Amex Changing the Once-Powerful 35% Points Rebate on the Business Platinum Card

The Pay With Points 35% rebate feature is exclusive to The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express — no other card offers it. This benefit gives cardholders a 35% rebate on points redeemed through AmexTravel.com, with a limit of up to 1 million points per year, though certain conditions must be met.

To qualify for this Pay With Points rebate, flights must be booked in one of 2 ways: in first or business class on any airline or in any cabin with your selected airline. For the latter, cardholders must choose their preferred airline each year through their Amex account.

Once the rebate is applied, your points are effectively worth 1.54 cents each, which is a strong value, particularly for premium cabin flights. However, in a significant shift, Amex will eliminate the rebate for first and business class tickets later this fall — only allowing you to get the rebate for your preferred airline.

Here’s what you need to know.

Amex Makes Changes to ‘Pay With Points’

Effective September 18, 2025, the Pay With Points rebate will no longer apply to first and business class tickets on any airline booked through AmexTravel.com. After that date, only flights booked with your designated qualifying airline (valid in any cabin) will be eligible for the 35% rebate.

Remember that Amex Business Platinum card holders must also choose their qualifying airline for the airline fee credit (enrollment required), which offers up to $200 in statement credits for incidental charges on that carrier only. This will be the same airline you use for the 35% points rebate.

There are 9 domestic airlines you can choose from, and it makes sense to pick the one that you fly most often:

Pay With Points Gets Devalued

It’s disappointing to see Amex scale back such a valuable benefit on the Amex Business Platinum card — done in the name of “simplifying” this benefit.

“As announced, we will be making significant investments in Business Platinum later this year, and we are continuing the 35% Airline Bonus by simplifying the benefit to allow Card Members to access unparalleled travel value from their favorite airline, however and whenever they want to travel,” an Amex spokesperson confirmed via email.

While we value Amex Membership Rewards points at 2.2 cents apiece thanks to the diverse range of transfer partners, sometimes award space just isn’t available for your desired flights.

That’s why Pay With Points has long been a reliable way to get a solid redemption value (1.54 cents apiece) as a solid alternative. In addition, the ability to redeem points to pay for all or part of your flight has given cardholders even more flexibility.

Final Thoughts

The Amex Business Platinum card (and its consumer counterpart, the Platinum Card^® from American Express) are set to get a major refresh later this year. While the official details are unknown, we just received confirmation of a significant update to one of the Amex Business Platinum card’s most popular perks.

While it’s helpful that Amex provided a 3-month notice, cardholders should consider locking in any first- or business-class Pay With Points bookings now before the benefit is devalued.