at the full list of Amex Platinum credits below to see if enough fit into your spending habits to make the card’s price tag worthwhile:

American Express Platinum Card credits

Travel credits

• Up to $200 in airline fee credits (per calendar year) for incidentals with a qualifying airline
• Up to $200 in credits for prepaid hotel bookings at Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection properties via American Express Travel annually (which requires a minimum two-night stay)
• Up to $100 credit on qualifying hotel purchases (per two-plus consecutive night stays with a brand in The Hotel Collection)
• Up to $189 in Clear Plus membership statement credits by paying with your card (annually)
• Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or up to $89 application fee credit for TSA PreCheck (every four years)

Subscription service credits

• Up to $200 in Uber Cash for rides and Uber Eats deliveries ($15 per month, plus an extra $20 in December, available to basic cardmembers only; benefit renews annually)  Terms Apply.
• Up to $240 each year in digital entertainment credits (up to $20 in total statement credits per month) toward Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, ESPN+, Audible and The New York Times subscriptions (enrollment required). 
• Up to $155 per year in Walmart+ monthly membership credits ($12.95 plus applicable local sale taxes, subject to auto-renewal; available as a statement credit when you use your Platinum card to pay; Plus Ups are excluded)

Shopping and purchase credits

• $300 credit for a single, eligible SoulCycle At-Home bike purchase using your card through Amex’s provided link
• Up to $300 in eligible Equinox fitness membership credits per calendar year toward in-club or digital membership fees (enrollment required; see terms for details)
• Up to $100 for Saks Fifth Avenue purchases annually ($50 for January through June and $50 for July through December)

Travel perks: Airport lounge access, protections and more

You’ll have access to the most extensive portfolio of airport lounges available on a credit card with the Amex Platinum’s Global Lounge Collection . Plus, American Express has also expanded the Centurion Network to encompass more than 40 Centurion Lounge and Studio locations, so Amex Platinum cardholders can cool their jets in more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and over 650 cities.

By comparison, the next-best lounge access you can obtain is with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card , which only provide Priority Pass Select membership and access to the respective issuer airport lounges.

And to make travelling even better, the Amex Platinum comes with complimentary hotel perks like room upgrades, credit for hotel purchases and other check-in privileges. Hotels in the American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts program grant cardholders perks worth $600 for each eligible two-night stay at over 1,300 properties worldwide, plus upgraded rooms and up to $100 toward hotel activities at over 700 locations in The Hotel Collection.

Platinum Card members also get complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status to stack their benefits.

Platinum cardholders are well-covered when it comes to travel insurance and protections. Your trip is secured with trip delay insurance, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage insurance and even. However, the Amex Platinum goes above and beyond with incredible emergency medical transport and evacuation coverage, baggage insurance and Premium Global Assist® hotline access.

Bankrate Insight

Taking advantage of the complimentary airport lounge memberships for you and your guests can be an easy way to make the annual fee worthwhile. The yearly Delta Sky Club membership is already worth $695, and the Priority Pass Select and Amex-partnered lounges could be worth hundreds of dollars for you and your guests.  

Current welcome offer: One of the most valuable available

The Platinum card’s current welcome bonus weighs in at 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $8,000 in purchases within the first six months of card membership. This offer is worth up to $800 when redeemed through American Express Travel, but based on Bankrate’s latest point valuation , this bonus could be worth around $1,600 in travel with the right transfer partner (based on an estimated average point value of 2.0 cents per point with high-value partners).

It’s currently one of the most valuable credit card welcome offers available, but it’s worth mentioning that the intro bonus has previously offered 100,000 points. Still, instead of waiting for a rare limited-time offer, the current intro bonus is more than worth jumping on. The six-month spending requirement shouldn’t be too difficult to reach since you’d only need to spend around $1,333 each month.

Why you might want a different travel card

The American Express Platinum is certainly one of the most attractive cards on the market thanks to its luxurious travel features. However, it might not be the most worthwhile elite card if you want to rake in rewards or track just a few focused perks.

Rates and fees: Charges one of the highest annual fees on the market

As American Express’s top-tier travel rewards card, the Platinum card’s annual fee is the highest: $695. While this weighs in as one of the steepest annual fees on the market, you can more than make up for the cost with the card’s travel perks and credits. However, you should carefully consider whether you’ll use these benefits enough each month to outweigh the fee since offsetting the fee with rewards spending is a bit harder.

As far as other rates and fees go, the Platinum Card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, which is natural for a premium travel card. Unlike typical cards with credit limits, this product has “no preset spending limit.” No preset spending limit means you get more purchasing power since the spending limit is flexible. Unlike a traditional credit card with a defined credit limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment and credit history.

Just in case you need to manage unexpected expenses, American Express offers Platinum holders the Pay It Plan It and Pay Over Time programs. Pay Over Time allows cardholders to revolve a balance like a credit card but at a 21.24 percent to 29.24 percent variable APR. If it’s a more cost-effective option, Plan It provides a fixed monthly installment plan on purchases over $100 and charges a monthly fee of up to 1.33 percent. Your monthly rate is based on factors including the plan’s length.

Reward categories: Limited opportunities for a leading travel card

Issuers’ flagship travel cards often earn 3X to 10X rewards across various bonus categories, including issuer portal-booked travel (usually airfare, hotels and rental cars), dining, general travel purchases and more.

With the Amex Platinum, you’ll only earn 5X points on prepaid hotels and flights booked directly with airlines or the American Express travel portal, 2X points on prepaid car rentals through the American Express Travel (up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year) and 1X points on all other purchases.

The Platinum card’s shallow bonus category pool and relatively low rewards rates significantly reduce your reward opportunities compared to rival cards. What’s more, the subpar point value for almost any redemption option outside Amex or transfer partner-booked airfare further stunts your rewards. 

This means you’ll have to mainly lean on the annual credits and travel features to make the higher annual fee worthwhile. Although there’s a wealth of benefits at your fingertips, several are tied to niche products or services while others aren’t as valuable for occasional travelers.

Niche features: Several perks aren’t practical for typical cardholders

Despite carrying well over $1,500 in potential annual credits and a laundry list of other perks, some of these features are a bit niche and may be hard for the average person to take advantage of (such as the fitness-related annual credits and Wheels Up’s premium private jet program membership).

This can make the Platinum Card’s perks feel scattered or make it harder to recoup the annual fee if you don’t place a priority on luxury travel. On the bright side, authorized users can help you take advantage of a few features, including the recurring Equinox, digital entertainment, hotel and Clear Plus credits. 

Regardless, it’s important to determine whether you’ll realistically use at least $695-worth of perks before you apply. Otherwise, a more flexible rival card may suit your spending habits better.

The Platinum card’s annual fee can be big concern for many prospective cardmembers, and its annual fee increase in 2021 didn’t help matters.

That said, Amex also introduced several new perks in the same year, giving the card up to $929 in additional ongoing value after the first year. And while some of the Platinum card’s benefits and annual credits are pretty niche, you’ll have up to $2,733 in recurring perks each year to help recoup the annual fee.

The Amex Platinum also has a strong first-year value with one of the most valuable welcome offers currently available. However, based on the average person’s spending, we calculate that most people will only earn about $279 in rewards value each year via the card’s bonus categories when redeemed through Amex. This isn’t very impressive for an elite travel card, but the annual rewards value could be worth about $585 at 2.0 cents per point with the right transfer partner.

Even so, based on this breakdown of the card’s cost and value in the first year and beyond, you could offset its annual fee twice over after your first year if you’re able to take full advantage of the Platinum Card’s features.

To make your research easier, we’ve calculated the Amex Platinum card’s first-year and ongoing value based on our card scoring formula , a $22,500 annual spend and our latest point valuations (the baseline 1-cent value through Amex, in this table).

We tried it: Here’s what our experts say

According to Danyal Ahmed, a credit card writer at The Points Guy , the Amex Platinum card is a must-have for people who purchase airline tickets frequently. 

Whether I am flying for work or personal reasons, all my airfare is charged to the Amex Platinum which gives me a staggering 5 points per dollar and offers stellar travel protection in case I encounter any issues. The card overall provides many lifestyle benefits, but I would have to say earning and redeeming Membership Rewards points with phenomenal transfer partners is what I look forward to most. — Danyal Ahmed, Contributor, The Points Guy

How the American Express Platinum compares to other travel cards

Although few credit cards offer a list of benefits as long as the Platinum Card, many rivals can still go toe-to-toe thanks to their more robust rewards rates, practical perks and lower annual fee.

Recommended Credit Score

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Earn 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠. Earn 5x total points on flights through Chase Travel℠. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining. Earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

American Express® Gold Card

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.

Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X). Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.

The Platinum Card from American Express vs. Chase Sapphire® Reserve

Although it carries a much higher annual fee, the Platinum Card is often compared to luxury travel cards around the $500 annual fee price point, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Despite the Amex Platinum’s deeper features, the Sapphire Reserve is still a stiff competitor thanks to its lower $550 annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve gets an edge over the Amex Platinum with its flexible reward categories. The Sapphire Reserve earns unlimited 10X points on Chase Dining purchases, hotel bookings and car rentals through the Chase Travel℠ issuer portal — plus 3X points at restaurants and on all other eligible travel. However, Chase’s Sapphire Reserve card doesn’t carry as many yearly credits or airport lounge memberships as the Amex Platinum and most of the Reserve’s equivalent perks don’t continue beyond the first year.

But on the bright side, you’ll still get the same recurring TSA PreCheck/Global Entry application credit and Priority Pass Select membership with the Sapphire Reserve. Plus its annual $300 travel credit is much broader than the Platinum Card’s hotel and airline-oriented credits, since both are practically tied in terms of travel insurance.

One of the best reasons to look into the Sapphire Reserve is how much better (and more cost-efficiently) it pairs with Chase’s other rewards cards than the Amex Platinum pairs with other Amex cards. You'll also be able to redeem the rewards from the other Chase cards’ everyday expenses for Chase Travel through the Reserve for a 50 percent redemption value boost.

The Platinum Card from American Express vs. American Express® Gold Card

The American Express® Gold Card isn’t exactly a low-cost version of the Platinum Card, but its much lower $250 annual fee can make it a stronger option for loyal Amex travelers who can’t justify an intimidating $695 annual fee but still need the purchasing power its flexible spending limit provides

Naturally, the Amex Gold doesn’t carry as many travel perks, but you’ll receive 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel, along with solid travel protections and the same $100 hotel credit for consecutive stays of two or more nights at a property in The Hotel Collection booked through the issuer’s portal.

Foodies may prefer the American Express Gold Card since it’s one of the best cards for dining . You’ll earn unlimited 4X points at restaurants (including eligible delivery services like Uber Eats) and U.S. supermarkets, plus $120 in annual dining credits (enrollment required) and up to $120 in annual Uber Cash ($10 per month; expires at the end of that month).

Since the Amex Platinum’s bonus categories only reward flight and hotel purchases, pairing the Platinum Card with other point-earning American Express cards can shore up the Platinum Card’s weaknesses. Many offer more appealing rates in categories like dining, transit or U.S. supermarket purchases.

The Amex trifecta can be an incredibly lucrative strategy for racking up Membership Rewards points toward travel, but it definitely isn’t the most cost-effective or versatile credit card combination available for travelers. Unless you’re looking to maximize your travel value through Amex and you aren’t afraid of stacking up more annual fees, you might be better off pairing the American Express Platinum with rewards cards from another issuer.

American Express Gold Card

The American Express Gold Card is a popular partner. It shores up the Amex Platinum card’s narrow category selection by adding some of the best dining and U.S. supermarket and dining rewards rates to your category roster. The Amex Gold is especially handy since those two categories are already difficult to find on a single rewards card. 

This duo will also snag extra annual hotel fee credits, plus up to $240 in dining-related credits each year with participating merchants. Although adding the American Express Gold card’s additional $250 annual fee to your plate is intimidating, the card’s valuable dining perks alone almost make up for the cost.

Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

A flat-rate rewards card is key to many rewards card strategies, so the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a pillar of the Amex trifecta. This card earns 2X points on all purchases on the first $50,000 each year (then 1X points) — catching anything that doesn’t fit in the Gold or Platinum cards’ categories. 

If you don’t qualify for a business card, the closest flat-rate rewards alternative would be the American Express Cash Magnet® Card (1.5 percent cash back on all purchases). However, American Express doesn’t offer a consumer flat-rate card that earns Membership Rewards, so you may be better off with a more rewarding flat-rate cash back card . The Capital One Venture X or its lower-tier counterpart could be good flat-rate alternatives if you prefer travel rewards.

Who is the Amex Platinum right for?

Because of it’s hefty price tag, the Amex Platinum isn’t right for everyone. But if you fall into one of these groups, then it’s definitely worth considering for your wallet.

Frequent luxury travelers

The Platinum Card’s rich portfolio of travel features can smooth out your frequent trips with extensive travel insurance, several expedited airport security membership credits and an award-winning suit of travel assistance services.

Travel often enough, and you can make up for the card’s premium price tag with comfort-oriented perks, including first-class airport lounge access, credits for airline incidentals like upgrades and in-flight luxuries, complimentary hotel privileges and more.

Regular Marriott and Hilton hotel guests

The Amex Platinum is a one-card powerhouse if you often stay at Marriott or Hilton properties. On top of the 5X points at prepaid hotels through the American Express Travel portal, you can enjoy hundreds of dollars in recurring credits toward eligible stays, hotel purchases, amenities, upgrades and other privileges with potential Marriott and Hilton locations in The Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels + Resorts Program.

Plus, the Platinum Card grants you automatic access to Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status, which typically require many stays or two premium co-branded cards to qualify for. If you’re ever in a pinch and need a few extra points, the Hilton and Marriott loyalty programs are also Amex transfer partners.

Bankrate’s Take — Is the American Express Platinum worth it?

The American Express Platinum Card has remained a travel staple for a reason. It’s hard to beat this card’s rewards rate and luxury perks if you spend a lot of time traveling. Unlike airline cards, the rewards and credits you earn are valuable enough to be worthwhile for any flyer who likes a bit of luxury with their vacation.

However, a $695 annual fee still intimidates many cardholders, and for a good reason. The card’s yearly rewards value may be lower than that of competing cards based on the average person’s spending habits, and the card’s catalog of niche perks may not be practical for most people, making it harder to justify the annual fee.

If you can take advantage of its features, the American Express Platinum Card delivers exceptional value. If your spending doesn’t align with its perks, you should consider another card with more practical benefits at a lower annual fee.

Dig deeper: Is the American Express Platinum worth it?

Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

All information about American Express Cash Magnet Card and Citi Prestige Card has been collected independently by Bankrate and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.

For rates and fees of the Platinum Card from American Express, please click here . For rates and fees of the American Express Gold card, please click here .

How we rated this card

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). 

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:

Rewards value

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics . 

Based on this data, we determine a “chargeable” spend (which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards). This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

Flexibility

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

How much can you earn with the Amex Platinum?

Based on the formula we use to calculate each card’s average ongoing rewards value , the average cardholder will earn about $585 per year in Membership Rewards points with The Platinum Card from American Express (based on a $22,500 annual spend and high-value point transfers). Unfortunately, this reward’s yield isn’t nearly enough to recoup the $695 annual fee.

However, the Amex Platinum’s bonus perks and credits can offer about $2,733 each year in value.

How much do you have to spend to make the Amex Platinum card worth it?

Based on the issuer’s 1-cent American Express Travel airfare redemption value, you’d have to spend about $13,900 per year across your 5X airfare and hotel categories to offset the $695 annual fee. Based on our recent point valuations, which give Amex points an estimated average value of around 2.1 cents each when you transfer to its best travel partners, this spending requirement could drop to about $6,619 per year. Plus, the potentially more than $2,000 in total recurring benefits provide plenty of opportunities to help reduce the annual fee or offset it entirely. That way you won't have to rely entirely on rewards spending each year.

When do you have to pay the annual fee for the Amex Platinum card?

You’ll owe the first year’s annual fee upon opening your Platinum Card, and you’ll need to pay the annual fee on that anniversary date each year after.

Is the Amex Platinum card a credit card or charge card?

Charge cards — cards that don’t have a set limit like a credit card but must be paid off each month — have largely gone by the wayside. Although The Platinum Card and other premium Amex cards have flexible spending limits, the issuer’s Pay Over Time feature lets you revolve a balance (with interest charges) by toggling the setting in your account. Since that means the American Express Platinum Card is now more of a hybrid solution, it’s technically a “card with a flexible spending limit” instead of an actual credit or charge card.

What should your income be before applying for the Amex Platinum?

American Express doesn’t have an official income requirement for The Platinum Card, but the issuer will need to see that you’ll earn enough to pay off your card each month. You should also be comfortable spending heavily on airline and hotel travel throughout the year if you want to earn decent rewards. It’s more important to have a good-to-excellent credit score (670+ FICO score) when you apply. An excellent FICO score of 800 to 850 will give you the best approval odds for the Amex Platinum. If you want to gauge your approval odds without a hard credit check temporarily denting your credit score, Bankrate’s CardMatch™ tool may match you with the Amex Platinum — or possibly a pre-qualified or pre-approved Amex Platinum offer with an exclusive, higher-value intro bonus.

* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.

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How to Maximize the AmEx Platinum Hotel Credit

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As the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world in 2020, many credit card issuers rolled out new temporary benefits to help boost value to cardholders.

American Express was no exception, and offered a particularly generous perk: a $200 hotel credit for some holders of The Platinum Card® from American Express . They also extended the amount of time that new cardholders had to meet the minimum spending requirements by three months, then went on to add a bevvy of new incentives , like limited-time bonus rewards, streaming credits, wireless credits and a host of juicy AmEx offers .

Since I’m a travel enthusiast and credit card junkie (admittedly), I found myself flush with newfound perks and growing balances of bonus points from everyday shopping. The problem was, like many people, I wasn’t really traveling.

Here’s how I was able to make use of — and maximize — the $200 travel credit.

» Learn more: How credit card issuers are responding to COVID-19

About the $200 American Express travel credit

Some cardholders of The Platinum Card® from American Express who renewed their card became eligible for a credit up to $200 for travel booked through American Express Travel. Terms apply.

I didn’t give the credit much thought at first. Due to COVID-19 considerations, I had canceled all of my travel for the foreseeable future. Even when I do travel frequently in “normal” times, I rarely book through American Express. I generally prefer to transfer my Membership Rewards points to travel partners to get outsize value.

Still, $200 is a generous credit that I didn’t want to waste. And when my family was starting to go stir-crazy after months of quasi-lockdown, I set out to plan a safe “staycation” using the bonus AmEx travel credit.

How the booking portal, American Express Travel, works

American Express Travel is a booking portal available to cardholders to book flights, hotels, cruises, tours and flight + hotel package deals. When you log into your AmEx account, just click into your Rewards page and you can find the AmEx Travel portal.

When you make a booking through American Express Travel, you can choose to pay with either your Membership Rewards points or with cash.

If you hold The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express , you’ll earn 5x points when you use your card to charge travel in the AmEx travel. All other Membership Rewards-earning cards will earn 2x points on AmEx travel bookings. Terms apply.

If you choose to pay with points, they’ll be worth 1 cent each. This isn’t a great redemption value, since you can easily get more value for your points by transferring to AmEx’s travel partners . But when you consider that you will earn airline miles (and sometimes hotel points) when you book your trip through AmEx travel, the value jumps up a bit. That’s because the airline or hotel sees this as a “cash” booking rather than an “award” booking, even when you’re using your Membership Rewards.

» Learn more: Best American Express credit cards

How I got out-sized value from my travel credit

Since my family was staying grounded during the pandemic, we decided to take a “staycation” in a nearby hotel. And since we had missed most of our planned travel in 2020, we decided to use the $200 credit toward a splurge for luxury.

When I started hunting for hotel options in the American Express Travel portal, the first several hotels that appeared in my search were designated as being part of the Fine Hotels & Resorts program.

Available only to cardholders of The Platinum Card® from American Express , The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and the Centurion Card from American Express, the FHR program offers extra benefits, including:

Early check-in.

4 p.m. checkout.

Room upgrade (based on availability).

Daily breakfast for two.

$100 property credit (varies by hotel, but dining and spa credits are common).

Since my $200 AmEx credit would cover anything booked through AmEx Travel — including a hotel in the FHR program — I knew I could pack even more value when I combined the benefits.

We decided on a “staycation” night at the luxurious St. Regis close to where we live.

When booked through AmEx travel, the room was going for $349 a night. To be clear, booking a hotel through FHR doesn't always give you the lowest rate. If booked directly, a room at this same hotel could have cost $308 for that same night.

But the added benefits from booking through FHR can usually outweigh the added cost.

Here’s how my AmEx travel booking broke down. The room rate was $349, but by booking a FHR property through AmEx travel I got:

The Platinum Card® from American Express credit: $200.

Property credit: $100.

Breakfast credit: $60.

My family got the red-carpet treatment at the St. Regis. We were able to check in early at 11 a.m. to kick off our staycation, and we were upgraded to a larger room with a prime view.

The $100 property credit at this hotel was good for a food and beverage credit, so we used it to splurge on a fancy, socially-distanced tea party, to the sheer delight of our two young kids.

Photo courtesy of Erin Hurd

In the morning, we were informed that we would be given $60 in breakfast credits from our booking. Even at St. Regis prices, that credit was enough for all four of us to enjoy a light breakfast.

At checkout, we had a few incidental charges, including valet parking, that we needed to pay for out of pocket. Since St. Regis is a Marriott brand, I used my Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card for those charges. The card comes with up to $300 in credits for eligible purchases at Marriott hotels. In September, the $300 Marriott credit will be replaced with a new benefit of up to $300 in statement credits per calendar year (up to $25 per month) for eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide. Terms apply.

The bottom line

This staycation was certainly not free, since I pay a hefty $695 annual fee to hold The Platinum Card® from American Express . But by booking a room through American Express’ Fine Hotels & Resorts program, I was able to get even more value from the extra $200 travel credit. Terms apply.

Though earning hotel points can sometimes be hit-or-miss with FHR bookings, I was pleasantly surprised a few days after checkout to see that I had earned Marriott Bonvoy points and an elite night credit on this booking.

If you have The Platinum Card® from American Express and are eligible, make sure you remember to use your extra $200 AmEx travel credit whenever you’re ready to travel again. The credit is good for travel through the end of 2021. Check your AmEx account to see if you have the offer, or contact customer service through online chat or over the phone to confirm your eligibility.

To view rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, see this page .

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

On a similar note...

The best way to spend your Amex points, according to the experts

Visit Telegraph Money

Your complete guide to being better off

American Express, or “Amex”, credit cards have made their way into millions of wallets since they first landed in Britain in 1963. Sixty years on and there are still tricks little known to most users that can boost your points far more than you might think.

In their flashy platinum, gold and British Airways branding, Amex cards have become one of the most popular cashback and rewards cards, as well as a status symbol. But are Amex as good as they seem, and are they worth it for everyone?

Here, Telegraph Money explains everything you need to know about the cards and how you can make the most of your points.

Where is Amex accepted?

You can use your Amex card in a large number of retailers across the country, and 66 million businesses globally, but not everywhere. 

For example, it’s accepted at every major supermarket chain in the UK, including Aldi and Lidl. You can also use your card at the Post Office, Argos and Airbnb (in most countries).

In the past few years B&M, Timpson, B&Q, H&M, Dulux and Lego have also started taking Amex payments. In 2023, Amex signed acceptance agreements with a host of further retailers including Savers, McColl’s and Morrisons Daily convenience stores.

Acceptance in charity shops has also recently expanded, and attractions such as Chester Zoo, The London Dungeon and Alton Towers now take Amex payments. 

Where can I use Amex points?

The Amex Membership Rewards scheme is available with certain cards, where you can earn points with eligible card spending.

You can spend your Amex Membership Rewards points online at over 1,000 retailers including Currys, Amazon and Holland & Barrett, order gift cards from a number of well-known brands and book travel on the American Express Travel website. 

