American Express India is aggressive in promoting Metal card ever since 2019 as they initially sent out the upgrade offers to “almost” all existing Amex Cardmembers with 125K MR points as welcome bonus, instead of the usual 100K MR points. That’s where it started!
After that Amex was only sending upgrade offers in the range of 100K-135K MR points. In Nov 2024 they’ve come up with a 140K MR points offer on Amex Plat Charge Card with a hike in fee which didn’t turn out to be attractive.
And now in Jan 2025, they’ve sent the best upgrade offer of the decade: 150K Points, because anyway they hiked the fee and there are not many takers at lower points. Here are the details along with the previous best offers we saw in the past.
Table of Contents
150K Upgrade Offer (Jan 2025)
- Joining Fee: Rs.66,000+GST = Rs.77,880
- Welcome Offer: As part of Welcome Gift, Cardmember will get 1,00,000 MR Points within 120 days of Cardmembership, upon spending ₹50,000 on the Basic Card within the first 60 days of Cardmembership and payment of first-year fee of ₹66,000 + taxes. The additional 50,000 MR Points will be credited to Cardmember’s account upon fulfilling the above criteria and within 120 days from the offer end date (i.e., 31 January 2025).
- Offer valid from 1 Jan 2025 – 31 Jan 2025 (might not be extended immediately).
Note that this can be availed only if you’ve received the targeted offer on your existing American Express Credit Card.
That’s 52Ps per Marriott Point (1:1 via Amex) with which the MR points easily takes care of the joining fee, rest of the benefits on the card are free for a year.
Additionally, some have also received an upgrade offer with an extra 10K Amazon/MMT voucher on top of this promo, which is even better.
Totally worth it for most who can get value out of the MR Points via Marriott, as that’s highly doable in India.
But now that the Marriott has hiked the redemption rates a bit (approx 20%) this Jan 2025, transferring to air-miles like American Airlines from Marriott is a good idea for a better value.
140K Upgrade Offer (Nov 2024)
- Joining Fee: Rs.66,000+GST = Rs.77,880
- Welcome Offer: As part of Welcome Gift, Cardmember will get 1,00,000 Membership Rewards® Points within 120 days of Cardmembership, upon net spending ₹50,000 on the Basic Card within the first 60 days of Cardmembership and payment of first-year fee of ₹66,000 plus applicable taxes. The additional 40,000 Membership Rewards Points will be credited to Cardmember’s account upon fulfilling the above criteria and within 120 days from the offer end date.
- Offer valid from 1 Nov 2024 – 30 Nov 2024 (likely to be extended).
Even-though it’s worth the cost, it’s not lucrative compared to the 135K offer with the previous joining fee. However, now that there is no option left, I think 140K is good and this might probably go upto 150K sometime in the near future [prediction went right], as most have gone for the upgrade with the previous offer already.
135K Upgrade Offer (Jan-Oct 2024)
- Joining Fee: Rs.60,000+GST = Rs.70,800
- Welcome Offer: Get 1,00,000 Membership Rewards® points on upgrading to the Platinum Card & upon spending Rs. 50,000 on the Card in first 60 days of Card membership. Additionally, as part of this offer, an additional 35,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points will be credited to your Card Account within 120 days from the successful processing of Card application and fulfilment of requisite criteria. So total 135,000 MR points.
- Offer valid from 1 January 2024 – 31 January 2024 (extended through Oct 2024).
If I have to compare it with the previous offer, it seems they’ve removed the “renewal” benefit, which anyway isn’t a big deal as you can see below.
125K Upgrade Offer (Previous best)
- Joining Fee: Rs.60,000+GST = Rs.70,800
- Welcome Offer: Get 1,25,000 Membership Rewards® points on upgrading to the Platinum Card & upon spending Rs. 90,000 on the Card in first 3 months of Card membership. (100K regular points + 25K points extra)
- Renewal offer: Rs.20,000 worth Taj Vouchers on first year renewal.
This maynot be the best upgrade offer as few of them were able to grab the metal card for 35K+GST joining fee (by swapping jet card) and lock in that low fee for life – which is amazing but that may not return anytime soon.
Should you go for it?
For first year, its an outstanding offer and if 50% or even 30% bonus on Marriott points transfer offer shows up this year, you would be lucky as you could get an amazing value when you redeem the points with Marriott Hotels or by further transferring to American Airlines (or) to United Mileage Plus (even after the devaluation).
If you prefer simpler redemptions, you may as well go for Taj/Amazon Vouchers or others via Amex Gold Collection (24K or 18K) as long as either Gold charge (or) MRCC is in the same pool of points as they can be linked together.
That aside, getting value on regular spend or via benefits that comes with the card demands a lifestyle of it’s own. Do have a look at the detailed review of Amex Platinum Charge Card for more on that.
What’s your take on the latest Amex Plat Charge upgrade offer in 2025? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below,
Looks like a targeted offer! However I’m sure they’ll be happy to offer 125,000 points for anyone upgrading to the Platinum.
