This billionaire figured out how to fly free forever

Liu Yiqian's winning bid of Amedeo Modigliani's painting means he can fly free forever on his American Express...

Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian can likely fly free anywhere in the world for the rest of his life after his winning bid of Amedeo Modigliani's "Reclining Nude" painting.

Liu was the winning bidder for the painting at a Christie's auction earlier this month. The billionaire who offered $170.4 million for the painting said he will put it on his American Express card once the sale closes, enabling him to fly anywhere in the world for free using the bank’s points reward system.



Being a high-profile collector of Chinese antiquities and art, this is not the first time that Liu plans to use his AmEx for art auctions. According to reports, just last year, he put a $36 million tea cup from the Ming Dynasty on his card, and earlier this year, he put other artifacts on his card as well.

Liu possesses an Express Centurion Card, also known as AmEx “black card” that has no official credit limit; and just like regular cards, it also works on a points-based system. The card is an invitation-only card, given only to AmEx's biggest spending clients, like Liu.



Each AmEx card issued in each country accrues points differently. However, using a baseline of one point per dollar, which is what American Express uses for its US Platinum and Centurion Cards, it is revealed that Liu will earn 170,400,000 million membership reward points for his painting purchase, which doesn't include tax or the fees Christie's charges. In the same way, he has probably earned tens of millions of points for his earlier fine art buys, like the expensive tea cup.

In addition to that, keeping in mind that Liu would have been earning additional points for using his card for everyday purchases as well, means he is likely to be a billionaire both in cash and American Express points.

In an interview with The New York Times, Liu and his wife shared their plan to use the points to allow their family to travel for the rest of their lives, which according to editor-in-chief of the travel rewards site, ThePointsGuy.com, he has made possible “with that single painting.”



The editor-in-chief, Zach Honig, estimated that if Liu converted his membership rewards points he and his and his family could travel anywhere, in style. He could fly 3,000 times between the US and Europe in the ultra-deluxe first class suites offered by Singapore Airlines (estimated cost: $17,800 round trip). Even if Liu wanted to use his AmEx points to pay for flights, a less efficient use of them, he could still redeem those points for hundreds of first class flights anywhere in the world.

Lui, who is worth $1.4 billion according to Forbes, can now not only fly in luxury, but with his American Express points, he could also go on a shopping spree on their online mall that offers luxurious goods like a 26-carat platinum diamond tennis bracelet for 33 million points, and even a 29-light crystal chandelier for 10 million points. If that doesn’t please the Chinese billionaire, the variety of goods offered also includes a full-length sable fur coat, available to buy at 8.5 million points.

However, the reason behind using his AmEx was probably not for the points. China allows its citizens to transfer no more than $50,000 out of the country in any year, and using his card could help Liu get around this limit because he's just paying back American Express or the bank in China who issues his card.

This article originally appeared on Mashable.