Why I love the Amex Business Platinum Pay with Points perk

American Express Business Platinum® Card offers frequent travelers several ways to add luxury elements to their travel plans. From flight discounts ARRIVE The hotel’s elite status and comprehensive Airport lounge access benefit, the Amex Business Platinum Card offers amazing travel perks you can only find with premium travel rewards card.

This card has an annual fee of $695 (see exchange rates and fees). However, plenty of travel perks and a generous welcome bonus for new subscribers can offset this fee.

Let’s look at one of my favorite benefits of the card – the Pay with Points perk – which gives me discounts on business and first class flights.

Related: Is Amex Business Platinum worth the annual fee?

Card overview

Here are just some of the valuable features that come with Amex Business Platinum: statement credit of up to $400 per calendar year on Dell technology purchases in the United States (ending December 31), up to $189 statement credit toward Clear Plus annual membership and up to $200 annually Airline fee statement credit on a selected airline.

Combined, these three benefits alone can more than offset the card’s annual fee. Pre-registration is required to enjoy select benefits. But the perks don’t stop there.

In total, Business Platinum has over $1,500 in available statement credits each year, which greatly exceeds the annual fee if maximized. There are additional travel benefits such as access to Amex Centurion Lounge And Delta Sky Club (when flying on same-day Delta flights)*, The hotel’s elite status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy And mobile phone protection**. Registration is required to receive select benefits.

Right away, card is providing 150,000 bonus points after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases with the card within the first three months of card membership.

But the one perk of the Amex Business Platinum that I always cherish and cherish is the Pay with Points discount. Let’s take a closer look at my favorite benefit to see why it’s so valuable to cardholders.

*Effective February 1, 2025: Qualified Platinum Card members will receive 10 visits per eligible Platinum Card per year to Delta Sky Club or Grab and Go for in-flight travel same day operated by Delta.

**Conditions and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit Americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Insurance policies are underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

Related: Everything you need to know about Amex Pay with Points

What is the Amex Pay Points Discount?

Most travel-focused premium cards offer flight-related benefits or credits, such as reimbursing you for fees incurred while traveling throughout the year. But Amex Business Platinum has a unique airfare discount for anyone who redeems Member reward points to pay for eligible flights through Amex Travel.

By using the Pay with Points function to pay for airline tickets through Amex Travel, Member reward points valued at 1 cent each. On the surface, that’s not too exciting; TPG value Membership bonus points at 2 cents per person.

However, the Amex Business Platinum card offers a unique benefit: you can get 35% back on your points on first or business class tickets on any airline or economy ticket above. an airline of your choice.

Using this benefit, you can earn up to 1 million points back per calendar year, meaning you’ll need to use 2,857,143 points to pay for flights with Amex Travel before this benefit runs out in one year. year. With these points worth 1 cent per redemption, you would need to buy $2.8 million in airline tickets in a year to reach this limit, which means most people wouldn’t need to. have to worry about the annual limit on this benefit.

You can also use Pay with Points to make purchases on your card, buy gift cards, rent cars, and book hotel rooms through Amex Travel, but you’ll redeem your points for less than 1 cent each. points, much lower than 2 cents per point. TPG values ​​membership rewards pointsso using it to buy airline tickets is a better proposition.

These Amex cards for small businesses offer a Pay with Points discount program, offering 35% to 50% of your Membership Rewards Points when you pay with points (terms apply):

Information about Centurion business cards has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Perspective: Can I cash out my points and is it worth it?

How does cashback on payments with points work?

For the Pay with Points discount, cardholders will receive a 35% discount on total points used when paying for any flight on that selected carrier or any business class flight or first class booked through the Amex Travel portal – regardless of airline – or up to 1 million return points per calendar year.

Factoring in that 35% discount means you can use your Amex Membership rewards points for 1.54 cents each, instead of the usual 1 cent when redeeming via Pay with Points for Flights using other Amex cards do not offer discounts. That’s a 54% bonus.

Assuming you have Amex Business Platinum and redeem your points for qualifying flights, you’ll automatically receive the points discount. However, it can take up to a month.

As you can see from my screenshot, it took me about a month to receive the 35% points discount from the business class flight I booked with Delta Airlines use the Pay with Points option, fly from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) ARRIVE McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas.

With my initial redemption, I spent 59,391 points on a $594 airline ticket, but that was reduced to 38,604 points thanks to the 35% Pay with Points discount on my card. Business Platinum Card.

Related: 9 things to do when you get the Amex Business Platinum Card

How to maximize your Pay with Points refund

Amex Travel offers several ways to save on bookings, including discounted “Inside Fares” and “Suggested Fares.” For international travel on certain airlines, you can get even bigger discounts when you book through American Express International Airline Program (IAP).

When you compare the options of booking directly with the airline or booking through Amex Travel, you’ll find that ticket prices are sometimes the same. However, thanks to American Express Insider Fare and the International Airline Program, travelers can get even bigger discounts when booking flights with member rewards points.

Here’s how to combine those discounts along with the Pay with Points discount to get even more value when carrying your Amex Business Platinum.

Related: How to maximize your 35% discount when paying with Amex Business Platinum points on flights and when you might want to do so

Stack discounts and rebates

This round-trip Iberia flight in business class costs $3,791 via Google Flights, which is the price you’d pay if you booked directly with Iberia.

The International Airline program through Amex Travel shows the same base fare but with a $200 discount. And instead of 379,068 Membership Rewards points, you need 359,068 points at the standard 1 cent per point rate when making payments.

However, when you add in the 35% Amex Business Platinum points discount, you get 125,674 points back. Your out-of-pocket cost was 233,395 points, which you redeemed at a value of 1.54 cents each.

Earn miles and elite status

In addition to being able to save a lot of points thanks to the integration of the benefits mentioned above, another significant benefit of booking flights this way is that airlines treat these tickets the same as booking with cash. Instead of having to search for award availability and avoid sold out or peak dates, you can simply book any available tickets.

Furthermore, because the flights are considered paid tickets, you’ll earn the same award miles and elite status metrics as if you paid cash directly to the airline.

Related: Why Amex International Airline Program discounts are worth it

Bottom line

American Express Business Platinum® Card offers some great benefits, but the 35% Pay with Points discount may be one of the most important if you regularly fly in premium cabins. Not only can it save you hundreds of thousands of points each year, depending on how you book, but you can also integrate it with other discounts offered through Amex Travel.

This is a win-win in my book. It’s my favorite card perk and one of the many reasons I keep it Business Platinum Card year after year.

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Register here: Business Platinum Card

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For rates and fees on the Amex Business Platinum card, click This.