You can also use the points as credit to clear your credit card balance. 

Alternatively, points can be donated to more than 9,000 charities via JustGiving or transferred to other travel and hotel loyalty programmes, such as Avios, Virgin Points, Emirates Skywards, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors points. Amex points converted to Avios can then be switched for Nectar points, too. 

The points you earn depend on what card you have, but the basic offering is typically one point per £1 spent on purchases. There is usually a generous bonus for signing up, which is currently as high as 60,000 points on the Platinum card.

Is it actually worth getting an Amex card?

Not for everyone, according to Rob Burgess, editor of travel and credit card rewards website Head for Points. 

While the lure of bonus points for signing up and making purchases are attractive, when it comes to spending them, the best rewards – flights, hotel rooms and Eurostar seats – require high levels of points. 

Mr Burgess said: “Unless you are spending £100,000 a year on credit cards, Amex points are likely to be used to top up an existing Avios or other travel rewards balance, rather than provide 100pc of the points you need for a free flight or room.  

“Once you’ve spent your card sign-up bonus, most people will struggle to generate enough points for free flights or hotel rooms purely from card spend.”

But if you’re not interested in travel, the best reward is probably a little known trick transferring Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios to Nectar, Sainsbury’s loyalty reward scheme, which gets you 0.66p of Nectar points per Amex point.

This beats the 0.45p per Amex point if you take statement credit and 0.5p per Amex point if you redeem for retailer gift cards. Oddly, it also beats the 0.5p per Amex point you get if you move Amex points directly to Nectar.

Secondly, customers should be mindful of the cost of borrowing on an American Express card.

Mr Burgess said: “As all Amex cards have high interest rates compared to the cheapest cards on the market, they’re not a great option for anyone who doesn’t repay their bill in full every month. This knocks out the 65pc of the UK population who don’t clear their balance every single month without fail.”

Thirdly, as Amex isn’t accepted everywhere, you’ll always need to take an alternative debit Visa or Mastercard card out with you anyway. 

Would an Amex card work for me?

With some cards, you can work out yourself if they are worth it based on your spend and the points you can earn.

There are 16 Amex cards to choose from, so it can be quite tough to know which one best suits you. You need to make sure you pay them off in full each month as, in most cases, the interest rates are comparatively high.

Here is a selection of the most popular and their benefits.

Amex Rewards Credit Card 

One of the most basic of Amex credit cards is the Rewards card. It doesn’t have an upfront cost. 

New members receive 10,000 Amex Rewards points if they spend £2,000 in their first three months. For everyday use, you earn one point for every £1 spent. You can also earn 4,000 points if you invite a friend and they are approved for a card.

The Amex Rewards Credit Card’s representative APR is 31pc variable.

Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card 

The Amex Gold card is free in the first year, but has an annual fee of £195 from year two onwards. In exchange, there are freebies and potential extra points up for grabs.

New cardholders get a bonus of 20,000 Rewards points for spending £3,000 in the first three months. You can get three points for every £1 spent on American Express Travel (where members can book flights, hotels and make other travel purchases), two points for each £1 spent directly with airlines, and one point for every £1 spent elsewhere. 

You can also get up to 12,500 bonus points each year.

The card comes with four free Priority Pass airport lounge visits each year, and the chance to get £5 back on eligible Deliveroo purchases twice a month.

The Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card has a representative APR of 88.8pc variable.

Amex Platinum Card 

The next step up the ladder after gold is the platinum card, which comes with an annual fee of £650. This is predominantly aimed at big spenders who travel a lot.

For the high  price, there are a number of perks available, which repeat each year, including Priority Pass airport lounge access, £150 credit to spend at UK restaurants, £150 credit to spend at international restaurants, £100 Harvey Nichols credit and worldwide family travel insurance. The credit benefits alone add up to £600, more than covering the cost of the card – but they may not appeal to everyone.

If you spend £6,000 in the first three months on the Amex Platinum Card you can earn 40,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. 

The Platinum Card has a representative APR of 704.6pc variable.

The best ways to spend your Amex points

Transfer your points to air miles.

Consider switching Amex Membership Rewards Points to airline miles. The value depends on which scheme you opt for but expect 1:1 conversions for Avios, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Flying Blue, Qantas and SAS, and 3:2 for Singapore Airlines. 

The value of your points will depend on a number of factors including your destination, cabin and what class or airline you’d opt for if you weren’t using points. 

Be mindful, only high spenders will be able to earn enough air miles purely from card spend to get premium cabin free flights.

Switch to Club Eurostar points

Club Eurostar lets you use points on any train – if there is a seat available, you can pay for it in points. Mr Burgess values one Club Eurostar point at 12p and the 15:1 transfer rate from Amex points to Club Eurostar points means you are getting 0.8p per point. 

He said: “As with airline miles, you will find that your points have substantially more value if your lifestyle means that you are likely to need to travel at short notice when cash fares are higher.”

Convert to Nectar

Swap your Amex points to Avios and then to Nectar and get 0.66p per point if you use them at Sainsbury’s, eBay or Argos.

You can convert 50,000 Avios per month to Nectar at a rate of 300:400. This is more lucrative than transferring Amex points directly into Nectar which only gets you 0.5p per Amex point. 

Converting via Avios first results in a 32pc increase in points.

Amex does also offer a designated Nectar Credit Card, which is free in the first year (£30 in year two onwards). 

New members can get 20,000 Nectar points when they spend £2,000 in the first three months. You earn two Nectar points for every £1 spent.

This article was first published on May 7 2023, and has since been updated.

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Is the Amex Business Platinum card worth it?

Amex business platinum card rewards, amex business platinum card benefits, amex business platinum card fees, rates & limit, how the amex business platinum card compares, is the amex business platinum card right for me, how do i apply for the amex business platinum card, faq: amex business platinum card.

Amex Business Platinum Card Review 2024: Is It Worth It?

• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers a chance to earn 5x points on travel and rack up points on everyday business spending too.
• Card members can benefit from more than $1,000 in statement credits every year.
• This card does come with an annual fee of $695 ( see rates and fees ).
• You can carry a balance for some charges with the Pay Over Time feature, but not for all.

At first glance, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express comes with a high admission price — its annual fee is almost $700. However, when you dig into the benefits, you find out that it also comes with more than $1,000 in statement credits annually and ample opportunity for earning valuable points. That’s especially true if you book travel for yourself or your employees regularly.

Find out more about this card to decide if it’s right for you in our Amex Business Platinum card review.

We’ll take a look at:

• How you can maximize rewards with this card
• What types of statement credits you can get
• Whether this is a charge card or credit card
• How to apply for the Amex Business Platinum card
• Excellent welcome offer
• Easy to earn points
• Great travel benefits
• No intro APR offer
• Hefty $695 annual fee
• High spending requirement for welcome offer

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express may be worth it for business owners who travel frequently and can take advantage of its premium travel benefits, such as Amex lounge access worldwide. It also comes with high point earnings on select purchases, which makes it a great option for businesses that spend on more than just travel.

However, this American Express card does come with a substantial annual fee of $695. This makes it less appealing for small businesses that don’t usually spend much on travel. In these cases, you may prefer another business credit card better suited to your organization.

Amex Business Platinum pros and cons

• A generous welcome offer
• 5x points on prepaid flights and hotels booked through American Express Travel
• Comprehensive travel benefits including access to Amex lounges worldwide
• Up to $1,400 in credits, including for airline fees, Dell purchases and more
• A high annual fee of $695
• A more complex rewards system that requires careful management and an understanding of your options
• Requires good to excellent credit

Learn more about the Amex Business Platinum card

Terms apply / Rates & fees

As the flagship business rewards card , the Amex Business Platinum offers an excellent rewards structure, especially if you book regular travel for yourself or your staff. 

Welcome offer

You can earn 120,000 Membership Rewards Points when you spend $15,000 in the first three months of holding this card. 

The value of rewards points depends on how and when you redeem them, but the average is around 1 cent per point. That means this welcome offer has a potential value of around $1,200.

Earn Amex Business Platinum rewards

You can earn valuable rewards points outside of the welcome offer too, including:

• 5x points when you book prepaid flights and hotel stays through American Express Travel
• 1.5x points on certain business expenses, such as electronic goods, construction and hardware expenses, software subscriptions and expenses and shipping
• 1.5x points on any purchase of $5,000 or more
• 1x points on all other purchases

Redeem Amex Business Platinum reward points

You can redeem Amex Platinum Business card rewards in a variety of ways, providing flexibility on how you use these perks. 

Some options include:

• Booking travel.  When you use your rewards to book through American Express Travel, you typically get the most value per point.
• Transferring points. Amex lets you transfer points to hotel and airline rewards programs, including Delta, Marriott Bonvoy and Virgin Atlantic. You need at least 500 points to transfer and must transfer in increments of 250 points.
• Shopping.  You can use your points to purchase gift cards and merchandise.
• Receiving a statement credit. Request a conversion to cash back and get a statement credit using your points.
• Donating to charity. In some cases, you can redeem points for charity donations—a benefit that could help with goodwill for your business. 

In addition to a pretty strong rewards structure, the American Express Business Platinum card offers some great benefits for business card members . 

Travel benefits

Amex is known for its travel cards , and the Amex Business Platinum is no exception.

Some travel benefits you can get with this card include:

• American Express Global Lounge Collection.  Platinum cardholders get access to Amex lounges across the globe, making business travel more enjoyable. 
• Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status. You can leverage our card membership status to upgrade to Elite status with this hotel rewards program without meeting stay requirements. That can help you earn free nights and other perks faster. 
• Hilton Honors Gold status.  Not a Marriott Bonvoy member? That’s okay because you get a similar benefit with Hilton’s hotel rewards program. 
• Fine Hotels & Resorts program.  When booking luxury and other hotel stays through American Express Travel, you can get hundreds of dollars in perks and upgrades, making any stay more enjoyable. 
• Travel insurance. By paying for travel expenses with your Amex Platinum Business card, you get automatic Amex travel coverage that helps mitigate losses due to delayed or canceled trips, interruptions during travel, damage to rental cards or lost or delayed baggage.

Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/​benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

Statement credits

The Amex Business Platinum card comes with a bevy of statement perks every year to help your business save money. 

Options include:

• Indeed statement credit. You can get up to $90 back each quarter on purchases you make with Indeed as you work to round out your staff. This credit opportunity is through December 2024.
• Dell statement credit.  Through December 2024, you can earn up to $400 on purchases with Dell in the United States. You can earn up to $200 semi-annually.
• Adobe statement credit.  If you use your Amex Platinum Business card to pay for an auto-renewing Adobe subscription, you can get up to $150 back in statement credits per year.
• Wireless services statement credit. You can get up to $120 back per year when you use your Business Platinum card to pay for services with a U.S.-based wireless phone carrier. 
• Airline fee credit.  You can get up to $200 in credits on airline fees, including baggage fees. You’ll need to choose one airline and spend with that airline to get these perks.
• CLEAR plus credit.  Earn up to $189 back on CLEAR Plus membership annually when you pay with this card.
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit.  Get up to $100 in statement credit every 4.5 years to help cover the cost of either Global Entry or TSA Precheck .

Shopping protections

Using your Amex Business Platinum to make purchases for your company ensures you’re backed by numerous shopping protections.

These protections include:

• Extended warranty. When you use this card to purchase items that have a manufacturer’s warranty of five years or less, you get extended coverage for up to one year. That means if your business laptop, printer, copy machine, or other covered item breaks right after the manufacturer’s warranty is up — as often happens — you’re still covered. 
• Purchase protection. Use your Amex card to purchase items and get peace of mind knowing you can get reimbursed for losses if the item is damaged in an accident or stolen. This coverage is good for up to $10,000 per incident and a total benefit of $50,000 per year.
• Return protection.  If you can’t return your item to a vendor, you may be able to return it directly to Amex and get a refund. 
• Cell phone protection.  Amex coverage will reimburse you for replacement or repair of a damaged cell phone up to $800 total minus a $50 deductible. You can use this benefit up to two times annually as long as you are paying your cell phone bill with your Amex card.

So far, the Amex Business Platinum is stacking up to sound like a great option. But you need to understand the fee structure to know if all those rewards and statement credit opportunities actually end up profiting your business. 

Business Platinum Card from American Express fees

With Amex, huge perks and rewards usually come at a price, and that’s true with this card. The annual fee is $695. However, you can add up to 99 employee cards at no additional fee, and spending on those cards also earns rewards ( see rates and fees ).

Other fees you may pay with this credit card include:

• $39 or 2.99% of any past due balance when you make a late payment, whichever is greater
• $39 if your payment is ever returned

You won’t pay foreign transaction fees if you make purchases outside of the United States.

Business Platinum Card from American Express interest rates

With this card, Amex offers a Pay Over Time feature that lets you carry a balance over time at an APR of 19.49% to 27.49% variable, depending on your creditworthiness. This feature is only available on certain purchases and is limited by a Pay Over Time Limit, which works similarly to a credit limit. 

If you make late payments, you may be assessed a penalty APR of 29.99% variable for 12 billing cycles. The penalty APR applies if you make two or more late payments within 12 months, you have a returned payment or you fail to make a minimum payment at all within an entire statement cycle. 

Business Platinum Card from American Express credit limit

This card doesn’t come with a preset spending limit. The amount you can spend at any one time depends on your credit history and your management of American Express credit card accounts, including this one. As you demonstrate responsible account management, you can typically increase your credit limit . 

Note that the Pay Over Time benefit does come with a limit. This limit might also change as you demonstrate a responsible payment history. You can call Amex to discuss your limits and how much you would like to be able to spend.

While it’s one of the most costly when it comes to an annual fee, the Amex Business Platinum is among the top business rewards cards on the market. It offers plenty of statement credits, rewards opportunities and card member perks, and you may find that you get more benefits from this card than others.

The Business Platinum Card from American Express vs. American Express® Business Gold Card

For businesses that can’t maximize Platinum card perks, an American Express Business Gold Card might be a better option. The annual fee for this card is only $375 ( see rates and fees ), and you earn 4x points on two spending categories you select, 3x points on flights and hotels booked through American Express Travel and 1x points on other purchases. You can also get a welcome offer of 70,000 bonus points when you spend $10,000 in the first three months.

It’s worth noting that you can only earn 4x points in your selected categories on a total of $150,000 in spending annually. After that, spending in those categories earns 1x points. 

While the Business Gold card doesn’t offer quite the same level of perks and statement credits that the Platinum card does, you can still earn $155 in Walmart+ credit and $20 monthly credits for eligible business expenses. 

The Business Gold card also utilizes Pay Over Time features, and the rates and fee structures on this card are the same as they are for the Platinum card. 

Read our full Amex Business Gold card review

The Amex Business Platinum card holds a lot of enticing benefits, but it’s best for businesses that have higher spending budgets. If you’re only spending a few thousand each month, you probably won’t maximize the rewards and perks on this card, making that $695 annual fee a financial albatross.

Explore these alternatives if you’re not convinced the Amex Business Platinum card if the right fit for you:

• Amex Blue Business Cash Card review
• Amex Blue Business Plus Card Review
• Amex Plum Card Review

You can also check out Chase business cards or Capital One Spark business cards to learn more about your options with other card issuers.

You can learn more about the Amex Business Platinum card and apply online. The application typically only takes a few minutes and requires information such as your full name, Social Security or tax ID number, business name, address and contact information, and some basic information about your business revenue or finances. In some cases, Amex might ask for more information, and you may need to provide documents like tax paperwork or checking account statements.

This card requires good or excellent credit . People with credit scores of 700 or higher have the best chance of being approved for this card, but other factors, such as income and overall credit history, are factors in approval.

What credit score do you need for an American Express Business Platinum Card?

You need good or excellent credit to get approved for this card, and a higher score improves your chances. Look to apply for this card if you have a score of 700 or higher. If your score is lower, you may want to consider other options.

How much does the American Express Business Platinum Card cost each year?

The annual fee on this card is $695. However, if you maximize statement credit and rewards opportunities, you can balance out that cost and end up earning with this card.

Can you carry a balance on Amex Business Platinum?

Yes, you can carry some balances forward using the Pay Over Time feature. You must pay other balances off every statement cycle.

How do you redeem American Express Platinum points?

You can redeem American Express points earned with the Platinum card on travel, as statement credits or for various other purchases, including gift cards. Redeem points for travel via American Express Travel or by transferring the points to a hotel or airline loyalty rewards program that participates with Amex.

What type of business do I need to get an American Express Business Platinum Card?

Amex accepts applications from all types of business owners. You can apply as a sole proprietor even if you are the only employee of your business, for example. Whether you are approved has less to do with your business type and more to do with your credit history, business income and ability to make your statement payments.

What airport lounges do I have access to with my American Express Business Platinum Card?

Card members can access more than 1,400 airport lounges across the globe. That includes Aspire, Escape, Plaza Premium, Delta Sky Club and Priority Pass lounges. Some lounges require you to enroll in a program or be flying a certain airline that day.

Sarah Stasik is well versed in personal finance thanks to her previous role as a Revenue Cycle Manager for a Fortune 500 healthcare company. Using her inside knowledge and expertise, Sarah often covers topics ranging from insurance and the economics of private healthcare to personal finance and small business management.

Over the past 12 years, Sarah has contributed to numerous publications in the personal and small business finance sector, including content on budgeting, bankruptcy, small business accounting, and financial tech. Her writing focuses on making complex or seemingly daunting financial topics more accessible and providing helpful, relevant resources for readers.

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Credit Cards

American Express Business Platinum benefits guide 2024

Ashley Barnett

“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

Robin Saks Frankel

Published 6:04 a.m. UTC April 9, 2024

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With an eye-watering $695 annual fee (terms apply), there’s no denying that The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. is an expensive card. But without a doubt, it’s also one of the best business travel cards , thanks to its extensive array of perks and ability to earn flexible, valuable Membership Rewards® points . Although the annual fee is high, it’s offset by valuable perks like statement credits, airport lounge access and top-notch travel and purchase protection¹.

All information about The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint.

Amex Business Platinum Card overview

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. is one of the best cards for high-end travel benefits, lifestyle perks and ways to make your business run more smoothly. Of course, it all comes at a significant cost (a $695 annual fee). Therefore, it’s important to assess the card’s features to see if it’s worth it for you and your business. 

Those features include access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, elite status with select hotel and rental car partners, airline fee statement credit and CLEAR ® Plus reimbursement, business-focused statement credits like Dell, Adobe, Indeed and much more. Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Looking for an Amex Business card with a less-lofty annual fee? Our list of the best American Express business cards will help you choose the right one for you.

Major Amex Business Platinum Card benefits

Travel benefits .

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , like the consumer version, The Platinum Card® from American Express , is a powerhouse for premium travel benefits. Let’s break it down: 

• Airport lounge access: You will have access to a wide range of airport lounges. They include The Centurion® Lounge ; Delta Sky Club® lounges (when flying on a same-day Delta flight; limited to 10 annual visits starting Feb. 1, 2025); Priority Pass Select lounges upon enrollment (but not Priority Pass restaurants); Escape Lounges — The Centurion Studio Partner; Plaza Premium lounges and Lufthansa lounges when flying Lufthansa Group (access varies depending on what airline and cabin you’re flying).
• Hotel elite status: You’ll receive complimentary Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status with enrollment. This offers benefits such as 25% bonus points on eligible hotel purchases, complimentary in-room Wi-Fi access and room upgrades at select properties (when available).
• Rental car elite status: You’ll get complimentary elite status with Avis Preferred Plus, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle and National Emerald Club Executive. One of the best parts of elite status, at select locations, is the ability to skip the line and go straight to your car at the start of your rental. In addition, you may receive car upgrades and waived second driver fees. Enrollment is required.
• Other hotel benefits: You will also get access to Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection programs through Amex Travel. Perks include complimentary breakfast for two (varies by property), early check-in when available, late checkout, complimentary Wi-Fi and room upgrades when available (certain rooms may not be eligible for upgrade). At select properties, you’ll also receive an experience credit of at least $100. The credit can be used towards purchases of on-site services, such as dining or spa treatments. Experience credits vary by property and will be applied to eligible charges up to the amount of the credit.
• Airline fee credit: You’ll receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for incidental airline fees charged to your card. One qualifying airline must first be selected in advance before receiving this benefit, which can cover fees such as changes and cancellations, seat selection, upgrades, checked bags, lounge access and more.
• CLEAR Plus reimbursement: You can get a credit for up to $189 per calendar year for Clear Plus membership fees. No advance enrollment is required for this benefit; pay with your Business Platinum card to automatically receive a statement credit.
• TSA PreCheck/Global Entry reimbursement : You’ll also receive statement credits to reimburse your application fees for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85). This benefit is available every 4 years for Global Entry or every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck.
• Pay with Points airline bonus: With The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , you’ll get 35% of your points back (3.5 extra points for every 10 points redeemed – up to 1,000,000 bonus points per calendar year) when booking a flight with points through Amex Travel. This applies to flights in any cabin on your selected qualifying airline, or for first or business class flights on any airline.

Small business benefits 

As a small business card, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. offers tailored statement credits and perks to help companies run more smoothly (enrollment is required for select benefits):

• Adobe statement credit: You’ll get up to $150 back in Adobe statement credits for eligible annual prepaid business plans for Creative Cloud for teams or Acrobat Pro DC with e-sign for teams through Dec. 31, 2024.
• Dell statement credit: You can get up to $200 back semi-annually ($400 per year) on U.S. purchases with Dell technologies through Dec. 31, 2024. 
• Indeed statement credit: Through Dec. 31, 2024, you can also get up to $90 back quarterly ($360 per year) via statement credits for purchases with Indeed.
• Wireless credit: You’ll receive up to $10 back per month ($120 per year) in statement credits for wireless telephone service purchases made directly through a wireless provider in the U.S. on your Business Platinum card.

Insurance and protection benefits

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. has a robust array of travel and purchase protections¹. These include: 

• Trip delay insurance: Trip delay insurance applies to eligible round-trip travel expenses paid for with the Business Platinum. Coverage is good for up to $500 per trip, and for incidental expenses that apply (including meals, lodging, toiletries, medication and more) when a trip is delayed by six hours or longer. You are eligible to file two claims per 12-month period.²
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance: Trip cancellation and interruption insurance will apply to eligible round-trip travel purchases charged to the Business Platinum card. This coverage is good for up to $10,000 per covered trip with a maximum benefit of $20,000 per eligible card every 12 months.³
• Baggage insurance: You’ll get automatic baggage insurance when paying with the card on a common carrier (like an airline or cruise line). This coverage is good for up to $2,000 per person for checked baggage and up to a combined $3,000 per person for checked and carry-on baggage.⁴
• Cellphone protection: Paying your cellphone bill with your card provides cellphone protection. There is a maximum of $800 liability per claim, and each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. There’s also a limit of two claims per eligible account in a 12-month period. You can maximize this perk by combining it with the wireless credit benefit above.⁵

Bonus points for spending

While The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. isn’t the best card to use for all spending categories, there are certain instances where it does make sense to use it — like on flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel, as well as on large purchases — cardholders earn: 

• 5 Membership Rewards points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels through American Express Travel.
• 1.5 points per $1 at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers, shipping providers, and purchases of $5,000 or more on up to $2 million per calendar year.
• 1 point per $1 on other eligible purchases.

Additional benefits worth noting

• Global Dining Access with Resy: Global Dining Access perks include Priority Notify at all of Resy’s thousands of restaurants worldwide. This gives you special access to primetime tables at many of the most in-demand restaurants across the U.S. and internationally.
• Secondary Auto Insurance Coverage: Rental cars booked with The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. receive secondary car rental loss and damage insurance⁶. Consider getting a credit card with primary rental car insurance if you want primary, as compared to secondary, coverage.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Yes, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. has access to over 1,400 airport lounge locations worldwide with the Amex Global Lounge Collection.

