One of the most influential cards in the American Express portfolio in India (currently paused for issuance) is the American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card. While it is not exactly a travel card, the name helps, and the product is simple. You get bonus points on spending INR 1.9 Lakhs and INR 4 Lakhs per membership year. However, this is going to change pretty soon.
American Express to add a new milestone for the full benefits
So far, the product proposition of the American Express Platinum Travel Card has been lucrative because it was simplistic. Apart from the Membership Rewards points earned on the card for spending on a day-to-day basis, the card also promised milestone benefits:
- Spend INR 1.9 Lakh within a membership year and get 15,000 bonus MR Points (7,500 auto credited and 7,500 need a call or a chat with Amex)
- Spend an additional INR 2.1 Lakh within the same membership year and get 25,000 bonus MR points and a Taj voucher worth INR 10,000. (10,000 auto credited, and the rest need a call or chat)

According to a new notice being sent to cardmembers, American Express is beginning to notify members of a new milestone: INR 7 Lakhs per membership year. This is supposed to go live effective March 9, 2026 (under the 30-day notification period rule).
- Spend INR 1.9 Lakh within a membership year and get 7,500 bonus MR Points
- Spend an additional INR 2.1 Lakh within the same membership year and get 10,000 bonus MR points
- Spend an additional INR 3 Lakh within the membership year and receive an extra 22,500 bonus MR points and an INR 10,000 Taj Voucher.
Here is a copy of the notice that cardmembers are receiving.

What This Means
The introduction of a new milestone will essentially require more spending to achieve the same number of Membership Reward milestone bonuses. To start, the INR 1.9 Lakh milestone will be cut in half, and you’ll receive 7,500 points instead of 15,000 points. At the INR 4 Lakh milestone, you will receive 10,000 bonus points. At an INR 7 Lakh spending, you will get the INR 10,000 Taj Voucher and a bonus of 22,500 points.
The other news is that the hard deadline for the cutover to the new milestones is March 9, 2026. So, whenever you started your Amex Platinum Travel membership, you are still going to be subject to the new rules as of March 9, 2026.
Bottomline
The Platinum Travel card is jumping from an 8% Return on the spends made to a ~4% returns card, and it will no longer be as rewarding for low and mid-level spenders. The third milestone will be INR 7 Lakhs, a 75% increase from the current INR 4 Lakhs per annum.
What do you think of the changes to the American Express Platinum Travel card coming in a month? What is your strategy for the coming month?
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What happens if you achieve the 4L spend before the cut off date? Do you get the bonus reward points as per old milestones?
@Manish, yes.
If this is true then it says few things:
If one just looked at the way the so called “finfluencer” community was talking about Amex, it was obvious this was going to happen..
Just search for “AmEx” on any social media platform and what do you see ?
90% of the videos are talking about how AmEx Platinum Travel is such a great card..
Note: Not MRCC, not Gold charge, not Platinum Charge..
Only Platinum Travel..
When one keeps broadcasting how great this card is and when people see that content what do they do ?
Of course, they go and get that card…
And so what happens when a lot of people get that card ?
The benefits on that card are no longer special..
Voila…this is what has happened
Just few weeks ago, people on social media were busy saying how they can get 2 Platinum Travel cards by upgrading their existing MRCC card weren’t they ?
Well, if this news about AmEx is true then they must be feeling stupid about having 2 Platinum Travel cards now..
Such short term thinking is frankly destructive..
If one sees all the big cards that everyone has, it will be some combination of:
– HDFC Infinia
– Amex Platinum Travel
– Axis Atlas
Infinia they have already been devaluing by introducing the 18 lakh annual spend
Let’s be honest: it was only a matter of time before the Amex Platinum Travel was devalued too
Basically if we see social media busy talking about how “great” a card is, then we can be rest assured that card is going to get devalued..
Will I be giving up my Plat Travel ? Need to see..I still have around 1 lakh pending in order to reach 4 lakh milestone..
But if the target is now 7 lakhs, would need to spend another 3 lakh..
This is in addition to my existing HDFC DCB and Amex MRCC cards..
So that might be difficult..
Will let it go happily in that case.