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The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers cardmembers several fantastic benefits. One such benefit comes courtesy of the Pay with Points feature you can use when booking airfare through the American Express Travel portal. When you Pay with Points with the Business Platinum Card, you will receive a 35% rebate on the Amex points you use to purchase flights. This rebate can provide extensive savings when you use your Membership Rewards points to book travel!
Here's what the 35% Pay with Points rebate is and when you should consider it instead of using Amex transfer partners.
Page Contents
What Is the Amex Pay With Points Rebate?
The Business Platinum Card‘s 35% Pay with Points rebate comes into play when you use Amex points to pay for all or part of an eligible flight booked through Amex Travel. Simply put, after you pay for your flight, you'll automatically get 35% of the points you used back. In most cases, they'll re-appear in your account within 6-10 weeks of your purchase.
Pay with Points requires you to redeem a minimum of 5,000 Amex points. The rebate applies to the entire ticket cost, which includes the taxes and fees. And each calendar year, you can get up to one million points back via rebate. If you're curious, you'd need to redeem 2,857,143 points to get a million back. For most of us, the threshold would not come into play!
It's worth reiterating that this is a rebate, not an immediate flight cost discount. Don't expect to see 35% off the cost of your bill when you try to check out.
Related: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: A Comprehensive Review
Which flights are eligible for the 35% Pay with Points rebate?
To take advantage of this Business Platinum Card-specific benefit, you'll need to book an eligible flight through Amex Travel. And there are two types of eligible flights:
- First- or business-class tickets with any airline.
- Any fare class with the airline you selected for your annual airline incidental fee credit.
With respect to the latter, you can change your selected airline each January. And again, the 35% rebate will only apply to flights you book with Amex points on that specific airline. Here's the list of airlines you can choose:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- United Airlines
How To Use the Business Platinum Pay With Points Rebate
The first step to taking advantage of this lucrative benefit is to log in into your American Express account. Then, select the “Menu” button at the top of your screen, click “Travel,” and then select “Book a Trip.”
Next, you'll need to enter your flight information when prompted. And when you have reached the section to pay for your flight, you will see an option for using points and card. Note that you can enter different point amounts and click “Apply” to see how it impacts the flight's cost.
But at the bare minimum, the benefit kicks in after redeeming 5,000 Amex points. If you don't use points to cover everything, you'll need to ensure you charge the rest of the airfare to your Business Platinum Card. Otherwise, you won't get any of your hard-earned points back.
But it's that simple. Within several weeks of booking, Amex will credit 35% of the points you redeemed back to your Business Platinum Card account. In the right circumstances, this benefit can offer substantial savings.
Related: 5 Excellent Redemption Strategies for Amex Membership Rewards Points
When To Use the Amex Pay With Points Benefit
There are several situations in which using Pay with Points may be the best deal for your flight purchase. Here's when it makes sense.
Pay with Points if your flight is more expensive to book with a partner frequent-flyer program
Factoring in the 35% bonus means you can use your Membership Rewards points at a value of 1.54 cents apiece. The standard rate is 1 cent apiece when redeeming through Pay with Points for flights. However, transferring to American Express's airline partners may make better sense depending on the bookable options and where you want to go.
Let's take a look at an example. Suppose you want to fly from Seattle (SEA) to Shanghai (PVG) in Delta One business class. You can transfer 275,000 Amex points to Delta to book a nonstop one-way award.
But if you've got the Business Platinum Card and want to splurge on this ticket, you're better off leveraging the Pay with Points benefit. Here's why.
You can book the same ticket through Amex Travel for $2,737 or 272,730 Amex points. Yes, that's a lot of points, but the cost is a little more affordable after you factor in the 35% rebate.
If you paid with points on this reservation, you'd only end up redeeming 177,275 Membership Rewards points. That's nearly 100,000 points you'll save by skipping the transfer to Delta and booking through Amex travel!
This won't always be the cheapest option; sometimes, partner programs will offer the same award for less. It's always worth shopping around before you book to ensure you find the best price.
Pay with Points if you want to earn elite status credits and airline miles on your flight
Better yet, booking a flight via the American Express Travel Portal counts as a paid ticket rather than an award ticket. This can be important because most airlines only award elite status credit and redeemable miles when you book a paid ticket (also known as a revenue ticket). Award tickets typically don't help you earn elite status, although there are a few exceptions to that rule.
Therefore, Amex Pay with Points can be a good option when you are close to qualifying for the next level of elite status with the airline you are flying or one of their partners. With the Delta flight mentioned above, you'd earn between 13,635 and 29,997 redeemable miles (depending on your current status level with Delta SkyMiles) and $2,727 Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) towards elite status by booking via Pay with Points.
Book through Amex Travel when you can't find an award flight that meets your needs
One of the most common reasons to use Pay with Points is that you'll have far more options than if you book a traditional award ticket. Most airlines make only a small percentage of the flights you can buy with money available to book with miles. If you don't have much flexibility in your schedule or you're traveling over a busy holiday, finding award space can be a challenge.
Pay with Points will give you more choices and save you time; simply pay for your booking with Amex points, get a bundle back, and go!
Final Thoughts
Using the Amex Pay with Points feature with the Business Platinum Card isn't always the best strategy, but it's a great option to have at your disposal.
The 35% Membership Rewards rebate puts many revenue tickets in a similar price range to what you'd pay by transferring to a partner. You'll have more flight options, avoid the hassle of searching for award seats, and earn credit towards elite status. And if you also save some points, that means more future travel adventures with Membership Rewards.
- Limited Time Travel Offer: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on your Business Platinum Card® within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Plus, earn a $500 statement credit after you spend $2,500 on qualifying flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel with your Business Platinum Card® within the first 3 months of Card Membership. You can earn one or both of these offers. Offer ends 6/30/25.
- The American Express Global Lounge Collection® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market as of 10/2024.
- Unlock over $1,000 in statement credits on select purchases, including tech, recruiting and wireless in the first year of membership with the Business Platinum Card®. Enrollment required.
- Fly like a pro with a $200 Airline Fee Credit. Select one qualifying airline to receive up to $200 back per year on baggage fees and other incidentals.
- NEW! Make the Business Platinum Card® work even harder for you. Hilton For Business members get up to $200 back per calendar year when you make an eligible purchase at Hilton properties across the globe. Benefit enrollment required.
- Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points for flights, prepaid hotels, and short-term rentals and prepaid flight + hotel packages booked at AmexTravel.com. 1X points on other eligible purchases.
- Earn 1.5X points (that's an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year. Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus.
- $199 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Use your card and get up to $199 in statement credits per calendar year on your CLEAR® Plus Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use the Business Platinum Card®.
- $695 Annual Fee.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 1.5X Membership Rewards® points on each eligible purchase with U.S. shipping providers.
- 1.5X earning rates are subject to a cap of $2 million in purchases per calendar year.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
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