How and When To Use the Amex Business Platinum Card 35% Pay With Points Rebate

If you’re interested in award travel — or points and miles in general — you’ve likely heard of American Express Membership Rewards. These points, earned by using your Amex cards for qualifying purchases, can be used for a variety of purposes, from statement credits to gift cards to premium cabin experiences

One unique feature American Express offers is the ability to use Pay With Points on certain flights and receive a rebate of up to 50% on your redeemed points. This is available to those who hold either The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express or the *Business Centurion^® Card from American Express.

Generally speaking, reward points are most valuable when transferred to a travel partner, but there are circumstances when taking advantage of the Pay With Points rebate makes sense.

In this guide, we’ll explain the Pay With Points feature, when you should use it, and how to do so.

*All information about the Business Centurion^® Card from American Express has been collected independently by Upgraded Points.

What Is Pay With Points?

First things first: what is Pay With Points? Although plenty of credit cards offer some variation of this feature — such as redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards by utilizing the Chase Travel portal — Amex’s travel program is arguably the most generous.

It is more restrictive than others but can allow you to redeem your Membership Rewards at a value of up to 2 cents per point. More commonly, you’ll be redeeming your Membership Rewards for a value of 1.54 cents per point, which still provides more value than the 1.5 cents available to those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve^® and the 1 cent per point offered via the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card and the Citi Prestige^® Card.

To take advantage of the Pay With Points feature, you need to book your flight on AmexTravel.com. When booking, you can choose to redeem points to pay for all or part of your flight. Although you can use points to pay for any flight, the Pay With Points rebate only applies to flights that meet certain criteria:

• Any Flight Booked With Your Chosen Airline: Certain Amex cardholders have the ability to select a preferred airline each year. These match the airline you select for your airline fee credit. Any class of service booked on your chosen airline qualifies for the rebate. This includes economy, premium economy, business, first, and even basic economy.

• A Business or First Class Flight on Any Airline: Regardless of which airline you have selected for your airline fee credit, you can use Pay With Points and receive a rebate if you’re flying business or first class.

Once it’s booked, Amex will refund up to 50% of your points to your account, depending on which card you hold. It’s important to remember that this is a rebate — not a discount — so you first need to have enough points in your account for the amount you’d like to redeem. Then your rebated points post back to your account within 6 to 10 weeks.

Bottom Line:

Pay With Points is an excellent way to redeem your American Express Membership Rewards points for increased value on flights booked with AmexTravel.com

Which Cards Offer Pay With Points?

Although the Pay with Points program is fantastic, it is limited to certain cards. This includes 2 American Express business cards:

• Business Centurion^® Card from American Express: An invitation-only card, the Amex Business Centurion card offers a 50% rebate on redeemed points. Unlike other cards, this rebate can be used on any flight, regardless of the chosen airline or fare class.
• Amex Business Platinum Card: One of Amex’s most popular cards, the Amex Business Platinum card offers a 35% rebate.

Hot Tip:

Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 170,000 points with the Amex Business Platinum. The current public offer is 150,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

ELEVATED OFFER

Terms Apply / Rates & Fees

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

This card is ideal for business travelers who enjoy luxury travel and are looking for a card loaded with benefits!

Apply Now(at Amex's secure site)

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

This card is ideal for business travelers who enjoy luxury travel and are looking for a card loaded with benefits!

Welcome Offer

Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

150,000 points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$3,300

Annual Fee

$695

APR

18.49% - 27.49% Variable

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express is a premium travel rewards card tailored toward business owners who are frequent travelers with a high number of annual expenses.

When you factor in the large number of perks that the card offers like the best airport lounge access at over 1,400 lounges, along with tons of annual credits, it’s easy to see why this card can is a top option for frequent traveling business owners.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels at Amex Travel
• Access to over 1,400 worldwide airport lounges as part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection
• Get 50% more Membership Rewards points (1.5 points per $1) on eligible purchases in key business categories, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more (cap applies)

Cons

• High annual fee of $695 (rates & fees)
• Airline fee credit does not cover airfare, only incidentals like checked bags

Read Full Review

Card Highlights

• Welcome Offer: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
• 5X Membership Rewards^® points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on 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.
• 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. See how you can unlock over $1,000 annually in credits on select purchases with the Business Platinum Card^®, here.
• $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 the Card.
• $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^®.
• 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 03/2023.
• $695 Annual Fee.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 18.49% - 27.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

Each card also has a maximum amount of points you receive as a rebate each year. Here’s a look at each card and its differences when redeeming rewards via Pay With Points:

Which Airlines Qualify for the Pay With Points Rebate?

Since you’ll need to book your flight with AmexTravel.com, it’s possible that you won’t be able to see all flights to a given destination. Of the ones you can see, only certain flights and airlines qualify for the rebate.

If you’re booking an economy flight, your rebate is limited by the airline you’ve chosen for your airline fee credit. Here are the airlines American Express allows you to choose:

It’s worth noting that you can change this selection once per year, in January — otherwise, you’re stuck with your previous year’s airline. If you’ve never chosen an airline, you can select one at any time. Also, anecdotally, some cardholders have had success changing their airline beyond January if they haven’t used any of their credit yet and call in to ask.

