Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  I spent the weekend up in Rohnert Park (in Sonoma Wine Country) with my girlfriend. I started this post a few weeks ago after I booked my first flight using my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card on amextravel.com to earn 5x Membership Reward Points on paid flights.  I was waiting for my credit card statement to close and for the bonus points to post to my Membership Rewards account, but I forgot that there is a 1 month delay between when points are earned and when points post to my Membership Rewards account. Instead of waiting another month for the bonus points to post, I decided to publish this post now.

If you are not working on the $300 travel credit from the Chase Sapphire Reserve or $250 travel credit from the Citi Prestige, earning 5x Membership Reward Points on paid flights beats earning 3x Ultimate Reward Points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, 3x Citi Thank You Points with a Citi Prestige / Premier, and 2x Arrival Points with the Barclays Arrival+.

Anyway, I received a Google Flights alert for a flight I was tracking from New York to Iceland.  The price had fallen and I wanted to book the flight before the prices rebounded.

To earn 5x Membership Reward Points for booking paid flights, you need to log into your American Express account, navigate to your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card, and click the Benefits tab at the top.

Find the 5x Membership Reward Points section and click the Learn More link.

Click the Explore Now button to go to amextravel.com and book your flight.

Here are the complete terms and conditions of the 5x Membership Reward Points offer as of April 24, 2017:

5X Membership Rewards® Points
You will get one point for each dollar charged for an eligible purchase on your Business Platinum Card® from American Express. You will get 4 additional points (for a total of 5 points) for each dollar spent on eligible travel purchases made on amextravel.com. Eligible travel purchases include the following purchases made on amextravel.com: scheduled flights, prepaid hotel purchases (including The Hotel Collection), travel packages (flight + hotel packages), minus returns and other credits. Flights and eligible hotel reservations must be made on or after 3/30/2017 for additional points. Eligible travel purchases do NOT include FINE HOTELS & RESORTS bookings, car or cruise purchases, hotel group reservations or events, ticketing service, cancellation or other fees, interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. To be eligible for the 5x Membership Rewards® points, you must both reserve and charge the travel purchase with the same eligible Business Platinum Card®. To modify a reservation you must cancel and rebook your reservation. You can cancel and rebook your reservation on amextravel.com or by calling a representative of amextravel.com at 1-800-297-2977. Cancellations are subject to hotel cancellation penalty policies. If hotel reservations are made or modified directly with the hotel provider, the reservation will not be eligible for this 5X Membership Rewards® point benefit. Extra points for air, prepaid hotel, and travel packages will be credited to the Membership Rewards account 10-12 weeks after final payment is made. Bonuses you may receive with your Card on other purchase categories or in connection with promotions or offers from American Express may not be combined with this benefit. Merchants are assigned codes based on what they primarily sell. A purchase will not qualify for additional points if the merchant’s code is not eligible. The benefits associated with the Additional Card(s) you choose may be different than the benefits associated with your basic Card.

See membershiprewards.com/terms for the Membership Rewards program terms and conditions or to learn the benefits associated with the Additional Card(s) you choose, please call the number on the back of your Card. American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., when acting solely as a sales agent for travel suppliers, is not responsible for the actions or inactions or such suppliers.

Membership Rewards® Program
Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms or call 1-800-AXP-EARN (297-3276) for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice.

The value of Membership Rewards points varies according to how you choose to use them. To learn more, go to www.membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.

Here is the landing page for AMEX Travel.  Click the Flights tab to get started.

I plugged in my flight details and clicked the Search Flights button.

The search results are really clean and the filters are very helpful.  I narrowed down the list of results to show only nonstop Icelandair flights.  I then selected the flights I wanted to fly.

Like most airlines, you have the ability to make changes or cancel your reservation for free if you act within 24 hours of booking.  You can see the total price in cash or with Membership Reward Points (you only get 1 cent per point if you redeem Membership Reward Points for travel booked on amextravel.com).

Enter the traveler’s personal information, then click the Save & Continue button.  In this case, I do not have an Icelandair Saga Club frequent flyer number, so I left that section blank.

Next, decide if you want to pay for travel insurance, then click Save & Continue.

Next, select your seats (if your seatmap is available).  In my case, the seats I booked through amextravel.com were not saved and I had to pick new seats on Icelandair’s website.

Here are the flight details and seatmap for the outbound flight.

If you are booking a roundtrip flight, here are the flight details and seatmap for your inbound flight.  Select your seats then click Save & Continue.

Next, decide if you want to pay with Membership Reward Points or with your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card.

If you want to pay with your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card, select that card from the dropdown menu and enter the 4 digit security code on the front of the card. Then click Save & Continue.

Review your flight information and cost of the ticket.

Agree to the terms and check the box at the bottom of the page, then click Book Flight.

Congratulations, the flight is booked and you are off to Iceland (or wherever you decided to book)!

Even though you booked through amextravel.com, the charge is processed directly by the airline (Icelandair in my case).

A few days later, the charge will post to your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card.

I will say it again, if you are not working on the $300 travel credit from the Chase Sapphire Reserve or $250 travel credit from the Citi Prestige, earning 5x Membership Reward Points on paid flights beats earning 3x Ultimate Reward Points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, 3x Citi Thank You Points with a Citi Prestige / Premier, and 2x Arrival Points with the Barclays Arrival+.

Have you booked any flights using your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card on the amextravel.com website?  What was your experience like?  What you purchase tickets from amextravel.com again in the future?  If you have an y questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!