And / or can
you use pay with points on the discounted fare you referenced?
The Conventional Wisdom is that you should never
use pay with points because you won't get as much value from your points as you would if you redeemed for a plain old Saver (or perhaps even Standard) award instead.
Well, since our credit card company is actually buying a cash ticket for us when
we use pay with points, we'll earn miles flying the flight.
Even with a mix of regular 1x spend coupled with bonused spend ranging from 2x - 5x, depending on what you're putting on your credit cards, it could make sense to
use pay with points instead of a 2x fixed value or cash back credit card.
When you book airfare through the Amex travel website and
use the pay with points option, you will receive 50 % of your points back for any flight on your selected airline, plus 50 % of your points back for business or first class flights on any other airline.
The rebate applies to economy flights on the member's selected airline, or business - class and first - class tickets on any airline booked through Amex Travel when they choose to
use the Pay with Points feature.
You can
use Pay With Points at BestBuy.com or through the Wonder app.
The American Express Business Platinum Card currently refunds 50 % of your Membership Rewards points when
you use their Pay with Points feature.
For bookings made on amextravel.com, eligible Card Members receive Double Points on each The Hotel Collection booking or can
use Pay with Points.
Membership Rewards ® Pay With Points To
use Pay with Points, you must charge your eligible purchase through American Express Travel to a Membership Rewards ® program - enrolled American Express ® Card.
To
use Pay with Points, you must charge your eligible purchase through American Express Travel or through a Pay with Points authorized travel agency to a Membership Rewards ® program - enrolled American Express ® Card.
When
you use Pay with Points for booking your designated airline, you will receive a 50 percent rebate for a value of 1.5 cents per point.
Travelers who
use the Pay with Points feature via American Express Travel can redeem Membership Rewards points at a rate of one cent each.
But if we dig into the math a little deeper, we just might find some reasons and opportunities to
use Pay With Points with the new rebate and get better value than almost any other method.
To
use Pay with Points, you must charge your eligible purchase through American Express Travel to a Membership Rewards ® program - enrolled American Express ® Card.
For bookings made on amextravel.com, eligible Card Members receive Double Points on each The Hotel Collection booking or can
use Pay with Points.
Note: You must redeem at least 5,000 points to
use Pay With Points.
By
using Pay with Points at American Express Travel you can fly ANY airline, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE without blackout dates or seat restrictions.
45,000 points is worth $ 450 (45,000 points X 1 cents) when
using the Pay with Points option, so your return is 1.5 cents per $ 1 spent ($ 450 / $ 30,000).
Using Pay With Points gives folks a flexible option to book flights without blackout dates.
Points may be used at a value of ~ 0.75 cents per point toward hotel stays
using the Pay With Points feature, but this is also a poor value.
These transfers can help you unlock much more value than the 1 cents per point possible
using Pay With Points for flights, which in turn is a better option than any other non-transfer redemption.
I just received a letter yesterday in the mail informing me that, effective July 1st, 2015, my American Express Business Platinum card will no longer receive 20 % of Membership Rewards points back when booking a trip with American Express Travel
using Pay with Points.
Continuing, if you were to book that same flight
using Pay With Points, you would have to have the 35,000 points in your account to pay for the $ 350 flight (at $ 0.01 each), but you would get back 12,250 points due to the 35 % rebate!
By offering 50 % of points back, American Express increased the value of their Membership Rewards ® points to 2 cents per point when
using the Pay with Points option on your select airline.
Of course, the biggest advantage of
using Pay With Points is that there are no limits on ticket availability.
It is also possible to redeem Membership Rewards points at a rate of one cent each toward travel on any airline when
using the Pay with Points feature on American Express Travel.
Taking this into account, that means your total effective cost for this flight
using the Pay with Points option is 12,527 (UR points cost) minus 5,144 (United miles earned) = 7,383 for a round trip, cross-country flight.
And it's true that in most cases you'll get better value from transferring your points than taking cash back or
using Pay with Points, but it's not always true.
But if you wanted to book the identical flight
using Pay with Points through Ultimate Rewards, the total cost would come to just 12,527 points and no taxes / fees.
Finally, you also gain access to Amex's Fine Hotels & Resorts program, receive Gold status in Starwood's Preferred Guest program, and can get 30 percent of your points back when
using the Pay with Points option.
That means if the actual price of the ticket is less than $ 312.50, you will save points by
using Pay with Points.
But again, if the actual ticket price is around $ 312.50, do some calculations to see if it's worth
using Pay with Points instead of transferring miles.
And remember,
using Pay with Points means you don't have to find Saver or other low - level award availability.
Almost everything you've read in blogs and on FlyerTalk has probably pointed you in the direction of transferring your points to a loyalty program instead of redeeming
using the Pay with Points... [Read more...] about Sometimes It's Better to NOT Transfer Your Ultimate Rewards Points
Delta, for one, doesn't give upgrades on tickets purchased
using pay with points, nor are the tickets eligible for mileage accrual.
Like Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can book directly through the American Express website for any flight on any airline
using the Pay with Points option.
By the way, when
using pay with points, most programs give you the option to mix and match your points with cash.
But
using pay with points, you only need 18,333 points at 1.5 cents per point.
You can book a flight for anyone
using Pay With Points.
Almost always makes sense to redeem using a specific airline program over
using a pay with points option.
Not exact matches
You can
pay with your credit card directly and earn 3x
points or you can
use Ultimate Rewards at 1.5 cents /
point in value when you book through it.
You
use points to
pay for past purchases - you may not
use your rewards
points to book future travel like you would
with some other travel rewards credit cards.
Retailers could, for example, give customers additional loyalty
points for
paying with virtual currency or
using a mobile wallet.
First, you can always
use cash back to
pay your rent, mortgage, or other bills, something that is impossible to do
with airline miles or hotel
points.
If the card is
used to
pay for airline tickets purchased directly
with an airline, at a car rental agency, or at a restaurant, the cardholder will earn 2
points per $ 1.
Get Rewarded
Use your favorite rewards credit card and earn
points for
paying your rent
with RentMoola.
I tend to prefer the credit cards that earn airmiles or money that can be
used to
pay for your travel related expenses but there's absolutely nothing wrong
with ALSO earning
points that can turn into free nights at popular hotels.
At this
point, any measure of attention given to these clowns is too much, but famed hacking collective Anonymous — who has picked fights
with Westboro in the past — apparently decided enough was enough, and
used their considerable Internet savvy to leaked the personal information of the members of Westboro's congregation online for anyone to see, write, call or even
pay a visit to.
Some practical
points: If you're just starting out, some opportunities that make a lot of sense for platform - building include: writing guest posts for popular bloggers who share a similar audience, writing a regular column for a newspaper or online magazine, seeking out speaking gigs (
paid or unpaid), participating in conferences (for networking opportunities as well as exposure to new, inspiring ideas),
using social media to share your message, and requesting interviews
with popular authors / speakers / leaders to feature on your blog.