First, to make the most of the Amex Business Platinum, be sure to maximize your points potential by meeting the minimum spending requirements to earn a welcome bonus.

Then, enroll your card in the statement credit offers such as those with Adobe, Indeed, Dell, select U.S. wireless telephone service providers, CLEAR and more. Also, sign up for hotel and rental car elite status programs that are included with the Business Platinum. Travelers will want to utilize lounge access, Resy benefits and more. 

Maximize the points you earn by putting larger purchases on The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. . Beyond earning as many points as possible, you’ll also want to maximize the value upon redemption .

Both cards serve different purposes. While The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. is geared more towards frequent travelers with more premium perks like lounge access, the American Express® Business Gold Card * The information for the American Express® Business Gold Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. (terms apply) is tailored to those with high spending who may not travel as frequently.

Overall, it’s better to spend on the Amex Business Gold card, with bonus-earning spending categories that include purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media, U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, transit purchases such as taxis or rideshare, and more.

All information about American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. does not come with a traditional preset spending limit. The amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history.

Yes, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. comes with travel insurance, including trip delay insurance², trip cancellation and interruption insurance³ and baggage insurance⁴.

The publicly available offer for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express * The information for the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. waxes and wanes. The current offer is for 120,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases in the first three months of card membership. However, you may be targeted for even higher offers through your Amex account or via a tool like Cardmatch or even mailers.

¹Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

²Up to $500 per Covered Trip that is delayed for more than 6 hours; and 2 claims per Eligible Card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

³The maximum benefit amount for Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance is $10,000 per Covered Trip and $20,000 per Eligible Card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

⁴Baggage Insurance Plan coverage can be in effect for Covered Persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen Baggage during their travel on a Common Carrier Vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the Entire Fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an Eligible Card. Coverage can be provided for up to $2,000 for checked Baggage and up to a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on Baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the Common Carrier. The coverage is also subject to a $3,000 aggregate limit per Covered Trip. For New York State residents, there is a $2,000 per bag/suitcase limit for each Covered Person with a $10,000 aggregate maximum for all Covered Persons per Covered Trip.Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

⁵Coverage for a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per Eligible Card Account. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Eligible Card Account per 12 month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

⁶Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

*The information for the American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Chris Dong is a travel, loyalty, and credit cards reporter. He has covered travel and personal finance content for national print and digital publications including The Washington Post, Business Insider, The Points Guy, Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Condé Nast Traveler, Lonely Planet, and more. When he’s not on the road, Chris calls Los Angeles home after nearly 10 years in New York City.

Ashley Barnett has been writing and editing personal finance articles for the internet since 2008. Before editing for USA TODAY Blueprint, she was the Content Director for an international media company leading the content on their suite of personal finance sites. She lives in Phoenix, AZ where you can find her rereading Harry Potter for the 100th time.

Robin Saks Frankel is a credit cards lead editor at USA TODAY Blueprint. Previously, she was a credit cards and personal finance deputy editor for Forbes Advisor. She has also covered credit cards and related content for other national web publications including NerdWallet, Bankrate and HerMoney. She's been featured as a personal finance expert in outlets including CNBC, Business Insider, CBS Marketplace, NASDAQ's Trade Talks and has appeared on or contributed to The New York Times, Fox News, CBS Radio, ABC Radio, NPR, International Business Times and NBC, ABC and CBS TV affiliates nationwide. She holds an M.S. in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University. Follow her on Twitter at @robinsaks.

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Full List of Travel Insurance Benefits for the Amex Platinum Card [2024]

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Amex Platinum Card Overview

Standard car rental coverage, premium car rental protection coverage, trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, baggage insurance, emergency medical transport and evacuation — complimentary coverages, additional medical assistance, other hotline services, filing a claim, final thoughts.

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Frequent travelers who are interested in premium travel benefits and solid reward-earning opportunities gravitate to The Platinum Card ® from American Express . The card, as well as The Business Platinum Card ® from American Express , has been the go-to card for meeting travelers’ earning, redemption, and benefits needs.

We frequently cover Membership Rewards points-earning opportunities , as well as a multitude of ways to maximize the redemption options . We’ve even done a deep dive into getting the most from statement credits offered by Amex cards.

Next up in our collection of articles focusing on the valuable perks that come with the Amex Platinum card is the card’s travel insurance benefits. Insurance can be inherently confusing in general and the insurance coverages that come with credit cards can be equally so.

Fortunately, even a quick overview will give you some insight as to the insurance coverages you can expect on the Amex Platinum card. So, right here and now, we’re stepping up to deliver just that.

Let’s take a look at exactly which insurances come with the card, how these benefits can provide a level of peace of mind, and find out what situations might trigger the coverage to provide economic value.

It’s important to have a little background on the card to put its coverage into context. Here are important card details, including the current welcome bonus and annual fee.

The Platinum Card ® from American Express

The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better card out there than The Platinum Card ® from American Express.

Make no mistake — the Amex Platinum card  is a premium card with a premium price tag. With amazing benefits like best-in-class airport lounge access , hotel elite status, and tremendous value in annual statement credits, it can easily prove to be one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet year after year.

• The best airport lounge access out of any card (by far) — enjoy access to over 1,400 worldwide lounges, including the luxurious Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and many more!
• 5x points per dollar spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com
• Annual and monthly statement credits upon enrollment ( airline credit, Uber Cash credit, Saks Fifth Avenue credit, streaming credit, prepaid hotel credit on eligible stays, Walmart+ credit, CLEAR credit, and Equinox credit )
• TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit
• Access to American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts
• Access to Amex International Airline Program
• No foreign transaction fees ( rates and fees )
• $695 annual fee ( rates and fees )
• Airline credit does not cover airfare (only incidentals like checked bags)
• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards ® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card ® , Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu.
• Earn 5X Membership Rewards ® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards ® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts ® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card ® . The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card ® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Cover the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) with a statement credit after you pay for Walmart+ each month with your Platinum Card ® . Cost includes $12.95 plus applicable local sales tax. Plus Up Benefits are excluded.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Platinum Card ® .
• $200 Uber Cash: Enjoy Uber VIP status and up to $200 in Uber savings on rides or eats orders in the US annually. Uber Cash and Uber VIP status is available to Basic Card Member only. Terms Apply.
• $300 Equinox Credit: Get up to $300 back in statement credits per calendar year on an Equinox membership, or an Equinox club membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you pay with your Platinum Card ® . Enrollment required. Visit https://platinum.equinox.com/ to enroll.
• $189 CLEAR ® Plus Credit: Breeze through security with CLEAR Plus at 100+ airports, stadiums, and entertainment venues nationwide and get up to $189 back per calendar year on your Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Platinum Card ® . Learn more.
• $100 Global Entry Credit: Receive either a $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck ® (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Platinum Card ® . Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Shop Saks with Platinum: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card ® . That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
• $300 SoulCycle At-Home Bike Credit: Get a $300 statement credit for the purchase of a SoulCycle at-home bike with your Platinum Card ® . An Equinox+ subscription is required to purchase a SoulCycle at-home bike and access SoulCycle content. Must charge full price of bike in one transaction. Shipping available in the contiguous U.S. only. Enrollment Required.
• Unlock access to exclusive reservations and special dining experiences with Global Dining Access by Resy when you add your Platinum Card ® to your Resy profile.
• $695 annual fee.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

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American Express Membership Rewards

• Amex Platinum 150k Welcome Bonus Offer
• Benefits of The Amex Platinum
• How to Use 100,000 Amex Platinum Points
• Amex Platinum Card Requirements
• American Express Platinum Military Benefits
• Amex Platinum and Business Platinum Lounge Access
• Amex Platinum Benefits for Authorized Users
• Amex Platinum vs Delta Platinum
• Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Capital One Venture X vs Amex Platinum
• Amex Platinum vs Delta Reserve

Hot Tip:  Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 125k (or 150k) points with the Amex Platinum. The current public offer is 80,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

The Amex Platinum card comes with complimentary standard car rental insurance that provides secondary coverage when using your card to reserve and pay for your entire rental car contract. You also have the option to purchase premium primary car rental coverage .

For either coverage to be valid, you must decline the rental car agency’s LDW (loss damage waiver) or CDW (collision damage waiver) coverage when renting the vehicle.

Here’s an overview of how both of these coverages work:

Secondary (standard) coverage means that you must first file a claim with any other applicable insurance you might have before the card coverage applies.

You can expect to receive excess secondary coverage for these losses:

• Damage to and theft of the vehicle
• Personal property up to $1,000 per person/$2,000 per accident
• Accidental injury up to $5,000 per claimant
• Accidental death/dismemberment up to $300,000

This is just a snapshot of the standard secondary car rental coverage; several terms and conditions apply. You should access the official guide to benefits or call your benefits administrator for specific information.

One of the real car rental insurance perks of holding the Amex Platinum card is having access to Premium Car Rental Protection coverage for just 1 low fee that covers the entire rental period, not a per-day charge like the rental agency charges.

Although there are some credit cards with primary rental car insurance , the American Express Premium Car Rental Protection coverage, in some circumstances, can provide equal or better coverage and elevated peace of mind. Terms and conditions apply.

Bottom Line: Consider Amex Premium Car Rental Protection if you don’t have a credit card that provides primary car rental insurance. Additionally, if you are renting an expensive vehicle that exceeds your card’s limit of coverage or the maximum length of the rental period on your other card is limited to less than 42 days, the Amex Premium Car Rental Protection could also be a prudent choice. 

Trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance are designed to cover unexpected, unforeseen events that may cause you to have to cancel your trip or that cause a disruption in a trip you’re already started.

To be eligible for coverage, purchase your entire round-trip common carrier ticket with your Amex Platinum card.

American Express has a broad definition of who is covered under this benefit. Eligible travelers can include the cardholder, traveling companion, family member of the eligible traveler, or family member of the traveling companion.

Examples of events that could be covered include the following:

• Bodily Injury or Illness — If you, a traveling companion, or a family member of either, experience an accidental injury or become ill, causing you to cancel your trip, you may have coverage
• Bad Weather — If extreme weather causes your trip to be canceled or disrupted, there could be coverage
• Change in Military Orders —Applies to cardmember and/or spouse (spouse definition includes domestic partner)
• Terrorist action or hijacking
• Jury duty or other qualifying legal obligation
• Uninhabitable dwelling of either the cardmember or traveling companion
• Quarantine imposed by a physician for health reasons

You can expect coverage of up to $10,000 per trip , and a maximum limit of $20,000 per card per 12-month period.

Terms and conditions apply.

Bottom Line: While the trip cancellation/trip interruption benefit covers specifically stated reasons for trip cancellation/interruption, there is no coverage for voluntary cancellations, disruptions due to known events, or for preexisting conditions. Additional terms and conditions can be found in your guide to benefits or call the benefits administrator prior to your trip.

Experiencing a trip delay is inevitable so having coverage for added expenses as a result of that delay could be a welcome economic benefit. To qualify for trip delay coverage, just pay for the full amount of your common carrier round-trip transportation ticket with your Amex Platinum card.

The delay must be for more than 6 hours for you to be eligible for reimbursement for necessary incidentals, meals, and lodging.

Coverage limits are $500 per covered trip and a maximum of up to 2 covered trips in each consecutive 12-month period. Coverage is secondary to other coverage that applies and does not include expenses that are reimbursed by the airline or other entities. Additional terms and conditions also apply.

Losing a checked bag used to be a very common occurrence. With new technology and tracking mechanisms, however, incidents have declined, but they still happen. If you do happen to experience lost bags, however, you can count on the baggage insurance found on the Amex Platinum card.

To activate the coverage , simply pay for your common-carrier fare with your card and/or Membership Rewards points.

Here’s the coverage you can expect for lost luggage:

• Checked Bags — Up to $2,000 per covered person, per trip
• Carry-on Bags — Up to $3,000 per covered person, per trip
• Specialty High-value Items — Up to $1,000 per person, per covered trip ($2,000 for New York residents, maximum $10,000 per trip)
• Combined Limit — The limit for all baggage, including high-risk items, is $3,000 per covered person, per single trip

Checked baggage is covered only while traveling on a common carrier . Carry-on baggage is additionally covered while traveling to , from , and when waiting at the carrier terminal.

Note that the coverage on the card is secondary to any other insurance or reimbursement you might receive from the airline. There is no coverage for delayed baggage , but several other credit cards do offer this coverage .

Premium Global Assist Hotline

While technically not insurance coverage, having access to help when you’re traveling, 24/7, is sure to provide additional peace of mind. The Amex Platinum card offers a premium version of a dedicated helpline that serves as a welcome resource should things go wrong during your travels.

Here are the types of assistance you can expect from the service:

One of the premium services offered on the card is complimentary emergency medical transport or evacuation . If you or a covered family member becomes injured or ill during your travels, you could receive emergency medical transportation or evacuation , if necessary.

You can expect to receive the following services without charge when arranged via the hotline:

• Emergency Transport or Evacuation — Transport to the nearest medical facility or transport from an inadequate medical facility
• Transport of Family Member — Transport may be covered for an adult member to be by the bedside of the cardmember or for the cardmember’s minor child (who had been traveling alone with the cardmember) to be transported back to the U.S.
• Transport of Remains — Amex will pay for the transport of remains back to the U.S.
• Post-Evacuation Assistance — If you’re evacuated and your return ticket back to the U.S. has become invalid, Amex will arrange and pay for transportation back to the U.S.

Please note that the Premium Global Assist Hotline does not cover any medical expenses or emergency transportation services arranged outside of the hotline. Several terms and conditions apply to these coverages.

In addition to the complimentary coverages offered by the hotline, you’ll find these additional medical services:

• Medical Referrals — Receive help finding an English-speaking doctor, a hospital, or other needed medical services
• Prescription Replacement Assistance — Get help with replacing lost or forgotten medications

There is no charge for the referral service but cardmembers are responsible for actual services received from the provider.

• Passport/Visa Assistance — Whether you need help replacing a passport or have a need to contact the U.S. consulate, the hotline can assist
• Emergency Translation Services — Receive over-the-phone services or written language translation assistance
• Legal Referrals — Should you need legal services during your trip, the hotline can help you find local bail bond services that accept Amex or refer you to other legal personnel
• Financial Assistance — The hotline can help you arrange cash wire services, help you check out of your hotel remotely, or assist with lost card situations
• Emergency Message Relay — In the event of an emergency, the hotline can send a message to a family member, friend, or another recipient on your behalf
• Lost Items — Should you lose an item, your baggage gets lost, or other missing possession, the hotline can help track it down
• Trip Planning Services — Access information such as weather, currency exchange rates, passport/visa requirements, customs information, travel warnings, and more

Bottom Line: The Amex Platinum card comes with complimentary emergency transportation and evacuation services with no stated limit. Additional medical, legal, and travel service referrals are also complimentary, but other than the emergency medical transportation and evacuation, services rendered must be paid for by the cardholder. 

As with any insurance claim, you’ll need to report any event as soon as possible, provide supporting documentation, and follow up after the claim has been filed.

You could be expected to submit any, or all, of the following:

• Copies of your common carrier ticket
• Copies of your credit card statement showing the expenses
• Proof of the loss (i.e. a copy of physician’s quarantine order, military orders, etc.)
• Copy of the travel supplier’s cancellation policy
• Any other supporting documentation requested by the claims administrator

Claims must be reported within 60 days but it is best to do it as soon as possible. Once you report the claim, you’ll receive instructions for completing the next steps in the process.

Hot Tip: Be sure to take photos and videos, keep receipts, secure any applicable police report, and hold on to other documentation that might be needed to support your claim. Keep in mind that supporting information can be difficult to obtain after the fact but may be readily secured at the time of the claim. 

While the insurance that comes with the Amex Platinum card won’t take the place of a comprehensive travel insurance policy , you’ll find value in several of the benefits.

Utilizing Premium Car Rental Protection, trip cancellation/interruption, trip delay, and complimentary emergency medical transport or evacuation could save you more than you could imagine in certain circumstances.

Additionally, knowing the coverages you have in advance has tremendous value. You’ll be armed with information to make educated decisions that can protect each aspect of your trip and be better prepared for how you might handle a covered incident during your travels. If you’re looking for other card options, see our article on the best credit cards for travel insurance .

All information and content provided by Upgraded Points is intended as general information and for educational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as medical advice or legal advice. For more information, see our  Medical & Legal Disclaimers .

For the car rental collision damage coverage benefit of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, car rental loss and damage insurance can provide coverage up to $75,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the commercial car rental company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. Geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car rental loss or damage coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. For the trip cancellation and interruption insurance coverage benefit of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, the maximum benefit amount for trip cancellation and interruption insurance is $10,000 per covered trip and $20,000 per eligible card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. For the trip delay insurance benefits of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, up to $500 per covered trip that is delayed for more than 6 hours; and 2 claims per eligible card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, baggage insurance plan coverage can be in effect for covered persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen baggage during their travel on a common carrier vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the entire fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an eligible card. Coverage can be provided for up to $2,000 for checked baggage and up to a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the common carrier. The coverage is also subject to a $3,000 aggregate limit per covered trip. For New York State residents, there is a $2,000 per bag/suitcase limit for each covered person with a $10,000 aggregate maximum for all covered persons per covered trip. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the Premium Global Assist Hotline benefit of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, you can rely on the Global Assist Hotline 24 hours a day / 7 days a week for medical, legal, financial or other select emergency coordination and assistance services while traveling more than 100 miles away from your home. Plus, we may provide emergency medical transportation assistance and related services. Third-party service costs may be your responsibility. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. If approved and coordinated by Premium Global Assist Hotline, emergency medical transportation assistance may be provided at no cost. In any other circumstance, Card members may be responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. 

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card ® from American Express, click here . For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card ® from American Express, click here .

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the amex platinum card travel insurance any good.

While the insurance that comes on your Amex Platinum card does not replace a comprehensive travel insurance policy, there is value in the coverages that come complimentary on the card.

Benefits such as trip interruption/cancellation/delay insurance and Amex Premium Car Rental Protection can provide economic value by saving you money should something go wrong during your travels.

Having access to the Premium Global Assist Hotline and complimentary emergency medical transport or evacuation could render peace of mind knowing you have the coverage should you need it.

Does the Amex Platinum card cover flight cancellations?

The Amex Platinum card comes with trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay insurance that can cover flight cancellations for only the specific (limited) reasons listed in the terms and conditions.

As with most insurance, the coverage that comes on your card is not meant to cover voluntary flight cancellations.

For these types of cancellations, you would need to purchase Cancel for Any Reason Insurance , which can be added to some comprehensive travel insurance policies.

Does the Amex Platinum card come with primary car rental insurance?

No. The Amex Platinum card comes with complimentary standard secondary car rental insurance, which means you must first file a claim with any other insurance that may apply before the card coverage is valid.

However, the card does offer a unique benefit that allows you to purchase premium primary car rental insurance for 1 low fee that covers the entire rental period.

This coverage is valid for rental periods up to 42 days in length and costs $12.25 to $24.95 per period, depending on the state in which you reside and the coverage limit you select.

Does the Amex Platinum have delayed baggage insurance?

While the Amex Platinum card comes with lost, stolen, or damaged luggage coverage, it does not offer a delayed baggage benefit.

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About Christine Krzyszton

Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, detailed content for UP.

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American Express Platinum Charge Card Review (India)

American Express is known for their premium credit card services across the globe. If you’re looking forward to experience the most premium credit card offering from such an elite credit card issuer, you’re at the right place.

American Express Platinum Card which is issued as a “metal” card in India is an Ultra Premium Credit Card known for its premium lifestyle and travel benefits. It’s a “charge” card, hence it comes with no pre-set credit limit.

Here’s everything you need to know about this prestigious metal card that comes with a status symbol,

Table of Contents

Annual Fees

Credit limit, reward points, redemptions, forex spends, airport lounge access, birthday benefit, travel spend benefit, hotel elite tier benefits, golf benefits, dining benefits, travel concierge, lifestyle concierge, american express invites®, airport fast track, companion card, supplementary cards, is it worth 70,800 inr.

American Express Platinum Charge Card is one of the very few cards in India like  Axis Reserve , the value of which has to be decided based on the lifestyle benefits it offers and not just by looking at the reward rate.

Apply through the above link & you’ll be rewarded 10,000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards ®  points (spend INR 5,000 within 90 days) + stay vouchers worth INR 45,000 *  from Taj [Limited Period Offer].

With 100K points one can get a value >50K INR by transferring them to Marriott Bonvoy , among other options. While only Taj vouchers are available as regular welcome benefit there is a way to still get 100K points, more on that shortly.

Note that, every once in a while American Express also sends targeted upgrade offers for the platinum card with lucrative welcome bonus, upto 135K MR points like the one we recently got in Jan 2024.

These upgrade offers are usually sent to existing cardholders with good spends. You’re lucky if you get one.

• Minimum Credit Limit: 10 Lakhs

Even-though its a charge card and comes with no-preset limit , it still has internal limit or shadow limit which is more like a credit limit, except that it keeps increasing based on your re-payments.

Usually the limit starts at north of 10 Lakhs, however that will be usually available for use only post ~3 months of card issuance as the system needs some time to get in line with your spend pattern.

The Amex Platinum Charge Card carries the iconic design all over the world with minor changes to the design elements then and there.

In real life this card provides a genuine metal feel that sets it apart from other metal credit cards issued in India, thanks to its authentic metallic colour.

• Earn Rate: 1 MR Point per Rs.40 Spent
• MR Point Value: ~50Ps to 1Rs
• Reward Rate: 1.25% to 2.5%

The above reward rate is calculated based on the “minimum point value” that one can get with Marriott Bonvoy Points Redemptions.

If you’re exploring new properties (or) those located in not-so touristy/business locations (or) then the value could be in the range of 1 INR/point.

On top of that, if you’re Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or above, you also get breakfast & lounge access, which changes the game altogether.

While there are very many ways to redeem Amex MR points, I’ve personally redeemed them mostly for Marriott.

I have got a value of well over 1 INR / point at times, like my recent redemption at the beautiful Westin, Himalayas as you can see below:

But most of the time I’ve got 1 INR / point like those at JW Marriott Prestige Golfshire, Bangalore (or) Sheraton Grand, Mahabalipuram and its tough to put a static value on it as even the above keeps changing.

That said, most Platinum cardholders transfer the points to Marriott to extract maximum value out of them, as you can as well transfer MB points further to Airlines and get a better value through airmiles, among which United is quite popular.

• Forex Markup Fee:  3.5%+GST = 4.13%
• Reward rate on Intl. Spends:  3.75% – 7.5% (3X rewards)
• Net gain:  ~3.3% (only if you can get 1 INR per 1 MR)

It’s a decent credit card for international transactions as you gain over 3% of the spend. However, this is only for those who can extract a value of 1 MR = 1 INR as mentioned in above examples.

It’s not for everyone! I personally prefer to use other cards for international transactions unless the merchant is new & of low profile.

Having said that, considering the peace of mind that Amex gives you with their Zero lost Card liability, it maybe better to swipe Amex over other cards when in foreign land.

• Domestic Lounges: Both primary and supplementary card holders get unlimited lounge access to most of the domestic airport lounges located in India. These are affiliated lounges and not owned by Amex.
• Amex Lounges: You get unlimited lounge access to the Amex lounges across the globe like Mumbai Amex Lounge . You also get access to the Centurion lounges across the globe.
• Priority Pass Lounges: You get unlimited access to the 1200+ priority pass lounges across the globe. Note that only one supplementary cardholder can be enrolled for priority pass lounge access benefit.
• Delta Lounges: Apart from the regular lounges, the additional advantage of this card is, you can also access Delta lounges when you fly with Delta Airlines. This may come handy if you’re flying inside USA.

Note: You may need to request for a Priority Pass after getting the card. However, I was told that a digital priority pass will be available instantly, if required.

• 10,000 INR Taj Voucher

Since 2021 American Express has been sending out 10K Taj voucher on the cardmember’s birthday. This is a wonderful benefit which I’ve been enjoying since past 3 years.

