I recently applied for the American Express Platinum charge card and here’s the quick application & unboxing experience.
Application Process
I applied for an upgrade from Gold Charge card to Amex Platinum simply by filling a form. This is similar to the upgrade offer sent to Plat travel cards recently.
It took total 11 days for processing the application and to receive the card in hand.
Actually it took only 5 days from the date of CIBIL enquiry to card in hand, which is usual for existing Amex cardholders.
Shipment
Just incase if you don’t know, the metal is now made within India itself and no longer shipped from Singapore, as it used to be the case for most of 2019.
So you can now receive he card faster. If you’re in Delhi it would be even faster to get, as most Amex cards are shipped from Noida/Gurugram.
Note: If you did not receive the shipment details post 3 days of CIBIL enquiry, feel free to call support.
Unboxing
American Express has re-designed the overall credit card packaging by late 2020. If you haven’t seen the old design, do check out my previous supplementary card package that I received in 2019.
Ideally they changed the colour of the cover from mild to dark grey. This I like and its like saying “We’re taking Platinum closer to Black” 🙂
Here are some cover pics:
And as soon as you open the box, here’s the first look of the card and everything inside the box:
The cardholder no more comes in wooden housing as it used to be in 2019 (for primary cards). Rather its housed in a strong cardboard and I couldn’t take the card out of it easily.
So I had to use some tools and put heavy pressure to pull the card out of the box. Felt like I’ve dug a metal from earth 😀
While its not that bad, it would be nice if they had designed it better. Further, I felt the first impression was ruined by the empty slots reserved for Supp. cards.
Yes, it would have been nice if I had applied Supp. cards along with the primary card. But as I haven’t applied one, maybe they could have had a different design for primary card only shipments.
Or maybe they could house the supplementary cards below the primary card inside the same box. Either way, I’m not impressed with this!
In next level you see the paper work and catalog. The features and benefits booklet was colourful and right to the point. Its actually a leaflet stacked one above the other and wrapped together. Nice idea!
The Card
While the card looks exactly the same as the one shipped from Singapore, there is something else that’s interesting.
The Card Number (some digits), CVV, CSC all were fancy numbers in my case. Meaning, they follow an easily readable format like XXYY or XYX or XYZ sort.
I’m not sure if it happens randomly for some Plat charge a/c’s (or) just that I got lucky. One of the Amex support agent is sure that I got lucky though.
Either way, I totally love it because even with my not-so-great memory I memorised the card details from day #1.
Speaking about the fancy numbers, this happened to me even with Club Vistara ID that got generated with Axis Vistara Infinite card.
Not sure whether super premium cards are treated specially to create good looking account/membership numbers, but I’m glad I have them. Do you have them too?
Priority Pass
Just incase if you’re wondering about the Priority Pass, it takes another 3-4 weeks to receive them, as it needs to be shipped directly from HongKong.
However, you may still activate the digital Priority Pass if required, even before you receive the Priority Pass in hand.
Final Thoughts
Overall the entire process from application to card in hand was smooth and all happens in 11 days, which is great.
While the outer packaging looks good, I feel they could do something better when it comes to the box interiors, not because its bad but because it doesn’t have a WOW factor, or, maybe its just that I’m expecting too much 😀
That aside, it would be wonderful if they send some surprise gifts along with the card, for ex, even SBI used to send me personalized wallets and card holders as you could see here and here.
So that’s the end of Unboxing. Just incase if you’re wondering why I got the card during pandemic, feel free to check this article: 3 Reasons Why I applied for Amex Platinum amidst Covid-19
What do you think about the Amex Platinum Packaging? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Does the upgrade from gold to platinum come with annual charges ? My Gold charge card was free for life.
how you got gold charge card free for life?? please share!
Congrats Sid,
I got the upgrade offer in the early 2020 with 1.25L points but still 70k+ and not sure whether I would get maximum out of it
Once I made my mind to go for it, still after a long dilemma I decided not to go at that time
Thanks,
Mouli
Thanks Mouli.
1.25L was a very good offer which even I skipped, that’s a loss of ~30K now 😀
Hi Sid
I am getting an upgrade offer for Amex Platinum card with 1.25 lakhs points. offer is valid till 30 Nov 2020. Still confused whether to go for this one or not.
Thanks
Deb
Hey, ive been using this card for a year and I’m planning to discontinue due to the high renewal and no bonus points. Read your article on 3 reasons why you upgraded, but I somewhere feel the sheer lack of travel benefits due to covid will not justify the high fee of the card.
They promised gourmet food events along with invite only events, but nothing happened. Not entirely their fault but I’ll need more juice to stay in the game for the second year
Any thoughts ?
I did get invitations, to gourmet food events at Taj Santacruz , Amex lounge tickets for Arijit and AR Rehman concerts at Mumbai/Pune , all of them paid ofcourse, arijit was just 9 days into my membership
Paid by AMEX or to be paid by you (just first access)?
First access , to be paid by me ofcourse
Same. Even I didn’t renew. I had a lot of travel opportunities in 2019 and used their centurion lounges as well. But alas, I find the card not worth the money paid.