You can use your Amex Business Platinum card to fly business or first class on any airline and receive the Pay With Points rebate. 

Bottom Line: There are 9 domestic airlines that can qualify for a Pay With Points rebate in economy class. Business and first class flights are eligible for the rebate regardless of airline. 

How Do You Use Pay With Points?

Using the Pay With Points feature is fairly easy. If you’ve ever booked travel via the American Express website, this will be familiar to you.

First, you need to log in to your American Express account. Then navigate to the top left and click on the Menu button.

From here highlight Travel and then select either Book a trip or Book International Airline Program. Both allow you to navigate to a page where you can search for flights.

Once you’ve entered your travel information, Amex displays your results.

Be aware that American Express automatically sorts its results by recommended flights, which are not necessarily the cheapest flights. Once you’ve decided which flight you want, Amex will take you through a booking process, asking for necessary travel information, such as your name and seat preference.

Hot Tip: Amex sometimes offers lower prices on first, business, and premium economy class tickets as part of its International Airline Program, which means you’d end up using fewer points to pay. 

When it comes time to check out, you’ll be prompted to use cash, points, or a combination of the 2:

Even if you only choose to pay for part of your flight with points, you still receive the rebate on the points you’ve redeemed as long as the flight is eligible.

That’s it! In this example, you’d redeem 9,400 points up front (or some combination thereof) and receive anywhere from 35% to 50% of your Membership Rewards points back in 6 to 10 weeks.

Bottom Line: Using Pay With Points is simple, but you need to have all the required points up front.

When Should You Use Pay With Points?

There are a lot of arguments people can make about why or why not you should use the Pay With Points program, and they’re pretty much all correct.

In a lot of cases, transferring your points to one of Amex’s airline partners can cost you less than booking a flight via the AmexTravel.com website. This is especially true when you’re using points for business class flights.

For example, if you’re looking to fly to Europe in business class, you can transfer 100,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to ANA and fly round-trip on its Star Alliance partners. In contrast, cash prices for business class flights to Europe regularly run upwards of $3,000 round-trip. If you were to book that directly via Amex’s website, it would cost you 300,000 points up front. If you’re using the Amex Business Platinum card, then once your 35% rebate is posted, you’d still be out 195,000 points. That’s almost double what you’d spend if you had transferred your points to a travel partner instead!

This sounds like a compelling argument to never use the Pay With Points rebate, but there are absolutely situations where it still makes sense.

When To Use Pay With Points: Cheap Cash Flights

There are many Amex airline partners to which you can transfer your Membership Rewards points. Each of the 3 major airline alliances, Skyteam, Star Alliance, and Oneworld, are all well-represented here. Most of these transfer at a 1:1 ratio, meaning 1 Amex point becomes 1 airline mile.

Each airline then has its own program for redeeming miles. Some use distance-based award charts, some have off-peak and peak pricing depending on demand, and some fluctuate wildly according to the cash price of the ticket.

Hot Tip:

Check out our detailed guide on Amex transfer partners and how to best utilize them.

Let’s take a look at Avianca, whose Lifemiles program offers excellent redemptions on its Star Alliance partners. Your Amex points transfer to this airline at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers are instant.

Avianca usually uses a standardized award chart based on region, though its prices for travel within the U.S. tend to vary. Notably, it generally charges fewer miles for domestic United flights than United’s own MileagePlus program.

Here’s a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Maui (OGG) via Lifemiles. Even in economy and one-way, 15,000 miles doesn’t seem like it’s too costly:

That same flight, however, can be found for only 9,400 points on the American Express website:

If you’re an Amex Business Platinum cardholder and selected United as your airline, you can redeem 9,400 Amex points and receive a rebate of 3,290 points, making your total out-of-pocket cost just 6,110 points instead of 15,000 points by booking via LifeMiles. It’s the same flight with the same seats but for just a little more than a third of the cost.

It’s important to remember that you can use your Amex Business Platinum card for business or first class flights booked via the AmexTravel.com website and still qualify for the rebate, no matter which airline you fly with. This is especially helpful when booking tickets on an airline that Amex doesn’t allow you to select for the airline fee credit.

Let’s take a look at how this would work on a business class flight. Delta Air Line is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express.

For a one-way trip from New York (JFK) to London (LHR), Delta charges almost 300,000 miles to fly in its premium Delta One cabin:

Of course, Delta is known for its exorbitant award rates, but if you’re intent on flying Delta and using points, you can instead use the AmexTravel.com portal. The same flight would cost you 302,420 Amex points up front.

However, with the 35% rebate, the mileage required drops to just under 197,000 points, saving nearly 100,000 miles on this booking.

Is this a great use of your Amex points? Not necessarily, but there are situations where paying that much for your ticket can make sense, especially if you’re looking to fly with a specific airline or product.

Bottom Line:

It’s generally recommended to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Amex’s transfer partners. However, Pay with Points can provide immense value, especially when cash fares are low. In many situations, paying with points might actually be cheaper than transferring your points to a partner airline.

