Membership Rewards Points: how I flew business class from Brussels for free

The curtains closed, the seat reclined flat, and I was lying in a fully horizontal bed at 11 kilometres above the Arabian Sea. Outside it was pitch dark. Inside it smelled of freshly baked bread and jasmine tea. On the screen in front of me: four more hours to Malé, the Maldives. And the best part? I had paid exactly zero euros for this business class flight from Brussels. Only my Membership Rewards points.

Honestly, a year earlier I wouldn't have thought this was possible. I knew the concept of frequent flyer points, but as a Belgian traveller it seemed like something for Americans with ten credit cards. Until I started using the Amex Platinum card and discovered how powerful Membership Rewards points truly are, especially for those departing from Brussels Airport.

This is the story of how I booked that flight, point by point. No vague promises, but the exact route, the exact numbers and the lessons I learned along the way.

How Membership Rewards points work for Belgian travellers

Let me sketch out the basics, because when I started, I honestly found it quite confusing. Membership Rewards is the points programme of American Express. Every euro you spend with your Amex Platinum earns you 1 point as standard. If you activate the Booster option (€10 per month extra), you earn 4 points per €1 spent. That's an enormous difference.

Suppose you spend €3,000 per month via your Amex. Without Booster that's 36,000 points per year. With Booster: 144,000 points. In that second scenario, after one year you have enough for a business class return to Asia or the Middle East.

What makes these points so valuable is that they're not limited to one airline. You can transfer them to Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Miles & More, Flying Blue (Air France-KLM), British Airways Avios, Emirates Skywards, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Etihad Guest, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and a handful of other programmes. That flexibility makes all the difference. Because if one airline has no availability, you simply check the next one.

And the best part: Membership Rewards points never expire as long as your card is active. No stress, no rush. You save at your own pace.

From zero to 150,000 points: my concrete saving timeline

I want to be completely transparent about how I accumulated those points, because it might sound like you have to save for years. It's actually much quicker than that.

It started with the welcome bonus. When I applied for my Amex Platinum via the TravelLux.be referral link, I received the maximum welcome bonus of 150,000 Membership Rewards points. That's more than when you apply directly via the Amex website. That bonus alone was already enough for my entire business class flight.

But let me give you the full picture. After the welcome bonus I had 150,000 points. In the meantime I simply paid my daily expenses with the card: groceries at Delhaize, fuel at Q8, my Proximus subscription, restaurants, online orders. With the Booster option activated, that yielded another roughly 12,000 points per month. After three months I was at approximately 186,000 points.

I then split those 186,000 points. 80,000 points went to Emirates Skywards for my business class flight. The rest I kept for a future trip. Because yes, with points that never expire you can plan strategically.

The booking: BRU to MLE via Dubai in Emirates business class

Now it gets concrete. I wanted to go to the Maldives. The commercial price for an Emirates business class return BRU – DXB – MLE was around €4,200 in the period I wanted to travel (November, just before peak season). With Skywards miles the same flight cost 81,250 miles plus around €340 in taxes and surcharges.

The transfer from Membership Rewards to Emirates Skywards is 1:1. So 81,250 points from my Membership Rewards balance became 81,250 Skywards miles. The transfer took exactly two business days. I transferred them on Thursday morning, and by Saturday afternoon they were in my Emirates account.

A word of warning: only transfer your points once you're certain there is availability on the flight you want. I had first checked on the Emirates website whether award seats were available on my desired date. This is a mistake many beginners make: they transfer points to an airline and then discover there's no availability. That transfer is one-way only. Points don't come back out.

The route was BRU – DXB (6 hours 20 minutes), then a 3-hour layover in Dubai with access to the Emirates business lounge, followed by DXB – MLE (4 hours 15 minutes). The return flight followed the same route. In total 10.5 hours of flight time per direction, but honestly: in a fully flat bed with a three-course menu and a minibar that's always open, you barely feel those hours.

