When the Amex Travel Portal Is (And Isn’t) Worth It for Booking Flights

AmexTravel.com is a popular online travel portal where you can book hotels, flight deals, cruises, car rentals, and even short-term vacation rentals. Utilizing the portal allows eligible Amex cardholders to redeem their Membership Rewards points (or pay cash) to book flights, hotels, activities, and other travel experiences.

Using AmexTravel.com is pretty straightforward, but it’s good to remember that bookings through the portal are considered third-party reservations. This means if there are any hiccups with your travel plans, you’ll likely need to contact a different company besides the airline to sort things out, which can be a hassle, especially if you’re not anticipating a disruption.

This is precisely why I tend to book my flights directly with the airline and avoid booking flights through AmexTravel.com — in most instances, at least.

However, there are situations where booking via AmexTravel.com is difficult to resist. Here’s a look at my decision-making process for booking flights through this popular credit card portal.

Reasons Why I Book Flights on AmexTravel.com

While I usually book tickets directly with the airline, there are a few types of flights that make the most sense to purchase through AmexTravel.com.

1. Targeted Amex Offer

Amex frequently sends targeted Amex Offers to cardholders, allowing them to earn bonus rewards or receive a statement credit for a flight purchase. Here are a few examples of Amex Offers we’ve seen recently:

• Earn 5x points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com.
• Receive $200 back when $1,000 or more is spent on flights through AmexTravel.com.
• Receive $250 back when $2,500 or more is spent on flights through AmexTravel.com.
• Earn 20,000 Membership Rewards points after booking a flight costing $500 or more through AmexTravel.com.

Whenever I receive an offer like this, I compare the fares on Google Flights to AmexTravel.com. If the latter has the same fare or is slightly more, I evaluate whether the bonus points I’d earn or the savings I’d get offer better value than booking directly.

Fortunately, I often notice that AmexTravel.com often has the same rates, especially for economy flights. When this happens, it makes perfect sense for me to switch from purchasing airfare directly from the airline to booking through AmexTravel.com, which allows me to earn more rewards or save money.

2. Booking a Flight and Hotel Bundle

I typically don’t book a flight and hotel bundle, which is a package that includes airfare and a hotel reservation. However, Amex has recently expanded the 5x bonus earning categories for The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express to include prepaid flight and hotel packages booked through AmexTravel.com.

This means I can earn 5x Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels, but only if I book through AmexTravel.com.

It’s worth considering flight and hotel bundles to save money by purchasing them together rather than separately. Even better, I can earn 5x points on them, providing an outstanding return.

3. Maximize the 35% Points Rebate

Another reason I book flights through AmexTravel.com is the 35% point rebate available as a perk of the Amex Business Platinum card. As a cardmember, when I take advantage of the Pay With Points feature to book flights through the portal, I get 35% of my points back, up to 1 million points per year, for any ticket I book on my selected carrier for the airline fee credit (enrollment required) or any business or first class flight on any airline.

This feature is especially useful for competitively priced business class flights. For example, say I want to fly to Iceland this spring, and I’m having difficulty finding award availability with Amex’s airline transfer partners.

I’ll check AmexTravel.com and price out a one-way business class ticket from Boston (BOS) to Reykjavik (KEF), which costs me 113,160 points. Since I’m an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, I would earn back 35% of my points, bringing my net cost down to approximately 73,554 points. Best of all, I would still earn airline miles and elite status credit from this booking.

This perk is particularly beneficial when I can’t find award availability with Amex’s airline transfer partners and must book a cash fare through AmexTravel.com to secure the exact itinerary I want.

4. Special Insider Fares

AmexTravel.com features Insider Fares — exclusive airfare deals that can only be accessed when you Pay With Points through American Express. These Insider Fares are usually lower priced than regular fares, and the number of points required is typically less.

With Insider Fares, I could potentially book a $500 flight for only 40,000 to 45,000 points, rather than booking at the standard rate of 1 cent per point. This option allows my points to go further without transferring to an airline partner or searching for complex award availability.

Additionally, as an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, I receive 35% of the points back after my booking, which, as previously mentioned, makes this option even sweeter. As a result, stacking Insider Fares with a 35% Pay With Points rebate can provide significant savings on cash fares booked through AmexTravel.com and is something I’ve taken advantage of in the past.

When I Don’t Book Flights on AmexTravel.com

1. Higher Value From Transfer Partners

I usually prefer transferring my Amex points to airline partners rather than booking flights directly through AmexTravel.com because I get a lot more value per point in this manner. When I transfer points to one of Amex’s airline transfer partners and book an award ticket, I often find that I can get 2 to 5 cents per point in value, particularly for premium cabin flights.

However, when I book flights through AmexTravel.com using points, my redemptions are usually only valued at around 1 cent each or slightly above that, even with the 35% Pay With Points rebate from the Amex Business Platinum card.

When transferring my points, I can stretch them further and book flights that would cost thousands of dollars in cash for just a fraction of the points. For instance, I can transfer 70,000 Amex points to the Air France-KLM frequent flyer program, Flying Blue, and potentially book a business class ticket from Miami (MIA) to Paris (CDG), usually costing $3,000. That gives me more than 4 cents of value for each point.

Using those same 70,000 points through AmexTravel.com would only yield about $700 to $1,000 in value, even with the 35% rebate.

2. Prefer To Book With Airline Directly

I prefer to book flights directly with the airline rather than via AmexTravel.com, since dealing directly with the airline is considerably easier in case of a delay, cancellation, or missed connection.

When you book through a third party, such as AmexTravel.com, the airline may be unable to make modifications or rebook you without going through Amex first, which adds time and worry while limiting your alternatives.

Final Thoughts

Booking through AmexTravel.com can be worthwhile in certain cases, particularly when you wish to use Amex points to pay for a flight (take advantage of the 35% Pay With Points rebate from the Amex Business Platinum card) or when cash fares are cheap and award availability through airline transfer partners is unavailable. It’s convenient, earns airline miles, and can save you points over transferring if you find a good offer.

However, for frequent travelers who desire flexibility or maximum point value, it’s usually preferable to book flights directly with the airline or transfer points to airline partners.

Booking directly ensures faster help if something goes wrong, greater alternatives for rebooking or refunds, and the ability to accumulate elite qualification mileage toward status (which third-party reservations may prevent). Furthermore, transferring points often results in significantly higher cents-per-point value, particularly for premium cabin redemptions.