How I Redeemed 175K Amex Platinum Points for Business Class Flights to Asia

My wife and I don’t get away by ourselves very often. Between work and raising kids, we rarely have those opportunities. So when we do get one, I want to make it count.

This time, I started wondering what I could realistically book with the welcome offer from the Platinum Card^® from American Express. I wasn’t trying to squeeze every last point out of the bonus. I just wanted to turn those points into a trip we’d remember forever for a vacation to Asia.

Amex Platinum Card Overview

The Amex Platinum card has a variable welcome offer, which could be as high as 175,000 points:

• Apply and find out if you're eligible for as high as 175,000 points after spending $12,000 in eligible purchases in the first 6 months. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.

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Platinum Card^® from American Express

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The Amex Platinum card reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and elite status.

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Platinum Card^® from American Express

The Amex Platinum card reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and elite status.

Welcome Offer

You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $12,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount — all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.

As High as 175,000 Points. Find Out Your Offer.

UP's Offer Valuation*:

Up to $3,850

Annual Fee

$895

APR

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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 card application.

Good to Excellent

Why We Like This Card

When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, the Platinum Card^® from American Express is a top choice.

The card offers premium perks like best-in-class airport lounge access, hotel elite status, and several annual card credits. The Amex Platinum card is easily worth the annual fee for frequent travelers who use the lounges and travel credits, and hard to justify for those who won’t.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The best airport lounge access out of any card (by far): Get access to over 1,550 worldwide lounges, including Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass lounges (enrollment required), Plaza Premium Lounges, and many more!
• 5 points per $1 spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5 points per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com

Cons

• $895 annual fee (rates & fees)
• Airline credit does not cover airfare (only incidentals like checked bags).

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Card Highlights

• You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $12,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
• Get more for your travels with 5X Membership Rewards^® points on all flights and prepaid hotel bookings through American Express Travel^®, including Fine Hotels + Resorts^® and The Hotel Collection bookings. You earn 5X points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through American Express Travel^® on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.
• With over 1,550 airport lounges - more than any other credit card company on the market* - enjoy the benefits of the Global Lounge Collection, over $850 of annual value, with access to Centurion Lounges, 10 Delta Sky Club visits (subject to visit limitations) when flying on an eligible Delta flight, Priority Pass™ membership (enrollment required), and other select partner lounges. *As of 01/2026
• $200 Uber Cash + $120 Uber One Credit: With the Platinum Card^® you can receive $15 in Uber Cash each month plus a bonus $20 in December when you add your Platinum Card^® to your Uber account to use on rides and orders in the U.S when you select an Amex Card for your transaction. Plus, when you use the Platinum Card^® to pay for an auto-renewing Uber One membership, you can get up to $120 in statement credits each calendar year. Terms apply.
• $300 Digital Entertainment Credit: Experience the latest shows, news and recipes. Get up to $25 in statement credits each month when you use your Platinum Card^® for eligible purchases on Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN streaming services, Hulu, The New York Times, Paramount+, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV when you purchase directly from one or more of the providers. Enrollment required.
• $600 Hotel Credit: Get up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts^® or The Hotel Collection* bookings through American Express Travel^® using the Platinum Card^®. *The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $400 Resy Credit + Platinum Nights™ by Resy: Get up to $100 in statement credits each quarter when you use the Platinum Card^® to pay for eligible purchases with Resy, including dining purchases at over 10,000 qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants. Enrollment required. As a Platinum Card^® Member you have special access to reservations on select nights at participating sought after Resy restaurants in select cities through Platinum Nights™ by Resy. Simply add your Platinum Card^® to your Resy profile to book your reservation.
• $219 CLEAR+ Credit: CLEAR+ helps get you to your gate faster by using your face to verify you are you at 55+ airports nationwide. You can cover the cost of a CLEAR+ Membership* with up to $219 in statement credits per calendar year after you pay for CLEAR+ with your Platinum Card^®. *Excluding any applicable taxes and fees. Subject to auto-renewal.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees, such as checked bags and in-flight refreshments, are charged by the airline to the Platinum Card^® Account. American Express relies on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions to identify incidental fee purchases. If you do not see a credit for a qualifying incidental purchase on your eligible Card after 8 weeks, simply call the number on the back of your Card. Qualifying airlines are subject to change. See terms & conditions for more details.
• Start your vacation sooner and keep it going longer. When you book Fine Hotels + Resorts^® through American Express Travel^®, enjoy noon check-in, when available, and guaranteed 4pm late check-out.
• $300 lululemon Credit: Enjoy up to $75 in statement credits each quarter when you use the Platinum Card^® for eligible purchases at U.S. lululemon retail stores (excluding outlets) and lululemon.com. That’s up to $300 in statement credits each calendar year. Enrollment required.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Get up to a $12.95* statement credit back each month after you pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) with your Platinum Card^®. *Up to $12.95 plus applicable taxes on one membership fee.
• Whenever you need us, we're here. Our Member Services team will ensure you are taken care of. From lost Card replacement to statement questions, we are available to help 24/7.
• $895 annual fee.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

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• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

