Starting September 18, Business Platinum Card® from American Express is rapidly changing its beloved 35% salary and earning worse points bonuses.
Currently, salary with points bonuses applies to one and business-grade tickets booked in any cabin, which comes with CardMember’s choice of its airline fee credit of up to $200 (registration required, application terms). This revitalization allows you to cash out 35% of your redemption points, with up to 1 million points per calendar year.
So far, this is one of the biggest benefits of applying for Amex Business Platinum. Unfortunately, Amex is devaluing this allowance in a major way. Let’s get into it.
Amex Commercial Platinum 35% Point Bonus Change
As of September 18, the 35% bonus on tickets booked through Amex Travel only applies to airlines that Cardmember chooses its airline fee credit (requires registration, terms and conditions apply), regardless of fare category. AMEX points out the following:
From September 18, 2025, eligible flights will no longer include first tickets and business class tickets booked on airlines that are not the eligible airline of your choice.
Qualified airlines include:
As you can see, this is a significant depreciation as qualified airlines only include domestic airlines. For multiple American Express Cards, the 35% bonus is an easy way to earn points through the bonus category of another Amex card, and then redeem points in Amex Travel as a business Platinum Cardmember through Amex Travel.
Remember that designated airlines can only be replaced once a year in January.
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This development affects the value proposition of AMEX’s business Platinum. In October 2023, American Express removed the 25% bonus of American Express® Commercial Gold Card. It seems that AMEX is transforming this type of redemption as a whole.
Potential work on 35% Points Bonus Change
Currently, Amex Commercial Platinum cardholders can continue to use the 35% bonus until September 17. However, once the changes take effect on September 18, there may be a job that can earn a 35% bonus even when flying on other airlines.
It might be worth it to choose certain airlines from AMEX’s list of qualified airlines. These include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines.
These domestic airlines are part of the larger airline alliance of Oneworld, Skyteam and Star Alliance. When an airline is part of the alliance, it can sell flights operated by another airline within the alliance, but domestic airlines sell and sell with their own flight numbers.
For example, such round-trip business-grade flights are operated by British Airways but are sold and sold by American Airlines (AA6983) and AA6992 in number.
Anyway, if CodeShare flights qualify for a 35% bonus, then these changes are still negative developments, but not as bad as they might have initially appeared. This can be a creative way to book a flight and still enjoy the benefits that cardholders love.
We have contacted American Express to confirm whether CodeShare flights are eligible for this bonus, but we have not heard back at the beginning of this publication.
Bottom line
With so many credit card changes recently, this is just another negative development that could take Amex Business Platinum from the list of useful cards for business owners. While the card still has many other useful benefits, it will never be great to limit the redemption option of a card person, especially for one person.
If CodeShare flights can earn a 35% bonus, there may be some silver frontline; otherwise, it’s a significant depreciation, and forward-looking card members may be better at exploring other business card products.
Related: AMEX Commercial Platinum Card Review
