Every year or two, a credit card devaluation makes the rounds on finance Twitter, gets a day of outrage, and fades. This one shouldn’t.
On 10 September 2026, American Express quietly gutted the Platinum Travel Card’s milestone structure for the second time this year. The ₹1.9 lakh spend tier, once worth 15,000 points, now gives you nothing. The ₹7 lakh tier, which used to hand over 22,500 points and a ₹10,000 Taj voucher, now gives just the voucher. And starting 1 October, even lounge access, historically a no-strings perk, requires ₹1 lakh of spend every quarter.
Free lounge access, on a card people specifically bought for free lounge access, now has a price tag attached.
This isn’t about one card
It’s tempting to treat this as an Amex problem. It isn’t. It’s a pattern. Across the Indian credit card market in 2026, the same move keeps repeating: banks are converting ownership benefits (things you get just for holding the card) into spend benefits (things you have to earn every quarter, every year, forever). Lounge access, milestone bonuses, fee waivers: all of it is drifting toward “pay to play.”
The Platinum Travel Card used to be the easiest sell in the Indian market: hold it, spend normally, get rewarded. That simplicity is exactly what’s being dismantled.
Who actually gets hurt
Not everyone. If you’re spending ₹7 lakh or more a year and you genuinely want Taj vouchers, Amex will still argue you’re getting decent value, especially since Platinum Travel’s milestone math still counts insurance, utility and government payments that most rival cards exclude outright.
But if you’re the ₹4–6 lakh annual spender who picked this card specifically because it rewarded moderate spending generously? You’re the one left holding a card that no longer does what you bought it for.
The real question isn’t “which card replaces it”
There are plenty of alternatives to discuss: SBI Card Elite’s tiered milestones, HSBC TravelOne’s transfer partners and BOB Eterna’s fee-free entry are common talking points. But the point here is to resist that temptation.
The lesson is to stop taking the value of any premium card for granted. Indian issuers are beginning to treat milestone structures as levers to be pulled at multiple points during the year, not as destinations to be reached. That means the most prudent course of action is to keep a close eye on your card every few months, because what it offers today may well change by the next quarter. Our credit card recommendation tool is a quick way to see which cards fit your current spend and fee limit.
Editorial content for general information only. Card features, fees, offers and partner rules change often. Always verify current terms, eligibility and conditions with the issuer before acting.
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