Beyond the generous welcome offer, the card also has a long list of premium travel and lifestyle benefits (many require enrollment) that can enhance your overall travel experience and work to make up for the $895 annual fee (rates & fees):

• Access to over 1,550 lounges as part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection
• Travel statement credits, including up to $200 in airline incidental fee credit, up to $219 in CLEAR+ credit, and up to $600 in prepaid hotel credit, with up to $300 between January and June and up to $300 between July and December, on prepaid bookings through AmexTravel.com with Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection, the latter of which requires a minimum 2-night stay 
• Dining and lifestyle statement credits, including up to $400 in Resy credit (up to $100 per quarter), and up to $300 in lululemon credit (up to $75 per quarter) 
• Elite status and benefits with National, Avis, and Hertz
• Hilton Honors Gold status, Leaders Club Sterling status, and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status

Letting Award Availability Guide Our Destination

My wife and I knew we had a little less than a week to get away together. That might not sound like enough time to fly halfway around the world, but we were craving a trip that felt like a true escape. We wanted to go somewhere that felt completely different from our everyday lives, even if it meant spending a good chunk of our vacation on an airplane.

We didn’t have one place we absolutely had to visit. Instead, we made a shortlist that included Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, and Tokyo. We’d have been thrilled with any of them.

Rather than forcing one destination, we decided to let business class award availability decide for us. That’s become one of my favorite ways to book award travel. Whenever I’ve tried to force a specific destination, I’ve usually spent more points or settled for flights I wasn’t as excited about.

Flying business class was also nonnegotiable. As 2 tired parents with 3 young daughters, we wanted to arrive rested and make the most of every day we had together. Since our trips without the kids are usually less than a week, losing the first day to jet lag just isn’t worth it.

We’ve embraced shorter international trips over the years. We have traveled all the way to Japan for 4 nights and another time went for a long, 3-night weekend getaway to Hong Kong from our home in South Florida.

We’d rather steal a few days together than keep waiting for the “perfect” opportunity that never seems to come. So instead of searching for one specific city, I started looking for the best business class award space to Asia during our travel dates. Before long, one option stood out above the rest.

Redeeming 170K Points for EVA Air Business Class Flights

Since I knew I’d have about 175,000 Membership Rewards points from the welcome offer — plus another 12,000 or so points from meeting the minimum spending requirement on the Amex Platinum card — I had a little over 187,000 points to work with.

With our points balance in mind, I headed to Seats.aero, searched for business class award space to Asia during our travel dates, and filtered by Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners.

Sure enough, one option immediately caught my attention.

EVA Air had 2 business class award seats from Seattle (SEA) to Taipei (TPE), which has one of the  best international business class products in the world and worked perfectly for us. After confirming the award space was still available, I transferred 170,000 Membership Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan, resulting in 170,000 Aeroplan points. The transfer was nearly instant, so I was able to book both seats right away.

Aeroplan charged 85,000 points per person, plus $56 in taxes and fees, for the nonstop business-class flight, bringing the total to 170,000 points and $112 for both of us.

Paying cash was never a consideration, since the whole point of this trip was to use the welcome offer bonus from my Amex Platinum card. Out of curiosity, I checked Google Flights to see what these same flights were selling for, and the total came to about $4,550 per person.

We value Amex Membership Rewards points at 2.2 cents each here at Upgraded Points, which is a fair number. That means 175,000 points are worth about $3,850 on paper.

In reality, though, I was able to get a lot more value from the welcome bonus. Those 170,000 points covered more than $9,000 worth of EVA Air business-class flights for my wife and me, and I still had points left over.

Booking 2 Luxury Hotel Nights

With the flights booked, I only had about 17,000 Membership Rewards points left over from the welcome offer. Personally, I rarely redeem Membership Rewards points for hotels because transfers to Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy typically don’t deliver nearly as much value as transferring those same points to airline partners for premium cabin flights.

Instead, I turned to a key benefit that comes with the Amex Platinum card. Since we planned to spend our first 2 nights of our trip in Taipei, I booked a prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts stay through AmexTravel.com and applied $300 of my annual $600 prepaid hotel credit toward the reservation.

The $300 semiannual prepaid hotel credit covered more than half the cost of our 2-night stay at the Shangri-La Far Eastern, Taipei, before factoring in any of the additional Fine Hotels + Resorts perks.

Because I booked through Fine Hotels + Resorts — a benefit available with the Amex Platinum card, The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, and the Centurion^® Card from American Express* — we’ll also receive daily breakfast for 2 guests, a $100 property credit, room upgrade eligibility when available, and guaranteed late checkout. Those benefits can easily add a few hundred dollars in value for a 2-night stay.

*The information regarding the Centurion^® Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and neither provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Final Thoughts

For me, this is what maximizing a 175,000-point welcome offer bonus from the Amex Platinum card looks like. Instead of stretching the points across every part of the trip or several smaller trips, I used them where they delivered the most value for me: 2 business class flights to Asia for my wife and me on a getaway we were long overdue for.

I then relied on the Amex Platinum card’s prepaid hotel credit to help cover a large portion of our stay in Taipei. It’s a strategy that’s served me well over the years, and one I’ll continue coming back to.