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UPDATES:
- Amex increases the 35% rebated points cap from 500,000 to 1,000,000 points per calendar year.
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American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points offer the best values when you transfer those points to Amex partner frequent flyer programs for premium class seats. The second benefit is that I value Amex MR points to redeem them for travel through Amex Travel, known as Pay With Points. This benefit is good when you have an eligible Amex card that gives you a points rebate benefit, such as the American Express Business Platinum Card.
As the Amex Business Platinum cardholder, you can receive 35% Amex MR points back after you use points to pay for all or part of a flight booked through the Amex Travel site.
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| Pay For Business Class Seat With Amex Points & Get 35% Points Back. |
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How Does Amex Business Platinum Card 35% Airline Bonus Benefit Work?
You receive 35% American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points back up to 1,000,000 bonus points per calendar year when you use the Pay With Points feature to cover all or part of a flight booked directly with the Amex Travel site.
The 35% airline bonus rebate benefit on the American Express Business Platinum Card applies to the following two eligible airfares:
- You can receive 35% points back when you Pay With Points for any class of service booked on the qualifying airline you select each year that matches the airline you choose for the $200 Amex Airline Fee Statement Credit.
- For example, you chose United Airlines as your preferred airline for the $200 airline fee credit. When you purchase a United flight ticket through Amex Travel and use the Pay With Points feature, you will receive 35% points back of the total points you used.
- If you select Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines, or Frontier Airlines to receive your 35% Airline Bonus, you must call Business Platinum Travel Service at 1-800-553-9497.
- You can receive 35% points back when you Pay With Points for a Business or First Class ticket booked with any airline.
- See the full terms and conditions here.
How to Select A Qualifying Airline for Amex Business Platinum Card Airline Fee Credit?
If you are new to this benefit, I recommend that you take time to make sure the qualifying airline that you select is an airline that you will be able to use up the Amex Airline Fee Statement Credit each year.
To select a qualifying airline for Amex Airline Fee Credit online, go here. Alternatively, you can also contact Amex to have an agent select it for you.
When Should You Use Amex Travel Pay With Points?
The Pay With Points feature through Amex Travel is a simple process based entirely on the cash price of an airfare. The value of points you will get is 1 cent apiece when redeemed this way, and with the 35% points rebate, you will get 1.55 cents apiece. This is one of the main reasons why transferring Amex points to frequent flyer programs to book the same flight can offer much better values than this type of redemption because you can get at least 2-3 cents of Amex MR points value, even after you factor in the 35% points rebate.
For example, you want to fly from LAX to Paris. A roundtrip direct flight on the Delta One business class seat can cost at least $3,500 per person. You have a couple options here:
- If you pay for the ticket with Amex points (Pay With Points), you are looking to use 350,000 points or 227,500 points with the 35% points rebate.
- Suppose you transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic frequently flyer points. In that case, you will only need 100,000 Amex points to convert to 100,000 Virgin Atlantic points to book the same exact roundtrip ticket subject to award availability, and that is a saving of 127,500 MR points.
Therefore, when you want to use Amex Pay With Points, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it better to transfer Amex MR points to the frequent flyer program to book instead?
- If yes, are the award seats available for booking for the dates you want?
- If yes, is the frequent flyer program easy to deal with? Sometimes, it may not be worth it to bother with specific frequent flyer programs and end up costing your time.
- Is the cash price of the ticket low enough? The cheaper the airfare is, the fewer points you will need to spend.
Finally, keep in mind that when you Pay With Points for a flight ticket, you will also earn flying miles and qualifying miles towards the airline’s elite status as well if that matters to you.
How to Use Amex Business Platinum Card 35% Airline Pay With Points Rebate?
The process to book a flight using the Pay With Points feature with American Express to take advantage of the 35% points rebate benefit is very simple.
A few things to note:
- You receive 35% points back up to 500,000 bonus points per calendar year when using the Pay With Points feature to cover all or part of a flight.
- Pay With Points requires a minimum redemption of 5,000 points.
- The 35% points rebate benefit only apply to the following eligible fares:
- Flight tickets are booked with your Chosen Airline in any class of service.
- Flight tickets are booked with ANY Airlines in Business or First class.
This is an optional step, but if you have not done this, I recommend that you use Google Flights to help you search for the cheapest flight available first before using the American Express travel portal. Remember, Amex Pay With Points is based entirely on the cash price of the ticket. Cheap airfare means that you will spend fewer points.
- Go to the official Amex Travel site.
- First, log in to your Amex account through the blue Log In button on the top.
- Click on the Flights tab, and provide your search parameters to search.
- On the result page, you can filter through the flight criteria that you want. The total Amex MR points needed will also be displayed there. But keep in mind that those points do not include the 35% points rebate. Use the following calculator to help you determine the final total points you will need:
- Select the flight you want and follow the booking prompts to review the itinerary and provide the traveler’s information.
- You will be given Payment Options to choose from on the final page. If you want to use all points to cover the entire cost, select Use Only Points. You can also Use Points + Card if you’re going to use some Amex points towards the purchase.
- Please note that you are still required to provide your American Express Business Platinum Card information even if you use Pay With Points.
- Once your flight is successfully booked:
- You will see the pending charge appears on your card’s account. Don’t worry; once the payment is posted, Amex will issue you a credit of that amount applied to your statement.
- Your Membership Rewards points are deducted right away from your account, and it can take up to 6-10 weeks before you see the 35% points rebate posted to your account.
| Amex MR Points Before Rebate: | Points |
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How Long Does the 35% Pay With Points Rebate Take to Post?
As mentioned above, you are still required to provide your American Express Business Platinum Card information to pay for your flight ticket even when you use the Pay With Points feature. The purchase will be posted to your Amex account, but you will receive a statement credit of that amount back in the meantime.
Your American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points are deducted immediately from your account. Per Amex, it can take up 6-10 weeks before you receive the 35% points back to your account. In my case, it only took 4 weeks for me to get the 35% rebate points.
Below is my example timeline:
- November 1 – Redeemed Points for Amex Travel. Purchase posted and credited to Amex account showing the amount, not points.
- December 1 – Received the 35% Pay With Points rebate.
If I have multiple Amex Membership Rewards earning cards, how do I ensure the transaction qualifies for the Business Platinum Card’s 35% points rebate?
When you purchase the airfare using the Pay With Points feature, the system never asks you which American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points you would like to use for redemption. However, you are also asked to provide the Amex card information at the time of booking to have the airfare charged and reimbursed later on. Make sure you give your American Express Business Platinum Card information before booking the flight. That’s how I did it and received the 35% points back correctly.
Generally speaking, all your Membership Rewards (MR) earning cards are linked to the same MR account. Amex system is smart enough to know that your eligible purchase and points will be processed accordingly if you have an American Express Business Platinum Card. You will receive a congratulations email for your flight redemption that qualifies for the 35% airline bonus. Keep an eye on that email the day after your redemption.
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| Amex Confirms 35% Bonus Redemption. |
If you want to be super sure after making your purchase:
- Call the Membership Rewards team at 1-800-297-3276 to inquire and confirm.
- Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – midnight ET
- Saturday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
Does paying with points transaction for someone else also qualify for the Business Platinum Card’s 35% points rebate?
Yes. As far as American Express is concerned, you just need to book through Amex Travel and log into your Amex account to use the Pay With Points feature.
You can purchase a flight ticket using your Amex points for just about anyone and still receive the 35% points rebate that is part of your American Express Business Platinum Card benefits.
Who do I contact if I need to change or cancel the flight ticket?
To use the Amex Pay With Points feature and take advantage of the 35% points rebate benefit, you must book directly with the Amex Travel site. The Amex travel site acts as an online travel agency (OTA), in this case, to sell you the flight ticket for a particular airline. Therefore, when you need to make changes or cancel a flight ticket that cannot be done online yourself, you will need to work with the Amex travel customer service, not the airline.
It’s also worth noting too that any refund will be processed by Amex travel customer service based on the rules that are in place by the airline.
