Maximize Airline Status Benefits with the American Express Business Platinum Card
One of the airline elite tiers I’m applying for this year is Delta SkyMiles Gold. Granted, it’s not the top-tier Diamond Medallion membership, but I still get to take advantage of perks like upgrades to Delta Comfort flights and free preferred seat assignments, not to mention free checked bags and priority boarding.
As a Gold member, I probably won’t get many free upgrades, but that’s the norm these days no matter which US airline I have elite status on.
Still, I tend to fly a fair number of airlines throughout the year, and although I make a concerted effort to choose one or two airlines on which to rack up the majority of my frequent flyer miles and spend, I still sometimes need a little push at the end of the year to get over the eligibility threshold.
That’s exactly where I found myself a few weeks ago when I was thinking about how a last-minute trip to Europe after Thanksgiving could help me earn the remaining Medallion qualifying bonus I needed to pass the $10,000 qualifying threshold.
Considering my options, I realized that taking advantage of a few different benefits American Express Business Platinum Card® This is exactly the strategy I need to employ.
Here’s how I was able to double up on the card’s benefits to not only help me achieve Medallion status with Delta, but also save points and money.
American Express internal fares and international airline programs
American Express offers cardmembers several different ways to save on air tickets booked through American Express Travel®.
The first is the American Express International Airline program, which is only available to those with Business Platinum Cardthis American Express Platinum Card® Or the Centurion Card from American Express.
Centurion Card information is collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
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These cardmembers can book First, Business or Premium Economy cabins at discounted rates on international flights originating and ending in the United States or certain Canadian gateways on each partner airline. These discounts may vary and the primary card member must be the person traveling, although they can book up to seven companions on the same booking.
When you search for flights on Amex Travel, international airline scheduled fares will be noted, but you can filter flight results to only include these options by checking the box on the left side of the screen.
In contrast, in-house fares are available to all cardmembers with products that earn Membership Rewards points and are not limited to premium service classes. The catch, however, is that you have to redeem Membership Rewards points for these tickets by paying with points. You must also have enough points in your account to pay these fares in full to view available fares.
Essentially, you can use Insider Fares to get some discounted tickets using your Membership Rewards points at a higher value than usual.
How do I stack Amex Insider Fares with my card’s 35% points rebate
In my case, I’m looking for a business class ticket from Los Angeles to Nice, France, and then from Madrid to Los Angeles in early December.
What I discovered while searching various airlines’ frequent flyer programs was that they were lacking…or rather, the mileage redemptions were extremely high. Delta SkyMiles redemption amounts are very high, with over 400,000 miles in each direction.
While I haven’t really considered doing this, keep in mind that you earn 1 MQD for every 100 SkyMiles you redeem on Delta and its partners’ Main Cabin flights and above. So if you do have some award travel to book, at least it can help you get status.
I searched for Air France-KLM Flying Blue, but my trip required 536,500 Flying Blue miles. Not to mention, I had to pay over $500 in taxes and fees.
Then I decided to log into my Business Platinum Card Open an account on Amex and search for fares. I found a great itinerary that would take me from Los Angeles to Nice via Paris and back from Madrid via Atlanta.
The American Express Insider Fare fare was reduced to $5,678 for the equivalent ticket I found on Delta’s website for $8,640, which meant I needed to use a whopping 567,773 American Express points to redeem the trip. This is too high for me, but I have a trick up my sleeve.
You see, Delta is the selected qualifying airline for my card’s maximum $200 annual airline fee credit (incidental fees charged by an eligible airline of your choice each calendar year), which means I can also redeem 35% of Amex points (up to a maximum of 1,000,000 points back per calendar year) by paying with points on that airline.
Although the ticket I wanted included both Air France flights, it could still be booked as a Delta ticket through American Express. This means my trip ended up costing 369,052 points.
To be clear, this costs a lot of points and is not the best use of Membership Rewards points, even on a complicated last-minute business class ticket purchase to Europe. But sometimes, when you have limited flexibility and have a specific goal in mind that will generate more value, it’s worth sacrificing some redemption value. In this case, the value-driven goal is Delta Gold membership, which will bring me a lot of value, like day-of-travel perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and preferred seat selection.
Another detail that makes this seem worth it: I will get the full 5,678 MQD on Delta. Even though the points I ended up redeeming were worth much less than that, I still got the full amount of the ticket.
If I had also redeemed the award directly, it would have cost less American Express points than the 900,000 SkyMiles I would have needed for a similar trip. So, I decided to book it.
My reservation gives me access to the Delta and Air France lounges at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). However, another reason I hold the American Express Business Platinum Card is that it allows me to use Delta Sky Club up to 10 times per calendar year when I fly on qualifying same-day Delta flights in any class.
bottom line
This redemption was all I needed to break through the Delta Medallion Gold qualifying threshold and actually get very close to qualifying for Delta Medallion Platinum.
If I had a little extra time before the end of the year, I might take a last-minute flight or two to get to a higher tier, especially if I could find another (relatively) cheap internal fare to help me do that.
