Apr 22, 2015, 10:57 am
Last edit by: mia
Effective June 2017 the USA Business Platinum airfare Pay-with-Points refund was reduced to 35%. This brings the net value to $0.0153 per point, essentially the same as Chase Sapphire Reserve's Pay-with-Points redemption rate.
USA Business Centurion cardholders will continue to receive a 50% refund. The Centurion version is also broader than the Platinum benefit:
Centurion: beginning October 6, 2016 you will get 50% Membership Rewards® points back when you use the Pay with Points feature for all or part of a flight on any airline. The maximum rebate per calendar year for Centurion members is (_______?)
Platinum: Business Platinum Card Members will receive 5 extra points for every 10 points they redeem for either a First or Business class flight on any airline, or for flights with their selected qualifying airline using Membership Rewards Pay with Points with American Express Travel (35% Airline Bonus). The maximum rebate per calendar year for Business Platinum Card Members is 1,000,000 points.
FAQ
Q1. How does the process work?
A1. Here is an example, buying a $1,000.00 ticket:
Q2. Must the Business Centurion or Platinum card be used to purchase the ticket?
A2. When the benefit was refreshed in October 2016 you could pay with any card linked to the same Membership Rewards account, but it appears this changed in April 2017.
Q3. Will I earn Membership Rewards points on the purchase price?
A3. You will not earn base points, but you may earn bonus points if you pay with a card that awards a bonus for airline ticket purchases, such as Business Platinum, Personal Platinum, Business Rewards Gold, Premier Rewards Gold.
Q4. What happens if I cancel the ticket?
A4. There are mixed reports, but in most examples the cost of the ticket is refunded (a second time) to the card account. In one example American Express refunded the remainder of the points instead. If you prefer the points refunded rather than a cash credit, phone into AMEX and they will restore the points and remove the credit.
Q5. Can this benefit be combined with the International Airline Program companion ticket?
A5. One poster was told no, but another was able to do so.
USA Business Centurion cardholders will continue to receive a 50% refund. The Centurion version is also broader than the Platinum benefit:
Centurion: beginning October 6, 2016 you will get 50% Membership Rewards® points back when you use the Pay with Points feature for all or part of a flight on any airline. The maximum rebate per calendar year for Centurion members is (_______?)
Platinum: Business Platinum Card Members will receive 5 extra points for every 10 points they redeem for either a First or Business class flight on any airline, or for flights with their selected qualifying airline using Membership Rewards Pay with Points with American Express Travel (35% Airline Bonus). The maximum rebate per calendar year for Business Platinum Card Members is 1,000,000 points.
FAQ
Q1. How does the process work?
A1. Here is an example, buying a $1,000.00 ticket:
- $1,000 charged to American Express card [Day 1]
- 100,000 Membership Rewards points redeemed [Day 1]
- $1,000 credited to American Express card [Day 2]
- _35,000 Membership Rewards points returned [~a month later]
- Net: $1,000 ticket for 65,000 points = $0.0154/point
Q2. Must the Business Centurion or Platinum card be used to purchase the ticket?
A2. When the benefit was refreshed in October 2016 you could pay with any card linked to the same Membership Rewards account, but it appears this changed in April 2017.
Q3. Will I earn Membership Rewards points on the purchase price?
A3. You will not earn base points, but you may earn bonus points if you pay with a card that awards a bonus for airline ticket purchases, such as Business Platinum, Personal Platinum, Business Rewards Gold, Premier Rewards Gold.
Q4. What happens if I cancel the ticket?
A4. There are mixed reports, but in most examples the cost of the ticket is refunded (a second time) to the card account. In one example American Express refunded the remainder of the points instead. If you prefer the points refunded rather than a cash credit, phone into AMEX and they will restore the points and remove the credit.
Q5. Can this benefit be combined with the International Airline Program companion ticket?
A5. One poster was told no, but another was able to do so.
Pay-with-Points flights. BUSINESS Centurion 50% refund, Plat 35%, Gold 25% (2015-23)
Dec 8, 2017, 6:27 pm
#826
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,953
Dec 8, 2017, 6:42 pm
#827
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,437
- the promotion specifically states this:
Select a qualifying airline. Use Membership Rewards® Pay with Points for all or part of your flight with that airline, and you can get 35% of the points back.
Or, with any airline, book a First or Business class flight and you can get 35% of the points back. No enrollment necessary.
Or, with any airline, book a First or Business class flight and you can get 35% of the points back. No enrollment necessary.
Dec 10, 2017, 11:49 am
#828
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 14
Dec 10, 2017, 3:06 pm
#829
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,610
As long as your ticket says business class, you can always call them after 12 weeks to manually post the rebate. I had to do a manual posting for Etihad business class ticket.
Dec 26, 2017, 3:34 pm
#830
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Croydon
Posts: 69
Hello - does the business platinum card need to be active until the points rebate posts?
What if I book a trip say in January on amextravel using my MR points but cancel the biz plat in 5 days or before the rebate is due to hit? Any DPs on that here? much appreciated.
Thank
What if I book a trip say in January on amextravel using my MR points but cancel the biz plat in 5 days or before the rebate is due to hit? Any DPs on that here? much appreciated.
Thank
Jan 10, 2018, 8:12 pm
#831
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 186
Hello - does the business platinum card need to be active until the points rebate posts?
What if I book a trip say in January on amextravel using my MR points but cancel the biz plat in 5 days or before the rebate is due to hit? Any DPs on that here? much appreciated.
