Dancing on Eagle Beach: How I’d Use the 100,000 American Express Business Platinum Bonus!
Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.
Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
Devon: The 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards point bonus on The Business Platinum® Card from American Express has returned for a limited time (offer ends August 8, 2018)! You can earn the full bonus after meeting tiered minimum spending requirements.
I have never been to a tropical island and if I earned the 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards point bonus, I would take my fiance to the beautiful island of Aruba!
AMEX Membership Rewards transfer partners make it possible to move points to JetBlue to book award flights with no blackout dates. This a major convenience for me because JetBlue has a large presence in the Boston area and offers non-stop flights to Aruba!
Limited-Time AMEX Business Platinum 100,000-Point Offer
Apply Here: The AMEX Business Platinum Card
Our Review of the AMEX Business Platinum Card
Until August 8, 2018, the AMEX Business Platinum card has an increased intro bonus, but it does require a lot of spending.
You’ll earn:
- 50,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening
- 50,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after you spend an additional $15,000 on qualifying purchases within the same time frame
Once you meet the minimum spending, you’ll have at least 125,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points (100,000 point bonus + at least 25,000 points from the minimum spending).
Transfer AMEX Membership Rewards Points to JetBlue
JetBlue is one of many AMEX Membership Rewards airline transfer partners. The current transfer ratio from AMEX Membership Rewards to TrueBlue Points is 250:200, and points transfer instantly.
Another way to look at it is, you get 200 JetBlue points for every 250 AMEX Membership Rewards points transferred. Jetblue points are generally worth ~1.4 cents each. Million Mile Secrets team member Scott loves flying JetBlue because of the extra legroom and free live TV for sports and news.
Checking for award seats and booking with Jetblue is really easy! There are no blackout dates, so as long as a seat is for sale, you can book it with points!
To see available seats to Aruba, I headed over to the JetBlue website. You know what I found really appealing about JetBlue versus other airline websites? The website will save your search so you don’t have to re-enter cities or dates if you need to click the back button or close out of your search. It’s the little things in life that make a difference!
In a sample search, it cost ~$1,544 for 2 round-trip tickets from Boston to Aruba. But the welcome bonus of 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points from the AMEX Business Platinum is more than enough to cover 2 award tickets.
JetBlue makes it easy to see the cash cost and the price in points. The same round-trip flights from Boston to Aruba cost 96,000 JetBlue points plus taxes and fees. But remember that transfer ratio of 250:200? To figure out the number of AMEX Membership Rewards points you’d need to transfer to JetBlue, multiply the number of JetBlue points required by 1.25.
Because my flight costs 96,000 JetBlue points, I’ll need to transfer 120,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points to JetBlue (96,000 JetBlue points X 1.25 transfer ratio). I’ll have just enough points after factoring in the 25,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points from the minimum spending. I’m starting to dance just thinking about this trip!
Pay With Points Through the AMEX Travel Portal to Get a 35% Point Rebate!
One amazing feature of the AMEX Business Platinum card is the 35% point rebate on select flights booked through the AMEX travel portal using AMEX Membership Rewards points.
You can earn a 35% point rebate on ALL First Class or Business flights. In addition, you’ll earn a 35% rebate on all flights, including coach, booked on your selected airline. If JetBlue was your selected airline (you can choose when you get the card and again every January), you could book the same flight as above through the AMEX travel portal in order to get the rebate.
AMEX Membership Rewards points are worth 1 cent each when you Pay with Points. In the AMEX travel portal, the same flight costs ~$1,474 for 2 round-trip tickets from Boston to Aruba or ~147,400 points.
This is more than our 125,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points from the welcome bonus and minimum spending. But if you have this many AMEX Membership Rewards points available, it’s actually a better value to spend the 147,400 points upfront because of the 35% point rebate. After the rebate kicks in, you’ll have only spent 95,810 AMEX Membership Rewards points (147,400 points X 65%).
That’s an incredible savings over the 120,000 points + ~$169 you’d pay if transferring points directly to JetBlue! Remember, you’ll earn JetBlue points on this purchase because tickets booked through the AMEX travel portal are treated like tickets paid with cash, creating even more value!
Is the AMEX Business Platinum the Right Fit for You?
The 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards point welcome bonus definitely gives you Big Travel with Small Money! Since there is a once per card per lifetime limit on bonuses earned from AMEX credit card offers, you can only earn this welcome bonus once. If it’s the right time for you or your business, there are a lot of great ways to use this bonus!
I’ll sadly have to pass on this public offer at the moment. With a lot of spending coming up next summer, I’m hoping a similar offer will come back around when I know that spending will occur!
You may qualify for a business card without realizing it. This would be a good card to consider if your business has a lot of big expenses coming up!
Bottom Line
Until August 8, 2018, when you apply for the AMEX Business Platinum, you can earn a substantial welcome bonus of 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after meeting the tiered minimum spend requirements.
JetBlue is one of many AMEX travel partners that can get you to your dream destination! Using the user-friendly JetBlue website, I was able to find award flights that would take me and my fiance to Aruba where I could finally cross off visiting a tropical island from my bucket list.
Additionally, I was able to find better value booking through the AMEX travel portal using the 35% point rebate! The catch is I’d need to have at least 147,400 AMEX Membership Rewards points in my account to take advantage of the rebate, and choose JetBlue as my selected qualifying airline.
JetBlue may not offer the best value for your AMEX Membership Rewards points but it’s sure nice to have the option. For more inspiration, check out our Ultimate Guide to Big Travel With American Express Membership Rewards Points.
If you were to take advantage of this amazing offer, let us know how you would use the welcome bonus to go on your dream trip!
Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
Join the Discussion!