I didnt get the offer, but when I asked for upgrade over the call, there manager did mentioned on her own to give 25 k extra joining points
Hi Sid, seems you saw my comments and posted this article 😉 and you might have received invite too !
I’m also thinking if amex can give the 50% Marriott conversion this year as well.. but Platinum points won’t get expired right.. so even if we get the offer sometime next year too.. it would be great offer I’m thinking 🙂
and any expiry on Marriot points ?
Actually posted the article and saw the comment 🙂
– Marriott points expire after 24 months of no account activity. To keep them, you just need to earn or redeem points or stay in a Marriott hotel
Hi Siddharth,
Have around 150K points in AMEX account across three cards (Platinum charge, Platinum Reserve and Platinum Travel Card). What do you suggest as best ROI for these now that Marriot offer not happening this year ? Thanks in advance.
Amex to Marriott to American Airlines/Virgin/United/Avios, in that order depending on your needs. Or just hold for some more time in a hope to receive some transfer offers.
Is this targeted ? & If yes, what card(s) triggered the upgrade ?
I believe, most of Plat Travel cards got the upgrade this morning 🙂
Gold card in my case
have Amex MRCC & Smart Earn. Got this offer
I also got this offer , I am holder of platinum travel, MRCC and gold card . It seems who has completed milestone in platinum travel may be getting this , but like someone commented even if one has smart earn and MrCC they also getting so not sure what is the criteria of getting this offer ?
Soon we can expect a Vistara card replacing Jet Amex card
you have credible info on this ?
What’s your source.
I called them up and they say no such offers we have. Can you please connect me to some one from American Express to validate this
Mrunal
Unless you got a mail, Amex wont be able to help you. Your best bet is to get 110K points via online referral.
There is something called One Card that is coming soon. Metal based card and they claim its free. The Founder has mocked on twitter and gone ahead and said its time to stop paying 60K for metal card. Apparently once it is launched finer details would be known…
Even I received the same offer and I upgraded my card. The best way to get back that 70800 is by converting 125000 points to Amazon vouchers. Redeem those points in the 18-carat gold section and for every 18000 points redemption, you will receive 8000 worth Amazon vouchers.
Its an option, but not the best option to burn 125K points.
@Reuben,
Those 125K points could have given you a free return biz class trip to Japan on JAL . Certainly not the best way to utilize the points.
Hi Siddharth, thanks for sharing this article. Regular use of your website and appreciate your feedback. So I am guessing this offer is not applicable for new joinees? I currently use Axis Vistara Infinite and really like the value I get out of that. My secondary card is HDFC Regalia, and Regalia pales in comparison to total points earning potential of the VIstara infinite and the Amex platinum. So I am thinking of applying for the platinum because the additional benefits definitely outweigh the initial cost I reckon.
do they credit 100k points on crossing 90k spends and then25k points later? Or full 125k should have been posted together ?
100K points will be credited after spending of 90K in 3 months time. 25K will be credited in 90 days.
Thank you… i have also asked Customer care to look into it
Submitted upgrade form on 16 JAN, recieved call from Amex platinum team that card is going to upgraded, just some email acknowledgement they took.
They gave me option to choose from 125k MR points or 60K Taj vouchers, I obviously choose 125K points over Taj vouchers.
Just wondering how long it takes to get the metal card from the time we confirm amex team to process it !
Less than a week.
Hi Guys, Can somebody pls confirm if this is only applicable for upgrades or fresh applications as well?
Any chance to get this card as LTF?
I took the upgrade in Jan 2023, when 1.25L points were offered, but was eventually awarded 1.35L points. Got 1L + 25K + 10K points.
Nice. Was it automatic or after a request they gave the remaining 10k points?
It was automatic, I wasn’t even expecting the additional 10K.
That’s so nice of Amex.
Had closed down after a year to avoid renewal fee. Now got an upgrade offer of 150K RP + 10K voucher. In a fix.
Can we redeem the 135000 points for the 24/18 karat gold collection. Because called amex to check if that was an option and they said no.
You can, as long as you’ve a Gold Charge or MRCC linked to the Plat Charge account as already mentioned.
If not, nothing should stop you from getting one to enjoy the Gold Collection.
AMEX is still really unusable outside the Metro cities. Even then, it is still difficult to find acceptance outside the hospitality industry and especially among SMEs and other providers like vehicle dealers and travel agents. Even worse is that then a lot many online services including school/college, government, small e-commerce and even some insurance websites do not accept AMEX cards!
Forget about using it once you exit the Metros where acceptance of AMEX is the exception rather than the norm. I live in Kerala and use my two AMEX cards only on AMEX Gyftr. Believe me, I’ve tried, but even in big cities like Kochi, you can count the (non-hospitality) places that accept AMEX on your fingers. Hell, even huge brands like LuLu do not accept them! (Pothys does, but they are very reluctant). Funnily enough, nearly everyone still thinks it is a “foreign card”. “Sir, do you any card that was issued in India?” LOL.
