How I Saved Nearly $20,000 on Travel This Year With the Amex Business Platinum Card

I have … well, a lot of credit cards. And so does my wife. Many of these cards help us earn extra points on spending or add extra perks to our trips, such as lounge access or free checked bags.

And while The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express certainly provides benefits that make trips feel more enjoyable, the card also offers a unique benefit: saving money on travel. Between points transfers and a points rebate, we save nearly $20,000 every year on travel, thanks to the Amex Business Platinum card.

Amex Business Platinum Card’s Travel Benefits

The Amex Business Platinum card offers an impressively long list of benefits in exchange for its $695 annual fee (rates & fees). Many of those relate to earning rewards and saving money on business expenses.

However, the Amex Business Platinum card is also among the best travel cards in general — business or personal — because of its mountain of travel-related perks:

• Unlimited access to lounges in the American Express Global Lounge Collection, such as Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta that same day), Plaza Premium Lounges, and more
• Unlimited visits to more than 1,600 airport lounges with Priority Pass, available once you enroll for the benefit
• Up to $199 annual credit for your CLEAR Plus membership fee, available when you pay for the membership with this card
• Up to $200 in annual statement credits to reimburse incidental fees with your airline of choice, selected in advance each year upon enrollment
• Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite and Hilton Honors Gold status, available once you enroll for these perks
• Up to $120 statement credit to reimburse your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee — limited to whichever program you apply for first and available once every 4 years (Global Entry) or 4.5 years (TSA PreCheck) by paying the application fee with this card
• Elite status and discounts with several rental car programs upon enrollment
• Travel protections like trip delay insurance, trip interruption insurance, trip cancellation insurance, baggage insurance plan, and secondary car rental loss and damage insurance

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!

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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

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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

Saving $19,572 on Travel This Year With the Amex Business Platinum Card

My wife and I travel a lot. And the amount of travel we do provides many more opportunities for savings than the average family may experience. For us, though, saving money on each trip truly multiplies at the end of the year, once we add it all up. And the Amex Business Platinum card is a big part of those savings.

While I will admit that the lounge benefits can provide complimentary food and drinks at airports, I’m not including any lounge-related items in this list. That’s because we likely wouldn’t buy food at the airport on most trips, so that doesn’t meet my threshold of “savings on money we’d spend regardless.”

So, what am I counting in this list? Savings provided by the Amex Business Platinum card for flights and inflight benefits. Those savings come from 3 sources: the annual airline credit (up to $200), transferring Amex points to partners for award bookings, and using the card’s 35% points rebate.

Savings From the Annual Airline Credit: $200

We fully maximize the Amex Business Platinum card’s airline incidental benefit each year, providing $200 in savings.

This benefit reimburses you for certain fees with an airline you choose in advance. We selected United Airlines, which might seem odd considering I have United MileagePlus Premier Silver status, giving us extra flexibility, complimentary checked bags, and preferred seats at check-in. Those are generally elements you’d want for reimbursement with American Express.

As you’ll see from this screenshot, I purchase a lot of inflight Wi-Fi during our trips. Working during the flight helps me use travel days as work days, minimizing the number of days off I request before disconnecting to enjoy our vacation. Choosing United as the preferred airline has worked well with reimbursement for internet on flights and the occasional snack box along the way.

Savings From Points Transfers: $14,930

So far in 2024, my wife and I have been to New Mexico, Las Vegas, New York City, San Francisco, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, China, Brazil, and Belize. I’ve also taken work-related trips to Texas (twice), Portland, and Chicago, plus a trip to Bermuda for my mom’s birthday and a solo trip to Washington, D.C. And we have even more travel planned before the year ends, heading to Mexico, Brazil, and Florida.

As I said, we travel a lot! Whenever we’re crossing an ocean, we try to fly in business class for extra comfort, but we’re not opposed to flying with Spirit Airlines to save money on a short flight.

The main way we use American Express Membership Rewards points is by transferring them to airlines to book award flights. If you’re not aware of what that means, it means finding a redemption flight with an airline using miles — rather than paying for the flight directly — and sending your Amex points to 1 of its 21 partners to book a hotel or flight for the specified number of points the program is charging. Often, you can spend fewer points this way than you would by cashing them out or redeeming points through AmexTravel.com. (That’s not always the case, which we’ll discuss in the next section.)

Not all of our flights this year were booked with American Express points, to be clear.

However, so far this year, we’ve redeemed 250,000 Amex Membership Rewards points for flights that would have cost $14,930 by paying cash, but instead we booked using transfer partners. In terms of per-point value, my wife and I are using Membership Rewards points at nearly 6 cents apiece — well above our estimated value of Amex points at 2.2 cents each.

Savings From the 35% Points Rebate: $4,442

The Amex Business Platinum card offers a 35% points rebate, and this perk tends to get much less attention than the points transfer feature. If you pay for flights through AmexTravel.com using the Pay with Points feature, you can get 35% of your points back, assuming you follow a few rules:

• Up to 1 million points back each calendar year
• Valid on flights in first class or business class with any airline
• Also applies to flights in economy with a preselected airline (the same airline selected for your incidental fees benefit worth up to $200)

Using the Pay with Points feature is among the easiest ways to use points from your Amex Business Platinum card. Points are worth 1 cent each toward flights booked this way. Notice that’s far below the numbers above for using Amex points — 2.2 cents in average value or nearly 6 cents in the bookings my wife and I have made this year.

However, once you factor in the points rebate, you can use your points at 1.54 cents each on qualifying flights. Why would you use points at this rate when the option above (using transfer partners) provides higher values? Flexibility.

Using Pay with Points provides booking options you might not find with Amex’s list of transfer partners. First, not every airline partners with Amex, and even those that do — and their many partners — don’t cover every airline in the world. Second, not every seat on every flight is available to book with points and miles. That can mean you have points you want to spend but don’t see an available seat for redemption, even if there are still empty seats on the plane.

We’ve used this feature twice this year, saving $4,442 on flights. Those included last-minute flights to Brazil on Aeromexico in July and an upcoming business-class booking with Copa Airlines in November.

Final Thoughts

Do my wife and I have a spare $20,000 sitting around? Not even close. However, we were able to save $19,572 on travel expenses this year by using Amex points and benefits built into the Amex Business Platinum card.

For people who travel a lot, having this card in your wallet can provide perks that make your trip more comfortable and much cheaper.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the car rental loss and damage insurance benefit of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

For the trip cancellation and interruption insurance benefit of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

For the trip delay insurance benefit of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.