When To Use Pay With Points: Earning Elite Status

There are 2 types of flyers: those who care about elite status and those who don’t.

Generally speaking, people looking to achieve elite status tend to fly a single airline for work rather than fun, while those who fly less often — and usually for pleasure — seek better prices rather than specific airlines. However, there is no doubt that airline elite status comes with serious perks. From international business class upgrades to free checked bags, there is a strong case to be made for pursuing elite status with an airline.

But if you’re still price-sensitive, it can make sense to use your Amex points to book your flight, because it allows you to redeem points while still earning elite status. Why? Because booking a flight via AmexTravel.com counts as a paid ticket rather than an award ticket, even when you use Pay With Points. So while you’re still spending your Amex Membership Rewards points, you’re also accruing elite-qualifying miles in addition to any award miles you earn.

It’s easy enough to book a business class flight and add your frequent flyer number in order to get credit for your flight. As an added bonus, business and first class flights often have class-of-service bonuses that allow you to rack up miles more quickly. But you can also take this a step further.

Let’s consider United Airlines, whose MileagePlus loyalty program has undergone significant changes over the years. If you book a ticket directly with United, you only earn elite-qualifying points based on the fare of your ticket rather than the actual distance you flew. This is true of all 3 big U.S. airlines, United, American Airlines, and Delta.

However, when you book a ticket with and fly on a partner airline but still credit it to your United, Delta, or American Airlines account, the amount you earn is usually calculated according to the distance you flew divided by a set amount rather than the price you paid.

Each airline has a separate earning chart for each partner, but let’s look at United’s Air Canada chart:

Air Canada is a preferred partner of United, which means that in order to calculate how many Premier Qualifying Points, or PQPs, you’ll get, you divide the number of award miles you earn by 5 (nonpreferred partners are divided by 6).

So you can book an Air Canada flight on AmexTravel.com using Amex points and credit it to your United account. If you’re flying business class, you’ll be given 200% of the miles you flew in the form of award miles. You then divide those miles by 5 to see how many elite-qualifying miles you get.

Let’s look at a sample itinerary between Los Angeles (LAX) and Cairo (CAI):

This flight would cost you 219,320 Amex points after a 35% rebate. The same flight is also available via United on AmexTravel.com and would cost you the same amount, but by leveraging the Air Canada partnership to earn elite status with United instead of booking directly with United, you’d come out far ahead.

How far ahead?

If you booked with Air Canada and credited to United, you’d earn more than 31,000 MileagePlus miles redeemable for flights and 6,355 PQPs. You only need 10,000 PQPs to hit Gold elite status, the second of United’s 4 status tiers. This single flight would put you over half of the way there.

Bookings on United only give you earnings based on the price of your ticket and don’t include taxes and fees. In this case, the base fare for the flight is $1,900. So if you booked this flight directly with United, you’d only earn 1,900 PQPs and 9,500 award miles (if you had no elite status — the award miles you earn changes based on your status).

Bottom Line: All business and first class flights booked via AmexTravel.com earn you elite-qualifying points and a rebate when using Pay With Points, but if you’re looking to earn elite status quickly, it’s a good idea to know which airline partnerships would maximize your earnings. 

When To Use Pay With Points: When You Can’t Find Award Availability

One limitation of award flights is that many airlines only release seats sparingly, if at all. This is especially true for highly coveted business and first class seats. And if you’re traveling with a partner or family, finding enough seats for everyone can be a nightmarish experience.

Because tickets booked with AmexTravel.com are considered paid tickets, they don’t face the same limitations that award flights do. If the flight is available and Amex has it on its website, you can use your Pay With Points to book it. It’s as easy as that.

Bottom Line: Booking with AmexTravel.com and using Pay With Points allows you to bypass award availability restrictions, which can get you and your family on a flight sooner. 

When To Use Pay With Points: When You Don’t Want To Bother With Transfer Partners

Similar to the above point, using Pay With Points can be a smart option for those who simply don’t want to fuss with transferring points to airlines.

Most of us know at least half a dozen family members who’ve dipped their toes into the waters of award travel but don’t have the patience to research award charts, transfer partners, award availability, transfer times and ratios, and the dozen other must-know pieces of information it takes to successfully transfer points to partner programs and book award flights.

So rather than allowing them to use those hard-earned Amex points on, say, magazine subscriptions, point them to the AmexTravel.com portal and allow them to book their flights with no fuss, using Pay With Points to redeem Amex points for up to 2 cents of value.

Bottom Line: Most people don’t have enough time or the know-how to deal with the intricacies of airline travel partners. Pay With Points still allows you to redeem your points for a decent value without wasting any time.

Final Thoughts

Most card issuers have some form of a travel portal that allows you to redeem your points toward flights. Amex’s program, while more restrictive than others, offers the best value for these redemptions. Amex also has a Pay With Points program that can be used for redemptions with Amex Travel.

It doesn’t always make sense to use the Pay With Points program and its rebates, but there are plenty of situations in which it can be the better choice. Best of all, it’s incredibly simple and easy to use.