The voucher is sent a month prior to the birthday month, ideally sent by the end of the previous month.

• Spend 1L on International travel and get 15,000 INR Taj Voucher

This travel benefit is applicable every year and they keep shifting it between 30K/15K vouchers from time to time. Quite lucrative for those doing revenue travel spends on cards.

The American Express Platinum Charge Card gives you grand set of elite tier benefits that you can enjoy as long as you hold the platinum card. To avail the tier benefits,

• Login to your Amex a/c
• Visit this URL
• Signup for respective benefits

Marriott Bonvoy (Gold):

This is the most important benefit that you can get with the platinum card. The combination of Gold Elite status & 100K welcome bonus points makes this card highly valuable.

Considering you stay 10 nights a year with 5 successful upgrades, you can get minimum of 20K INR value out of Marriott Gold tier but there are many who could get more than 50K INR a year just with this single benefit.

I enjoy this benefit quite often as you can see it on my Marriott hotel reviews . This usually gets me upgrades, breakfast and few other benefits.

Hilton Honours (Gold):

This is yet another amazing hotel loyalty program which I recently explored at Austria & Ireland. The complimentary breakfast benefit has a good value especially in countries like Europe where the breakfast rate is easily like 50 EUR for two.

If you do 5 nights a year, you can easily get over Rs.20k value with breakfast benefit alone. If you put a value on upgrades, then you could save much more.

Taj Epicure :

It’s usually beneficial for those who avail the Spa and Salon services at Taj properties as the services are discounted at 20% on the bill.

The enhanced version of Taj Epicure membership now in 2024 also gives you 1 birthday cake & 2 access to the Taj Club Lounges which alone is well worth of over 5K INR.

Radisson Rewards

If you’re someone who’s already loyal to Radisson it does help you with room upgrades & more.

The gold tier helped me to request for an upgrade at Radisson Blu Guwahati but well no one cared about the tier at Radisson Blu Bangalore Outer Ring Road , so it all depends.

• Complimentary Games : 4 per month
• Complimentary Lessons : 2 per month

Enjoy complimentary games and lessons across 30+ domestic Golf Courses in India. Limiting lessons to 2 per month along with many other restrictions is actually not so good for a card that costs this high.

• EazyDiner Prime
• Taj Epicure

Eazydiner Prime is a solid benefit to have without a doubt as it could help us save ~45% on the bill easily when coupled with PayEazy offers.

Platinum Concierge

American Express Concierge service is one of the most under-rated and under-utilized benefit on this card.

Nope, you don’t need to use it for collecting sand from the sea. It can also be used for all the regular day-to-day needs. But the new challenge is that we need to call them for all requests, previously they used to handle over email which used to be so handy for me.

Amex Concierge Service is broadly divided into travel & lifestyle. More about the respective services here:

Typically all concierge requests related to travel goes through this team. The services includes but not limited to:

• Visa Services
• Travel Itinerary Planning
• Complimentary First Class Upgrade on Etihad

They can do pretty much anything under the sun with their Do-Anything Platinum Concierge. In most cases you need a lifestyle of its own to get value out of it.

However, you can also use them to delegate small tasks that could save you time. That’s how I use them.

My Concierge experience: I’ve sent them over 100 requests in last 3 years and what I’ve noticed is that they under-perform during peak travel season.

A unique programme that gives Platinum Cardmembers a chance to purchase tickets to some of the most popular events, often before they go on sale to the general public.

Apart from this, Amex also occasionally invite the cardmember+1 for a “complimentary meal” at ITC/Taj hotels located in metro cities. Here’s the recent one:

These kind of dining experiences are great, except that I wish that they could do it more often and in more cities.

American Express Platinum cards issued in certain countries comes with the ability to access the fast track security lanes in respective countries and fortunately this applies to all American Express Platinum cards issued globally as well.

If you’re interested in this benefit, do check out the Amex landing pages in these respective countries: Amex Canada, Amex Italy , Amex Sweden. This benefit is also applicable at Austria & Belgium airports.

That’s not a great coverage indeed but if you’re flying to these countries, it’s worth knowing.

With Amex Platinum, you can choose one of the other Amex credit cards as a companion card which remains free for life as long as you hold the Platinum Card. 

Usually Amex Reserve is given as a companion card but if you would like to maximise the value, Amex Platinum Travel card is the best one (assuming you like plat travel card benefits).

• 4 Supplementary cards
• 1 additional card for Business Expenses

You can get up to 4 supplementary cards, which are also metal cards with your American Express Platinum charge card.

Supplementary card holders can also enjoy most of the above benefits that a primary cardholder enjoys, including the hotel privileges.

Don’t forget to apply supplementary cards during the offer period as they run some wonderful offers like: you can get Rs.1000 – Rs.2000 Amazon Voucher per Supp. Card on the Platinum Card.

I’ve unboxed 2 Amex Platinum cards, one in 2019 (supp. card) and the other in 2020 (primary card) . Feel free to check out both the links for the detailed unboxing. The packaging remains the same even now in 2024 as well.

The welcome benefit for the first year takes care of the fee without a doubt. But from 2nd year onwards, it depends on the renewal/retention offer you receive.

As of early 2024, the retention benefit on Plat Charge with moderate spends of 5-10L a year can get retention benefit anywhere between 30K Taj vouchers to 80K MR points but of-course with higher spends there could be even a better offer.

So now we’re coming to the tricky question!

Tricky because I’ve spoken to over 50+ Amex Platinum Cardholders in the past 7 years during my credit card consultation sessions and each one has their own reason to hold on to the card because it has given them memorable “experiences”.

While we can’t put a value on those experiences as it’s different for each, let’s see what the card can offer with it’s primary benefits.

Let’s analyse the total value of the card by placing an “average” price on each of the benefit we saw above. Here we go,

• Total Value: 75,000 INR + Lounge + Golf + Concierge

So you get bit more than what you pay, assuming you make use of the Marriott Bonvoy Gold benefit (or Hilton for that matter) just as most other card holders do.

Travel spend benefit is also another lucrative benefit to look at.

And then if you play golf 10 times (or) use lounge 10 times (or) avail concierge services often, that’s another 20K INR savings easily for “each” of the services mentioned.

If you avail all these services, then the overall value you get is huge!

To sweeten this deal, you can also get another 10K Referral Bonus Points by applying through the link below. That’s 5K INR value (or) one extra night at select Marriott hotels!

Apply through the above link & you’ll be rewarded 10,000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards ®  points (spend INR 5,000 within 90 days) + stay vouchers worth INR 45,000 *  from Taj [ Limited Period Offer].

• Cardexpert Rating: 4.2/5

Overall, it’s a nice card for someone who loves luxury experiences in life. The downside is that the joining benefit shown publicly is restricted to Taj Vouchers, which not everyone would like.

However, do note that you may request for 100K points instead of 45K Taj voucher after receiving the card simply by calling the support. They “mostly” approve such requests from what I’ve seen. But remember that it has to be done before activating the card.

That aside, it’s not only a card for you, but also for the entire family, as you may share 4 supplementary cards with your family & friends so they too can enjoy almost all the benefits as you do.

So if you love Amex and want to experience this metal at-least once, then nothing gonna stop you from getting it. Enjoy the Platinum Life!

What’s your take on the American Express Platinum Charge card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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405 thoughts on “ American Express Platinum Charge Card Review (India) ”

Isn’t it excessive even for upper-middle class credit card users to pursue this card? I personally feel paying a high joining fee to get this card makes a lot of sense for entrepreneurs who can afford to write off the joining fee as an expense and those who get reimbursed for corporate travel wherein they can rack up nights with one of the international chains at the their employer’s cost. This is just my two cents. I am sure that others would view this card from different perspectives.

Totally depends on one’s lifestyle.

It does work for Salaried too. You can consider like paying for a vacation and you get the card for free, as a super premium card member would anyway spend 70K a year on hotels if they do 2/3 short vacations. Again, yes, its only for very small target group.

How to use the card as in case of booking Hilton properties from India ?? Is there any hidden charges that are needed to take care of??

I guess no offical renewal offer ? What offer people got give some idea Thank You & Good Day

Dear Poornith, How can the joining fee on American Express be written off as an tax deductible expenses, have you personally done this? I would like to add it to my ITR if this is possible!

Thanks in advance.

Well, i got welcome points of 1,25,000 points. I transferred 80k points to marriott. I got Rs 1,12,000 value in 80k points. I booked in Dubai. During new year time, dubai hotels get extremely costly, but NOT when you book in points. In point booking, rate remains the same for a hotel. I still have 45k points left. It totally depends on timing, tours you do etc.

how did you get 125K welcome points? Any specific referral link?

Sometimes such offers do come for people who are already having American Express cards. I got such an offer too, but I did not take it as I do not find this card worthwhile for me. HDFC Infinia is enough for me.

Additional value drivers: Golf lessons – This can fetch you between Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 in value per month (if you were to avail the two complimentary lessons). Green fee waivers can increase the value a lot.

Taj Innercircle is actually Gold, as you can status match with Shangri-La Golden. Also you will get Silver status in Singapore Airline (with a promise of Gold after three flights with them).

Adding to your note on ITC culinaire membership. This comes with a set of vouchers (typically 50% off on buffett, 25% to 20% off on a-la-carte, and some more vouchers for Wills Lifestyle). What more the ITC membership gets you 25% as ITC Green points for dinning at ITC and 37.5% points on Fridays, and your birthday week. You can get at least Re 1 value of the ITC Green Points, or can convert to Marriott Bonvoy and get 1.5 Marriott points. Additionally you will get Rs 4000 worth discount codes at Wills LifeStyle for your birthday and anniversary months (not sure what happens if they are in the same month). That’s not all, you will often get 5X points on your purchases at WLS. That is 25% off. Last Diwali I used this to get 58% off on fresh merchandise (5X from ITC, and 33% from HDFC DCB for shopping between 5 pm and 9 pm).

Also there are dinning benefits: ‘Taste of Platinum’ that has been discussed before and IAP (Amex Guy has great documentation on the same)

Thanks for additional inputs. Looks like you’re visiting ITC often. 🙂

wow! amazing list of benefits of ITC. Thanks

I just paid my son’s education fee through this card and enjoyed 2x the points. Had initially faced a lot of hiccups with this card and had escalated it….Issues were resolved to an extent. Used this card to get a 25% discount on Taj Room Nights and the offer is still valid till 30th Sept 2019

Big jackpot for you to get all the elite hotel and dining membership benefits as a supplementary card holder 🙂 Would be a huge benefit since you travel a bit.

Yet, I prefer only Marriott where I’m already Gold Elite. So not a big benefit unless I stop being loyal to Marriott. Let’s see 🙂

Sid, you may want to expedite to BonVoy Platinum by calling the helpline & taking up the Plat challenge. 16 nights in 3 months gets you to BonVoy Platinum.

Yes, thinking about it for a while.

Pretty sure supps do not get dining memberships. Taj is for main card holder only, and ITC is for main card holder and his/her spouse (doesn’t have to be a supp). EazyDiner/Taste of Platinum/Amex Network Dining are for everyone.

Considering how hard it is to review this card, great job! While some things that I’d like to add:

1. Taste of Platinum is very handy and does add a lot to the already decent dining options — ITC + Taj + EazyDiner. 2. Shang Jade is much more valuable than I initially thought. 3 welcome drinks, and those things are expensive at their hotels! Shang hotels are great outside India. 3. You completely missed FHR. On average, Plat members save $550 a year. But essentially, guaranteed room upgrade, $100 credit/dinner, guaranteed late checkout and early check in at an insane collection of upper end hotels. They also have a hotel collection that gives $75. 4. Accelerated *A gold. You can match Shang to Singapore Air and get silver status. Take 3 flights and you have gold. 5. I would not value Bonvoy status at 20K anymore. Personally, Hilton Gold is far more valuable than Bonvoy. It used to be much more valuable with SPG still around. 6. There are a lot of interim offers. Currently they have 25% off (up til 1.5 lac per transactions) at 29 luxury brands. Depending on your lifestyle, that’s a lot of cash value. 7. The new dining reservation program with concierge is great, especially if you’re booking high demand places. 8. Plat Emergency services. If you are traveling, this includes emergency airlift, legal advice and counsel support, $8K emergency medical cash, $1K emergency cash anywhere. On top of that if you withdraw cash and call amex that it was an emergency, they bill it as spend not cash advance. You also get travel insurance 5 times a year (pointless if one also has Prestige). 9. Priority Pass, unfortunately, does not allow free usage domestically. Which is why I never carry it. It is, though, issued directly by PP and is not bank managed, so you can download a digital version on Apple Wallet and always have a backup card on you that way. 10. Discounts with Platinum Travel are available on economy and PE as well, not just business and first. Depends on airline. It’s on the website. 11. Golf program has a minimum flight of 1 on weekdays. Which means on weekdays you do not need to know a member to book. A glaring difference between Amex and others. 12. Emergency home services. Amex covers two home repair visits, up to 1500 INR in case of broken appliances, repairs or other home emergencies.

That’s just of the top of my head.

Yes indeed. It needs a shift in mindset to review this card 🙂 Thanks again for adding valuable points.

3. I’ve been exploring this during my last trip to Vietnam but couldn’t find much of a value, and so I skipped. Will probably add it. Do you have any specific hotels in mind where you get exceptional value in SE Asia with FLR? 5. But I find a lot of options with Marriott in the places I travel over Hilton and so I’m sticking to Marriott. 8. Emergency services applies even if we don’t book flights on the card? 12. This is surprise. Never even heard of it. Have you tried it?

Thanks again!

It is there in the Card Agreement document. And for item #12 it is 1,200 INR. It is available online and I had read the card agreement end to end before signing up..:-)

I need to print this in bigger text to read all of it. 😛

3. Yes, it is a hit and miss on revenue comparison. Usually you derive lesser value on FHR in Asia because hotels are cheaper and offer a dinner instead of $100 property credit. But it’s still always worth checking. I use it now to book St. Regis Mumbai for example. FHR rate is usually 700-800 more, but I get a breakfast for 2, dinner for 2, upgrade to suite and late checkout, none of which Bonvoy Gold any longer fetches me. So a win there. I do have some options in mind, which city are you looking into?

5. It depends on loyalty, yes. But Gold status itself is not much valuable. It does not give you guaranteed 4 PM (it did with SPG), guaranteed breakfast, guaranteed upgrade to next cat(it did with SPG) nor the exec lounge access. All of which Hilton Gold does. So, status to status comparison, Bonvoy Gold doesn’t have inherently as much value as Hilton, which is more comparable to Bonvoy’s Platinum now.

12. Have not tried it. Waiting for summers and the AC to do it’s thing lol. Here is how one learns about all emergency protection Emergency services are insane. If you’re traveling alone and need medical supplies, they are there. If you get hospitalized or seriously injured, they can fly your family member to your bedside, or your doctor in extreme cases. If your trip delays due to sickness, they cover a hotel room up to $200 a night.

Amex also just went in partnership with CPP which insures every card in your wallet, not just Amex. The usual plan you can buy for fraud protection up to 3 lacs (for 3K a year). The one you get with Plat is up to 25 lacs. They also have emergency cash and more India related services. Haven’t explored or activated it yet.

3. Okay, I get it. Any city. If the hotel is good enough, with good tourist attractions around, I’ll go there 🙂

12. Interesting, will check them out.

Amex Guy that’s a helpful link regarding the emergency platinum assist. Is it the same concierge folks who will handle these requests, or is there a dedicated team for this or is it outsourced?

Hello Amex Guy, like sid; I just got the plat charge card. Could you give your take on this versus ICICI’s Emeralde card?

PS: Sid, you should do a new comparison with such exclusive cards. I feel ICICI Emeralde is a good card with respect to cost benefit ratio.

I’d love your and Amex guys take on this.

Hi Amex Guy,

Thanks for the valuable inputs. Could u clarify that if one books a Marriott hotel(say St. Regis Mumbai) through FHR, does one accrue Marriott Bonvoy Points? Also, the same question for the Hotel Collection.

I too enjoy Marriott service and being a Platinum member since last 3 years able to retain it. Luckily during lockdown they extended my Platinum status till Dec 2021.. They always upgrade to suite and also give complimentary BF or welcome drinks/platter with personal hand written note by Hotel manager. They really make you feel special.

In south east asia, hotels are dirt cheap. So save the points for exotic locations. Mauritius LeMeridien ile maurice, St Regis..Dubai year end, Maldives, Moscow St Regis

Hi Sid/Amex Guy,

thanks for the review. I was/am considering getting the amex plat just noticed that trf partners both airlines and hotels for the India card have far poorer transfer ratios than the US e.g. US Amex MR trf to airlines at 1:1 and to hotels like hilton at 1:2. For India,apart from fewer options, ratio is 2MR:1mile and hilton at 1MR:0.9. Only MR>Marriott is 1:1 both places. This probably makes redemption of MR for airline mile fairly poor value (half of the US values). Wondering how best to utilize the MR rewards that I will get since I’m a leisure traveller and will never stay in a cat1 hotel anyway (probably cat5 or higher). Also seems shangri-la, taj epicure and taj warmer welcomes gold tie ups/ cascading benefits are due to end by 1apr21? How does one then get any value from the card?

Ah, was waiting for your comments..:-)

I had the platinum charge card for two years. Cancelled it and staying loyal to my Infinia. Hands down the Infinia is better. While I do travel a lot and stay in many of the hotels Amex has tie ups with, upgrades and deals are “subject to availability”. I have been a victim to this and booked a stay at St.Regis abroad but didn’t get the upgrade as planned. With Infinia I know that my returns are guaranteed in my kitty, with Amex there is a lot of ambiguity. I am averaging close to 8% rewards every month on Infinia by utilising 10x,5x sort of offers regularly. Moreover, whenever I had checked with Amex concierge for hotels and flight deals, I found that my travel agent had better deals and if I evaluated smartbuy 10x it also beat it hands down.

Plat is definitely not for rewards game but for experiences that are generally out of our reach. Leaving aside the returns you mentioned, it is sad to see that Amex is not consistent is providing those experiences to all customers.

I purxhased Marriott Bonvoy 1 lakh points for USD 1250. I got 50k bonus points. If you are planning to go on exotic locations, Marriott Bonvoy is best. But dont always use points. Use it on year end etc.

I have to agree. I use the Infinia and the Platinum and the rewards I get out of the Infinia give me much better value. My Amex is up for renewal this month for the 3rd year and I am wondering if I should renew it at all given that no specific benefits are provided for the renewal and some of the benefits I received when I signed up initially (Vistara Gold Tier and ITC Culinaire) are no longer available.

Would you recommend getting the corporate version since that gives points for utility spends as well ? Assuming benefits would remain the same except for the earning rate

You can get points on utility (or insurance spends for that matter), by just paying through PayTM (or other wallets that accept Amex). Amex sees it as a PayTM expense and gets you the points. You don’t even have to load PayTM beforehand – just use the PayTM gateway. Also you can do the same trick to get MRs for fuel transactions too.

Hey amexguy,

I have been following you and Sid for a while. Really have come to strongly dislike the amex plat. After your advice on using the plat charge as my primary card I was hoping their conceirge improves. Yet again they delivered …. absolute utter failure. Ask wasn’t astronomical. Just a few tickets to Avengers that too 2 weeks in advance.

The conceirge lady called me up and explained why she could not book tickets on book my show!!! Obviously there weren’t any and hence the request. Request remained unfulfilled.

I am definitely not renewing it next year. Prestige and diners provide far better value and service.

‘ targeted upgrade offers for the platinum card’ – the link is of Platinum Travel Card and not the Charge card. You’ll have to update.

Changed. Thanks.

“The only reason that you need to consider is the new soft rule by Amex that don’t let you be eligible for the Amex spend based offers once you’re a Plat Card holder.” – Are you sure about this one?

Yes. But this may change anytime as a lot of cardmembers don’t like it.

Due to many indirect benefits, I guess this is one of most complicated card to consider and review.

I personally don’t think would be able to take advantage of this card much due to my lifestyle and considering that I more often than not book via OTA with discounts.

But i am sure for many others, this gives insane value.

Anyway, loved the review..

I bought this card and gave it back in less than a months time, I was misinformed by the sales manager about the card features, I was told that if I go for the 100k points I can book flights and hotels worth 45k, what i was not told that only 25k can be used for international air tickets and hotels while 45k is for domestic use. When I called the concierge sercive for a hotel while I was in Kashmir, I need a room in Gulmarg and they gave me an option of ₹ 1.2 lacs per night at Khyber property in Gulmarg, I mean are you really serious? Can someone spend 1.2 lacs on one night stay? It’s a very hyped card from Amex and their service network is poor as compared to their boasting on the same. The ideal fee of the card should not be more than 15-20k. 60k + taxes could be someone’s one year salary folks, why would anyone waste their hard earned money even if you are a rich? The metal card is all a gimmick and it fools you. I hold Amex platinum and Amex reward card. Also they bluffed me about the 100k points by saying that it would be credited to my Amex card account after first swipe, I waited for a week and called them back and they said that after I spend 25k it will reflect within 45 days, i mean what did you charge me the fee for? Which means I pay them 60k + gst which is 70,200 then an additional 25k which makes it 95k almost a lac and they i will get maximum benefit worth 45k? Where is the remaining 45k gone? 45k fee for a piece of metal and hopeless service promises? Just to inform you ICICI bank has launched similar card with 90% same facilities and it’s called the Emerald card with a joining of just 12k which you can pay 1k monthly as an EMI. I took this up with senior manager of Amex and they didn’t have a word to say as my above points were valid. It’s only a big name so please don’t get fooled by the metal card gimmick please. Just not worth it.

I got the card and thanks for enlightening everyone here about the 25k swipe required. I realized the same when I saw the application popup asking me to spend 25k within a month or 45 days. I do feel this is a downer!

Sid whats your take on this?

It used to be on first swipe, but the 25K requirement has been on the website for over 6 months now. It is also the first sentence on the new paper application, followed my a disclaimer that if you have any other charge cards, they will be cancelled.

You don’t have to book the first hotel they tell you. They have booked even OYOs and FabHotels for me, which they technically cannot, but were courteous enough to call the hotel and book because I wanted to not spend much. Ask. It’s your travel desk, they will help you.

It is also a really bad idea to burn MR points on Amex travel vouchers. You could have booked 1 lac worth of Marriott hotels at the very minimum, especially if booking within India, thanks to GST. Ideally, you should look for 2 years worth of fee back with bonus. Even basic business hotels like Courtyards in India will give you 1.5 INR/MR point.

I can appreciate the fact that Emarald might be a better card for your situation, but you cannot seriously compare Emerald with Plat. It appears to me that you signed up without looking, and are now ready to give it up without looking. The God is in the details. 🙂

Card being metal is not a factor by anyone I know who seriously uses this card. This card could be made of cardboard and I’ll still pay for it every year.

What Amex desperately needs is more training for Plat. Both with sales as well as service teams. Citi has this nailed pretty well. Prestige simply isn’t sold, but sought after with a dedicated team, which also provides service. Amex is making a deep mistake of letting Plat handling in wrong hands.

Kudos your love for Amex and I say that respectfully. Maybe the card has been immensely useful for you. and I’m happy for that. Could you guide others on how you’ve maximized from the card?

I liked this part : “You don’t have to book the first hotel they tell you. They have booked even OYOs and FabHotels for me, which they technically cannot, but were courteous enough to call the hotel and book because I wanted to not spend much. Ask. It’s your travel desk, they will help you.” — This is functional statement providing applied guidance as opposed to theoretical one. I’ve asked Sid in other thread to collaborate with you to give everyone on this platform a more comprehensive use case for plat charge card.

