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You've earned a bunch of American Express Membership Rewards points. Now, what do you do with them? While there are several ways you can redeem Amex points, not all of them are created equal. Without a good understanding of the redemption options, it can be difficult to determine how to best use your Amex points.
Although the options can seem overwhelming, put your worries aside. We'll walk you through all the ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards, highlighting which will generally give you the best value.
Page Contents
- Best Ways To Use Amex Points
- Fly Singapore Airlines business or first class from the U.S. to Europe or Asia
- Transfer to British Airways to book short-haul Oneworld flights
- Use ANA Mileage Club to fly United Polaris to Europe
- Use Avianca LifeMiles for domestic, short-haul United flights
- Fly Iberia business class to or from Madrid
- Transfer to Flying Blue for Promo Rewards and other sweet spots
- Book ANA premium cabins using Virgin Atlantic points
- Fly to Hawaii from the West Coast for 12,500 Aeroplan points
- Fly around the world with ANA in business class
- Take advantage of transfer bonuses
- Use the 35% points rebate from the Business Platinum Card
- Decent Ways To Redeem Amex Points
- Bad Ways To Use Amex Points
- Final Thoughts
Best Ways To Use Amex Points
At a high level, transferring points to travel partners is the best way to use Amex points. However, the set of Amex transfer partners is large: 21 in total, with three hotel and 18 airline partners.
Not all transfer partners give you the same value for your points. In general, the following Amex partner airline programs provide the best high-value uses:
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France–KLM Flying Blue
- All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Delta SkyMiles
- Emirates Skywards
- Iberia Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
This doesn't mean all of these programs are good in every situation. It's just that each has some uses that will offer good to excellent value for many people. The remaining partners have limited uses and generally poor value.
If you're new to American Express Membership Rewards and need help with your first transfer, we have a detailed guide on how to transfer Amex points. Now, let's walk through some of the best ways to use Amex points.
Related: Do American Express Membership Rewards Points Expire?
Fly Singapore Airlines business or first class from the U.S. to Europe or Asia
Singapore Airlines business, first, and suites class are all top-notch products that are difficult to book except through Singapore's own KrisFlyer loyalty program. While some other programs have access to business-class awards on Singapore Airlines flights, the routes and award space are limited. You simply cannot book first class or suites awards outside the KrisFlyer program.
Redeeming Amex points through KrisFlyer is the way to go for booking Singapore premium cabins. Some great options include:
- Singapore suites from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA) for 97,000 KrisFlyer miles
- Business class from San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN) for 107,000 KrisFlyer miles
- First class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) for 120,500 KrisFlyer miles
You can book at singaporeair.com, and Singapore's search is fairly robust. Note that you must have a KrisFlyer account and must log in to search for award flights. Saver awards are the way to go, but sometimes an Advantage award may still be worth it if Saver space is unavailable. Unlike other programs, the next award pricing “tier” isn't a terrible deal compared to Saver.
Transfer to British Airways to book short-haul Oneworld flights
British Airways can be a decent option for booking nonstop flights on airlines that belong to the Oneworld alliance. Booking nonstop American and Alaska flights used to be a primary use of Avios, but multiple significant devaluations over the past few years have reduced the value significantly. However, there's still potential for many domestic flights within the U.S. — especially short flights to more rural destinations where prices are high.
If you're not familiar with these awards, here are the first four British Airways award zone prices for flights within North America.
| Distance/Zone | Economy | Premium Economy (on select flights to Hawaii/Alaska) | Business (Domestic First) | First (On 3-Cabin Flights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 650 miles (Zone 1) | 12,000 | N/A | 24,000 | N/A |
| Up to 1,151 miles (Zones 2) | 16,000 | N/A | 32,000 | N/A |
| 1,152 to 2,000 miles (Zone 3) | 18,000 | N/A | 40,000 | N/A |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles (Zone 4) | 20,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 80,000 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles (Zone 5) | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
British Airways prices for flights within North America start at 12,000 Avios, which is far higher than in past year, but some can still be a great deal. Consider this flight from Phoenix to St. George, Utah:
It costs $330 but only costs 12,000 Avios and $5.60 one way. Solid deal.
