Maximizing the Amex Business Platinum 35% airline bonus

Remembering all the benefits of various credit cards can be challenging, especially when you’re trying to run a business.

I’ll admit, I had forgotten about a key benefit on one of my cards, and had subsequently fallen out of love with that card. I’ve been a loyal American Express customer for 30 years, carrying at least one card in my wallet for that entire time. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has had a spot in my wallet for almost a decade.

Lately, I’ve been increasing my balance of Membership Rewards points, but struggling to find worthwhile redemption options. One of the downsides to the Membership Rewards program is that its primary domestic transfer partners — Delta Air Lines, Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy — are not your best value for transfer options.

And while there are other, more attractive options, like Air France-KLM Flying Blue or Air Canada Aeroplan, those aren’t exclusive partners to Membership Rewards, and I might find better value for them with a different transferable currency. For instance, Bilt Rewards also has a partnership with these airlines and is much more likely to offer a transfer bonus worth more than anything Amex would offer.

I was sharing my thoughts about Membership Rewards with a couple of savvy road warriors recently. My question: “How the heck do I get some decent value out of my Membership Rewards points right now?”

The short answer: “Bonus.”

Let me explain.

A forgotten benefit becomes one of my favorites again

Amex offers a unique benefit for folks who hold the Business Platinum Card. And while it’s not as valuable as it once was, it still offers a lot of value for business owners while providing some flexibility.

If you book through American Express Travel and pay with your Membership Rewards points (with your selected qualifying airline), you’ll receive a 35% airline bonus on the points for that booking, up to 1 million points back each calendar year.

Recent changes on this benefit have restricted it in a way that makes it a bit more difficult to use. For starters, you’ll only be able to use this benefit on tickets issued through one airline per year.

Not to mention, the list of airlines is smaller than it used to be:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue
• Southwest Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• United Airlines

You’ll only be able to select an airline once per year, in January. Be sure to choose wisely.

The bright side is that the benefit extends to any flight ticketed by these airlines, not just their own flights. This means codeshare flights are eligible. For example, you can use United to book flights on Lufthansa or All Nippon Airways, assuming that United has a codeshare on the specific flight you’re considering.

The same holds true with Delta for Air France or Virgin Atlantic flights, and American Airlines for British Airways flights.

Fixed value for the win?

There’s no doubt you can find more rewarding redemption options through the many Membership Rewards transfer partners. Booking through Amex Travel will give you a fixed value of 1 cent per point. The 35% bonus brings the overall value into respectable territory, but you can usually expect greater value by transferring your points to an airline.

However, that’s not always the case. There are certain times when airlines just aren’t offering any reasonable award flight options for your desired dates and destination, even if paid flights are cheap for those same routes. This is especially true for domestic U.S. flights, where the award prices across American, Delta and United have started to closely parallel the cash pricing.

In those situations, one additional benefit to booking via Amex Travel and taking the bonus is that these bookings will, as a general rule, earn miles and elite status progress with the airlines. That’s because Amex is purchasing a standard cash ticket on your behalf. You can factor in the value of the miles earned and progress to elite status to determine your true value of this redemption path.

You can also book these tickets in other people’s names, which means you can use this as an employee benefit or for friends and family. Refunding tickets of this nature can be a bit problematic, but in most cases, you should still end up with your points back, as opposed to a future flight credit in someone else’s name.

Bottom line

While the heyday of the 35% bonus benefit for Amex Business Platinum cardholders is in the rearview mirror, it’s still a solid benefit.

One of the most common complaints I hear from fellow business owners is that they don’t want to go through the hassle of constantly searching for awards, transferring points, and so on. The 35% bonus avoids all that, while limiting your overall value just a bit.

Flexibility, elite status progress and some extra miles in your favorite airline program may just make this one a winner for you as well.