I must apologise and respectfully disagree with your statement about: “Amex is making a deep mistake of letting Plat handling in wrong hands.” While income is one criteria, it is up to the applicant to understand the benefits of the card and prudence of the sales representative to guide the customer (this can be enforced by Amex). What is for sure is that there is lack of clear applied guidance on how to best use this card. I’ve read blogs where people have claimed they saved ~4,00,000 INR using this card or they have ~2,50,000 accumulating points on their spends. What they easily and sadly purposely miss out is “how”?

I got my plat charge card 2 days after the article went online, I was given an upgrade from Gold Charge and Jet Airways card as I wished to close Jet and consolidate. I have E-Mail from Amex representative who is now my account manager explaining in writing benefits of the cards. He does mention 1,00,000 MR points but has no where mentioned a swipe of 25,000 to get those points. While it is subjective as to on whom does the responsibility fall for checking criteria, I personally in my humble opinion feel Amex rep should have told me about it in the interest of transparency, given the premium placement of the card. Is this a downer for me, personally? No. I had to spend for predefined reasons and I did. Just my two cents there.

Lastly, when Sadiq Dastagir mentioned his experience with Amex plat and pointed towards ICICI Emralde (I am not sure and intrigued as to why ICICI has misspelled it) card, I read up on it. Now based on my limited knowledge (especially in comparison to hobbyist like Sid and passionate person like you) I found Emeralde a more useful “ROI” card. Maybe I’m wrong, heck; let us assume that I am wrong but how do general population who’re getting in to the nick of points, travel and credit cards understand this?

I’d deeply love your and Sid’s views on this. Also, if I may humbly ask Sid to add your points to his review, it may make it more comprehensive.

I think this needs a separate article, as you’ve mentioned and that only “Amex Guy” can write more in detail. Will do comparison article too shortly. In my perspective, If you’re a “real spender” especially on luxury travel & Dining, you’ll get a lot of value.

Reg. 25k spend criteria, Even-though it shouldn’t be a problem for those who are eligible for this card, it’s Amex mistake indeed and they should probably fix that. Infact they can better remove it or, I’ll be more than happy if they give 200k points on 2L spend in 90 days 🙂

Hey Sid, I hope I’m not being interpreted incorrectly. I meant an article by you and Amex guy in conjunction and did not wish you directly or indirectly imply that he should be writing it solely. 🙁

Noted, noted!

Dear Sid, my only concern is that when you pay a hefty joining fee of Rs 70,200 what is the value we as customers are getting from it, at least we should get the entire joining fee back in some form which justifies that kind of amount.

I hold Citi prestige for 3 years now. Never saw a better service. They beat Infinia guys hands down. Magnus guys don’t even stand a change in customer service.

I’m yet to explore Reserve (just ordered in July’23) & Platinium.

After reading this I won’t even think of going for it. Unless you are filthy rich, fee of 60k plus GST doesn’t make sense at all. In these days of COVID 19 when travelling anyway is at an all time low, MRCC is the best card of Amex. Once things normalise, we can go for travel card. Platinum card may be ok for show off or if you travel abroad frequently in business class and stay in five star super deluxe hotels.

I m self employed and going to file my ITR for this year above 6 lakhs.. Now I m planning to apply Amex cards since the eligibility is 6 lakhs for self employed.. do they go with this year Itr or will they ask for prev years too ? I don’t have 6 lakhs itr for previous years… btw I have few more credit cards since couple of years..

Latest would do.

Should I apply for Amex Platinum Charge Card and I want to know it’s eligibility and I already hold Diners Club Black( Life Time Free), ICICI Diamant Credit Card and recently got ICICI Emeralde for free. So would Amex give me this card at discounted annual fee or regular annual fee…..

The only way to get Plat free is if you have a private banking relationship with one their partner private banks. Usually the ones who requires 25-30 crore minimum are their partners. If you have a really large portfolio with IL&FS you can try for IL&FS cobranded Plat. Not sure if they will waive the fee, but worth a try.

Other than than, you will be paying the first year fee. Reconsideration will happen on at least 40-60L spend in the first year, depending on their mood. Over 60L, they usually always waive the fee. But there are no promises.

Amex Guy – how do you get so much inside info? Not that I am complaining about all the knowledge that you share so generously, but sometimes I just wonder..:-)

My company is on Amex Corporate, just know too many RMs within Amex. Also, Amex HQ is next to my office in cyber city, too many friends there. Can’t say more than that publicly. 😛

Seems amex is withdrawing boingo benefit for plat cards.

That’s enough to do some serious OSINT on you. :p

PS: light humor and in good faith.

@kiran: Indian issued personal Plat never had it. Boingo was always on Corp Gold and Corp Plat.

Can you please comment on LTF for diners black (apparently being Imperia doesn’t cut it). And how do you obtain icici emeralde LTF, (high nrv with ICICI?)

Sidharth.. how stringent is Amex on the eligibility parameters for charge card? I would have income to the tune of 22L this ITR. Would that suffice, or are they stringent on the 25L eligibility factor?

It’s strict for fresh applications. But you could pass through if you get an upgrade offer.

Thanks. I did apply as an upgrade to my existing plat travel card and they approved the card without any documentation.

Please tell how did u get upgrade offer ? I am using Platinum travel credit card from 1 year . Any chances that I can upgrade offer for PLATINUM CHARGE CARD

Got an email. You could call them and ask.

Just call them on customer care and request , they will be more than happy to give you

Amex considers an annual income of above 15 Laks or if you open any of super premium cars . I have the list with me I’ll mail to sid!

What are the renewal benefits on this card. Do we get 100k points on paying renewal fee. If not, how does it make sense to renew by paying 60k plus tax.

Hey Sid, could you please confirm which memberships will continue to be at elite tier until we hold the card? Will it be all of them (six) which are offered as part of the registration page?

I have asked this to Amex, and they said all of them will continue to be at Elite tiers as long as one holds the card.

Not many would know but Amex has this “One Annual Fee” policy (not sure if feature is available for India) where Platinum Charge cardholders will only pay one annual fee of Rs 70.8K and hold a maximum of 3 cards –2 credit and 1 charge. In other words, there is no annual fee for up to 2 more cards so long you pay the annual fee of Platinum Charge card. MRCC+Plat Travel + Plat Charge for Rs 70.8k! Not bad at all especially during renewal where we don’t get any renewal benefits. 🙂

It is there in India as well.

You cant hold Plat Travel with Plat charge and MRCC unless one is a companion card.

Amex allows one companion card with Plat Charge. In most occasions it is the Reserve one, but for some folks (me included) it is Plat Travel. So I don’t need to pay Plat Travel fee as long as I hold the Plat Charge. They refunded the fees on pro rata basis once I got the Plat Charge. Not sure about the second card (MRCC) that you have mentioned. What is the source of your info?

Did you get it with companion card offer? Or, you get got Plat and later added Plat Travel as companion?

Doesn’t matter, Sid. Amex sends companion offer to everyone once a year, if you were not given one on onboarding. Wait for it to pop up in online account if not already given. Or, as in my case, an absolutely useless Reserve card will show up in the mail without asking. (Wasn’t the worst thing though as I got it without CIBIL hit)

If you get it on onboarding, they always ask which card you’d like as companion. Has to be a platinum variant, gold cards like MRCC and Everyday cannot be a Plat companion.

Got it. Btw, I never got the companion card offer till date and I was said once that it was because I’m already holding 2 Credit + 1 charge card.

The companion is only for Primary Plat holder (not add on holders). Also if you have exhausted the 2+ 1 quota, you can still chose one of the existing plat credit card to be complimentary for you.

In that case, you can ask Amex to make Plat travel card you already hold to be free (as long as you hold Plat Charge card). Please pardon me if I sounded foolish, bcoz I am novice in the world of Amex cards, as I can’t get one here.

Whats the benefit of the Plat travel as a companion card ..only Taj vouchers i guess ?

That and the 7.5k and 10k bonus MR at 1.9 lac and 4 lac spend level respectively. Additionally the Amex spend based offers, and lounge access (one every quarter).

They have the concept of companion card. No offer needed. Platinum travel fee reversed on pro rata basis.

I had the Plat travel card but as soon as fees got charged I asked them to cancel it as had moved all my spend to the Plat Charge Card…They very politely reversed the fee and cancelled the card. I hold the Plat Jet card and the person also told me as Jet is no longer operational we would come out with a new offer as well and the team would help me cancel the card as and when the expiry is near or I can cancel it right away. His ending statement was a little surprising. “As long as you have the Plat Charge Card you do not need any other card”

Does anyone have any data points on how they managed to make use of the International Airline Program with the Platinum card? While the programme has plenty of top-flight airlines in the US, the ones listed for the Indian version of the card aren’t all that hot, if my memory is correct.

I hold the US version of the Amex platinum charge card, I also hold the Diners club Black and Standard Chartered Ultimate cards and the Amex platinum travel card, in India.

To be really honest, the Amex platinum charge card in India is a terrible deal compared to what the card offers in other parts of the world. I hold on to the US version of this card just for that reason, despite being based largely out of India for the last couple of years. For instance, the same card in the US has

1. Travel expense credit on a major airline of choice, up to $200 2. Monthly Uber credits, totaling up to $200 every year 3. Saks 5th avenue credit of $100 per year 4. Reimbursement for TSA global entry membership: about $100 5. Unlimited lounge access: Amex Centurion and Priority pass 6. Doubling manufacturer warranty on all purchases up to an extra two years 7. Purchase protection for damage or theft for up to 120 days after a purchase 8. Primary rental car insurance for all rentals 9. A generally excellent concierge service which has even managed last minute bookings in Michelin starred restaurants booked out months in advance 10. Amex offers on a wide variety of brands and stores 11. Amex FHR benefits 12. Gold status on Hilton and Marriott 13. Free Boingo Wifi 14. Free Shoprunner 2day shipping membership 15. 5X points on travel 16. Zero foreign transaction charge 17. Signup Bonus of around 60k to 100k points etc.

The fee for the card is $550, but this is routinely offset a bit on calling, as a statement credit for around 250-$300 or so, making the cost around $300 or approx Rs 20k. If you count the benefits, you easily make thousands of dollars on the card every year.

The Indian version of the card though is almost criminally overpriced and offers only a tiny fraction of benefits the same card offers in the US and other parts of the world. I have tried asking AMEX India about the disparities and never really got a satisfactory response.

The differences are so massive that it seems pretty fair for discerning Indian credit card users to boycott the card completely till AMEX India gets its act together, reduces price and increases benefits on its most premium offering to Indian customers. I also hope Indians who have the card already, call out AMEX India and pressure them into making the card better.

That is not quiet right. Here is what the Indian version has that is missing from the US version:

1. Golf benefits 2. Shang, Taj, Hilton, Radisson statuses 3. ITC and Taj dinning programmes 4. Add on cards up to 4 for no additional cost

The IAP and FHR are there for the India version as well.

You can get a lot of benefits from the first four items by strategically using them.

Free Boingo wifi is cut in US.

I agree that the fees are higher in India, and the airline transfer ratio is half of that in US. But if you are transferring to Marriott then the transfer ratio is double that of US. In am saying because here you get 2.5MR for every Rs 100 spend.

But overall with all the credits (travel, Uber etc) the actual cost of holding the US version is significantly lower. But there are pockets of values in India as well.

Hi SH, How valuable is the FHR on the Indian card? I was researching hotels in Tokyo for an upcoming vacation & found FHR was listing hotels which I had already eliminated due to the budget :P. Also, are there any preferential airline fares for non-business class tickets for airlines not part of IAP? Looking forward to your inputs on the same

Yet to use FHR. May be others can comment on that. There are preferential rates for non-business class tickets as well. Discount range is between 5% to 25%, and for SkyTeam carriers the range is up to 30%. Remember discounts will increase as the cost of ticket goes up. From what I know expect 5% to 10% discount on non-premium tickets.

I held the US version too for years before global transferred to India, it used to be $450 then. I think Indian version is better, and I currently hold Aspire Hilton which has been fantastic.

— Indian variant comes with 4 supplementary cards free. You need to pay $175 extra for 3 supplementary members. So the fee of equivalent offering is $725. That’s 50K INR. And you’d still be 1 supplementary and 1 A/C card short. –All status benefits are same. Indian one is better here actually. — Indian version comes with 24 golf lessons every year. — Much stronger service. You know what I’m talking about, Plat line in US has become unbearable now. Concierge in US uses Expedia to book travel. It’s an absolute joke. In India, they are savvy and use a real GDS. — 52 green fees waivers on golf every year, with minimum flight of 1. — There is no $39 booking fee for taking advantage of IAP bookings on flights. If you book even 10 flights with Amex to get IAP discounts, you need to add $390 to your annual fee. –Every card in Amex offerings come with TSA..could never take advantage of it but I can’t imagine this being special to anyone who has Plat. –There are additional status on Indian card — Taj Gold, Shangri-La Jade, Radisson Gold. This should alone be worth the extra 10K in fee. –There is practically no dining advantage of US plat anymore. There is enough free wine in India for Indian variant. — Indian version gets 3X on forex. 5X on airlines would be super though. — Car rental advantage of US version has been the highlight feature for me, except that CSR simply has better offering for over 2 years now. And Amex didn’t change anything. –Out of express cash and emergency cash, all Plat emergency services are withdrawn from US card. A sure sign that in US, Amex sees it as a mass market card.

Honestly, I’d rather keep CSR (present version) + Amex Gold (new one) + Hilton Aspire as my personal fav US trifecta. The reality is that to compete with CSR, Amex Plat is now just another card in US when it comes to offerings and service. And the benefits they provide are not for lifestyle, but to entice people who should not have the card in the first place. And the customer service reflects that attitude.

For what Plat is meant for, Indian version is more value offering than US. At least for me.

Re the $39 fee for booking via the Platinum Travel desk, I think they’ve just introduced an online portal for these IAP bookings, which does not involve the fee, and importantly, the hassle of calling the travel desk and feeding them itineraries one by one as they check them out.

And don’t forget the list of airlines you have access to via the US IAP is far better than here in India. The Indian list is heavy on Skyteam and Star Alliance carriers, which, apart from SQ, are not worth shouting about in business class. The US version has top-line One World airlines like JAL, QR, CX and QF, plus the usual *A suspects.

As far as Centurion lounges go, in India, you have just the two, if I’m not wrong, and one in HKG. Unlike in the US, where there are plenty.

The 5x on travel spends is also a massive benefit.

Add it all up and it’s hard to see how the Indian Amex plat is better value at over twice the annual fee, unless you’re maxing out the supplementary card benefits and golf benefits all the time. I guess I’m not considering them a whole lot because they’re not benefits I personally would make much use of.

> Re the $39 fee for booking via the Platinum Travel desk, I think they’ve just introduced an online portal for these IAP bookings, which does not involve the fee, and importantly, the hassle of calling the travel desk and feeding them itineraries one by one as they check them out.

While limiting IAP discounts to only 2 redemptions per year for US Plats. Indian Plat, like US Cent is unlimited redemptions without any fee. But hey, they got Saks socks for free 🙂

>> While limiting IAP discounts to only 2 redemptions per year for US Plats. <<

I don't think this is the case. I've looked at the IAP pages and the Amex Plat t&c for IAP and it does not seem to say this anywhere.

The IAP has 3 faces:

1. BOGO on First/Business class. 2. Auto upgrade to first/business on buying business or premium economy. Usually second to highest fare. 3. Discount ranging from 10-25% on base fare, on flights originating (including round trips) from one’s issuing country.

On US personal plat, option 1 is not available to begin with. Option 2 is available only to be used twice a year with $39 booking fee per ticket (not per use), and in practice always unavailable to plats die high number of cents. Option 3 is available to be used any number of times and also has an option to book online to save $39 fee.

On US Cent, all options re available, with no booking fee, any number of times.

On Indian Plat, all options are available, with no booking fee, any number of times.

You are only looking at option 3 documentation, which only became a part of IAP in mid-2017, and most Plats and Cent who actually had the card before 2017 even associate IAP with it.

One thing I’d want to come to India is bonus points on booking through Amex. Can’t believe they don’t have that yet.

my amex account has been suspended for financial review..been 3 days..review still to be finalized..any idea how much time they take and what is the general outcome?

@Amex Guy, Hi

Can you kindly guide towards BOGO offer, couldn’t see it anywhere on the IAP page or the membership page of platinum. Travel desk doesn’t know about it too.

Aside, can you also please help with the difference of fraud protection of Amex platinum form other premium cards like DCB and Infinia. apart from amount they cover is there any other difference

Thanks in advance

Hello AmexGuy!

I would like your inputs if Amex Plat India has any trip interruption benefits. travel insurance, baggage delay, lost baggage, delayed flights etc etc. Trying to determine if I should be putting flight charges on Amex Plat India vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Sid & Amex Guy, After reading your reviews, opted and went in for AMEX PLAT. But within few days, I realized that it’s a much over-hyped card. The true sense of value is somewhat missing. Like I tried booking through FHR, but the prices on FHR were far more expensive than regular travel sites like Yatra. Please shed some light on this .

How do you book some less expensive hotels??? FHR shows only the luxury premium hotels.

Along-with the card came two forms. One for primary card holder and one for spouse. When the primary one asks us the spouse details then why a separate form?.

The priority pass is valid only for Primary holder & 1 additional supplementary card holder.

Further, the sales rep is not at all interested in clarifying or giving information. He considers as deal done and please call customer support.

P.S. The card does feel premium in it’s metal avatar but still 60k + for metal ?????? Think one has to really crack the puzzle to reap the benefits. For me, I am going to return. A tough nut for me to crack !!!!

I also got the upgrade offer and in dilemma whether to go for it or not ?,what is FHR? Even if you return the card now,will you get back the joining fee?

Received invite to apply for amex platinum charge card, with 1.25 l reward points, any suggestions , I’m not sure if I can apply.

Personally I see lot of people being invited for platinum charge card. I dread to say this but Amex Guy is right that American Express is selling it blindly. Unless you can find good return on investment of 70000 service fees, DO NOT go for the card. There is no point going for something with enthusiasm only to regret it.

Personally, I have gone for it and working on capitilising on the service fees.

@amex guy , BOGO on any airline any sector any biz/F fare ?

ITC club culinary is going way from June 22

amex guy, : is BOGO available even if you book for others like your parents

I got invited with 125K point and 4×2000/- amazon vouchers for supplementary cards.

My review after using the card.

Only for the people 1. Business people, who spend at least 60lakhs per year 2. Travelers, who travels abroad or across India and stayed in hotels at least 4 trips per year 3. Luxury people, who can enjoy the amex platinum status at airports, golf and hotels etc.

Monthly on avg I used to spend more than 50lakhs to my business with credit cards, In this spends I shared 10 lakhs per month to amex platinum which are large spends more than 3lakhs at single swipe.

The reward rate good, but acceptance of this card is very limited.

My personal suggestion anyone If annual spends more than 50lakhs Amex platinum card

If annual spends more than 20lakhs SBI air India Signature card

If annual spends more than 10lakhs SBI elite card

If annual spends above 5 lakhs there are many cards , but choose wisely as per your nature of spends Amex platinum Travel card (best rewards 20 thousand flight tickets+10k Taj hotel voucher) SBI Prime card ICICI Shappiro Card HDFC Business First Amex Gold charge

The above cards have best reward rate as per the usage, remaining cards like, Axis, Yes, HSBC, Citi, RBL, IndusInd all are best on special offers SBI and HDFC has more online shopping offers compared to the remaining banks.

Recently I used the Home Assist service of Amex Plat. For those who are not aware, Amex, through the Platinum Concierge, offers Home Assist for repair works like AC, fridge, plumbing, electrical works etc. They also allow a credit of Rs 1,200 for repair services. My AC needed a repair, so I triggered the Home Assist. The Concierge team got back to me the next day with a list of vendors available for the repair work. Then I randomly picked one vendor and asked them to liaise with them to get the repair work done – with a note saying that per my understanding service worth up to Rs 1,200 was to be paid for by Amex.

This is when the stuff hit the fan. What followed was a frantic series of calls from the Concierge Manager trying to understand where I got the notion that up to Rs 1,200 of the cost was to be borne by Amex. I told them that it is part of the card holder agreement and that information is publicly available. However she asked me to have the documentation sent to her – which I did. There was radio silence for a day – then after almost 36 hours they called me to say that they had spoken top their marketing team and that they would reimburse me for up to the said amount that I was eligible for.

They they took two days to schedule an appointment with the vendors. They called one vendor, and that vendor asked why the client cannot call them directly (“is he such a big shot?”). So they struck that vendor out. Finally they got hold of one and asked me to pay the service charge to him, which Amex would then transfer to my account. The date was set (and I was ready with the flower and the wine), but the vendor failed to show up, and was not reachable over phone.

I escalated the matter , and Amex came back to me requesting me to get the repair done from anyone and they would reimburse anyway. So I got UrbanClap to do the repair. My repair cost was over Rs 6K (I had to get the condenser replaced and refill the gas). I sent Amex the invoice copy, and after seven days the Rs 1,200 popped up in my account.

I am a tad dismayed that Concierge team is not conversant with all the services that Amex has promised in the card holder agreement.

A big thanks to you for sharing this information.

I wish they had higher limit, say Rs.3K & trained employees.

That is news to me…

Is it only for the Platinum Charge or is it applicable for the Platinum Reserve as well?

Thanks SH, I think you & Amex Guy can hold a refresher training course for the Amex plat team to understand the card benefits in great detail 🙂

Hahahha.. I fully agree and upvote it..

So much hassle for the 1200 credit with the so-called super-premium card. Thanks for sharing your experience, SH. You are probably the first person in the whole country to have used this benefit.

😀 😀 😀 😀 ! Good one! Was considering the plat, now i’m reconsidering…

Hi Guys, Great review and comment. Really helpful. I recently got an upgrade offer to the AMEX Plat. I negotiated the fees and got it at INR35K+Tax. But instead of reward points i’m going for INR30K of Taj Vouchers. I travel extensively but most of my travel is corporate business class so lounge access comes along with that. I am planning to evaluate it for 1 year from the perspective of intangible services that they offer. I have one question: What all privileges are extended to the Supplementary card holders i.e Do they get the same lounge access, do they get Hotel privileges? Can they use the concierge services? It would be great if you can shed some light on the above or point me to any documentation where i can find more information. As an aside: when traveling abroad, me and my wife will get access to lounge courtesy AMEX Plat. Do i need to pay for my 4 yr old kid or is there a way to get that access complementary as well

Many Thanks

35k + tax on upgrade from a non jet airways variant card ? Or from a jet variant card ? And even at this price , you were offered 125k bonus points or a 30k taj voucher and all benefits of the card ? , 35k for first year or 35k as long as you hold the card ?

I had cancelled my jet airways card long back, but for extending this offered they reactivated it and upgraded it to Platinum. Post that they cancelled the Jet card again. 35k+taxes is locked as long as I hold the card. After negotiating they only offered 30k Taj voucher

I too took the 35k offer and plan to evaluate it for a year. I hold the Citi Prestige card as well, so a few of the benefits like priority pass, more points on international spends and Taj membership are similar for both cards. I look forward to the Platinum Travel Services and FHR. The metal card is really nice no doubt.

@GGM, from what I know, supplementary card holders do get all the hotel membership and lounge access to the Amex lounges (including Centurion lounge). Priority Pass is limited to one supplementary card holder.

I also think that if you or you wife visit an Amex Centurion lounge, you can each bring along two guests.

Did you negotiate or were your offered this fee?

I was offered this fee.

I negotiated it, having said that I’m a heavy user of Amex travel Platinum for almost last 10 years

So I understand that it is only possible with Centurion Lounge. For other priority pass enabled lounge it would be accessible for just 2 of us.

I think you got a great offer in terms of fees.

As per your question, all the supp cards get concierge access and hotel statuses. But only one supp card gets the Priority Pass access. So this means that all supp cards can get lounge access within India for free. But only the primary and one supp card holder (who has the PP) will get overseas lounge access for free.

