Why I love the Amex Business Platinum’s 35% Pay with Points bonus

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers frequent travelers several ways to add luxury to their travel plans. From flight discounts to hotel elite status and a comprehensive airport lounge access benefit, the Amex Business Platinum delivers unparalleled travel perks that you can only find with a premium travel rewards card. Enrollment is required for select benefits.

The card features a $895 annual fee (see rates and fees). However, its plethora of travel perks and a potentially generous welcome offer for new applicants can offset this fee.

Let's dig into one of my favorite benefits of the card — the Pay with Points perk — which gives me a return on eligible flights for my selected airline (the same airline as the one I pick for my up to $200 airline incidentals statement credit each calendar year (separate enrollment required); up to 1 million points back per calendar year).

Related: Is the Amex Business Platinum worth the annual fee?

An overview of the Amex Business Platinum

Here are just a few of the valuable features that accompany the Amex Business Platinum:

• Up to $150 in statement credits on U.S. purchases made directly at Dell and an additional $1,000 statement credit after spending $5,000 or more per calendar year.
• Up to $219 statement credit for a Clear+ annual membership fee per calendar year (subject to auto-renewal).
• Up to $200 in annual airline fee statement credits per calendar year on one selected qualifying airline.
• Up to $200 per calendar year in statement credits for eligible Hilton purchases (up to $50 per quarter) after separate enrollment in Hilton for Business.
• Up to $600 in statement credits each calendar year for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel (up to $300 biannually; The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay).

Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Combined, these five benefits alone can more than offset the card's annual fee. But the perks don't stop there.

Additional travel benefits include access to Amex Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Clubs for eligible cardmembers (when flying on same-day Delta flights, excluding basic economy)*, hotel elite status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy (enrollment required) and cellphone protection**.

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Right now, new cardmembers can find out their offer and see if they're eligible for as high as 300,000 bonus points after spending $20,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.

But the one Amex Business Platinum perk I hold near and dear to my heart is the Pay with Points bonus.

*Eligible Platinum Card Members will receive 10 Visits per Eligible Platinum Card per year to the Delta Sky Club or to Grab and Go when traveling on a same-day Delta-operated flight (excluding basic economy), unless they spend $75,000 in a calendar year to earn unlimited visits.

**Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. 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 with Points bonus?

Most travel-focused premium cards offer flight-related benefits or credits, such as reimbursing you for fees incurred when traveling throughout the year. But the Amex Business Platinum has a unique airfare bonus for anyone who redeems their Membership Rewards points to pay for qualifying flights through Amex Travel.

When you use the Pay with Points function to pay for airfare through Amex Travel, Membership Rewards points are worth 1 cent each. On the face of it, that isn't too exciting; TPG's August 2026 valuations place Membership Rewards points at 2 cents apiece when using Amex's many airline and hotel transfer partners.

However, the Amex Business Platinum offers a unique perk: you can get 35% of your points back for eligible flights with your selected qualifying airline (up to 1 million points back per calendar year). This means you're effectively getting about 1.54 cents in airfare for each Membership Rewards point you ultimately spend.

When using this benefit, you can get up to 1 million points back each calendar year, meaning you would need to use approximately 2,857,143 points to pay for flights with Amex Travel before exhausting this benefit in a year.

You can also use the Pay with Points feature toward purchases on your card, gift card purchases and car rental and hotel bookings through Amex Travel, but you will be redeeming points at less than 1 cent each, well below the 2 cents apiece that TPG values Membership Rewards points at, so using it toward airfare is a better proposition.

How does the Pay with Points bonus work?

For the Pay with Points benefit, cardmembers will receive a 35% bonus for eligible flights with their selected qualifying airline — up to 1 million points back per calendar year.

Note that you must select the same airline for your 35% bonus and for the airline fee statement credit (up to $200 each calendar year; enrollment required).

Assuming you have the Amex Business Platinum and redeem your points for eligible flights, you should receive the points bonus automatically. However, it can take up to a month.

As you can see from my screenshots, it took about a month to receive my 35% points bonus from a business-class flight I booked with Delta Air Lines using the Pay with Points option, flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas.

With my original redemption, I spent 59,391 points for a $594 airfare, but that got slashed down to 38,604 points thanks to the 35% Pay with Points bonus on my Amex Business Platinum.

Booking flights for someone else

There's an important limitation to keep in mind if you're using Pay with Points to book travel for someone else. If Amex Travel labels your desired flight as a discounted Platinum Member Airfare, the primary cardmember or account holder must be on the itinerary to book it.

This can create an issue if, for example, you're using your Business Platinum to book a flight for an employee who will be traveling without you.

TPG confirmed with American Express that there's currently no way to opt out of a Platinum Member Airfare and book at the regular fare price instead.

If you encounter this restriction, you may need to choose a different cabin on the same flight or select another flight or airline that offers a non-Platinum Member Airfare to use your points and take advantage of the 35% bonus.

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

How to maximize the Pay with Points bonus

Amex Travel offers several ways to save on bookings, including "Insider Fares" and discounted "Recommended Fares." For international travel on certain airlines, you may be able to knock the price down even more when booking through the American Express International Airline Program (IAP).

When comparing your options for booking directly with the airline or booking through Amex Travel, you'll notice fares are sometimes equal. However, thanks to American Express Insider Fares and the International Airline Program, travelers can get even greater discounts when booking their flights with Membership Rewards points.

Earning miles and elite status

Aside from the tremendous points savings that are possible by stacking the benefits mentioned above, the other significant benefit to booking flights this way is that airlines treat these tickets like cash bookings. Instead of needing to search for award availability or navigate blackout or peak dates, you can book available paid fares.

Moreover, since the flights are considered paid tickets, you should earn award miles and elite-qualifying metrics just like you would if you'd paid cash directly to the airline.

Related: 7 reasons you might want the Amex Business Platinum Card instead of the Amex Platinum Card

When to use Pay with Points vs. transfer points

Getting 35% of your points back means you'll effectively redeem Membership Rewards points at about 1.54 cents apiece on eligible flights. That's a solid return, but it doesn't necessarily mean Pay with Points is always your best option.

Before booking, compare the number of points you'll ultimately spend through Amex Travel after the 35% bonus with the number of Membership Rewards points you'd need to transfer to an airline partner for an award ticket.

Pay with Points can make more sense when cash fares are relatively low, award prices are high or award space isn't available for the flight you want. Since you're essentially booking a paid ticket, you can also earn airline miles and elite-qualifying credits, which can make this option even more valuable.

On the other hand, transferring Membership Rewards points can be the better choice when you find a well-priced award, particularly for an expensive premium-cabin ticket. Transfer bonuses can tilt the math even further in favor of transferring points.

For example, if an eligible flight costs $1,000 through Amex Travel, you'd initially redeem 100,000 Membership Rewards points. After getting 35,000 points back, your net cost would be 65,000 points. If you could instead transfer 50,000 Membership Rewards points to an airline program and book the same flight, transferring would save you 15,000 points.

The key is to compare both options before booking rather than assuming Pay with Points — or transferring to an airline — will always provide the better deal.

Bottom line

The Business Platinum Card from American Express offers several great benefits, but the Pay with Points 35% bonus can be one of the most significant if you frequently fly with your selected airline. Not only can it save you hundreds of thousands of points per year, depending on how you book, but you can stack it with other discounts offered through Amex Travel.

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

To learn more, check out our full review of the Amex Business Platinum.

Apply here: The Business Platinum Card from American Express

For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, click here.