It's also worth noting that you can transfer Avios from British Airways to Qatar Airways quickly and easily, and book like awards for a few thousand points less. Alternatively, you can transfer Amex points to Qatar Airways Avios at a 1:1 ratio.
Beyond domestic American Airlines flights, here are some other places to consider using British Airways Avios:
- Flights within Australia on Qantas
- Some short flights on Royal Jordanian
- High-cost economy flights within Europe on British Airways, Iberia, or Finnair
- Flights within Japan or to Korea on JAL (Japan Airlines)
All of these can make Avios a great way to redeem your Membership Rewards points. Given the devaluations lately, however, I would not place British Airways Avios as high on the list of useful ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards.
Use ANA Mileage Club to fly United Polaris to Europe
ANA has some extremely good pricing for business- and first-class flights from the U.S. to other regions of the world. One great option is for United Polaris business class to Europe. If you can find Saver business class award space in both directions, you can book a round-trip ticket for just 100,000 miles! It's hard to beat that price. This is hands-down one of the best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards.
The key here is that United doesn't levy fuel or carrier surcharges, so the taxes and fees are minimal. Be aware, though, that ANA does pass along carrier surcharges on airlines that assess these fees. ANA also levies these on its own flights. These can really add up, so even though the required number of miles is attractive, you could get hit with over $1,000 in fees on an award, depending on which airline operates the flight. Compare flying United to Europe versus flying on Lufthansa Group airlines!
Related: Airline Programs that Don't Add Fees and Surcharges to Award Flights
Use Avianca LifeMiles for domestic, short-haul United flights
This is a personal favorite of mine. Short-haul economy flights aren't the first thing that typically comes to mind when you think of an excellent award redemption. But LifeMiles' attractive award chart for booking domestic U.S. flights has often yielded between 3 and 5 cents per Membership Rewards points in redemption value. And this is for economy tickets. The value is so good, that I often top up my LifeMiles account when there is a transfer bonus. We don't typically recommend speculatively transferring points, but solid LifeMiles transfer bonuses are one time I'm more than happy to do so.
LifeMiles breaks the U.S. into three award regions. Flights between regions are priced closer to typical Saver award prices in other programs. It's intra-region flights that enjoy substantial savings. You'll often find flights — including connecting itineraries — for around 7,500 miles. Some flights cost a bit more. More rarely, you'll even find a route that prices even cheaper.
I live in a rural area served by a tiny regional airport. Airfare is consistently expensive. Consider this one-way ticket to Phoenix (PHX) from Arcata-Eureka (ACV). At the time of writing, United is asking $279 for non-Basic Economy.
However, I can book the same ticket for just 7,500 LifeMiles, plus taxes and the award booking fee. The latter ranges from $10 to $25, depending on the ticket. For this award, the fee is $25, for a total of $30.60 when you add-in the TSA fee. Subtracting the taxes and fees from the Google flights price, this award yields 3.3 cents per mile.
United Saver award space must be available to get the best pricing. This is often the limiting factor. But if you can find the space, LifeMiles offer an amazing deal for similar itineraries. Membership Rewards transfer to LifeMiles at a 1:1 ratio.
Related: Over 100 United Award Routes That You Can Book for Just 6,500 Miles
Fly Iberia business class to or from Madrid
Like British Airways, Iberia uses a distance-based award chart. The business class pricing from U.S. airports to Madrid is attractive during off-peak dates, which cover a large chunk of the calendar.
Consider that a round-trip between Chicago and Madrid often sells for over $4,000. But an award using Iberia Avios costs just 34,000 Avios + ~$170 per person, each way during off-peak dates. Flying for nearly 10 hours in business class at this price is an absolute steal — if you can find this hard-to-come-by availability.
Related: Amex Membership Rewards Sweet Spots to Europe
Transfer to Flying Blue for Promo Rewards and other sweet spots
With Flying Blue, you can access two outstanding redemption opportunities. The first is with Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards. Every month, award flights to/from specific cities are on sale from 25–50% off. With this deal, it’s often possible to book economy flights to Europe for as few as 15,000 miles each way, plus reasonable taxes and fees. Sometimes, you'll be able to book business class flights from U.S. airports served by KLM and Air France at a discount — but these are much more rare.