I also received the Plat charge card upgrade offer however, couldn’t negotiate discounted fees. I already own SBI AI Signature, Vistara Infinite & DC Black – All reward points are largely accumulated on these cards. I don’t see a real world benefit for Platinum Concierge for a regular Joe like me and FHR is practically useless since I’m a Bonvoy Amb Elite & IHG spire. I only value the Golf Lessons which I’ve been waiting for since DC Black removed this feature but in Mumbai the only Golf Course they have registered for lessons is the one in Thane which isn’t so great and so so far! Considering my travel patterns, I barely use the Amex India lounges and I don’t see myself using the Centurion lounges more than a couple times during a year. Also, I don’t see spending 60L or more in a year to be even considered for the renewal waive off ! However, I can’t deny the sheer joy of holding this metal card, it’s more than a subtle flex!

What do you guys suggest I do, should I go ahead nonetheless and try it out for a year or continue my spending on the DC Black?

Not related to your question, but what’s your strategy for the DCB apart from the 10x and 5x partners? Do you put most of your spends on it? Personally, I find earning and transferring to CV points via the DCB a better proposition than earning CV points through the Vistara Infinite directly. Although the Gold and milestone benefits do help with the Vistara Infinite card.

Nikhil, I use the CV Infinite only for Gold Status benefits. Since 9W grounding, I’ve been left low and meagre ;/

I understand your pain! I’ve been looking to use up my JP miles at the base redemption value of 8500 on Indigo or Air India whenever I can

I have used twice the target amount and when I had requested for fee waiver they plainly refused it stating they haven’t given the waiver to anyone till date and she also challenged that it’s a recoded line and I wouldn’t tell something bluntly.

So as far my expierence they would not waive the fees for the 2nd year onwards you have to pay ₹70,800.

Cheers, Kiran

If you get the 35k offer (for still holding an Amex Jet Airways card) that fee is locked in, meaning your renewal fee will be 35k every year.

For the welcome bonus, you only get 30k of Taj voucher, no points. You do get all the other benefits.

Hi, Just wondering, what happens if you get the card & decide to cancel it say, 2-3 months down the line ? is the full fee refunded ? Also, what happens to elite hotel status? Do we lose that as well.

Is it possible to use the Plat Charge to make a discounted booking at Taj hotels and then use a voucher from the Plat Travel offer to make partial payment?

Also, the Plat Taj offer is for the room-only-rate, right? What is the best deal on breakfast/meals?

That 10k voucher can be setoff against room charges and charges to room(room service,spa,etc) except taxes… they dont really care which amex card you book the room through , I suggest using your Plat charge , take a deal on the taj booking , then at reception counter , present the plat travel gift card at the reception , enjoy best of both worlds

Thank you!!

The upgrade process was quite quick.

Accepted the 125K offer on Aug 1. Got no email/sms confirmation so checked with them on Aug 2. They said my offer had expired 30/6, and I had to forward them the email that had the offer valid till 30/9. They approved it on Aug 2. Received the card on Aug 7. Didn’t see a CIBIL hit.

It seems enrollment to the hotel programs is going to take forever in comparison 🙂 The official turnaround, I’m told is upto 6-8 weeks, although apart from Radisson, others are expected to come sooner.

Typo: *Did* see a CIBIL hit. On Aug 5

Hilton Gold and Shangri-la Jade upgrade was indeed fast, and was reflected in 5 days (Aug 9 — Aug 14) on the respective membership pages, not updated on the Amex status page yet. Radisson not processed yet.

Radisson took 2.5 weeks (Aug 9 — Aug 27).

Hi Siddharth,

I recently got a request to upgrade my gold charge card to platinum charge card since my spends in a year exceeds 25 lacs across my three amex cards. I am really skeptical of taking the upgrade offer for 125k bonus points with 60k+ GST as joining fee.

dont upgrade if you are skeptical… i have received upgrade to Plat Charge on my Amex Plat Travel card with hardly 5-6 lakhs spend annually….they keep renewing the offer every month….only take when you feel you can take advantage of the vast perks the Plat Charge offers

I think they are randomly sending upgrade offers, not based on spends. I already hold a plat, and got an upgrade offer to plat based on my plat reserve (which is an LTF companion to plat) on which I have spend Rs. 15 till now.

I hope the offer stays till renewal time. Then I’ll actually take it, and get 125K bonus points for essentially paying the same renewal fee. 😀

I see that many of the Amex (and in particular, plat charge) offers expire around september. Is this a usual trend? Do these typically renew in the next year, or do they change year to year?

(looking at taj, air india, some of the wellness benefits, etc.)

I just received my primary and supplementary platinum cards.

I want to find out that can I (primary card godler) and the supplementary card holders all get the Morriot Bonvoy Gold Membership?

-Primary Card holder -Supplementary card holder 1 -Supplementary card holder 2

It says above the supplementary card holders will receive the hotel benifits too, So i suppose this should be the case?

Thanks for your help.

I got instant discount of Rs. 10,000/- from Tanishq yesterday upon purchase of gold jewellery. Tanishq informed that they were running this scheme from 06th September itself but the value of jewellery should be minimum Rs. 1,10,000/-. Two pieces of jewellery were purchased and separate billing was done and paid vide Amex Platinum Charge card and Amex Platinum Reserve Card and got discount of Rs. 10,000/- on each card i.e. totaling Rs. 20,000/- . Happily sharing with you. Thanks. 🙂

I have an upgrade offer to Amex Platinum with 125K points. So I called up the customer care to ask about the benefits that are extended to the supplementary card. Apparently, it’s only the lounge access and priority pass(1 additional) that the supplementary cards get. I was hoping that the Dining benefits, Taste from Platinum would be available on the supplementary cards as well. Can someone who’s already using a supplementary card comment?

i am currently working in Brunei where AMEX does not operate . is it possible for me to apply for this card as an NRI ? anyone who is an NRI and holding this card ?? i am currently holding a HDFC infinia.

What happens at the renewal ? No renewal mr points? Your hotel statuses go away if you haven’t met the criteria?

No renewal MR points , statuses stay as long as you hold the card

I recently got the Amex Plat card after using the Reserve for a year. I got the 125k targeted offer and the 50% Marriott transfer seemed really good, plus I have upcoming travel to the USA and Asia. Thanks to this blog and comments for enlightening me on the card benefits.

Aside from the excellent marriott conversion offer, my experience has been nothing short of harrowing:

1. I emailed concierge on how to get to the Centurion lounge in SFO considering that my flight might be in a different terminal. Concierge told me that plat card holder doesnt have access to centurion lounge. What!? I was directed to travel desk, who transferred me to card customer care, who also told me plat doesnt have centurion access. Additionally, they couldn’t be bothered to research whether I can traverse between different SFO terminals to get to the lounge. Can anyone add to this? 2. I called the travel counsellors to book flights and cruise in Asia and requested Visa details, he sounded very annoyed/disinterested about my request and said he is on leave for next two days, and would respond after 3 days. I requested him to expedite if possible, since tickets fluctuate. I never heard back from him. I ended up having to book on my own 🙁 Travel planning is stressful and a lot of work. This is one area I hoped the famed “Senior Travel Counsellors” would be able to help. It was a major let down. 3. I asked travel desk to research for me hotel quotations for Marriot, hilton etc and the points required, so that I can plan my stay accordingly. Travel desk simply gave me link to Fine hotels and Resorts without doing any of the research. I had to email concierge, who only responded after 4 days, despite multiple follow ups, and did not deliver on my request. Is there no SLA to respond to member emails? 4. Many more unfortunate experiences: concierge, travel team and customer care keep passing the buck amongst themselves. What a waste of my time.

Can other readers share their stories here regarding the Amex customer service, travel and concierge respectively? At this point, I don’t see it as a lifestyle card, it seems to be more of a high end rewards card, with excellent Marriot rewards points with Marriott Gold and ofcourse other great tangible perks.

I don’t understand why American express is heavily compromising on service standard. Perhaps I expected too much from the “Do Anything” concierge and famed travel counselors and need to temper my expectations.

Anonymous, That is true, Amex Platinum’s travel desk is just premium for namesake. Last night I gave them a call for price check between DEL and Munich just to test the waters. There is an ongoing offer on Etihad from some time now where you get upto 10% off on the fare for Amex card holders (not just Platinum). However the travel desk did not have any clue about that and they were just repeating general fares which you can beat with any OTA. One time I requested if they can help me to book a cab between 2 cities in Europe and right of the bat they told me to check at the taxi stand of the airport for fares and booking!…….. … …. Enlightening isn’t it?

These are just few instances where Amex team has shown complete lack of knowledge for any offers which can reduce the fare or provide any other benefit. Somehow most of the the time I end up calling them around midnight, I am not sure if that could be one of the reason for such kind of service.

There is a big disconnect between the Amex offers/promotions and the knowledge of the same with Amex line, you have to go extra mile if you want any benefit with this service. Unfortunately Citi Prestige is on the same page with Amex but at least it has a better ROI for the fee you pay. Best option is google, the first few results will give you a complete pictures if there is any offer worth going for.

PT, thanks for the insights. Calling at midnight shouldn’t be a problem. I recommend you try emailing them too, and escalate if responses are unsatisfactory, there is a paper trail as evidence.

Regarding Citi Prestige, my experience has actually been great. I’ve been using their concierge very regularly and frequently for close to a year now. With citi you have to be very specific with your request and they will get it done. What I like is that they respond very promptly to emails, they do not drop the ball on any request. They don’t seem to have airline or hotel offers(except 4th night free) so they aren’t great for booking flights or hotels. But they are excellent with unconventional requests, things I would expect a concierge to do. Researching hard to get items for me, research hotels or cruise based on specific requirements, things requiring multiple phone calls to research. Granted these services aren’t “discounts” or “offers” most people look for, but for me its my favourite perk of the card, saves me a lot of time and it’s great to know that there’s concierge that you can actually rely on to do most things, much unlike the Amex plat card.

Citi and Amex, Mailing them I feel is actually too much of a hassle for simple things like flight booking where prices can change any minute.

With respect to the concierge service of Citi Prestige , I think citi do not have a separate desk for concierge and travel desk, they are all rolled into single line unlike Amex. It is absolutely a hit or miss with citi, I have had instances where they provided me a list of possible hotels where I can stay during a short vacation based on my inputs and there were also cases where they outright told me that they cannot help me in finding hotel and I have to look in Hotels.com and then inform them (Yes this happened with me during last week itself) for availing 4th night free offer. The person on the other end was very sure that they only help in booking and not shortlisting.

Citi concierge have also sent me incorrect quotations (which were very low from the market price, a clear red flag) and then blatantly refused to accept that they were wrong arguing that prices are dynamic and all the pries increased by 50% in a span 15 hours. This was when I absolutely lost faith in concierge service as you can not rely on them for the accuracy of information.

The above cases does not mean that Prestige is a bad card by any means, it is still one of the best cards in my arsenal in terms of services it provides, same goes for Amex albeit with Amex it becomes a zero sum game as I do not travel with business or first class.

my only disappointment is :

no invites / events in my email since 10 months of joining

rest I am enjoying everything

They have started advertising this on TV, first for Amex in India?

Whenever a super premium product is advertised in general media , its exclusivity is downgraded … there was a full page ad in TOI a few days back in mumbai also… amex is now trying to sell it to masses… lets see if they bring Optio to India

At Delhi airport, they are telling everyone, who presently holds amex card, to apply for platinum charge card.

I don’t think these promos would do any good, as those who can get this card will anyway know about it.

But anyway it will serve as a good overall branding though.

I don’t think market for 70K card can be increased here much by advertising

Today I received an email for upgradation. Now i am ready for the 70k fee but unsure of the value. As i already have Diners black and most Pvt bank cards..

Does anybody have experience with the Visa assistance services?

OK. my experience:

I asked them for help with getting visas for my family; they sent me a checklist, forms. I filled them up. I then called them again and they said they’ll send someone for document pickup. I anticipated a travel agency rep would come, check the docs and take them; instead last minute a courier company agent came to pick up docs. So i had to hurriedly package them in an envelope. Then next day, I got an email saying I need to send the docs again — the checklist had said I should cross-sign on the photo on the application form, but they said I should send it again without the cross sign. I asked why is the instruction different from the checklist, and they said the checklist was for Delhi-based processing, whereas my processing happened in Mumbai. Anyway, resent the docs by the same courier pickup mechanism,. The visas then arrived within 2 days.

So, overall good experience, but I would have appreciated more communication from them as to what the process entails, and a more targeted checklist of documents.

If i opt for amex platinum charge , can i give addon cards to my father in law and brother in law ?

Yes, you can give it to anyone.

I got an offer of 20k in Taj vouchers on renewal of PlatCharge, although.. my renewal is due faaaaar away.

The offer showed up in the mobile app.

Amex sent out invitations for 2 front-row seats to one of their plays, for 5000MR each seat; those seats were otherwise selling for ₹9440 on bookmyshow. Thought it was a great redemption rate.

Here is one more example that shows how complacent the travel desk/concierge team has become that they are not able to cater even to the most basic requests. I was in Europe last week and somehow ended up on a connecting flight with 8 hours layover in Porto (Portugal). Airport lounge wasn’t descent enough to spend 6 hours so I emailed Amex travel desk one day before to find me a accommodation in a day hotel or in a hotel close to airport with a early check-in request (Since I already had idea that there are few nice hotels just outside airport, I was assured that this booking will be done in a jiffy). Amex executive responded with a single Marriot property 13 Kms away from airport.

Not happy with the results I again asked them to look close to the airport on which they told me that do not have nearby hotels in their reservation system, I even went ahead to request them to call the hotels and check if bookings can be made. Received a straight denial, not even an assurance that they will try to help.

Hugely disappointed I called up “Do anything” concierge and this time I gave them the hotel name too where I wanted to book a room, this time the guy was descent enough and instead of straight no he said that accommodation was not available the next day and reiterated the Marriott property availability, but showed hesitance to call the hotel once which was close to the airport.

Finally I decided to do the booking myself and went to the hotel website and was able to book it promptly, however I found that in a hurry I booked the hotel for the same day instead of the next day, so just sent out a mail and the booking was modified in a matter of minutes.

Amex has completely failed me this time (not the first time), I am not sure if they were this useless from the beginning or this is a new stride.

My annual salary is 5 lakh, will be increased to 6 lakh from March.I am a heavy user of Citi premier miles credit card for past 3 years and have never defaulted on a single payment. My credit score is above 800. Will I be eligible for Amex platinum as it states the income eligibility is 15L p.a. And is it worth getting with my income level ? If approved,can I netogiate on the annual fees prior to joining. If not platinum what would be the best card for me in Amex ?

Why would you want to spend 12 of your annual salary as Credit Card Fee.

Platinum card absolutely makes no sense at this price point unless you travel a lot and use most of the hotel membership benefits regularly.

If you do want an Amex, I suggest going for Amex MRCC.

Vignesh, I will be shocked if you are talking about going for a platinum charge card. With your financial position you will be spending close to 2 months of salary just on the credit card fee. Even if you are in a job where you have been travelling 100% of the time, staying in hotels and it is all payed by your organisation I would not recommend this card to you with your income level. But if you are talking about Platinum travel card then you can give it a try, it’s a decent card to hold provided that you hit milestone spends.

To sid and Amex guy, Have you used the upgrade to first class on the Amex plat via Etihad? If yes, how does it work? And how many times can you get upgraded? It’s for the primary user only? Or can the supplementary user get this Benefit as well? I saw on the website it says valid till 31 dec’20

Amex the minimum eligibility is 6 Laks , you can start with Amex membership rewards credit card .

Hi Vignesh,

You have not mentioned your expenses categories or how much would you spend on card. Do you travel and would be able to use Platinum benefits ? This the question only you can answer.

For staring into Amex, you can apply for Rewards or Platinum travel card.

For the accelerated Star alliance gold status for the card , is BOM – SIN – DPR , DPR – SIN – BOM counted as 4 flights or 2 flights on Singapore airlines ?

4 since they will be different flight nos

I’m doing the same route for Gold Match. Have written to KF but haven’t received a response yet

Taj Epicure membership enrollment ends on 31st January,2020

It seems they have extended the Taj Epicure membership till 31’st Mar.

@Siddharth, I have applied the Amex platinum card through your referral and received it today. Thanks for all the information/support you provide on cards benefits.

Hi Sid, Amexguy

I just got an 125k points upgrade offer. How can I maximize this card from 2nd year onwards?

Hi sid and Amex guy. I’m a self employed professional with a small business. I travel around 4-6times an year internationally and once a month domestically. I usually stay in Marriott or Hyatt properties. Was contemplating to apply for plat charge. So needed your opinion on two things 1) would I be able to use plat card to max with above situation 2) is there any advantage of taking corporate plat charge instead of personal. Does it help if I have a SME business

Due to current situation.. no way to use Taj vouchers or MR points for Marriot conversion !!

What are the odds to get atleast 50% fee waiver on this card ?

And their so called Concierge is of no usage even during Valentine’s day..they were unable to deliver a bunch of flowers citing high demand ! but those are the times they were needed more .. isn’t it ?

I have heard of people getting 80k points on renewal. You can negotiate for an offer.

Any update what are they offering now for renewal?

Does the Amex Platinum IAP give discount on Intl economy flights too ?. If it does what would be the range of discount in % terms ?

Today i got amex platinum card . Lets hope for use benefits of rs 70800 fees yrly 😂

I want to know about platinum charge card as I want this card if I spend 20 lakhs in a year on electricity bill thru this card is it beneficial for me to take this card as for other expenses I use diners black card which very good in reward rate as u know will I get extra benefit from amex platinum charge card

Thanks for the blog and all commenting here. It’s been a great insight. I am self-employed and earn almost four times more than what platinum charge card needs for the self-employed. I held AMEX cashmagnet in the US and have been using MRCC in India since last year. My spend on MRCC is about 2 lacs annually, and AMEX sent me upgrade offer to platinum for 115K points recently, though catch is I have to spend 50K in two months to get those points. Joining fee is same as normal – 60K+GST. I occassionaly travel, and I know my situation is probably same as 60% or more folks who got such an upgrade offer. I am not going for it, as I occassionaly travel and benefits don’t make much sense. On the other hand, I have saved about 10K across offers on MRCC within a year, and fee also got waived off automatically due to card rule than if you sepnd 1.5 lac or more then it comes free for renewal.

People going for upgrade just for elite tier, I feel shouldn’t do it unless you really can get most out of it. Everyone’s credit needs and spending patterns are different. If you really want a metal card, then OneCard is a good option now. I hold about five cards so far, including Regalia from HDFC, ICICI amazon card, and OneCard. I like Amex MRCC the most in India for regular online/offline purchasing needs. Ah, and Amex service is really good. give them a call and they solve it one way or other.

Moment Amex adds purchase protection, warranty extension, and similar benefits (outside hotel and travel), I will go for Platinum card.

Nice!! Thank You

Hi Sid & Amex guy, I received the upgrade offer from Amex for the Platinum Charge Card today. I currently have the Platinum Travel Card. My annual salary is INR 8L. I’m very confused whether I should accept the offer or simply ignore. The offers are very tempting but at the same time I’m hesitant about the annual fee of INR 60k (which can be paid monthly as well – INR 5k). Please let me know your thoughts.

I have applied for AMEX Platinum Charge Card today in ₹ 5,000 per month offer. I do not know if I will be able to get the full benefits out of it so as to justify the high fee. But one thing I know, I will get the joy of owning the platinum and that itself compensated for the high fees. Some things are priceless and the pride of owning the platinum far far outweighs the annual fee. From now on, I will assume that my earning is less by ₹ 70,800.

I think the 125k offer is back. Has anyone received this offer?. Only change is: “Spend ₹50,000 and get 1,25,000 Membership Rewards® points# within the first two months of your Platinum Cardmembership.” But no offer on renewal this time.

I have received this offer. Still confused whether to go for it or not

Me too. But expiring on 30th Nov. No sure to let it go or to take it. Travel looks difficult in most of 2021 as well. Any other benifit looks unlikely for me.

Don’t think they give renewal offers beforehand. I know folks who have negotiated aggressively with Amex for their plat renewals. But its all when the renewal fee hits the account.

Hi Siddharth, Just wanted to drop a note to let you know, that your indepth research really helped me to choose this card, thank you very much for putting this on the internet.

You’re most welcome, Venkatesh. Check back after a month to have even more details on this card, especially on the concierge service 🙂

Subscribed & look forward to the same.

Its been long since you committed concierge review… somehow you keep pushing it any NDA ? 😀

You’ll find the reason along with it 😉

I checked Amex Reserve Card & Amex Platinum Card These cards there any renewal MR points offer… MR points only offered at the time of sign-up.

Understanding is correct? =========================== From this blog…

Many card members that renewed during Covid-19 got very good retention offers which makes sense to hold on to the card. ============================ Does Amex offer renewal benefits or Renewal Retention offer people received?

What’s the typical benefit in using IAP? I currently hold the Plat Travel card, and called up the IAP helpline to enquire on flight prices (to see if the upgrade to Plat Metal Card is worth it). But unfortunately they don’t even tell you the prices if you’re not a Platinum Card holder! So as an example, a Del-Syd business class flight in September shows 40-50k for economy and 1.6 lakhs for business class on MMT. Mum-Tokyo is 30k for economy and 1.3 lakhs for business. Can a current Platinum holder tell me what’s the price for these flights on the IAP portal? Thanks in advance!

Ayush, IAP is only available on select airlines, the list is here americanexpress.com/in/benefits/the-platinum-card/international-airline-program.html AIR INDIA is listed on the site but has been discontinued which is a bummer and also a bit misleading to have it listed there. If you are looking for business class fare on any of these airlines listed, you’ll get average of 10% discount. Premium and economy is not discounted for few flights i’ve checked on SQ AND UA Hope that helps. For those who fly business class, nothing can beat this card.

Too many hotel tieups and not sure if people will use it really. This card has high renewal fee with nothing guaranteed. Rewards points have less value if I compare with Infinia or Indusind Indulge. Lounge access is there with so many cards at a very low fees. Infinia is anytime better.

A golden question for myself to ask you guys

Should I retain my Amex plat charge for 1 more year

Got onboard the amex plat in Jan 2020, got 1.25L points after making the 90k spend within 3 months , booked a trip to Singapore via amex concierge (discounted business class) and bam , Lockdown

Amex helped me get back the refund within 2 months of SQ announcement of them willing to refund tickets(score amex concierge) , since then used all cashback schemes which came along for grocery purchases , blew up 1.25L points on double value cashback scheme (bad decision in hindsight, but when i redeemed on the last day in july , seemed valuable as i had decided to shut down the plat) , come november , used the Taj innercircle Gold for fabulous discount at Taj bekal and also got upgraded to their highest suite pool villa (valued 43k+ in my calculation) , since then just used 3 times for dining cashbacks/discounts in mumbai under 2 schemes

Spend on card in last year has been just short of 8 lakhs in a year since most expenses were put on HDFC infinia , axis ace, Stan C ultimate

Now with Shangrila Jade status going away on 31.3.2021 which in turn will mean losing the Taj Gold status post april

My business also doesn’t warrant travel , so basically its just down to 1-2 vacations a year

Please suggest whether I should consider continuing withe card or shut it down

I renewed it myself for a second year despite the pandemic. I calculated that I got back almost 3 lakhs in value in first year so the 2nd year fee is also as good as waived. Travel is going to open up later in 2021 so this card will come in handy for sure. Plus the constant 100% cashbacks

Last year they gave half of fees as cashback , this year also half of fees is offered as cashback , so i am not expecting more cashback offers as such

I have a Reserve and now it feels less of a asset and they denied me Gold Charge card as a companion card and pushed MMRC instead. Still at 2.5lac limit and resubmitting ITR for LE of more than 5k LE has hit me bad. Additionally the Mumbai Amex lounge was closed so could not use it there too. I hope that AMEX does some reshuffling for the Reserve card since in its current state its not great at all.

