Utilizing the Amex Business Platinum Card: Timing and Methods for the 35% Pay With Points Discount
### How the Pay With Points Rebate Works for American Express Membership Rewards
The Pay With Points rebate is a unique benefit available to holders of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. When you use American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for certain flights through AmexTravel.com, you receive a 35% rebate on the points you redeem. This means that if you use 100,000 points to book an eligible flight, you will get 35,000 points back, so your net cost is 65,000 points.
Currently, the 35% rebate applies to eligible flights with your "selected airline" (the same airline you choose for the $200 airline incidental credit) or any business- or first-class flight, regardless of airline, booked through AmexTravel.com. This flexibility has made it especially valuable for premium international travel. However, as of September 18, 2025, the rebate will be more restricted—only flights on your selected airline will qualify for the 35% rebate, even for business or first-class cabins.
Typically, you receive 1 cent per Membership Rewards point when booking flights through the Amex portal. With the 35% rebate, this increases your effective value to about 1.54 cents per point. The process is straightforward: enrollment in the Pay With Points program is required, and you must book through AmexTravel.com. The rebate posts within 6–10 weeks, though recent anecdotal reports suggest it may sometimes post faster.
The rebate is capped at 1,000,000 points per year. Since Pay With Points bookings are treated as paid fares, you also earn airline miles, loyalty credits, and (if applicable) elite status qualifying credit. The Amex Platinum card family waives the AmexTravel.com service fee for flight bookings, an added perk, but only the Business Platinum offers the 35% rebate.
### Which Cards Offer the Pay With Points Rebate?
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is the only card in the Amex lineup that offers this 35% Pay With Points rebate benefit. No consumer or other business Amex cards (including the personal Platinum and all Gold cards) provide this rebate—it is exclusive to the Business Platinum card. Upgrades are possible: you can access this benefit by upgrading an eligible business card (e.g., Business Gold) to the Business Platinum card.
### Key Takeaway
The Pay With Points benefit is exclusive to The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, offering a 35% rebate when redeeming points for eligible flights booked through AmexTravel.com—but after September 18, 2025, the rebate will only apply to your preselected airline, significantly narrowing its value and flexibility for premium cabin redemptions. When deciding whether to use Pay With Points, it's important to consider the value of your points and whether transferring them to a travel partner would provide more value. In some cases, using Pay With Points can be more cost-effective, especially for cheap cash flights or when earning elite status.
Here are the four sentences containing the requested words:
- Traveling for business can be made more cost-effective by using the Pay With Points rebate with American Express Membership Rewards, especially for premium international travel.
- Keep in mind that the 35% rebate on points for eligible flights will only be available for your selected airline after September 18, 2025, impacting the value and flexibility of the Pay With Points benefit.
- In addition to booking certain flights, you can also use American Express Membership Rewards points for investing in news, finance, lifestyle, business, and technology through the AmexTravel.com platform.
- If you have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you can earn a 35% rebate on points used for investing, or in this case, travel, but other cards in the Amex lineup do not offer this exclusive benefit.