Another excellent redemption option with Flying Blue has to do with how the program categorizes countries into regions. Flying Blue, like many frequent-flyer programs, uses a region-based award chart, but it has some unique region definitions. For example, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and the Canary Islands are part of Europe.
In this example, it's possible to redeem miles for a one-way itinerary from San Francisco (SFO) to Marrakech, Morocco (RAK) for only 20,000 Air France–KLM Flying Blue miles.
Other frequent-flyer programs charge many more miles to fly to these destinations. On the same date, the cheapest flight option (but not the exact same itinerary) offered by Delta costs 64,000 miles one-way.
You can find more destinations where Flying Blue beats the competition in our guide to Air France–KLM award sweet spots.
We have a great rundown on how to book ANA business or first class using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, so I won't go into detail here. But I do want to highlight it as one of the best ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points. In a nutshell, round-trip flights cost:
- Japan–Australia/Canada/Western USA in business class: 105,000 miles or first class for 145,000 miles
- Japan–Europe/Central and Eastern USA in business class: 120,000 miles or first class for 170,000 miles
Compared to the prices you'll pay in most other programs (except, ironically, with ANA itself), these are amazing deals.
Even better, Amex routinely runs Virgin Atlantic Flying Club transfer bonuses. If you're able to move your points during one of these promotions, you'll get even greater value.
Fly to Hawaii from the West Coast for 12,500 Aeroplan points
Flying to Hawaii from the U.S. West Coast in economy is an Aeroplan sweet spot. The key is finding an itinerary that is fewer than 2,751 miles one-way. However, unlike flights booked on Alaska or American using British Airways Avios, Aeroplan awards at this great price can include a connection. Here is an example itinerary from a regional airport to Maui:
This works from a good number of regional airports in California, as well as Las Vegas, Reno, and southern Oregon airports. It's a niche redemption, but it provides excellent value. You'll need to carefully watch the distance, as some origin/destination combos exceed the threshold. The price jumps to 22,500 at the next tier!
Fly around the world with ANA in business class
ANA Mileage Club remains one of the only programs offering Round the World award fares at competitive value if you are willing to do your homework. Offering up to eight stopovers, a Round the World award redemption with ANA can be a fantastic way to see multiple destinations in one trip. AwardWallet has a three-part series on how to understand, book, and maximize ANA Mileage Club:
- Understanding ANA Mileage Club Award Charts
- How To Book ANA Mileage Club Award Flights
- Maximize ANA Mileage Club Award Sweet Spots
Many conditions accompany ANA Round the World awards, but it's worth the time invested for the value you’ll receive.
The biggest difficulty with around-the-world trips is always finding award space. But if you're up for the challenge, it's possible to assemble some excellent Star Alliance business class itineraries for 125,000 to 170,000 miles.
Take advantage of transfer bonuses
We've already mentioned Amex transfer bonuses to a couple of airline programs. If you're able to take advantage of a transfer bonus with any of the above awards, you'll get even more value when you redeem your Amex Membership Rewards. Bookmark and check these pages regularly to check for current offers:
- Air Canada Aeroplan Amex transfer bonus
- Avianca LifeMiles Amex transfer bonus
- Flying Blue Amex transfer bonus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Amex transfer bonus
Related: All Current Credit Card Transfer Bonuses
Use the 35% points rebate from the Business Platinum Card
A final strategy to redeem Amex Membership Rewards for solid value is to use the 35% rebate on Pay with Points bookings offered by The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. Amex will give you 3.5 points back for each 10 points redeemed (as long as you redeem at least 5,000 points) for bookings with your selected airline, which is the same airline you select to redeem the $200 airline incidental credit. This is mediocre value compared to many economy awards, but the more intriguing option is to use this feature for booking business- or first-class flights.
The Pay with Points feature allows you to receive 35% of your points back when booking first- or business-class flights with any airline. You're not restricted to the airline you selected for your incidental credit. All Pay with Points bookings must be made through the American Express Travel® website.
Since you normally receive a value of 1¢ per Amex point when using Pay with Points, the 35% back rebate increases this to 1.54 cents per point. It's not all that fantastic when compared to award options. But you should also factor in the miles you earn from the flight, as well as any elite status credit, since you are booking a paid flight using Pay with Points. Factoring in these other earnings can sometimes make Pay with Points bookings well worth it.