@Siddharth kindly do a Reserve card review when possible since you now have one and that one review from earlier needs an update.

Can people share renewal benefits Amex offered for the metal card in the last few months?

If you are already a gold bonvoy do you get upgraded to platinum bonvoy with the amex platinum card?

Does the limit in my Reserve card matter to get an upgrade email “1.25lac points” for the platinum?

CC says the upgrade email for the platinum does not depend on lower cards limit which for me is 2.55lac on Reserve card and 2.90lac on MRCC “Companion”.

Also can anyone clear up the limits of MRCC “Companion” & Reserve conjoining in case of one of the companion card being cancelled.

Avoid AMEX card very poor distribution and merchant affiliation. Even customer care knows this and suggests payment to other wallet to each purchase limit utilisation.

Is the 25 lac minimum income requirement for the Platinum Charge card based on Net Income or Gross Income? Also, can we pay the fee in 12 monthly installments?

Hi Sid and AmexGuy

I am already having Amex Platinum Travel card and having offer for upgrade to Amex Platinum for sometime now. Have been waiting around for few months now, but now I have a reason, its unusual reason though.

The thing is I am planning to move to Germany for 1.5 Years, and I will travel to India at least 2-3 times in this period and my shopping will be done from India mostly. Does it make sense to have this card and use it for travel bookings and shopping etc there. I see usually there is 3X foreign spends offer, does that offset at least the forex transaction+Conversion fee at least. And please suggest if there are some other benefits along the way as well. At the end of the day, will I be recovering part of my 60K annual fee.

The thing is I do not see any good cards over there, and credit card scene in Europe in general is pretty weak IMHO. They cards there hardly have any rewards, and no offers etc.

PS: I know Amex people will not issue me card if I disclose that I will be OOO for 1.5 years may be, but I want to keep this card for its benefits.

@Sumeet – Try to take Amex Payback Credit Card once you get to Germany. It has pretty sweet cashback offers on and off along with a sign-up bonus.

Thanks Shivi, will check this option

3X is good as long as you know how to redeem those points for a good value. So totally depends on your spends & redemption capabilities I could say.

Generally speaking, if you cannot convince yourself after looking at the benefits, Plat charge is mostly not a right card for you.

Thanks a ton Sidharth.. I would not go for it then may be.. Most of the benefits are not applicable in Europe and Marriott group presence in EU is low for redemption of Amex points

@sumeet check the Citi prestige for international spends

Thanks Mohnish, yes it makes sense in someway.

Prestige will be beneficial to him only if he wants to play the miles game & also open the high NRV account with CiTi

My upgrade offer is: a) 1,15,000 Membership Rewards® Points OR b) Rs.50,000 + Rs. 5000 worth of vouchers from Taj, SeleQtions & Vivanta Hotels as Welcome gift for 1st year and Rs. 25,000 worth of Taj Voucher on 1st renewal.

Received renewed epicure card from amex , thing to note is gols status validity is mentioned as 31/03/2021 , while epicure plus validity is mentioned as 31/01/2022

thanks for the review. I was/am considering getting the amex plat just noticed that trf partners both airlines and hotels for the India card have far poorer transfer ratios than the US e.g. US Amex MR trf to airlines at 1:1 and to hotels like hilton at 1:2. For India,apart from fewer options, ratio is 2MR:1mile and hilton at 1MR:0.9. Only MR>Marriott is 1:1 both places. This probably makes redemption of MR for airline mile fairly poor value?. Wondering how best to utilize the MR rewards that I will get since I’m a leisure traveler and will never stay in a cat1 hotel anyway (probably cat5 or higher). Also seems shangri-la, (>taj gold) tie ups/ cascading benefits are due to end shortly? How does one then get any value from the card?

Hi, My situation is exactly the same as you, I am also confused about whether to get this card or not. What you have thought, are you taking this card?

Have decided to put this on hold for now. Would like to so what they do to make up for the loss of shangrila jade. Besides travel plans look highly uncertain anyway with second wave so…fwiw rm told me he couldn’t assure that mrcc and travel plat fee would be waived if I held a plat charge, said would be case by case and not up to him to assure.

Hi Siddharth, Thanks for great article.

Any insights on the renewal fee on the metal card. Are they giving any discount/waiver / renewal bonus due to pandemic?

Not sure how to ask for a waiver?

No fee waiver/discount on fees , low spender like ne got 20k taj voucher if i paid full fee at one go , high spenders have their renewals according to their business given to amex ..only option is to split fees in 5k x 12 if you ask them

Coming soon : another 2,500 cashback on apple and google store spends , 10k cashback on truefit and hill/oberoi hotel salon , recd in mail as unlock platinum benefit , timeline yet to be announced

My card is due to renewal in 2 days and all they are offering is 20000 voucher with Taj and payment of INR 60k plus taxes as a monthly scheme, anyone got the same? Any workaround to that? Seems almost nothing.

Hi guys Can anyone elaborate on the etihad first class upgrades? is it always given or its circumstantial?

One quick query,..

Could anyone link Golden circle with TIC recently? No luck for me..

Yea , but took 15 days and follow up on helpline , still 1 more pending , will update on that as well

I got it done through GC website. It went smoothly and the linking was done with a week. Do make sure to choose GC as the primary status.

@Sudheep, @MT Couldn’t link my Golden Circle account to TIC. The link on the Taj Hotels website is broken. I called Taj multiple times but no luck. They always ask me to call Shangri La. Shangri La always asks me to call InnerCircle. It’s a mess. @MT, who exactly did you contact? Any additional help will be appreciated.

Taj innercircle did it for me , though application was made on warmer welcomes website

Sir, can you explain about the ‘1 additional card for business expenses’ you have mentioned in this article because my major expenses are for business and as far as I know there is no mention for this on the website. This additional card would be very helpful to me for flight miles and marriot bonvoy.

It’s a separate card to differentiate the expense. Easy to take the stmt and submit for reimbursement from the company.

You may also use it just for one type/category of spends like fuel/travel.

Can you please take some time out and respond one of my questions in above thread from February.. just search with my name Sumeet Roy on this page

Better to take HDFC DCB, along with the Global Value program. Effective forex rate reduces to 1.35%, combined with the regular 3.3% reward rate gives you +2% rewards. Amex gives 7.5 MR points under 3x, but charges 4% as forex rate, so the reward rate is negative. Not worth the additional 60k in fees.

Part of the problem with HDFC is it keeps a check on foreign POS spends if done for longer duration. Amex don’t care much AFAIK.

If you spend more than 7 lakh in foreign currency on a card, the card company has to deduct tds and pay to IT department. Also if total transactions cross 10 lakh mark, they get automatically reported to IT department. Tread carefully and spend as per your declared income and what you can make up for. Spending money just cause of 2 or 3% return without substantiation is ITR, will result in tax notices and actions.

I got a call from amex for Platinum Charge Card. I was told that : 1) Spending on 1 lac on travel gives 30k tab vouchers 2) Annual Spends of 12 lacs will lead to annual fee waiver of 60k as the company would want to retain its premium customers.

So are the above things true ? Please share your views. Thanks 🙂

1. Ref: Amex Plat Offer: Taj Vouchers worth Rs.30,000 on travel spends of Rs.1 Lakh 2.Checked on annual spends thing and I was denied about that by the annual fee handling team.

If I decide to cancel the card for any reason within 1-3 months, will they reverse the charged fees and also take back the sign up bonus points?

They generally cancel with pro-rata fee refund (on best effort basis)

No. They won’t refund the fees to start with. No bank will. It’s part of TnC

After receiving my platinum card, i am planning a vacation as taj with family (expected booking amount 1.5lakh). Can i utilize the 40k taj vouchers and still take benefit of kaizen offer with 30k taj vouchers award?

Easy way is you can split the booking into two: 1L(travel desk)+50K(self – use vouchers here)

To use vouchers, you have to make the booking directly with Taj.

Amex has again come back with Platinum offer with 125k MR points for April. It does not seem to be targeted offer but can also be received through customer care (who will connect with sales personal) and they will offer. Applied my Plat charge today!!

In March, I received 115k points offer or Rs. 55K Taj Voucher Offer for Upgrade. Now I have received this 125K points Upgrade offer over email.

What I understand from the terms & conditions is that the upgrade will automatically cancel my LTF AMEX MRCC card. This is the only thing that’s stopping me from taking a plunge.

Clever hook by Amex.

@siddhartha Tiwari, You can apply for a new card with any referral link . You get 100k + 20k for referral. You get to keep the existing cards .

I think that MRCC & Plat Charge Card are incompatible together. Can anyone here confirm holding them together.

I hold MRCC, Gold Charge Card and Platinum Charge Card together.

Yes, I have had plat charge, reserve and MRCC together.

Thanks for confirmation guys.

Just one more query, are Reward points accounts same for Platinum Charge & MRCC?

For MRCC and Travel card, even though login is same, points are separate

Thanks for confirmation

I hold Plat charge, Plat Travel, Gold Charge & MRCC…

The main issue I face with Amex cards is that it is barely accepted anywhere in South India, for eg. Kerala. I agree that the Platinum card is awesome, however it is a bit jarring when you realise you cannot use it at all even for basic purposes in most parts of India. If you travel mostly within India you cannot depend solely on this card – it is absolutely necessary to have another non Amex credit card which is disappointing when you pay a high fees.

This is a review of the Amex Concierge Service:

With the ongoing pandemic, I required some medicines that were not available at any chemists in Delhi. I called up HDFC Diners Black/Infinia concierge and Amex Platinum concierge (where I am a supplementary card holder). HDFC Diners Black called me back in 30 minutes and said they called a few vendors and its not available and that was the end of that story Amex meanwhile called me back in 30 minutes and said its not available and they will keep searching. What followed was absolutely a pleasure to deal with where they called me 2-3 times a day with updates and 2 emails a day with updates. On the 3rd or 4th day, they arranged a runner to go to the shop and pick up the medicine and had it delivered to me at my home. Absolutely amazing service and I would spend the 60k a year just for this kind of service.

First times Ive used the concierge and they hit it out of the park. Will definitely use them again whenever I need to for anything now!

I was supposed to fly to MP from Maharashtra, and as per MP govt requirement I was supposed to carry a negative RT PCR report in which swab was taken not more than 48 hours before.

I independently reached out to about 5 different labs and none were ready to provide a report before 48-72 hours. Also some of them were over booked to send a staff member to collect swabs. So I thought of I calling up the ‘Do it anything’ concierge for getting my RT PCR done and also get a report within 36 hours as I was flying after 36 hours. They understood my part and asked for 2 hours time. I wasn’t really positive but when I got a call after an hour, they reported that they called 4 labs but none were ready to provide a report before 72 hours but…. we have a good news for u, we have found a lab which was willing to send a person get me tested and deliver report within 24 hours on best effort basis. Amex team scheduled a visit with my consent.

The best part is post the testing they followed up with the lab to ensure that I get my reports before I take off from Maharashtra.

Amazing. Highly appreciated.

@Tejas Ghongadi, When I asked Amex they said we can’t hold two charge cards together. Any pointers as to how you got Gold Charge Card and Platinum Charge Card together?

@MP @Tejas Ghongadi Any Guidance on how to get Gold charge along with Plat charge ?

I see lot of hate on Amex concierge service. Here is another side of story. I wanted to get an appointment for a doctor for a special need for my son . The hospital was far away from home in Chennai and did not have a number available anywhere on the internet.I called the Amex concierge and placed a request for an appointment with the doctor. They were able to track the doctor and speak to him personally and got an appointment in another hospital where he practiced.I cannot put a value in monetary terms to these kind of delightful experiences .

Are there any current renewal offers on the plat card?

My card is coming up for renewal next month and was wondering what the latest was. IIRC, last year they gave me 55k MR points.

Have just received an option of 80k MR or 50k taj vouchers.

Not sure which to take to be honest!

is it for renewal?

Good, they gave only 20k Taj vouchers option to me in Feb’21 but frankly didn’t see any great returns so far.

What did you opt finally?

I had a question about Reward Points:

So for example if I spend Rs 100 on amazon/air tickets, I would need to spend 400 (100X4) reward points for 100 Rs through my Amex Platinum card reward points. For HDFC Infinia Credit Card, do you know if I would have to spend the same number of reward points (400 points for Rs 100)?

I know that the number of points you earn for 150 Rs spent is equal to 5 points for HDFC and 3.5 points for Amex. However, I am not sure about spending reward points for each credit card.

Also, I wanted to ask you if you have any recommendations for platinum corporate card. Which bank provides most value for money for a platinum level corporate card? looking forward to your insights and suggestions. Thank you

HDFC Diners Club Black and Infinia have a reward points value of 1 Re. i.e. each point is worth Rs. 1. , but you’ll have to book flights/hotels through their own Smart Buy portal to redeem the points.

Its no longer that proposition, when u try to redeem it for INFNIA its now .33 paisa per point cash credit. however for the E Vouchers for some company its like .50 paisa and for amazon/flipkart its .25 paisa. devalued it

Please don’t spread fake news, I can see that as of today 8th August Amazon/flipkart vouchers are valued at .50 paisa per point. Also booked a flight ticket yesterday @1rupee per 1 point rate only. DCB cardholder

Both are correct. When you redeem from netbanking link, it is Rs. 0.33/reward. When you do from smartbuy, it value is Rs.0.5/reward.

I got my Amex platinum last year July and it’s due for renewal this month. No word on the app nor any call from them. I am worried there is no offer for me now and they will slap on a 60+12k on my next bill. Should I contact immediately and check on offers? Without any offer I don’t want to continue anyway…. I got a 100k points initially. I have used all the offers in the year and went past 15 lakhs in usage in 1 year. So Wondering what should be my stance… looking for advice.

For travel card, they said I can call when the fees is billed. So i guess the same would be true for platinum card also?

While I have been using plat card from past 2 years and renewing 3rd time soon, I am pretty much satisfied with it. Although it is not serving the main purpose of my international travels, they are handsomely rewarding over this pandemic era.

However the biggest complaint from me is the quality of the physical card. This is 2nd time I am facing the issue. The card is getting split into 2 pieces, as they were pasting metal and delicate chip strips together. I have complained about it twice to Amex guys but of no use in rectifying it apart from replacing the card.

The cheaper one card and other metal cards that are being issued in India are single piece metal cards and not sure what is the problem with Amex to issue such sturdy cards for these premium metal cards.

Hope they will resolve soon!!

That is exactly my issue as well I had also linked pics of the same but my comment was not approved here. The plastic on top and back are not at all durable and I have tiny bubbles near Amex logo.

Before anyone says I had changed my card twice now “For free” since 2019 earlier one had a split plastic layer issue but that is not the way forward.

As someone who is very used to scouring the aggregator websites and finding cheapest possible business class/luxury hotel deals, I am a bit unsure about whether the Amex Platinum travel desk will understand my upper middle class mindset of looking for money saving opportunities.

Do they only offer the potential upgrades on hotels/flights booked via their own platform? Or even if I book a hotel room via let’s say ‘Booking.Com’ and flight via ‘Akbar Travels’ for example, if I am a AMEX Platinum Charge card holder, will I be considered for available upgrades regardless?

Upgrades would be offered on direct booking through Amex only.

Ah. Thanks 🙂

Sometimes, reading some reviews I am extremely tempted to go for Amex Plat Charge card. I mean, it’s brilliant card- where at least from looks of it, you can get the benefit redeemed via the Mariott program and other hotel programs. Plus the concierge reviews have just been brilliant. But on other side, as some people pointed out, it’s for people who are more on luxury. Probably not a card for those who are looking for more of “moneys worth”. Especially as someone who holds DCB/SCB Ultimate which gives 3.3% flat reward rates and other offers online, have a feeling I would be amongst its lower spending consumer (total card spends in a year-8-10l max)

Thn question is- would I be getting a decent renewal offer itself.

Tempted to apply.

If you plan on luxury vacations/ business travel where you stay at luxury hotels , go ahead and apply(post the ban is lifted by RBI) , otherwise not money’s worth , you will lose more time thinking about how to justify the fee

I am using Amex Platinum Travel , MRCC card Since 2019. I doesn’t meet the eligibility criteria of 15 Lacs ITR (Self Employed).How Can I get Platinum Charge card once the Ban lifts from Amex ?

Any suggestions or Tips ..?

Hi all, any idea on how much renewal benefits currently offered by American Express for Amex platinum charge card renewal ? My renewal will be in Jan 2022.

There are no renewal benefits on Amex Plat Charge. You pay the same amount, you don’t get any MR points like you do when you sign up.

Most likely none, travel is open. To be fair, with two spending offers, App Store, Salon offers, Shop Small, Reserve offers, Amex has paid back more than fees + GST in 2021 in form of cash! I’m wondering why are you expecting a retention offer? At best, they’ll offer you to be on monthly plan. If you spent over 40L-ish, expect some Taj Vouchers if you pay in one go.

Unless (and I hope not) Omicron leads to serious lockdowns I don’t see Amex offering retentions to even the highest of spenders. And it’s not even sensible to ask for one this year.

Keeping my name anonymous for a reason. I took 110K MR Points as retention bonus and know at least 12-15 other Platinum Charge users who have received 100-120K with one of them even getting as high as 175K MR Points.

Except the 175K Bonus guy, no one has spent more than 10 Lacs on the Platinum Charge Card.

Honestly, even with mediocre spends of 4-5 Lacs, people have got Retention Bonuses of 80K MR points

was it your first renewal ? with my spends north of 10lakhs on the card , i wasnt offered any retention offer for the 2nd renewal , they made me remind of all the offers that i have used during the year and told me the value i derived from the card…just paid the fees , i must have covered the fees atleast 10 times by now during 2 years of holding the card

Tried my luck too.. Unfortunately no renewal offer for my platinum… will keep the card for one more year, the benefits received so far can cover the charges.

My total spends were 8-9 lakhs only .

Update: 50k TAJ voucher as renewal offer on full payment. Other option was to redeem MR points@ INR 50paise/MR point which I didn’t opt.

My spend was just above 10lakhs. Renewal due in April. Just casually checked with Customer care executive if there’s any retention offer. Customer care executive mentioned there wasn’t any retention offer on my card but connected to account relationship manager just in case. Account manager after reviewing offered a 40k Taj Vouchers or 60k reward points as retention offer. I accepted 40k Taj voucher without any bargain.

Since I have a Plat issued elsewhere, I got tempted to write this. Honestly, it feels like I have been living under a stone. A lot has changed in India over a decade, and we have a well-performing credit reporting system.

My ignorance aside, I was looking to apply for a credit card in India when I landed on this site. First, good work helping/saving the community! Your reviews have been quite helpful. For the card, I was thinking of a no-frill type travel card that offers a modest reward (2% or more) on other purchases as well.

About Plat, I hope at some point Amex India improves its reward structure for flight/hotel bookings, like its US counterpart. (Asking for additional flight incidental and hotel credits would be too much, for now.) More importantly, I wish the regulators considered reducing or eliminating the 4.13% forex markup altogether, which I have noticed on almost all cards, except maybe one or two (with yet more than 2% fee); it kills all the fun of so-called premium travel cards. As for me, until I have a decent card there, I might just stick to my CSP and Plat when traveling home 🙂

Renewed 3 plat charge cards in Feb this month (me, cousin and father in law). Got the following retention offers:

I got 40K taj vouchers and option to pay the fees by points @50p per point My cousin sister got 20K taj vouchers. Fees cannot be adjusted against points. My FIL got a 125K taj voucher for renewal. Option to pay the fees by points @50p per point.

For me at 40k, the renewal seemed bearable and for my FIL it seems like a bonanza. Some other people have got the 125K offer which makes little sense as they could reduce the fee to zero and just issue the remainder as gift card (more pleasing to Indian customer as it involves the word FREE)

You meant 1.25 lac tan voucher???

125000/- Taj voucher. Too good to believe 🙂

was this your first renewal ?

Am getting ONLY art auction mails which(mostly) nobody cares of..

RBI ban could the reason.. new customer intake is zero for an year almost.. BUT this is 70k+ card..

Hope Flipkart/Zomato offers wouldn’t end up in HISTORY.

today i call to amex abt my charge card retention offer they only offer me 50 k mr point with rigid attitude .and i cancelled amex charge card after two year of usage .

not a great experience so far with Amex metal this year.

1. As of now no targeted offers received 2. Removal of Gyftr vouchers from reward multiplier 3. Removal of Amazon from Reward multiplier 4. Marriott bonvoy program devalued up to 30-40% hence Amex points value is down 5. Taj vouchers are not applicable on promotional tariffs only on BAR rates (Both Amex and Taj teams confirmed on mail) etc

i don’t see value with such a high annual fee card even if they give all the money back as Taj vouchers.

1. started during pandemic , now rare 2. started during pandemic , withdrawn 3. same as 2 4. further devaluation expected next year onwards 5. hits and misses

opinion : if you dont see value , close it before your next renewal … you will also see aggressive approval of the metal card once the ban lifts , further devaluations expected , new CEO is not as transparent as the old one

Hi, Below is the statement mentioned for Medicine Concierge by Amex India. A medicine concierge comes to your aid during a medical crisis . Very similar to a personal assistant, this service seamlessly manages hospital admissions, doctor appointments, final bills and filing insurance claims. A medicine concierge works on a flat/annual fee business model.

I want to know do they charge separately Medicine Concierge as mentioned above & what would be that amount for an year, is that for individual or for full family, if for family. who would be correct contact to know compete details on this, as they mentioned that final bills and filing insurance claims what does mean, will provide insurance also.

Regards Jeetendra Singh.

Update for current year renewal offer. (My annual spend on this card is upwards of 20L) Got offered 40k taj vouchers (last year got 50k) No scope of any bargaining for more. Gladly took it over the measly 50k MR they were offering as an option.

Finally the ban is lifted.

The Amex website still displays a banner about the ban being in place and doesnt allow for new card application

Do you expect any new offers on signing up? I am planning to get one. HDFC had very aggressive offers when the ban was lifted. Will AMEX follow the suit?

Amex has to go aggressive on this card going forward for reasons other than the ban. Let’s see.

“4 Supplementary cards 1 additional card for Business Expenses“ Interested to know more about 1 additional card for business expense!

Sid, For Business expenses – since we don’t have AMEX BIZ CARD, you meant CORPORTE card or personal card?

Here we’re referring to the add-on card only.

They will give amex plat reserve for biz expenses

AMEX 4 Metal Supp. Cards –

1. Are they issued on your name or in the name of your Family members for whom you get it for ? 2. If they use it separately, so the spends on their cards ( being on your name or not) helps you with rewards in adding it to your Account or they are disbursed to the Supp. Cards owner. 3. Is Credit limit Shared and will it handle your credit score if on main holder name or will help with their credit score if supp. card is on their name ? 4. The Companion card shares of the credit limit with the main card and does it helps in shaping the rewards in your main card ? Suppose if you mainly use Companion card for all small transactions domestically ?

Thanks, Using ICICI Sapphiro Currently

1. Issued in name of person 2,3,4. All benefits of points and the consequences are primary card holder to bear

Few questions:

1) Can I book unlimited times of travel with them, I mean they have different offers for each place can I claim 5 – 10 of their offers. Or is there a cap on the number of offers you can claim via them. Also Taj 25% and other such discount deals is it unlimited in a year or there’s a cap on their bookings.

2) why do they charge 10k add on card fee? Should I get a supplementary card then for my wife, will it include unlimited lounges india and abroad?.

Just applied for this card after lift of ban. On their website it doesnt show 100000MR welcome bonus. Only taj vouchers. Can anyone confirm.

It’s expected to come again after a month or so, likely after Marriott transfer offer expires.

Maybe should have waited. But anyways too late now. My card is already on the way. Will it be possible to approach them and get points instead of the vouchers.

No, as they didn’t mention that on the updated site. But nothing wrong in trying.

When the Marriott transfer offer will expire and does that mean that after the offer expires and the MR points resumes then we can’t transfer the points to marriot bonvoy?

