Best Ways To Use Amex Points

Transfer Points To Amex Travel Partners

The option with the most potential for outsized value is using your Membership Rewards to transfer them to one of the 21 Amex transfer partners. That way, you can take advantage of the specific pricing rules and sweet spots of each individual program.

To do so, just click ‘Transfer Points‘ and ‘View All’ to see all transfer partners and what the point conversion rates are, then follow the prompts to finalize the transfer. With only a few exceptions, most partner transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio. Also, Amex periodically runs transfer bonus promotions with specific partners.

Book or Upgrade Travel

Through Amex Travel, you can use your points to offset travel purchases like flights, hotels, rental car reservations and even cruises at a rate of 1 cent per point—meaning 10,000 Membership Rewards becomes $100 off your reservation total.

This is a great way to use your points for free travel, but since the rate of redemption is inflexible at a penny a piece, it does not allow for any sweet spots or value maximization.

Just go to ‘Explore Amex Travel’ and start searching for flights, hotels or any travel reservation you want to use your points for. You’ll see the amount of points needed to offset the full cost of the reservation and clicking forward will book your travel while deducting the points from your account.

Pay With Points

Amex allows you to use your points at checkout to pay for your purchases at some select merchants like Paypal, Amazon, BestBuy and others. When you’re ready to check out your purchases at these online retailers, you’ll be given an option to use your Membership Rewards as a form of payment.

Points can be redeemed at a ratio of 0.7 cents per point.

Redeem for Gift Cards

You can turn your Membership Rewards into gift cards for you or anyone else you feel like treating. Redeeming your Amex points for gift cards is not the best use for your points, as it yields a value of between 0.5 to 1 cent per point. However, it is a very straightforward redemption.

Just go to your account, click on ‘Rewards and Benefits’ and then ‘Redeem for Gift Cards’ to select from the over 80 available merchants.

Cover Card Charges

You can use your Membership Rewards to offset purchases you have already made with your card at a rate of 0.6 cents per point. This is one of the least rewarding uses of Amex points, but it can help in a pinch to keep your balance low.

Simply go to ‘Cover Card Charges,’ select which charge you would like to offset, and points will be deducted from your balance to cover the selected purchase.

Flights to Europe

With 18 airline transfer partners, there are plenty of award flights to choose from if you want to get to Europe. Flying Blue, the loyalty program for Air France and KLM regularly runs discounted redemption rates as part of its Promo Rewards program. With promotional destinations changing every month, it’s not hard to find redemptions with a 25% discounted rate and sometimes up to 50%, taking your points even further that normal.

Thanks to Flying Blue’s lax definition of Europe’s borders, some destinations in North Africa, like Morocco and Tunisia are included within that region, pricing cheaper than the rest of Africa and also participating in the Promo Rewards.

U.S. Domestic Flights

Getting good value for your points for flights within the U.S. is also possible. You can transfer your Membership Rewards points to British Airways Avios, which uses a distance-based redemption pricing. Flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines that are under 1,151 miles cost 11,000 Avios.

Air Canada Aeroplan also allows you to redeem 6,000 points for flights under 500 miles (within North America), while flights between 501 and 1,500 miles cost 10,000 points when redeemed for any of Air Canada’s Star Alliance partners.

Flights to South America

Flights to South America can get pricey, particularly when flying to the southernmost countries like Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Luckily, Amex partners with ANA Mileage Club which prices all of its award redemptions to South America the same, regardless of distance.

That way, you can fly on ANA partner United Airlines from the United States or Air Canada from Canada all the way to southern South America for just 55,000 miles in economy and 88,000 miles in business class for a round trip.

Flights to the Caribbean

Continuing to highlight the versatility of Membership Rewards transfers to both British Airways Avios and Flying Blue, you can also leverage those same transfers from previous points to fly to the Caribbean. Transfer to British Airways to redeem for short haul flights on American Airlines out of Miami to destinations in the Caribbean for up to 11,000 Avios each way in economy, or transfer to Flying Blue to redeem for flights on Delta Air Lines for around 35,000 points round trip in economy.

Flights to Hawaii

Flying from the continental United States to Hawaii can also be made cheaper with an assist from your Membership Rewards balance. If you are on the West Coast, you can take advantage of transfers to British Airways distance-based award redemptions and score flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines for 16,000 Avios each way in economy.

You can maximize your Membership Rewards on both the earning and redeeming sides. To maximize your earning, choose cards that allow you to earn extra points on categories where you spend the most.

To maximize redemption value, your best bet will be to focus on partner transfers, as that is where you can often find value exceeding 1 cent per point—a higher yield than other redemption options. Also, try to take advantage of temporary transfer bonuses, where you can get anywhere from 10% to 50% more value from your points.

There are several ways to earn Membership Rewards, but the easiest and perhaps more rewarding is by holding an American Express card that is part of the Membership Rewards program. Multiple options are available both on the personal and business side, each with its own earning structure and bonus categories, and all offering different kinds of welcome bonus offers.

If you hold any Amex cards, you will have the chance to refer your friends and family to apply for their own cards in exchange for some Membership Rewards. The amount varies from card to card and changes over time, so keep an eye out for any offers coming your way.

From time to time, you will also receive Amex Offers on your account that will enable you to earn bonus Membership Rewards for making purchases at a specific retailer, or for spending a predetermined amount before a specific deadline.

For those who do most of their shopping online, you can take advantage of the Rakuten shopping portal, which lets you switch from its usual cash-back rewards to earning Membership Rewards instead. That way, every eligible purchase that you route through the shopping portal adds to your overall Membership rewards balance.

There are many great ways to use your Amex points. By learning the ins and outs of the Membership Rewards program, you can identify the redemption options that will yield the best value from your hard-earned points.