Thank
What if I book a trip say in January on amextravel using my MR points but cancel the biz plat in 5 days or before the rebate is due to hit? Any DPs on that here? much appreciated.
Thank
Jan 21, 2018, 8:44 am
#833
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
Anyone know what happens if i need to legitimately cancel a flight booked with points within 24 hours? Will i forfit the points and get 1 cent per point instead of getting 50% back? Thanks
Jan 21, 2018, 9:01 am
#834
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,546
any cancel & refund on a pay-with-points ticket does not vitiate the AMEX Biz Plat benefit of 35% points back.
often, an AMEX agent will offer to return the points and remove the statement credit for 24 hour cancellations as a courtesy, which you can accept or reject.
keep in mind that one benefit of having points in account rather than a ~$0.015/point statement credit is that AMEXTravel.com offers discount biz class pricing on a full-payment-with-points basis.
if you don't have the full points available, then you can still secure the same discount biz class pricing using a Business Platinum Travel Services live telephone agent, but you'd have to pay $39/passenger fee.
~$0.015/point statement credit
=100/(10000-(10000*0.35))
=0.0153846153846154
often, an AMEX agent will offer to return the points and remove the statement credit for 24 hour cancellations as a courtesy, which you can accept or reject.
keep in mind that one benefit of having points in account rather than a ~$0.015/point statement credit is that AMEXTravel.com offers discount biz class pricing on a full-payment-with-points basis.
if you don't have the full points available, then you can still secure the same discount biz class pricing using a Business Platinum Travel Services live telephone agent, but you'd have to pay $39/passenger fee.
~$0.015/point statement credit
=100/(10000-(10000*0.35))
=0.0153846153846154
Last edited by Colin; Jan 21, 2018 at 9:10 am
Jan 22, 2018, 7:23 am
#835
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: AA Plat, SPG/Marriot Gold, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Expl
Posts: 2,363
Had I left it alone, I'd still have gotten the rebate within the normal window.
Jan 22, 2018, 2:46 pm
#836
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: Whatever's Cheapest, Accruing Miles, Redeeming for Premium Cabins, Not Chasing Status Unnecessarily
Posts: 2,264
in 2017:
Selected UA (lost out on the $200 fee credit.... forgot about how terrible UA is for that)....
anyway
on to the question:
booked 3 pax on a connecting itinerary on UA
received 50% points refund 30something days later.
At some point i noticed the itinerary changed with a scary short layover.
If I decide to push Amex to cancel, what happens?
Do I get the cash value back or do i get the points back?
If points, how many? Do they claw back the 50% bonus points?
I think I didn't pick another airline yet for 2018. Let's say it was February already, would they let me pick another airline as a onetime courtesy?
Selected UA (lost out on the $200 fee credit.... forgot about how terrible UA is for that)....
anyway
on to the question:
booked 3 pax on a connecting itinerary on UA
received 50% points refund 30something days later.
At some point i noticed the itinerary changed with a scary short layover.
If I decide to push Amex to cancel, what happens?
Do I get the cash value back or do i get the points back?
If points, how many? Do they claw back the 50% bonus points?
I think I didn't pick another airline yet for 2018. Let's say it was February already, would they let me pick another airline as a onetime courtesy?
Jan 22, 2018, 2:57 pm
#837
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,959
Jan 23, 2018, 4:29 pm
#838
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,610
Then my points got frozen for any future transfers.
I had to open an investigation case with amex on what happened and why are my points frozen.
Finally in January the investigation got done, with my points being frozen all this time. The reason? The amex team thought i was gaming the system to cash out points with 50% bonus by doing the refundable flight trick. To unfreeze my points, they took away the cash credit and gave back the points originally deducted.
So yeah - you can do it, but expect your points to be frozen by the automated system for several weeks after it as amex takes their own sweet time to review.
Jan 23, 2018, 6:50 pm
#839
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
When I did this I got cash back from the airline, and then a month later still got the 50% points bonus since the point transaction had happened. This was in mid-October by the way.
Then my points got frozen for any future transfers.
I had to open an investigation case with amex on what happened and why are my points frozen.
Finally in January the investigation got done, with my points being frozen all this time. The reason? The amex team thought i was gaming the system to cash out points with 50% bonus by doing the refundable flight trick. To unfreeze my points, they took away the cash credit and gave back the points originally deducted.
So yeah - you can do it, but expect your points to be frozen by the automated system for several weeks after it as amex takes their own sweet time to review.
Then my points got frozen for any future transfers.
I had to open an investigation case with amex on what happened and why are my points frozen.
Finally in January the investigation got done, with my points being frozen all this time. The reason? The amex team thought i was gaming the system to cash out points with 50% bonus by doing the refundable flight trick. To unfreeze my points, they took away the cash credit and gave back the points originally deducted.
So yeah - you can do it, but expect your points to be frozen by the automated system for several weeks after it as amex takes their own sweet time to review.
Jan 27, 2018, 6:27 am
#840
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: Whatever's Cheapest, Accruing Miles, Redeeming for Premium Cabins, Not Chasing Status Unnecessarily
Posts: 2,264
Statement closed today with $450 annual fee.
If I do pay with points, but I close my account a week later, will the points rebate still post if account is closed?
I think I have to close account within 30 days of statement closing to get $450 waived, right?
Is it too late to do both?
If I do pay with points, but I close my account a week later, will the points rebate still post if account is closed?
I think I have to close account within 30 days of statement closing to get $450 waived, right?
Is it too late to do both?