Ind Amex Plat 5x vs. Amex Plat for Bus Plat for 50% rebate when flying AA

[redpat]

This could be the best short-haul redemption (less than 2.50 hrs for me) (AA as selected airline) that any credit card company can offer while getting AA miles for reward flights.   I take 6 personal short-haul flights a year ranging from $190 - $290 I know the flight will need 19,000 - 29,000 MR points for each but I will be rebated 9,500 - 14,500 each time and w/ the 75k MR offer for bus plat I would will have close to 300k MR bank and I will be able to take all the flights for a round trip cost of 9,500 - 14,500 MR points, not bad.

I think this could be a big plus for individuals who fly on AA because AA has no transfer credit card partners other than alliance airline partners which can be a difficult.  Also, amex EDP, ED and PRG has category spend and EDP, ED 1.50x and 1.20x on non-category spend.

Thoughts?

[nachoslibres]

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@redpat wrote:

This could be the best short-haul redemption (less than 2.50 hrs for me) (AA as selected airline) that any credit card company can offer while getting AA miles for reward flights.   I take 6 personal short-haul flights a year ranging from $190 - $290 I know the flight will need 19,000 - 29,000 MR points for each but I will be rebated 9,500 - 14,500 each time and w/ the 75k MR offer for bus plat I would will have close to 300k MR bank and I will be able to take all the flights for a round trip cost of 9,500 - 14,500 MR points, not bad.

I think this could be a big plus for individuals who fly on AA because AA has no transfer credit card partners other than alliance airline partners which can be a difficult.  Also, amex EDP, ED and PRG has category spend and EDP, ED 1.50x and 1.20x on non-category spend.

Thoughts?

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From your calculations you are getting $0.02/MR with is not a bad redemption and it sounds like it works out well for you.

I don't have any Amex cards and don't have any experience with the MR system except for what I read, but Chase does allow transfer to British Airways with is a One World Alliance partner with American and sometimes this can be a fantasic value for short haul flights.  Of course, it takes a little work as there has to be saver availability available and isn't as easy as using the portal you are talking about.

With the new CSR us Chase users can get a fixed $0.015/UR and book AA flights (In fact I just did this the other day to get round trip airfare for my wife to join me on a wedding) and depending on what card and bonuses were used to get those URs the actual value could be a lot more (but just as in your last sentence, so could the Amex).

If I had the Amex Business Plat I would probably be doing what you are doing, using those points for the AA flights since you are getting $0.02/MR, unless you were able to get even more value out of a hotel or international flights that you might take in the future.