lax01

Just closing the loop here since my first statement just hit for the card I used for PYP - the airfare showed up under Rewards as a $0.00 and 0 points...so I didn't even get normal spend points for the pay-with-points transaction. Doubtful it counts against SUB min spend

milesaremymantra

I'm trying to book Bus Class for our family of 7 West Coast/ATH (Different itineraries). Finding dynamic pricing translates to whatever cash price is equals 1 using points or airline rewards. $5K ticket = 500K point/reward. Ridiculous. Has anyone tried Amex International Airline Ticket program? At least the $5K would be 325K after the 35% rebate and I'm finding using the Amex International Ticket / Insider fares are lower than direct with airline. With the 35% even better. Can't even believe I'm thinking 325K for a RT is reasonable! Any thoughts on this appreciated!

mia

Through which frequent flyer programs?

International Airline Program (IAP) is discussed here:

USA International Airline Program (IAP) relaunched as discount benefit (2017).

milesaremymantra

Almost all airline programs. I’m using Awardlogic and Point.me. The award results almost all equal required points translate to 1 point = 1 $.

flymonthly

I just had a little over $15k spend including about $900 in PWP airfare. The 150k SUB posted as soon as the MRs for the last transaction did. Did not receive any MRs for the PWP tickets.

lax01

Interesting...good data point...will report back once I get closer to SUB min spend

Dr Jabadski

Long time saver of MR, neophyte MR redeemer, looking at my first Pay With Points airline ticket. JFK-LIM biz on LATAM, ~260K MR, a lot more MR (or $$$) if booked as the Delta codeshare either on MR site or Delta site. No LATAM account, yes (Delta) SkyPesos account.

AFAICT LATAM is not a transfer partner for MR (or UR) so transfer and then airline (award chart if applicable) redemption is not an option. AFAICT LATAM is not one of the AmEx Airline Fee Credit choices so 35% rebate is not possible.

Is there in fact a way to receive the 35% rebate and if so what is it?

Once booked 100% with MR points, what are the cancellation and change policies? (Been asked several times above but it’s all older than 7 years.)

Once booked 100% with MR points is the ticket eligible to earn SkyPesos and if so is that as simple (I hope) as ensuring my SkyPesos account # is on the ticket? (Also asked and answered above but changes are possible after 7 years.)

Actually need to fly NYC-LIM and return UIO-NYC, don’t see any lay flat seats out of UIO so planning to book UIO-LIM-JFK. Initial searches on the MR booking webpage indicates a “multi-city” search returns incomplete results, with some desirable flights missing from the results. Is it possible on the AmEx website to book JFK-LIM and UIO-LIM-JFK as either 1 or 2 tickets? Can MR flight redemption be made by phone with a live human being and if so, can that person see flight options that wouldn’t be displayed to a customer?

If I have multiple MR earning cards on my login profile, some biz plat some non biz plat, do I need to be careful when booking the ticket to access the flight redemption pages from one of my biz plat pages?

Re: “Once booked, your Card will be charged the full dollar amount. A corresponding credit for the value of points used will be applied to your account in a separate transaction within 48 hours.” Are MR points removed from MR balance upon booking or upon the “corresponding credit ... separate transaction”. Are MR points earned for the charge? (1x or 5x?)

Might be off topic for this thread but any way to travel NYC to/from Lima all in a lay-flat seat less expensively? (I have seen IAH-LIM on UA with lay flat seats.)

Thank you.

mia

The reference to lay flat seats suggests that you intend to purchase business class tickets. If this is accurate, the Business Platinum 35% rebate does apply. There is no airline restriction when buying business or first class fares.

If business class is your plan I will move this discussion to a fresher thread.

Dr Jabadski

THANK YOU (as always) MIA. Yes, “lay flat” was my way of stating (international) biz or 1st. My apologies if this isn’t the proper thread, I didn’t find another thread(s) for multiple general questions about MR Pay With Points. Thanks again, so far this is the best news of the month . 35% for this redemption will be ~90K MR, a tidy sum, almost a SUB, like an early birthday present !

mia

The fact that LATAM is not a Membership Rewards transfer partner does not preclude using points for a ticket. LATAM used to be a OneWorld member, but no longer. Now they have partnerships with all of the airlines list on this page:

https://latampass.latam.com/en_us/associated-airlines

Some of those airlines likely offer award flights operated by LATAM through their frequent flyer programs. This has nothing to do with codeshare flights. You would need to check each program to see if they publish an award chart for flights operated by LATAM. These types of award flights may need to be booked by phone with the program (not with LATAM). Information about using Delta Skymiles for travel on LATAM appears to be here:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles...-miles/#travel > Travel with Miles on Partner Airlines

mia

If you go ahead with a Pay with Points transaction, the full cost of the ticket will be billed to your Business Platinum card. Points will then be redeemed to offset the cost at 100 per dollar. The 35% rebate is credited weeks later. The airline will see this as a ticket purchased with money through Expedia. The points aspect is not visible or relevant to the airline.

If you need to cancel or change before the date of travel you will for the most part deal with Amex Travel (Expedia), not with LATAM.

lax01

Just a DP: Purchased a flight with PwPs on March 29th - refunded on 4/30

MaxVO

If you're looking for award travel, this exact flight may be available from Iberia for 62K Avios. And there is a way to transfer MR to IB Avios.

Dr Jabadski

Thank you, outstanding tip. Yes, most definitely award travel, the exact reason I torment myself with too many credit card applications and incessant recon calls.

Speaking of Avios, I have a bunch of British Airways Avios (which I’ve used for short UK/European flight simple redemptions), I do not have an Iberia (Airline) Avios account and I’d prefer to use BA Avios instead of MR. I’ll look into booking the ticket at BA website (with BA Avios) but of course those annoying surcharges might rear their ugly head. From what I’ve read, Avios transfer from BA to IB while quite simple unfortunately (for me) requires an Iberia account at least 3 months old with some prior qualifying earning activity. My flight dates are in October, I guess I could book it now with MR, open and initially fund an IB Plus account, in 3 months (if 62K Avios award still available) transfer BA to IB, book it with IB, cancel MR. Thanks again.

mia

This assumes you purchased a fully refundable ticket.