The AmEx Pay With Points value depends on the type of travel you book using Pay With Points. On almost all Membership Rewards cards — excluding the Blue from American Express® card — you'll get 1 cent per point in value per point redeemed for flights and 0.7 cents per point toward other travel redemptions.

The "cost" of a flight in American Express Membership Rewards points depends entirely on your redemption strategy. If you use the Pay with Points feature through the Amex Travel portal, points are generally worth a fixed 1 cent per point. For example, a $500 flight would cost 50,000 points. However, the most value is found by transferring points to one of Amex’s 20+ airline partners (like Delta, British Airways, or Emirates), usually at a 1:1 ratio. In these cases, a "cost" is determined by the airline's award chart. A round-trip domestic flight might cost 15,000–30,000 miles, while a high-value Business Class seat to Europe could be found for 60,000–80,000 points. If you have the Business Platinum Card, you also get a 35% points rebate on certain flights, effectively making each point worth 1.54 cents. Generally, you should aim for a redemption value of at least 1.5 to 2 cents per point to ensure you are getting a good "deal" compared to paying cash.