AMEX has to really work on their acceptance levels if they want to get any kind of market share in India. If it were accepted at even 80% of the places I would chuck all my other cards (except one VISA) and get only an AMEX Plat for all my transactions.
Amex Merchant business plays the premium game and yes, can be seen only with high margin businesses for obvious reasons.
You’re all right, except that I wish to say that it has relatively lot better acceptance when it comes to online.
I think it can never be a primary card, and for the same reason they prefer to issue cards to those who already hold some other credit card.
I’ve had a somewhat similar experience with Amex or DinersClub, I am not sure. I asked them if they accept Amex (or Dinersclub probably) and they replied “No sir. We accept Credit Card, Debit Card.”. 🙂
Hi, any idea how long do they take to process the upgrade offer?
I had sent in my request 2 days back, just received an acknowledgement mail from them on the day of upgrade, nothing since then
Nevermind, came today. So the answer is 2 days.
The offer is extended to end of Feb 2024. Just got mail from Amex informing about the extension.
Me too received upgrade offer, last time it got rejected due to income issue 25lakhs. last time too it was upgrade through email text offered on travel plat and they had sent a link to apply and then update the info along with income. however this time they have sent on email like a advert and not separate link but just a upgrade radio button. Am bit unsure to upgrade now as i have still left with 59k to reach 4lakhs milestone 2nd time. I also met their 3lakhs spend offer for 12k Taj voucher when i called care they said it due to be issued in July 2024… Too much time. And by 31st March i reach 4 lks then i get additional 25k MR and then i have to think to upgrade it will see if it asks again income i would pass it. let us see
Took the offer of 135K points. They credited all 135K points in one go.
Hi Amitabh. Firstly, congratulations on the offer, and getting the points in one shot!
Secondly, when were the points credited? On card approval? Issuance? First usage? Or the same day after making a total of 50k spend?
HI,
Can an Nri apply for a AMEX gold charge card..
if yes what is the process
Ideally no, as it won’t allow you to access Video-KYC link from abroad. Happened so when I tried to give an add-on to an NRI.
But if you’re in India and have income in India with good CIBIL, chances are you’ll be auto-approved.
Thanks for your prompt reply..
I don’t have any source of income in India
But I do have a premium credit card from Axis bank.. will this help
Will be coming to India for vacation shortly
Hi Can you let me know – if 1.4 L points got credited instantly or do we need to wait till the final day which is about 120 days?
They usually credit them within a week of meeting the spend.
Hi….Can we use Amex card in India to pay for Kids school fees online? Any feedback pls.
I too received plat chg and at first offer was Taj vouchers negotiated and got 1lakh Mr plus was referred and also got 20k referral bonus to after raising compliant. This time it was beyond 90 days for referral bonus to credit. Kept following raised and threatened finally will write to ceo and then it got resolved. Using since 3 months my fee was 70k inclusive of tax i had also requested to make my other amex card as companion 3 times they said no. But when I login I see travel plat has opened for milestone but no chgs yet will check next statement and see.
This offer will be once per life time of the card right? Not sure why none of the T&C mentions this. I had this card a couple of years back and cancelled it. Every time this upgrade offer pops up on the website out of the platinum travel card. Is there any of instance of getting this MR points twice after upgrading twice?
Is the 140K MR points offer valid in Dec 2024?
I see 130K for this month for some, but might be different for each
Do you get the 140K points in Dec 2024 if you apply for Amex Plat Charge card as your first Amex Card?
It’s only triggered for existing Amex cardholders.
I received 150k points offer today
I received an upgrade invite today with 150K points, despite closing the card last year after one year of signing up. I am a bit confused about whether to sign up again or not. Last year, 115k points gave good returns as I transferred to Marriott with a 30% bonus and booked hotels worth a INR 80K in india and malasiya and still got 90k points left in my Marriott account.
Today I received offer for 150k points . It is worth now ?
Yes, it is!
If we upgrade from Amex Travel Plat to Platinum charge, can we downgrade it to Travel Platinum next year?
Also, how will the proportionate AF be calculated while upgrading?
It’s an additional card, not a replacement. You can keep both.
I upgraded to Amex Platinum charge for 1,50,000 MR Points & received this amazing card. The process is so smooth & easy. Amex for a reason.
Upgrading to Plat Charge on 19 Feb.
Supplementary card holders will get hotel’s Elite tier benefits but not lounge accesses. Was wondering if they will also get other benefits like Meet & Greet services, BMS 1+1, Times Prime Ace, Zomato gold, Eazydiner, etc. separately. Anyone?
Hey Siddharth, I had opted for the Plat Charge card during the 135k point offer. I have my plat travel card too. Now, I do not wish to continue the Platinum charge card at renewal even if I get a renewal bonus. I will continue the Platinum travel card though. Will my points that I got as a bonus for Plat Charge expire or lapse if I discontinue? Your insights will be highly appreciated. Thank you.
The points will stay if points account on both cards are linked.