American Express is known for their premium credit card services across the globe. If you’re looking to experience the most premium credit card offering from such an issuer, you’re at the right place.
American Express Platinum Card that’s issued as a metal card is a super premium card from American Express India known for their premium travel benefits. Its a charge card, hence no pre-set limit to it. Here’s everything you need to know about this card,
Contents
Annual Fees
- Joining/Annual Fee: Rs.60,000+GST
- Welcome bonus: 100k MR points or Rs.40,000 Taj vouchers
- Eligibility: 15L for Self Employed / 25L for Salaried
I would prefer 100K points over Taj vouchers as it definitely makes sense for the fee paid. You can easily get more than 50K value out of it by transferring them to Marriott Bonvoy, among other options.
Note that, every once in a while American Express also sends you targeted upgrade offers for the platinum card with better welcome bonus like 125K MR points. You’re lucky if you get one!
Reward Points
- Earn Rate: 1MR Point per Rs.40 Spent
- MR Point Value: ~50Ps to 1Rs
- Reward Rate: 1.25% to 2.5%
The above reward rate is calculated only for Marriott Points transfer based on my personal experience. It may get you different reward rate based on how you redeem your points. Here’s how to Maximize Your American Express MR Points Value
You get accelerated 3X points on international spends, but not to forget, you’ll still be charged 3.5%+GST markup fees.
Yet, considering the peace of mind that Amex gives you with their Zero lost Card liability, its better to swipe Amex over other cards when in foreign land.
Airport Lounge access
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 as well.
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.
Elite Tier Benefits
The Platinum Card gives you grand set of elite tier benefits that you can enjoy as long as you hold the platinum card.
Marriott Bonvoy
- Status: Gold Elite
- Value: Rs.20,000
This is the most important benefit you 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 successfull upgrades, you can get minimum of Rs.20k value from this.
Hilton Honours
- Elite Tier: Gold
- Value: Rs.10,000
This is yet another amazing hotel loyalty program which I’m yet to explore. Remember Gold tier gets you complimentary breakfast benefit.
If you do 5 nights a year, you can easily get Rs.10k value with breakfast benefit alone. If you put a value on upgrades, then you could save a lot more.
Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Elite Tier: Jade
- Value: Rs.20,000 (Considering Taj benefit)
I don’t have a good impression on this brand after my experiences at Shangri- La’s – Eros Hotel, New Delhi few years ago, yet that could be property specific.
They do have some amazing properties across the world and the gold status should help you get better treatment, including complimentary breakfast.
Taj Innercircle Gold: As Shangri-La gives reciprocal benefits to Taj, you can get Taj Innercircle Gold with Shangri-La Golden Circle Gold.
This gives you a LOT of value if you’re a fan of Taj hotels like me. You can enjoy Early check-in (even 9AM), late check-out, 20 room upgrades and many more.
If you do 10 nights a year with Shangri-La & Taj, you can easily get a minimum of Rs.20k value.
Taj Innercirlce
- Elite Tier: Silver
The Platinum Card also gives you Taj Innercircle Silver tier directly, which is not a big deal anyway.
Note that this maybe limited to only primary cardholder as its a physical application form that you need to send to Amex for processing.
Radisson Rewards
- Elite Tier: Gold Elite
I’m not into Radisson as I don’t usually like their loyalty program after getting addicted to Marriott. But if you’re someone who’s already a loyal member to Radisson, it does help you with room upgrades & more.
Golf Benefits
Enjoy complimentary access to 32 Golf Courses in India in addition to complimentary golf lessons at select Golf Courses from professionals.
Dining Benefits
- EazyDiner Prime
- ITC Club Culinaire
- Taj Epicure
Platinum Concierge
As American Express was once actually a travel company, expect great travel offers as below,
- Visa Services
- Dining Benefits
- Discounts on Business Class Revenue rates
- Complimentary Business Class/First Class Upgrades on Etihad
- Complimentary Taj Vouchers on Intl travel booking
American Express Invites®
A unique programme that gives Platinum Cardmembers the chance to purchase tickets to some of the most popular events, often before they go on sale to the general public.
Supplementary Cards
- 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. The 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. For ex, now you can get Rs.2000 Amazon Voucher per Supp. Card on the Platinum Card.
I’ve got this card as a supplementary card recently and that’s what you’re seeing in the image. Will write a separate hands on experience shortly.
Is it Worth 60k+GST?
Quick Answer: It totally depends on how you use the card!
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. This too may change anytime.
That aside, there is no other reason that could stop you from getting one, as long as you can pay the high joining fee. FYI, with 100K Points, you can easily get about 13 Nights stay in Cat. 1 Marriott hotel.
To sweeten this, you can also get another 10K Referral Bonus Points by applying through the link below. That’s one extra night!
Bottomline
- Cardexpert Rating: 4/5
Overall, it’s an amazing card for someone who loves premium travel. The welcome bonus of 100K MR Points is great for the first year without a doubt.
But does it hold good for the 2nd year? That totally depends on how much value you’re able to get out of the card. While you don’t get any MR Points for the second year, your hotel status’es remain intact as long as you hold the card. That itself is worth the fee, if you stay at those hotels that often.
That aside, I feel American Express could make this card more accessible for a wider audience by adding more benefits like better reward points, milestone benefits, etc.
What’s your take on the American Express Platinum Charge card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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.
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 🙂
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.
8. Yes.
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.
Cheers
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.
Amex guy,
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.
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
Yash,
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.
Cheers!
SH
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!
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..:-)
Cheers
SH
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.
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.
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.
Dear Sid
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
Cheers
Neo
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 🙂
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 !!!!