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
Decent Ways To Redeem Amex Points
We've covered the best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points, including ways you could use specific transfer partners. In this section, I'll discuss options that often offer poorer value but can make sense in some limited situations.
Transfer to hotel partners
None of the three hotel partners offer exceptional value for your points. Based on actual redemptions made by AwardWallet users, you'll get an average of:
- 0.6¢ per Choice Privileges point
- 0.59¢ per Hilton Honors point
- 0.94¢ per Marriott Bonvoy point
Since points transfer to Hilton Honors at a 1:2 ratio, you'll get nearly 1.2 cents per Membership Rewards point here. This falls far short of the 2+ cents per point you can get from many airline transfer partners. This is why we recommend you transfer Amex Membership Rewards to airlines instead of hotels.
That being said, it's nice to have the option to transfer Amex points to hotel programs, if you're just a few thousand points short of what you need for an award stay — or if you find a specific use of your hotel points that gives you excellent value.
Transfer to lower-value airline partners
There are a handful of airline partners where transfers don't typically offer great value. These include:
With JetBlue, the value falls within a set range, so you won't be able to get out-sized value. With HawaiianMiles, many of the flights within Hawaii offer mediocre value in terms of cents per point. There are a few situations where you can redeem miles for great value to fly Hawaiian's premium cabins, however. But these are pretty niche redemptions. Hawaiian's international network isn't all that large. However, if you are able to accrue HawaiianMiles, you can transfer them 1:1 to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, which offers some incredible sweet spots.
Before the Etihad devaluation, it was an amazing program. Much of the value has been removed, but don't write the program off entirely. There are still some redemption options where you'll want to use Etihad Guest miles. But overall, it'll only offer value for niche carriers or situations, such as short-haul American Airlines awards for 6,000 miles.
Finally, the juice simply isn't worth the squeeze with Aeromexico. I compared award prices with many FlyingBlue and Delta itineraries, and you'll be fine sticking with the latter programs. Not to mention, Aeromexico's change and cancellation policies are terrible.
Bad Ways To Use Amex Points
Finally, we suggest avoiding some of the worst ways to redeem Amex points. As you'll notice in this section, these options offer exceptionally low redemption value.
Cashing out points
You can redeem Amex points for a statement credit, which is as good as cash. However, you'll only get around 0.6¢ per point this way. Compared to other ways to use Amex Membership Rewards, it's terrible value. You can easily get twice this value when converting to Hilton points, which is a mediocre value compares to many airline options.
Another way to “cash out” is to redeem points for purchases on retailers like Amazon. You'll generally get poor value when redeeming a stash of points for what's in your digital shopping cart, but there's one exception. Occasionally, you can redeem just one Amex point and save up to 40% (or more) on a purchase. In these instances, using a single point can result in incredible savings.
Redeeming Amex points for gift cards
You'll usually get 1¢ per point when you redeem Amex points for gift cards. However, some give gift cards give even worse redemption rates. Unless you have so many Membership Rewards points that you're truly struggling to figure out what to do with them, I wouldn't consider redeeming them for gift cards.
Booking travel through Amex Travel
In general, booking travel directly through Amex Travel isn't a great use of Membership Rewards points. It's better than cashing them out, as you get 1¢ per point. But you can usually do much better than this if you transfer points to travel partners.
As discussed above, the exception is if you're booking travel with the 35% rebate offered by the Business Platinum Card. And you usually need to factor in mileage earning for it to really be worth it.
Donating points
You can donate to charity through the JustGiving website. However, rather than get a boost to your value, American Express gives you just 0.7 cents per donated point. While it's great to donate to causes you support, you won't get good value if you redeem Amex Membership Rewards this way.
Final Thoughts
I'm all for maximizing the value of my points. While this isn't the only factor I consider, it certainly is a primary one. Still, there are times I'll redeem Amex Membership Rewards in lower-value ways if it saves me a significant amount of money or allows us to take a trip at all.
Hopefully, you've gleaned some of the best ways to redeem Amex points from among the Membership Rewards redemption options we've highlighted. We'd love to hear about some of your best success stories in the comments!
If you're curious about how to earn points, here are all the cards that earn Amex Membership Rewards points.
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