Hi Sid. They have started offering points. I have got an offer to upgrade to Platinum charge from Platinum travel card with 1,15,000 bonus reward points.

One very unpleasant thing has come to light. Now they are offering only Rs 45000 worth of Taj vouchers as welcome bonus on Platinum Card. The option of 100,000 MR points is gone. I just had a look at their website.

They may not offer points anymore as people keep MRCC and redeem points using gold collection. On 100,000 points I can get 4 Taj vouchers of 14K each. That comes to ₹ 56k worth taj vouchers. Even transfer to Marriott Bonvoy can be made, which may be even more lucrative. Amex has seen through this so not giving welcome bonus in the form of points. Very unfortunate from customers point of view. Amex should not behave so stingy in case of such a premium card.

Hi. I am quite interested in this product and was waiting eagerly for the ban to get lifted & apply for the same. While submitting the application I realized that my city (In kerala) is not under the service radar. For the same I made a call to the CC & the promised to escalate the issue to the concerned authority. Is there a possibility or would you be able to add any suggestion to get this card if the CS authorities wouldn’t help on this issue.

Not worth, they even reduce the credit limit, inspite of no payment default they reduced by limit to 2 lakhs siting no good reason. Stopped using card as no point to spend such a high fee with mere 2 lakhs limit. Better to use HDFC Infinia.

They are not issuing add on cards at present. Normally with every primary card 4 add on cards can be obtained free for friends and family. So it seems that right now getting this card isn’t profitable.

I am considering getting an Amex Platinum Card, and have two questions:

1. How do I redeem and use Mariott points to book stays? Also, what is the approximate number of points needed to book a room?

2. Is the Complimentary First Class Upgrade on Etihad still present? I could not see that mentioned on the Amex website.

holding platinum travel card and received an upgrade offer today …. they are offering 115000 points as welcome offer instead of 45k taj gv..

I have recently received email to upgrade to Platinum from Platinum travel.I have couple of questions on this. 1) If I take the Platinum card and if I am moving to UK in near future,I would want to convert my Indian Platinum to UK platinum card.Do I have to pay annual fee for Indian variant as well as UK variant when I convert the card ? 2) I received invite for 115k points,if I apply now and get 115k points and when I get UK variant then will I also get the 30k bonus points as per the UK card terms ?

Can supplementary card holders access centurion lounges?

Hi Sid. Great review as always. Just one minor correction, MB Gold doesn’t give free breakfast anymore. It’s platinum and above.

Reality is different from T&C, at-least with MB in 2022. 🙂

I have an LTF MRCC card. Have received a FYF Platinum Travel card last month… Can we get Gold Charge card as companion card to my platinum travel card? Or can I request for a Gold Charge card under one fee policy of Platinum Travel?

Hi Siddharth ,

What is the best option to pick while applying AMEX Charge card. Should i pick 45k Taj voucher or 1 Lac points.

Thanks Gaurav

Usually 1L points because if you’ve MRCC along with Plat Charge @ 1L points, you can still get Taj vouchers worth about 56000 INR by redeeming for Gold Collection . 🙂

Can plat travel points be also used to access gold collection

Is AMEX still sending Taj gift voucher of Rs. 10000 for the cardmember’s birthday? I’m curious since I got it last year.

Excellent review, Sid- I’ve only recently been using the Amex plat Charge card, but I can’t bring myself to prefer it to the HDFC Infinia. I recently travelled to the United Kingdom and contacted the Platinum concierge service for airline and hotel alternatives, but the options provided were prohibitively expensive, so I booked online at a lower cost (Flight with Smartbuy and Hotel through Skyscanner as Smartbuy had no good options for hotels for London). Amex’s reward ratio is.6% vs. 3.3%, and I’m curious why someone would choose Amex over Infinia. I don’t think anyone can compete with Infinia in terms of reward ratio. I want to use more of Amex is there anyway i can take out more benefit?

The only true perk is that I utilised my Hilton Gold membership, which entitles me to complimentary breakfast and one night free following a stay.The only true perk is that I have a Hilton Gold membership, which entitles me to complimentary breakfast, one night free after five nights of continuous stay (so if you stay for six nights, you just pay for five nights), an upgrading to the next category, and access to the executive lounge. Here is my personal experience with Hilton Gold- Look to the Hilton Honors website for hotel pricing. book EP plans ( Room Only as you will be eligible for Breakfast), Request a room upgrade at check-in to gain access to the Executive Lounge ( Free Wine and snacks). If you book using an online portal, you will not receive points or a free night if you stay for more than 5 nights. So compare where you are getting a good deal (Hilton or 3rd party App). In my experience skyscanner did good job ( I am not promoting people can check other websites as well). Hilton Gold Member will be eligible for Free BF,Upgrade and Lounge access even if they book hotel through 3rd party app.

5 RPs per 100 on fuel is nice but is fuel surcharge waived on this card, and is there any capping?

I generally fill from HP, no surcharge there

Hello Siddharth! Loved the detailed article about this charge card.

I have business expenses, primarily travel based of upwards of 40 lacs annually. Which credit or charge card would you suggest for me for maximum returns in terms of travel? A combination of credit cards is also okay for me.

Hi Sid, I have received an offer with an option to either take INR 55k worth of Taj Experiences eGift Card or 1,15,000 Membership Rewards Points.

Which seems to be a better offer from your perspective?

Please guide!

Hi! I work on a cruiseline as an Art Gallery Director. I make anywhere between 2.5 lacs to 6 lacs per month. Can I apply for an Amex Platinum charge card while I’m overseas ?

No you can’t from overseas

Platinum charge card is being approved on card to card basis now.

Hey Sid.. Amex just dropped an email to upgrade to Amex Platinum Card.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming you into our Platinum family.” “Offer valid until 30 April 2023”

Currently holding Amex MRCC card(joined in Dec) and HDFC Infinia. Few other cards Citi Reward/ SCB Manhattan.

I am not hunger for credit limit. And I travel less(once or twice a year – domestic) and most of my spends are online.. mixed spend personal and business.

Should I go for upgrade or not? Highly confused.

Did you go for the upgrade? I have MRCC (free) and DCB right now with several other cards. My fixed personal spends about 5-6lacs a year and another 3-4lacs for friends/family during sales. Last year spend on mrcc was about 1.7 lacs. Amex just offered me upgrade with welcome benefits of 1,35,000 rp. I am also confused as to why am I being offered such a premium card. Not sure whether to take this or not.

This offer they gave to all till 31st Jan

MRCC is much better for the spend range 2-3L because Platinum card have 60k+ for renewal fee and no I don’t see any big advantage holding that card.

Advantage is 135000 points transfer to Marriott bonvoy with 30% bonus….you can extract better value if you know the game for 70k

There is no 30% bonus offer now

Yes, currently no 30% offer but I am assuming it comes once in a year….even without 30% you can get better value than 70k

Hi, Can people throw some light on what kind you renewal benefits or offers we get from AMEX. like point or vouchers ? And if we cancel this current card after how many days we can apply for new Platinum Card ?

Hi Siddharth

I was curious about the supplementary cards. You mentioned “1 additional card for business expenses”. Can you please elaborate on this point.

I recently got approved for Amex Platinum card and enrolled to upgrade Marriott membership to Gold. The Amex website shows status as pending since last 10 days. Any idea how much time it takes to upgrade to Gold?

The current link for Amex MITC has clauses missing between 3.1.14 upto 5.1 listed on page 3. There is no mention of the INR 1200 twice a year reimbursement.

Has anyone been able to claim the 1200 home assistance reimbursement recently? for example with cards applied for after Feb 9th when this version of the t&c came into effect.

Looks like Amex clarified this today via email – benefit to be withdrawn from 25th June 2023

Thats a pity, don’t you think Indian Platinum cards holders are losing more value by every year? For example, the Shangri-La Jade membership was discontinued in 2019 and now the home assistance reimbursement.

In comparison the $695 that is charged to US Amex plat holders provides far more benefits at a lower cost of 56k.

They have reimbursements for various services and other benefits: 1. $240 entertainment streaming services credit 2. $155 Walmart membership credit 3. $200 uber credit 4. TSA precheck/ global entry free 5. No forex transaction fees 6. Car rental loss and damage insurance 7. 1 year extended warranty on items purchased 8. Cell phone damage protection

The India version doesn’t have nearly as many of the benefits but is more expensive than the US variant.

All are so busy with Axis that no one is there to even complain Amex these days. 😉

I was charged the annual fee in June 2023.

Called up the hotline and asked for an exception. They offered 35k Taj Vouchers or 50k MR points.

I refused this offer, was offered 90k MR or 50k Taj Vouchers.

I see others have been offered 55k Taj / 115k MR points. But my spends this year have been low on the AMEX Plat Charge card – 9.8L or so.

After holding Amex Platinum charge for nearly 4 years, had to close it with a heavy heart. Tried negotiating with the Amex card retention executive and her manager, however, they were not willing to offer anything beyond 10K Taj voucher. I noted other cardholders been offered at least some respectable retention/renewal deals, which was really a big factor towards this decision. I feel the level of disparity by Amex amongst its cardholders has increased significantly in the recent times!!

Sorry to hear this. I don’t have this card but I have the Platinum Reserve Credit Card which I’ve not used for a few years now. I called them up last December to cancel the card and they told me that the fee was due only in May and I can call back on May 1st if I still wanted to cancel it and then they’ll see what they can do.

I called back on the first week of May and the retention team offered to revert the fee but they said this can’t be done till the fee was actually charged which they said would be on 18th. I requested the card be closed as I found no use for it and I don’t see myself using it in the next year either. They still insisted that I retain it as I’ve been a customer for 7 years now.

I honestly wanted to close the card as I saw it as a kinda liability. With this card active, I am sceptical about applying for any new card as I currently have 7 cards. I’ll cancel the SCB Ultimate soon. This platinum reserve and their MRCC are now of hardly any use to me. I am planning to get a fuel card, SBI Octane mostly, as my fuel expenses have gone up and I am losing on possible points. But couldn’t convince them and so waited for the fee to be levied. I immediately called them back afterwards and they took the request to reverse it. It happened in about 3-4 days. I told them that I would probably call them back same time next year to cancel the card again and they told me that they’d still most likely offer me the reversal.

Because of this I was truly moved because this was the card I’ve used the least and I’ve hardly used it in the past 3+ years. Literally 0 transactions during this time. So I thought highly of their customer service and I assumed that they would be doing the same to everyone.

Maybe they’re not doing it for their top card variant?

Does anyone know if the Mariott Gold Elite membership gets removed instantly after cancelling the card or if it stays for the year?

Hi Siddharth… Just had a quick question. I’ve had the AMEX Plat for a few months now. I’m looking to make ₹4 Lakh transaction but the merchant is going to charge me ₹10,000 for using a credit card. ₹4 Lakh will get me 10,000 Reward Points. I’m wondering is it worth paying the ₹10K fee? How do I know the worth of the points that I gain? How does one get more than ₹1 value? Thank you for your help!

Not worth it, as you can anyway buy Amex points at 40ps upto 10K points directly with Amex itself.

Amex points are ideally good for Marriott and then to United/AA from Marriott. But no sure shot way to get >1Rs value in this game as there are so many factors involved.

Thanks, Siddharth. I appreciate the response.

Please let me know if I’m thinking on the right track:

In the end the vendor charged me a fee of Rs. 5,600 for using the credit card (and not Rs.10k as I had originally thought). I earned 10K points over the entire amount of Rs. 4L (inclusive of the fee). Effectively, it looks like I paid a tad bit more for 10k points (Rs. 5,600 vs Rs.4,000) compared to purchasing the points out right from Amex at Rs. 0.4. So a loss from that standpoint, but on the upside, I get to register a large spend on my account. That does count for something, right? Also, in the future, if I am able to get a value of Rs. 1 or more for those 10K points, then I would have covered my losses. Am I thinking on the right track?

I had another question / comment for everyone: Accessing the Amex lounge in Mumbai has been a challenge because of where the lounge is – domestic part of the T2 terminal. I have taken several flights some domestic (from T1) and some international (T2), but have been unable to access the Amex lounge. I find it silly that the only way to access it, it seems is if you are booked on a domestic flight on either Air India or Vistara. For all other domestic airlines, the lounge is out of bounds. Is that the same experience everyone else has had?

How can we buy points from amex. Please enlighten us all

Thankyou and regards

Just call support.

I am holding Amex Platinum Travel with MRCC as a companion card. I currently have an offer to upgrade to Platinum Charge card with bonus of 135K points. If I apply for this card, will my Platinum Travel card cease to exist? Can both Platinum Travel & MRCC exist as companion cards? Thanks.

Didn’t act on Plat upgrade offers with 115000 points, this month they have increased to 135000 points

Is the golf benefit also silently withdrawn on the card ? I see no mention of it on Amex website. Really ? Amex thinks itself as really premium card issuer and with 70 annual charges also not providing golf ?

Nope, it’s very much active. It’s mentioned under Special Access on the page.

Hi everyone, i am being offered 40K points of renewal ( 4 year) . Is anyone offered more as amex support remains adamant that this year not mire than 40k points given to anybody

Is Amex offering any retention exception? My renewal is due next month and all they offered was 30k of Taj vouchers whereas on other hand they are offering 135000 points to upgrade..

From what I see in the last 2 months, Amex India has become less generous with retention offers. But as you might know, they keep changing it almost every quarter.

Thanks for updating this article. Recently got the charge card.

Also can anyone confirm the offer of book 1L through travel desk/service and get X amount of taj voucher, is that offer still going on? could not find that or the taj birthday 10k mentioned anywhere

Both are more of “temporary” offers and AFAIK it’s still active.

But I would suggest you to check once with support whenever you plan to avail those benefits.

I received 15k Taj voucher offer on my platinum. Spend 1,00,000/- or more on Amex travel (Domestic/International Hotel/Flight) and receive 15k Taj voucher after the journey. This offer is expired on 29’th Dec.

Thanks. Is there a place where we can see such offers or is it through email or calling them up and asking the only way?

For 2nd time I didn’t get spend based offer, so closed PlatChrg which was getting fee levied next month. Holding on to other 3 though 🙂

And that’s with decent spends?

Didn’t do decent spends owing to no such offer, other cards yes. Overall decent spends Sid. But somehow couldn’t make use of card for the fees. Previously i was offered 100k MR for renewal, this time it was just 10k Taj (about 18k MR worth ).

10K Taj is unacceptable indeed. But seems this is happening for many in the last 2 months.

Oh I see. They are getting new to bank for 135k so losing existing. Let’s see if I get any upgrade later, had it earlier despite holding one 🙂

Amex didn’t improve the retention offer so I asked them to close the card..

135k MR offer is not for new to bank customers.. It’s upgrade offer for existing customers.

Yeah. I guess it’s a typo. 🙂

I had requested Amex Platinum Travel credit card as a companion card, but Amex refused and said that they can only provide Amex Platinum Reserve as a companion card. But I could apply for Amex Platinum Travel credit card as a non-companion card.

I had Platinum Travel for >4 years. Last year upgraded to Platinum Charge and they converted the Platinum Travel as companion card.

The hotel membership benefits can be availed only for primary card holders. Not for supplementary card holders.. only one supplementary card holder can access international lounge access for free..

What amount of annual spend is decent on this card? I have the offer to upgrade to this card with 135k mr points. Any info is appreciated.

My card renewed is charged to the statement. The only offer i got is 30K Taj for retention. Confused – Is it still worth it? Not a big fan of Taj vouchers Holding Infinia + Axis Vistara Infinite

My card got renewed in Jan and I got nothing. Forgot that the renewal was due in Jan, so when I called to find out post renewal that is their anything I will get for renewal, they informed I get nothing.

I seriously feel the card is not worth the fees at all and will close it during next renewal period.

A Lot has changed with this card, what really catches eye is the so called “Platinum do anything” concierge, which has become a bit of a JOKE !! They could not even sort out a couple of concert tickets for me (forget about getting sand from a sea, lol) & just gave me the info where I can get them online from, so much for 70K+ annual membership & the so called famed “do anything” concierge..

Amex even reduced the charge support for me below 7 digits & this being with them for 8 years now with ~40-50L spends on my amex cards year on year ! NO one has a clue why !!

The platinum has simply lost it’s sheen & the prestige it once had due to amex trying to be greedy & mass marketing it to anyone & everyone without actually delivering the quality that was once synonymous with an amex plat ! What is even more surprising or rather shocking is that people are getting this card WITHOUT any income proof when previously one needed to have over 15L ITR to get a hand on this & they used to be pretty strict about that .. It was a card which some had & most coveted but that just seems mythological now ..

Shame really.. Considering dumping this card .. Every passing year it is becoming harder to justify the 70K+ fees unless you’re a serious international traveller !

All true indeed.

Just like Axis that gave Magnus without following strict eligibility criteria, now Amex is doing the costly mistake with Platinum. Let’s see where it goes.

Dear Siddharth, You mentioned that travel concierge would provide complementary First class upgrade on Etihad. Just this month I have booked Business class tickets to London and back for my family on Eihad via the Amex Travel concierge desk. They did not mention any such offer as a free upgrade to First class however. Do we have to request them separately for the same?

“While only Taj vouchers are available as regular welcome benefit there is a way to still get 100K points, more on that shortly”

Hi Siddharth: Would be great if you can elaborate on this. Thinking of getting the Amex Plat Charge but not keen on the Taj Vouchers as welcome bonus. Any way to get 100k points? Thanks.

Please read the “bottomline” for the same.

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Explore the American Express Business Platinum Card’s New Benefits

By Megan Doyle | American Express ® Freelance Contributor 6 Min Read | October 11, 2021

The Business Platinum Card ® from American Express has long been recognized as one of the top premium travel cards for businesses. Known for its value for frequent business travelers – especially those who want to add some luxury to their travels – the Card offers a variety of travel benefits to support your comfort, productivity, and wellness while on the road.

But running a business relies on more than travel. To better meet the all-around needs of your company, the Business Platinum Card has expanded on its already prominent travel rewards and perks to include a number of new and powerful business benefits, including more opportunities to earn Membership Rewards® points and a suite of valuable statement credits.

Terms apply to all benefits listed below and all offers are subject to change.

Take Your Business Further with American Express Business Platinum’s New Benefits

Although business travel is vital for many companies, not all business is conducted on the road. A robust business credit card should offer value for companies and their employees regardless of whether they’re traveling to a conference, entertaining clients, working at home, at the office – and everywhere in between. That’s why the reinvented Business Platinum Card includes rewards for everyday business spending, not just travel.

Businesses can now earn 1.5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on key business categories, including eligible U.S. purchases at:

• Construction materials and hardware suppliers.
• Electronic goods retailers, software and cloud systems providers.
• Shipping providers.

Businesses can also get 1.5X points on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else. That’s 50% more points, on up to $2,000,000 of these purchases per calendar year. After that, business Card Members will earn 1X point per dollar spent.

Beyond points, the Business Platinum Card offers a suite of new and enhanced business benefits that, when combined, can deliver over $1,000 in value through annual statement credits – all for services that can help run your business better.

• Dell Technologies Benefit: Upgrade your tech, enhance your business. Enroll and get up to $400 in statement credits per year toward U.S. purchases with Dell Technologies on the Business Platinum Card. That’s up to $200 back semi-annually.
• Indeed Benefit: Build your team, grow your business. Enroll and get up to $360 in statement credits per year for purchases with Indeed on the Business Platinum Card. That’s up to $90 back per quarter.
• Adobe Benefit: Get the creative solutions your business needs. Enroll and get up to $150 in statement credits per year for purchases with Adobe on annual prepaid plans for eligible Creative Cloud for teams and Acrobat Pro DC with e-sign on the Business Platinum Card. Annual prepaid plans automatically renew each year on your annual subscription date until cancelled.
• Wireless Credit : Wireless connection is a vital piece to keep your business running. Earn up to $10 a month back when using your Business Platinum Card for wireless telephone service purchases made directly from a U.S. wireless provider. That’s up to $120 per year back as a statement credit for the wireless services every business needs to stay connected. Enrollment is required.

For more on Business Platinum’s benefits, offers, rates, & fees, click here .

American Express Business Platinum Retains its First-Class Travel Value

In addition to the Card’s new benefits, Business Platinum’s long-lauded travel benefits that support road warriors’ comfort, productivity, and wellness while on the road are here to stay. For example, businesses can earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com (Hotel bookings must be paid for in advance to take advantage of this benefit). Businesses can also get 35% points back after you use Pay with Points for all or part of a flight booked with American Express Travel if the flight is either First or Business class or on your selected qualifying airline, up to 500,000 points back per calendar year.

Additional benefits that can help businesses travel more comfortably include complimentary access to The Global Lounge Collection ® , which offers over 1,300 airport lounges in 500 airports across 140 countries – so you and your employee Card Members can either relax or fit in some last-minute work before flights. And, to help you make it through airport security faster, the Card offers a $179 CLEAR ® Credit and a Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔ ® . CLEAR uses biometric technology to help you breeze through security – just use your Card to pay for your CLEAR membership and you can receive up to $179 in statement credits per year. Similarly, you can receive either a statement credit every 4 years after you apply for Global Entry ($100) or a statement credit every 4.5 years after you apply for a five-year membership through any Authorized Enrollment Provider for TSA Pre✔ ® (up to $85) when the application fee is charged to an eligible Card.

When booking through American Express Travel and staying at participating Fine Hotels + Resorts ® properties, Card Members can enjoy luxurious comfort plus Platinum Business Card benefits like complimentary room upgrade upon arrival when available, guaranteed 4 pm late check-out, noon check-in when available, complimentary Wi-Fi, and more. Benefits are available only for Fine Hotels + Resorts ® properties booked via an American Express Travel Channel. Card Members can also enjoy complimentary upgrades to Marriott Bonvoy ™ Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors ™ Gold Status, both of which can help unlock perks at each respective hotel group to help make journeys away from home more comfortable.

Business Platinum Offers Robust Solutions and Support

Rewards and perks are great, but the best business cards must bring high class services, support, and business solutions . Some additional benefits of the Business Platinum Card include:

• No Preset Spending limit , so your business can get what it needs, when it’s needed. With No Preset Spending Limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors like purchase, payment, and credit history – enabling more efficient cash flow management .
• Pay Over Time provides Card Members a convenient borrowing option to pay for both expected or unexpected expenses. It gives Card Members the flexibility to choose how and when they pay. They can meet their financial needs while continuing to earn Membership Rewards. With Pay Over Time, eligible purchases made will automatically be included in a Pay Over Time balance each month. At the end of each billing cycle, the Card Member can choose to pay the statement balance in full without interest, pay the minimum amount due, or pay any amount in between with interest. The APR for Pay Over Time purchases will range from 14.24% to 22.24%, based on creditworthiness as determined at the time of account opening.
• Premium Global Assist® Hotline can provide you with 24/7 medical, legal, financial, or other select emergency coordination and assistance services when you’re 100 miles or more from home. Emergency medical transportation assistance may be provided at no cost only if approved and coordinated by Premium Global Assist Hotline. Card Members may be responsible for the costs charged.
• Expense Management Tools , including account alerts, streamlined expense reporting with the American Express® Business App , and integration with QuickBooks so you can save time with automatic transaction categorization.

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The Takeaway

Business travel can play a vital role in company growth, but successful organizations know that what happens at home is just as important as what happens on the road. The Business Platinum Card from American Express has been reinvented to include a suite of new benefits that can help companies enjoy more ways to earn rewards for day-to-day business expenses – rewards that can help companies manage cash flow and that can even drop directly to the bottom line. And that’s all on top of the many travel benefits the Card has long been known for.

Megan Doyle

A business technology writer and researcher whoe work focuses on financial services and cross-cultural diversity and inclusion.

This content was written by a freelance author and commissioned and paid for by American Express. 

The material made available for you on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax or financial advice. If you have questions, please consult your own professional legal, tax and financial advisors.

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