There is Still Time to Get a 50% Rebate with the Amex Business Platinum Card!


money
This post may contain affiliate links from our advertising partners. Read my Advertiser Disclosure policy here. Additionally, some of the offers on this page may no longer be available through Deals We Like.

UPDATE: This credit card now earns a 35% rebate on all qualifying flights. If you opened the card between October 2016 and May 31, 2017, you’ll still be able to receive a 50% rebate for one year from account activation.

Back in October 2017, American Express announced a very generous benefit for The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN card. It ultimately increased the value of your Membership Reward points when redeeming them for a qualifying flight through the “Pay with Points Portal”. Every time you redeemed your points this way, you’d receive a 50% rebate back on all of your points. So if a flight cost $400 requiring 40,000 points, for example, you’d get 20,000 points back, which was amazing! It gave you a pretty fixed 2 cents per point valuation which was many times way better then transferring your points to a partner program.

As I announced last month, this “too good to be true” benefit is going through some changes in just a few days! Starting June 1, 2017, this rebate will drop to 35%. If you take the example above, a $400 flight (costing 40,000 points) will now get you 14,000 points back, giving you a closer to a 1.54 cent per point valuation. While you’ll still get something back, it is not nearly as good as the 50% rebate!

Even though there are changes, there is still time to get the 50% rebate for up to a year!

UPDATE: This offer has expired.

American Express is doing a “make good” for those that opened their account when this new benefit was announced. If you opened the card between October and May 31, 2017, you’ll get the 50% rebate honored for a year from when their card was issued. So if you apply for the card within the next few days, for example, you’ll get the 50% rebate through May 2018.

How exactly does the rebate work and what are the benefits?

Remember though, this rebate is only valid for “select flights” with the following criteria:

  • It is only valid for coach flights with your selected airline (the same airline you select to receive your $200 travel credit with) 
  • It is valid for all business and first class flights with all airlines
  • You must have the full amount of points in your account to redeem the initial number of Membership Reward points – you’ll then receive half of the points back as a rebate

Aside from the rebate you’ll receive with using your points through the “Pay With Points” site, there are some other advantages as well. One big benefit is that you’ll still earn miles for your flight. The airline considers flights booked through this method as a paid flight and not as a flight redeemed with points. There is no capacity control through the pay with points site. You’ll see the exact same availability as you would anywhere else. When you book directly with an airline and try to use points, you’ll see that some flights are not available.

Maximizing Your Membership Reward Points

If you have multiple Membership Rewards earning American Express credit cards, all points can be combined into one account. So if you have the Amex EveryDay card, for example, and also receive this Business Amex Platinum card, the points earned from the Amex EveryDay card can also be redeemed through the Pay with Points portal and receive the 50% rebate. This is a great combo of cards to earn since the Amex EveryDay actually earns you more points on most purchases then the Amex Business Platinum card.

 Is Applying For this Card Now Worth It?

If you have a ton of American Express Membership Reward points where you are looking to book flights, this could actually be a great way to maximize the value of your points. The card is offering a nice 75,000 bonus, although the minimum spend is insanely high, so might be extremely difficult for many. And while the card does come with a $450 annual fee, you do get a $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year. That means you can get the $200 credit now and again next year, so $400 prior to your 2nd annual fee hitting. That will help offset the annual fee big time and ultimately many will think of it as just $50 for the first year.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links As always, thank you for supporting the blog and enjoy traveling on a deal.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Pin It on Pinterest