Amex Platinum Travel – Changes in Redemption Options

Amex is changing redemption options for its Platinum Travel credit card effective 22^nd Jan. While the change in redemption options is beneficial, in my view; however, this is accompanied by a minor devaluation in reward points’ value.  I have reviewed the card here, and have also shared my experiences here.

What are the existing redemption options and value?

As of now, Amex Platinum Travel has the following redemption options and value.

1. As a welcome gift, one gets 5000 Milestone points worth INR3500.
2. On spending 1.9lacs in a year, one gets 7500 Milestone points. These points can be redeemed for INR5000 domestic travel voucher
3. On spending 4lacs in a year, one gets 10000 Milestone points, which can be redeemed for INR8000 domestic travel voucher
4. The above travel voucher can be used only for domestic flight and hotel bookings.
5. On achieving spends of 4lacs, one also gets Taj Experience gift card worth 10000.
6. These milestone points are valid for 3 years from the date of issue.

What changing now in Amex Platinum Travel?

Below are the changes that are happening

1. As a welcome gift, one gets 10,000 bonus membership points worth INR 3000.
2. On spending 1.9lacs in a year, one will eventually get 15,000 bonus membership points worth INR 4500.
3. On spending 4lacs in a year, one will get 25000 bonus membership points worth INR7500.
4. These bonus membership points can be used for any booking, both domestic and international. Also, the points can be transferred to any other partner loyalty program, for eg: Marriott Bonvoy, Singapore KrisFlyer, Club Vistara etc.

What is not changing on this card?

1. Taj Experience gift card: On achieving spends of 4lacs, the cardholder will continue to get Taj Experience gift card worth 10000.
2. The bonus membership points are valid for 3 years from the date of issue.

How the devaluation affects my reward rate on Amex Platinum Travel credit card?

To be honest, the devaluation is not very significant. As per my calculations, the devaluation is just 0.25% on an annual spend of 400,000, which is very small.

Earlier, the optimal use for milestone rewards was to redeem them for domestic travel vouchers. However, now that Amex will give bonus MR points, one can use the same for international flight and hotel bookings too. This is for sure the biggest improvement in the program.

Further, one may also opt to convert these bonus MR points into air miles or hotel loyalty points. For someone in the air miles game, bonus points converted during the many offers that airlines run, the value of these points may rise significantly. Thus, despite a minor devaluation in value Amex has broadly maintained the allure of this credit card for me.

My experience with Amex Platinum Travel credit card

I got this credit card during the lockdown in May. Till date, thanks to various Amex offers from time to time (e.g. Shop Small Offer, 10% cashback on Amazon spends, 2x rewards on utility spends, Amazon vouchers on specific monthly spends etc.), my reward rate on this card is at already at 3.5%. This is not taking into account the value of reward points from milestone spends and the Taj vouchers. If I were to add the milestone spends benefits, my reward rate from this card would jump to ~8%, which is just awesome. 🙂

You can get the Amex Platinum Travel credit card for zero annual fees for the first year, along with 2000 membership points and an Amazon GV of 500, by applying here.

Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash