Amex Business Platinum 35% Airline Pay With Points Rebate

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers a 35% airline bonus benefit that can make your Amex Membership Rewards^® Points worth 1.54 cents each when booking first or business class airfare through the Amex Travel portal.

I recently used this benefit to book Auckland, New Zealand to Honolulu, Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines business class. The booking was made on June 12 with 179,475 Amex Membership Rewards points.

On July 14, 32 days later, I received an email from American Express (below) and when I checked my Membership Rewards account, I saw that the Airline Bonus: Pay with Points posted with 62,817 back to my account.

Congratulations, the flight you booked on June 12, 20xx has qualified for the 35% Airline Bonus benefit.1 The additional points have been added to your Membership Rewards^® account. To review your trip details, please log on to your account at americanexpresstravel.com.

What is the 35% Airline Bonus Benefit?

When you use Membership Rewards^® Pay with Points for all or part of an eligible fare, you can get 35% of those points back up to one million points back per calendar year.

There are two types of eligible fares:

1. First and Business Class tickets with any airlines booked through American Express Travel
2. Any fare class with your selected qualifying airline booked through American Express Travel

To learn more about this benefit and others on your Card, please visit americanexpress.com/businessplatinumcard.

Thank you for your Card Membership.

American Express Customer Care

As you can see from the email Amex sent me, to earn the 35% Membership Rewards rebate you must:

1. Make the booking through the Amex Travel portal
2. Use Membership Rewards Pay with Points to pay for some or all of the booking
3. Book either a first or business class ticket on any airline OR book any fare class on your selected Amex airline fee credit airline

You can receive up to 1,000,000 (one million) points back per calendar year, which means you can use up to 2,857,142 Membership Rewards points for flights x 35% = 1 million points rebated.

Because you receive 35% of the points back, this increases the value of your points from 1 cent per point to 1.54 per points (1 / (1 – 0.35) = 1.54.

In my example above, I spent 179,475 points, received 62,817 back, so total spend was 116,658 for a $1,794.75 ticket.

$1,794.75 / 116,658 = 0.01538 x 100 = 1.54 cents per point.

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• 150,000 POINT WELCOME OFFER after $20,000 spend in the first 3 months of card membership
• Earn 5x Membership Rewards^® points on airfare and prepaid hotels through amextravel.com, and 1x points on each dollar spent on other eligible purchases
• Earn 1.5X points 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.
• 35% bonus on airline purchases with MR points: Use “Pay with Points” for a flight and get 35% of the points back, up to 1,000,000 per year
• Up to $400 in Dell statement credits, enrollment required
• Unlock over $1,000 in value per year for statement credits on select business purchases, including tech, recruiting and wireless with the Business Platinum Card.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Card or any of the Additional Cards on your Platinum Card account.
• $199 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Use your Card and get up to $199 back per year on your CLEAR® Plus membership (subject to auto-renewal).
• Access The American Express Global Lounge Collection^®
• $695 annual fee (Terms apply, see rates and fees)

Amex 35% Points Back

The Amex Business Platinum 35% points back bonus makes Membership Rewards points much more flexible to use. The best use of Amex Membership Rewards points is almost always transferring the points to a travel partner.

However, points are frequently devalued, so “earning and burning” is recommended over hoarding points. If you can't find a good transfer redemption, then using Amex points to book first or business class airfare through the travel portal can be a better redemption with the 35% points back rebate.

One of the primary advantages of the Chase Sapphire Reserve^® card is you can use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book travel in the Chase Travel portal at 1.5 cents each.

This is an easy way to get 50% more value from your Chase Ultimate Rewards points rather than just cashing them out. Combined with the Chase trifecta, this can be a powerful travel credit card strategy.

Chase Sapphire Reserve^® Card
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• $550 annual fee waived to $0 for US military + spouses with Chase MLA policy
• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
• Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually.
• 3x Points on other Travel (airfare, hotels) after earning the $300 travel credit
• 3x Dining restaurants, takeouts, delivery
• Chase Ultimate Reward Points redeemed through Chase Travel℠ are worth 1.5 cents, a 50% bonus.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• Priority Pass lounge and restaurant access with over 1300+ airport lounges worldwide
• Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry every 4 years
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Primary coverage with Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• No foreign transaction fees, Member FDIC
• Learn more in the Chase Sapphire Reserve review