Amex Platinum Card Loses Lufthansa Lounge Access From October 2026

American Express has confirmed another cutback for its premium cardholders: Platinum Card Members in India will lose complimentary access to Lufthansa Lounges starting 1 October 2026.

What's Changing

Here's the timeline in plain terms:

• Through 30 September 2026: Eligible Platinum Card Members can still use participating Lufthansa Lounges for free.
• From 1 October 2026: This benefit ends completely, with no replacement announced so far.

If you're a Platinum Card holder who flies Lufthansa regularly, this is worth planning around before the cutoff date.

Why This Change Stings

For many cardholders, lounge access is one of the main reasons to hold onto a premium Amex card in the first place. Losing a lounge network outright — rather than just tightening the rules around it — is a bigger hit than a typical devaluation.

It also lands at an awkward time. Amex has kept new applications for several of its cards paused for months, so existing members can't easily switch to a different product within the Amex family even if they're unhappy with the change.

Part of a Bigger Pattern

This isn't an isolated cut. Over the past year, American Express has trimmed premium India benefits several times:

• The Mumbai Centurion Lounge closed on 1 July 2026.
• Amex discontinued Etihad Guest as a Membership Rewards transfer partner, a change we covered in detail in our piece on American Express ending Membership Rewards transfers to Etihad Guest.
• Centurion Lounge guest access rules were tightened.
• And now, Lufthansa Lounge access is being withdrawn entirely from October 2026.

Any one of these on its own would be a minor annoyance. Together, they suggest Amex is actively scaling back the perks that used to set its Platinum Card apart in India — at the same time competitors like HSBC are expanding their own travel benefits. Lounge access has become a bigger battleground across the industry too; see how ICICI Bank's ₹75,000 lounge access rule is reshaping the market for another example of issuers rewriting the rules.

Bottom Line

To be fair, not every cut is fully within Amex's control — the Mumbai Centurion Lounge closure, for instance, was tied to factors beyond the bank's decision-making. But the broader trend is hard to miss: fewer transfer partners, shrinking lounge access, and card applications that remain paused.

Amex still has strong brand loyalty and one of India's best rewards ecosystems. Whether that's enough to hold its premium positioning will depend on whether it adds new value back — rather than continuing to take benefits away.