For years, the Amex Platinum Travel card was one of the easiest recommendations simply because it was predictable and very rewarding at ₹4L annual spend. Math was simple, spend 4lk a year in a manner that you like and earn 7%+ rewards.
However, with the recent devaluation, this has now changed. Amex has devalued the Amex Platinum Travel credit card, and it now needs a serious rethink, as for most users, the value proposition has taken a meaningful hit.
Amex Platinum Travel Devaluation
What has changed?
Earlier, the Amex Platinum Travel card had a very clean milestone structure. At ₹1.9 lakh, you got 15,000 MR points. At ₹4 lakh, you unlocked another 25,000 points along with a ₹10,000 Taj voucher.
This meant that by simply routing ₹4 lakh of annual spend, you were sitting on 40,000 MR points + a 10k Taj voucher, which would translate into a 7%+ reward rate assuming a conservative 40p value for 1 MR point.
Post devaluation, the same structure has been diluted. The ₹1.9 lakh milestone now gives only 7,500 points. The ₹4 lakh milestone has been reduced to 10,000 points. A new milestone of 7lakh is introduced, which gives you 22500 points and a 10k Taj voucher.
So effectively, what earlier required ₹4 lakh in spending now requires ₹7 lakh to achieve similar outcomes.
How does Amex Platinum Travel compare with others?
Devaluations happen, and we can’t do anything about them. Thus, the question now is how the Amex Platinum Travel compares with other popular credit cards and where it stands now. Here, I have done a quick comparison of the Amex Platinum Travel and a few other popular credit cards, such as HDFC Diners Black, HDFC Infinia, Axis Atlas, HSBC Travel One and the HDFC Marriott Bonvoy credit card.
The thought process is to figure out which credit card gives the highest reward on 7lakh spends.
Amex Platinum Travel
As mentioned above, you get 54k MR points on spending 7lakh on this card. Assuming a 40p value per point and a 10k Taj voucher, the reward rate now comes to 4.5%.
HDFC DCB Metal
Assuming that you spend 7lk on HDFC DCB Metal (Apply Now) and probably achieve one quarterly milestone of 4lk spends, you get 33.3k reward points, translating into 4.8% reward rate. Further, since the DCB Metal fee waiver is at 8lk annual spending, by spending just 1lk more, you can save ~12k in annual fees.
HDFC Infinia
HDFC Infinia gives 3.3% reward rate on spending 7lks, which translates into 23.3k reward points. Not a great reward rate as such, however, given the recent changes in the Infinia program, one is expected to spend 18k every year. Thus, moving 4-7lk spends of Amex Platinum Travel to Infinia may make sense if you intend to keep your Infinia.
Axis Atlas
Axis Atlas(Apply Now) gives 2% reward rate, and thus, on spending 7lk, you get 14k Edge Miles. Further, you get 2.5k Edge Miles on spending 3lk and another 2.5k Edge Miles on spending 7.5lk in a year, as milestone rewards. Thus, you get 19k Edge Miles on spending 7.5lakh on Axis Atlas, resulting in a reward rate of 2.7%. However, the USP of Axis Atlas is the conversion ratio of 1:2 and thus translates into 38k air miles or hotel loyalty points. Although Axis Bank has recently removed Accor as one of the transfer partners, despite that, 38k airmiles on 7.5lk spending is a strong reward rate.
HSBC Travel One
On HSBC Travel One(Apply Now), you get a 2% reward rate, translating into 14k reward points. Here, like HDFC DCB Metal, the annual-fee waiver criterion is 8 lakh spends. Thus, if you spend another 1lk on this credit card, you save ~5800 in annual fees.
HDFC Marriott
Given that Amex MR points are most used for Marriott transfer, it is worthwhile to check if the HDFC Marriott Bonvoy credit card is now more rewarding. No. On 7lk spends, you end up getting 24.3k Marriott Bonvoy points, translating into ~1% reward rate. The milestone benefit of 1 FNA on 6lk spends is accounted for as 15k MB points in the above calculation.
What to do with Amex Platinum Travel?
Obviously, the devaluation has taken away the sheen from the Amex Platinum Travel credit card. From a no-brainer high-reward credit card, Amex Platinum Travel has likely become a me-too credit card, with many other credit cards competing for the spending that was likely done on Amex Platinum Travel.
If your annual spends are around 4-5 lakhs, closing your Amex Platinum Travel credit card makes complete sense and moving to your most rewarding credit card. BoB Eterna credit card(Apply Now) might fit the bill here, where, on spending 5lk a year (assuming online spends), you get a 4.75% reward rate. This is on an LTF credit card with unlimited lounge access on both primary and add-on credit cards.
Even if your spending is higher, moving spending from Amex Platinum Travel to other better-rewarding cards completely makes sense.
However, you may continue with Amex Platinum Travel if the card is LTF for you. Further, if you have tax payments coming up and don’t have a very suitable credit card like the HDFC BizBlack, then you should continue with the Amex Platinum Travel. Since most credit cards don’t give reward points for tax payments, nor count that towards milestone payments.
Personally, I plan to continue with my Amex Platinum Travel credit card for this year. I have tax payments to make for myself and my family. The Amex Platinum Travel card will only be used for tax payments and nothing else this year.
What are you doing with your Amex Platinum Travel credit card? Holding it or closing it? Let me know in the comments.
The article was published/last updated on 14th April 2026.
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If my spending is around 7-8 lakhs annually, does it make sense to switch to another card from amex platinum travel? If yes then which cards? Only from reward rate perspective
Yes. assuming the spends are spread across categories and not just say taxes. it makes sense to move HDFC Diners Black Metal, HDFC Infinia, Axis Atlas, Axis Magnus Burgandy etc.
If you can tell me know which cards you have and categories of spends, I may be zero down on 1-2 best cards for you.