Which plan of Priority Pass is being given with Amex Plat Charge?
Is it unlimited access plan or limited access plan.
Unlimited.
Siddharth, I got this for in Feb, 2020 but not yet received my priority pass. Should I ask them to send it?
Yes, you should.
Unlimited only for intl , chargeable on domestic (PP) , for domestic use amex lounges or lounges where amex has tieup
It is PP managed select unlimited plan. Domestic Indian lounges are chargeable. Citi Prestige provides bank managed fully unlimited plan. There is no bank in India that has proper PP managed unlimited plan.
So for 70K fee, you still don’t get domestic lounge access ???
Isn’t Infinia giving PP managed unlimited ?
HDFC bank has proper pp managed unlimited plan
In the age of the Wuh*n Chin*se Coronavirus aka Covid-19 they should be paying you to upgrade. The benefits to fees ratio are worth next to nothing unless they’ve thrown in a vaccine vial in that box.
It’s really a shame that Amex keeps rejecting my applications due to “internal policies”, would happily pay for this card but I guess it’s not meant to be.
So I’m using the card which shipped from Singapore, which is now completely screwed with back plastic plate almost off. But, that card number (last 5 digits) is the same that Pablo Escobar’s Amex had. I guess we just get lucky sometimes lol.
How do you know Pablo Escobar’s Amex ? (just wondering. Can we have thinking emoji here 😀 )?
narcos 🤔
Ohhh I thought the real Pablo Escobar’s real Amex 😀 Not seen the series. (How did you get that :thinking: ?)
It is kept in a museum. Google it! 🙂
Hey Amex guy! Been following you on Sid’s comments for months! I would like to know weather is there any Renewal fee wavier on AMEX PLAT CHARGE card?
Depends on the year and your spends. Not worth asking for full fee waiver unless you’re a celebrity or are spending at least 5 lacs/mo on average.
@AmexGuy
Unable to recall the exact post under which I read somewhere in one of your comments about you having used AMEX’s Global Transfer program. Could you please give us all an insight by sharing your global transfer experience in detail. I mean details such as the card you used for the global transfer program and how long did it take for you to get the card here in India? Also, is it mandatory for one to cancel/give up the card in one’s home country in order to have an AMEX in a new country or does AMEX cancel all the card(s) (the one(s) being used for the transfer) by themselves? What if one wants to continue holding their card, can they continue using AMEX cards in 2 countries (or more) simultaneously without any future hassles or are there any restrictions over this?
@AmexGuy
In addition to this, all of us would also love to know if you have ever been invited for the Centurion card? I see no one here talks much about the Centurion card and all we discuss about is the Infinia or the DCBs. There’s no denying that the Infinia, DCB, etc are indeed great products in their respective categories but it’d be great if we all also do start talking more about the Centurion to get to know of the Indian variant of the product more than anybody knows here or in general more than what AMEX really wants us to know about it :).
If yes, you were invited, what was your spend total in that year, what were the categories that you spent on ? If you were not invited, I’d be honestly wondering why, since you seem to be giving AMEX a major chunk of your spends all through the year, probably which is why you have such in-depth knowledge about the AMEX products and their various programmes.
Do you think one could be invited for th Centurion upon spending in the 60-70 Lakh bracket, a year ?
With rewards going down on other cards finally decided to jump on amex bandwagon. I was told over phone that I had been approved and was asked to send them docs. I did. There has been radio silence since some time. They did not even ask financial docs. (Just asked for net income). Is this normal behaviour ?
Amex CC has been off color lately. Had a similar experience with them. I suggest you call the CC and blast them.
Threaten you dont want the card & try asking for a nice sign on bonus.
“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”
This you wrote in your Review thala..enaku our doubt..
these 20 upgrades can be done at any IHCL properties? Even Ginger, Ama trails also?
Or only on the hotels mentioned in TAJ WEBSITE?
“The card balance may be redeemed for spends at Taj, SeleQtions and Vivanta hotels and Ama Trails & Stays in India”
So not on Ginger Hotels.
Thala! Romba Nndri unga Reply ku!
Amex Business Plat kum Amex Plat charge ku ena major difference thala?
What about The Gateway Hotels by Taj? Can we use there also?
Yes, you can. I’ve used previously.
Any of you got the Platinum with the small size EMV chip like the one they have in in USA. The Indian variant “My new card” has the large chip which has issues with some POS’s while the Reserve CC works flawlessly in the same POS’s.
Secondly the back and even the front has plastic film and the front already has scratch damage due to my ridge wallet.
I just had a strange thing happen to me last month
… I used the card for a little over 48 lakhs this year and paid it back fully in time. I used to redeem the points for Taj Vouchers so had a 1:1 ratio for the fees. I had a dynamic limit of 16 lakhs on an annual business income of a similar amount … then sent me a message saying it was being dumbed down to 5.09 lakhs… I then escalated to their leadership team and they got back with a renewed limit of 8 lakhs. I use the card for a lot of my international purchases, Airbnb, Paypal, fine dining in Dubai, which will now pass to my HDFC Regalia. Any idea why American Express would want to not have my business anymore?
Seems a little strange to me, that’s all!