What the Amex Platinum added beyond points: more than just miles

The points were the foundation, but the trip actually started at Brussels Airport. As an Amex Platinum cardholder you have Fast Lane access at security. Normally that costs €169 per year if you buy it separately. I walked through the checkpoint in three minutes while the regular queue was at least twenty minutes long. Small detail, big difference when you want to start your trip relaxed.

Next: the lounge. With my Priority Pass Prestige, included with the Platinum card, I had access to more than 1,550 airport lounges worldwide. Useful at Zaventem itself, but the real treat was the lounge in Dubai. Free for me and one guest. So my travel companion didn't have to hang around the terminal either.

In the Maldives we stayed at a resort that participates in the Fine Hotels + Resorts programme from Amex. What that concretely delivered: a free upgrade to an overwater villa (yes, really), daily breakfast for two, late checkout until 4pm and a welcome gift worth around €100 in hotel credit. The room we originally booked cost €380 per night. The villa we actually slept in: €680 per night. For five nights. You do the maths.

And then there was the travel insurance. Because I had paid for the flights and hotel with my Amex Platinum, everything was automatically insured: trip cancellation, medical expenses, luggage. No need to take out a separate policy. That easily saves €60 to €120 per trip.

Smart saving: strategies I learned as a Belgian traveller

After that first trip I started thinking more strategically about saving points. Here are the things that made the biggest difference for me.

First of all: centralise your spending. I pay literally everything with my Amex wherever possible. Supermarket, pharmacy, clothing shops, online orders, streaming services, insurance. Not every merchant in Belgium accepts American Express, that's true, but it's improving rapidly. Major chains like Delhaize, Carrefour, IKEA, Bol.com and Coolblue already do. For the places where it's not accepted, I have a regular debit card as backup.

The Booster option is truly a no-brainer if you're serious about saving. For €10 per month extra you go from 1 point per euro to 4 points per euro. If you spend €2,500 per month via your Amex, the Booster earns you an additional 90,000 points per year. That's the difference between economy and business class.

Timing is also important. Award seats at airlines are typically released 330 to 355 days in advance. Want to fly during peak season? Book as early as possible. I had locked in my Emirates flight 11 months in advance. Two months later that same flight was already fully booked at award level.

Another strategy: be flexible with your transfer partners. Sometimes the same route is cheaper with one airline than another. BRU to Bangkok via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines costs around 63,000 miles in business class, while via Lufthansa/Swiss through Zürich or Frankfurt it's around 85,000 miles. Always check multiple options.

And don't forget the Dining for 2 benefits. Three times a year you receive a complimentary two-course menu for two at top restaurants in Belgium. It has nothing to do with flying, but it's still €300 per year in value that you simply get as a gift. We went to De Troubadour in Ghent and to a restaurant on the Sablon in Brussels. Excellent both times.

The maths: how "free" is free really?

I don't want to sell fairy tales. "Free" business class flying has nuances. Let me share the honest calculation.

The Amex Platinum costs €780 per year. The Booster option adds €120 per year. Total: €900. Additionally, I paid €340 in taxes and surcharges for my Emirates flight. So that's €1,240 in hard costs.

What did I get in return? A business class return flight with a commercial value of €4,200. Fast Lane access, lounges in Brussels and Dubai, Fine Hotels + Resorts benefits worth at least €1,500 over five nights, Dining for 2 (€300), travel insurance (~€80 saved). The total value of everything combined: well over €6,200.

Net benefit: around €5,000 in value for €1,240 in spending. And I'm not even counting the remaining 105,000 Membership Rewards points, which are now waiting for my next adventure.

Is it for everyone? No. You need to earn at least €30,000 gross per year to qualify, and you need to actively use the card to accumulate enough points. But if you travel regularly and run your monthly expenses through the card, the numbers work in your favour quite quickly.

Frequently asked questions about Membership Rewards and Amex Platinum in Belgium

Transparency: this article contains a referral link. If you apply for the Amex Platinum via our referral link, we receive a commission from American Express. For you this makes no difference in price: you pay €65/month, regardless of how you apply. Via our link you do receive the maximum welcome bonus of 150,000 points. Our opinions and experiences always remain honest and independent. More about TravelLux.be.