Everything you need to know about Amex Pay with Points

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated with the latest program information.

All in all, you’ll get the most value out of your hard earned money Bonus points for American Express members by transferring them to a partner airline to book premium cabin bonus flights. Some interesting points, like use Virgin Atlantic’s program to book first class ANA prizesmaybe even help get you in a $16,000 seat for a reasonable amount of points.

This strategy requires two things: First, you must research your different transfer options and choose the best one for your trip. Second, and most importantly, you must really found the prize space on the days you want to fly.

However, another option to redeem your Membership Rewards points gives you even more flexibility. Sometimes, you can get better value using the American Express Pay with Points feature than you get by transferring your points.

Because some Amex cards offer a cashback on the points you need to redeem an eligible Pay with Points flight, having the right card in your wallet can offer some great value.

Today, we’re going to dive into how to get the best value of Amex Pay Points.

If you have any of the Membership Rewards loyalty cards, you can redeem your points at a flat rate of 0.6 cents per card to clear charges on your statement. However, TPG values ​​Membership Rewards Points at 2 cents eachso you’re going to have to sacrifice a lot of value if you go this route, making this one of the worst possible ways to get Membership Rewards.

Booking through Amex Travel will give you slightly better value, as each of your points will be worth 1 cent towards the cost of the airfare, or 0.7-0.85 cents per hotel, rental cars, cruises and more. If your goal is a truly free vacation, using points for car rental or cruises can help reduce your out-of-pocket costs, but it’s still not an ideal redemption option. thought.

However, you can usually get Amex Pay with the highest Points value through flight redemption. There are three types of Amex cards for small businesses that offer attractive discounts of 25%-50% when using Pay with Points on flights, making this a solid redemption option. This can be an easy way to lock in a minimum redemption value of more than 1 cent per point and is also a useful option when you need the “last seat”, i.e. you need to be on a flight Fly specifically even if it doesn’t have prize space through a frequent flyer program.

Related: Amex Business Platinum for flights: When to transfer vs when to pay with points

It is very easy to take advantage of American Express Pay with Points to book flight tickets. First log in to your Amex account and then search for flights through Tourist portal Amex as you usually do. At checkout, select “Use points only” or “Use points + American Express card” to apply some or all of your points.

When paying with points, your card will be charged the full amount. Then, within 48 hours, Amex will add a statement credit for the portion of the flight you paid for with points.

Keep in mind that the discount offered by some cards is not an outright discount. So, if you have an eligible card, you must still have enough points in your account at the time of booking.

For example, I redeemed 121,850 points to cover the cost of $1,218.50 Cathay Pacific business class ticket from Male, Maldives (MLE) to Shanghai (PVG). I originally exchanged points at the rate of 1 cent per point, but thanks Business Platinum® Card from American Express, when I received a 35% cashback of 42,647 points, my effective redemption increased from 1 cent per point to 1.54 cents. The math is a bit confusing, but if you divide 1 by 0.65 (the percentage I pay after the discount), you get 1.54.

Not every booking comes with a discount – unless you have an exclusive Business Centurion Card from American Express. With the other two cards, first and business class flights of any airline count, but only economy class flights of a particular airline of your choice annually are eligible for sale. There’s also the maximum amount of discounted points by calendar year you can expect each year, depending on your card.

Related: How to Maximize the International Aviation Program

There are a few different reasons why you might want to use the American Express Pay with Points option. First of all, if you find a discount cheap ticketspaying with points can actually be cheaper than transferring your points to a partner airline and booking bonus seats.

For example, consider a United Economy one-way flight between Houston (IAH) and Chicago (ORD). There are many non-stop flights in economy class (not basic economy class) available on Amex Travel starting at $90 or 8,960 points.

The best journey available through a transfer partner would be to convert American Express Membership Rewards Points into Avianca LifeMiles and book the 10,000 miles bonus (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees) from there.

So as you can see, by booking through Amex Pay with Points, I’m saving over 1,000 points this way – not to mention getting a more convenient non-stop flight. That doesn’t even account for card-based discounts.

Here’s how much you pay after the discount with each of the Amex business cards we discussed:

• Business Centurion: 4,480 Membership Rewards.
• Business Platinum: 5,824 Membership Rewards.
• Business Gold: 6,720 member bonus points.

Not only will you spend less points in this case whether or not you have one of the cards eligible for the discount, but you end up saving between $20 and $110 in value based on their estimates. me about Amex point value using Pay by Points instead of transfer.

Related: Our Favorite Ways to Use Amex Membership Rewards

When you use your points through Amex Travel, you are essentially “paying” Amex for the flight and then Amex will come back and book the revenue ticket for you. This means that, unlike standard award tickets, flights booked with Pay with Points will receive redeemable miles, elite miles, and elite class dollars. This can help you maintain your elite status in the coming year.

Take for example a British Airways return flight from New York (JFK) to London (LHR) for $2,196 in business class.

That doesn’t even include any discounts that may be available through Amex’s International Aviation Program. You need to redeem 219,597 Membership Rewards through Points Payment. But this is the amount you need with the following tags.

It will lose the following score after discount:

• Business Centurion: 109,799 Membership Rewards.
• Business Platinum: 142,739 Membership Rewards.
• Business Gold: 164,698 member bonus points.

If you want to try this reservation by transferring your Amex points to the British Airways Executive Club instead, you’ll need 120,000 of them—but that will also cost close to $1,800 in taxes and fees!

However, you will earn bonus points or elite miles with your airline (or partner airline if you choose to earn points) by booking through Amex Pay with Points. So if elite status is your goal but you still want to use your Amex points for travel, there are many use cases where Pay with Points is a better option than taking advantage of Transfer Partners of the Membership Rewards program.