American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card: New redemption changes starting April 2025news24

Banks review their credit card rewards program regularly and make changes whenever required. Some banks like HSBC India, SBI Card, American Express, etc., have announced changes in their credit card rewards program effective 1st April 2025. In this article, we will understand the changes announced by American Express for its Platinum Travel Credit Card.

Changes to Platinum Travel Credit Card rewards

From 1st April 2025, the rewards on the American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card will undergo some changes. These include the following.

Introduction of new gift vouchers

American Express has added gift vouchers of two new merchants to the Platinum Travel Collection for Platinum Travel Credit Card holders. These include The Postcard Hotel and Air India e-vouchers. A Platinum Travel Credit Card holder can redeem 20,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points for a Rs. 10,000 The Postcard Hotel gift voucher. It translates into a value of Rs. 0.50 per MR point.

The cardholder can redeem 20,000 MR points for a Rs. 6,000 Air India gift voucher. It translates into a value of Rs. 0.30 per MR point. The Air India gift voucher is also available in the denomination of Rs. 12,000 against the redemption of 40,000 MR points.

Removal of Flipkart gift vouchers

Flipkart gift vouchers will no longer be a part of the Platinum Travel Collection. Before 1st April 2025, the cardholder could redeem the welcome gift of 10,000 MR points for a Rs. 3,000 Flipkart gift voucher. It gave a cardholder a redemption value of Rs. 0.30 per MR point.

On completing the Rs. 1,90,000 spend milestone in a card membership year, the cardholder receives a bonus of 15,000 MR points. They could redeem these 15,000 MR points for a Rs. 4,500 Flipkart gift voucher.

Similarly, on completing the Rs. 4,00,000 spend milestone in a card membership year, the cardholder receives an additional bonus of 25,000 MR points. They could redeem these 25,000 MR points for a Rs. 7,500 Flipkart gift voucher.

Both the above options gave the cardholder a redemption value of Rs. 0.30 per MR point. However, from 1st April 2025, the Flipkart gift voucher redemption option will no longer be available.

If a cardholder wants to buy Flipkart gift vouchers, they can log in to their dashboard and visit the rewards section. Select the ‘Redeem for Insta Vouchers’ section that lists the gift vouchers of various brands, including Flipkart.

In this section, a Rs. 1,000 Flipkart gift vouchers can be bought by redeeming 4,400 MR points, or a Rs. 5,000 Flipkart gift vouchers can be bought by redeeming 22,000 MR points. It gives a redemption value of Rs. 0.23 per MR point. The redemption value is lower than the Rs. 0.30 per MR point that was available under the Platinum Travel Collection.

Increase in MR points requirement for Taj vouchers

From 1st April 2025, the MR points requirement for redemption of Taj vouchers has increased. A Platinum Travel Credit Card holder will require 12,500 MR points to redeem them for a Rs. 5,000 Taj voucher. Similarly, a Rs. 10,000 Taj vouchers will require a redemption of 25,000 MR points. The redemption value per point is Rs. 0.40.

Before 1st April 2025, a Rs. 5,000 Taj voucher required a redemption of 10,000 MR points, and a Rs. 10,000 Taj voucher required a redemption of 20,000 MR points. The redemption value was Rs. 0.50 per point.

So, effective 1st April 2025, the redemption value for Taj vouchers under the Platinum Travel Collection has dropped from Rs. 0.50 to Rs. 0.40. So, that is a 25% devaluation in the per point redemption value. In other words, from 1st April 2025, a Platinum Travel Credit Card holder will have to shell out 25% more MR points for redemption against Taj vouchers.

Are these changes good or bad?

The addition of The Postcard Hotel and Air India gift vouchers is good. It gives the Platinum Travel Credit Card holders more redemption options. The 25% increase in the MR points requirement for redeeming them against Taj vouchers will disappoint cardholders. The removal of Flipkart gift vouchers from the Platinum Travel Collection will disappoint some cardholders. The cardholders can still avail of the Flipkart gift vouchers from the insta vouchers section. However, the redemption value per point will be lower at Rs. 0.23 per point instead of Rs. 0.30 per point under the Platinum Travel Collection.

American Express Platinum Travel Credit Cardholders got email intimation about the changes around 25-26th March. The changes are effective 1st April. It gives very little time for the cardholders to plan redemptions before the changes take effect. It would have been better if American Express had given cardholders at least one month or more time to plan redemptions before the changes took effect.

What are the other redemption options?

Apart from the redemption options discussed so far, American Express gives you the option to transfer MR points to various airline and hotel transfer partners. The hotel transfer partners include Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors. The airline partners include Asia Miles, Emirates Skywards, Singapore KrisFlyer, etc.

The MR points can be transferred to these partners in a specified ratio. For example, for Marriott Bonvoy, the points transfer ratio is 1:1. It means, one MR point will be converted to one Marriott Bonvoy point. Similarly, the transfer ratio for KrisFlyer is 2:1. It means, two MR points will be converted to one KrisFlyer point. To know about the transfer ratio for other partners, visit the American Express website.

Once you transfer the MR points to any partner, you can use that program’s points to either book flights or hotel accommodation. The points requirement for booking with some of these loyalty programs, for example Marriott Bonvoy, is dynamic. The value per point you usually get is in the Rs. 0.40 to Rs. 0.80 range. However, at times, you may get a higher value.

Is the Platinum Travel Credit Card still good after these changes?

The American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card has one of the lowest excluded categories for earning reward points. It offers an accelerated reward rate of 3X MR points for transactions done through the Reward Multiplier platform. The card offers good bonuses at milestone spends of Rs. 1.90 lakhs and Rs. 4 lakhs in a card membership year. So, even after the changes from 1st April 2025, the Platinum Travel Credit Card continues to offer good value, and cardholders may continue using it.

Gopal Gidwani is a freelance personal finance content writer with 15+ years of experience. He can be reached at LinkedIn.