How do I earn and redeem Amex Platinum points?

Cardholders earn 5 Amex Platinum points per $1 spent on flights and hotels, plus 1 point per $1 on everything else. To qualify for Amex Platinum’s 5 points per $1 bonus rewards rate, flights must be booked through the airline or Amex, and hotels must be booked through Amex. Amex Platinum also has an initial bonus of 60,000 points for spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

There are lots of different ways to redeem Amex Platinum points. You can use them to book travel through Amex, get gift cards or cash back, shop online, and even make charitable donations. Amex Platinum points are worth 0.6 cents to 1 cent each in most cases.

Here’s how to redeem Amex Platinum points:

• Book travel through Amex. Log in to your account via the Amex travel portal. Search for the transportation and accommodations you want to book. At the checkout, there will be an option to pay with points. Points are worth 1 cent each toward flights and 0.7 toward other travel costs.
• Transfer points. You can move your points to 18 airline and 3 hotel loyalty programs. To do so, log in to your Amex account here and choose your loyalty program. You must transfer in 1,000-point increments. Most programs, but not all, transfer at a 1:1 ratio.
• Get gift cards. Log in to Amex’s gift card reward page to make your selection. There are dozens to choose from, from restaurants and movie theaters to airlines and bookstores. Points are worth up to 1 cent each toward gift cards, but can be worth less for certain brands.
• Donate. You can make a tax-deductible charitable donation with your rewards points by logging in at Amex’s JustGiving page. Points are worth 0.7 cents each toward charity.
• Pay for Uber. If you connect your Amex Platinum card to your Uber account, you should see a “use points” option in your app.
• Amazon Shop with Points. If you connect your Amex card to your Amazon account, you can use their Shop with Points system to spend points on merchandise. But you’ll only get 0.7 cents per point using this method.
• Statement credit. You can use your points to pay for charges on your statement, at a rate of 0.6 cents per point, by logging in to your Amex account here.

There are a few other ways to spend Amex Platinum points. They’re worth 0.5 cents each toward Ticketmaster or AXS purchases and 0.7 cents each toward Rite Aid purchases, Bestbuy.com, Staples.com and a few other sites. Plus, you can use them at a rate of 1 cent each toward NYC Taxi rides.

Most people will probably spend the bulk of their points on travel, because this is a card marketed toward frequent travelers. But it’s nice to know there are lots of options. It’s best to redeem points often to minimize the chances that Amex devalues them by raising the amount you need for certain redemption options.

It really depends on what you want to do with them. They've got portals to all sections, so a good place to start would be to just check your online account.