In this guide, we’ll talk all about some of the more efficient ways to earn and redeem your Amex Membership Rewards points.
What are Amex Membership Rewards points?
American Express (Amex) Membership Rewards points are a points currency run by American Express. Think of this generally as a rebate on purchases you make with your Amex credit cards. On top of statement credits and redemptions for gift cards, you can also transfer to other travel loyalty programs.
All Amex Membership Rewards points are deposited into a single account regardless of how many credit cards you have that earn Membership Rewards points. If you cancel a credit card that earns Membership Rewards points, your points will remain valid as long as you still have a card open that earns these points. American Express also has a business checking account that earns Membership Rewards points and that could additionally be used to keep your account active should you have no credit cards that earn points.
There aren’t any “tiers” with Amex Membership Rewards points. As long as you have an account that earns Membership Rewards points, you can freely use for any transaction, including transfers. The only special credit card that unlocks an additional feature is the Charles Schwab version of The Platinum Card, which allows for cashing out points at 1.1 cents each.
The easiest ways to earn Amex Membership Rewards points
Credit card sign-up bonuses and spend
One of the easiest ways to get on the American Express gravy train is to sign up for their credit cards. You’ll generally need to do this as a first step to getting into their program anyways. We’ve seen huge offers from American Express in recent years, including sign-up bonuses that hit or exceed 250,000 points on some cards. That’s absolutely nuts. If you can swing the minimum spend requirements (which can be as high as $15,000 in 3 months for those top offers), you’ll do well here.
The thing to know is that officially bonuses on American Express credit cards are once per lifetime. However, there are two things we have to say about that:
- There are reports that American Express “forgets” that you signed up after ~7 years.
- American Express offers credit card bonuses that do not include the lifetime language requirement.
So while you might think American Express is restrictive with its credit card bonuses, they make it easy enough to keep coming back for more.
Banking accounts
Official link: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/checking/ (not sponsored)
The American Express business checking account has no monthly fees and earns 1 Membership Rewards point for every $2 of spend on your debit card. That might not sound like much, but if you’re looking for a way to earn points on a debit card, this isn’t a bad option for you. What makes a debit card different? Well, you might be faced with a significantly smaller fee for using a debit card than you would with a credit card. That could make it a more cost-effective option in your points-earning arsenal.
On top of the on-going benefits, there are occasional sign-up offers for the card that top 30,000 Membership Rewards points for qualifying activity. That might not sound like much, but for no annual fee, we’ll take it.
Rakuten shopping portal
Official link: https://www.rakuten.com/
We’ve chatted extensively about the Rakuten shopping portal before. But once you’re in the Amex Membership Rewards program, you might have interest in earning extra rewards on purchases you could already be making today. It’s great to shop around on the site and rack up bonus multipliers when shopping at online retailers. That gives us some extra incentive using merchants other than Amazon, which doesn’t get much opportunity for bonused spend these days.
When you really start getting into the points earning craze is when you notice certain times of the year when online merchants might have 100% back offers. That’s the equivalent of “buying” Membership Rewards points for just 1 cent each. If you have the Schwab version of The Platinum Card, you’re minting money since you can redeem for 1.1 cents each. And transferring to travel partners means buying those points for just 1 cent each, which can be much better than what they sell the points for.
There’s a lot of potential here to go beyond normal earn rates if you’re patient and look for the right deals. Some of the better deals tend to happen around holidays (both minor and major).
Spending American Express Membership Rewards points
Transfer partners
American Express is perhaps known for its many airline transfer partners, however it does also partner with a few hotel programs. Below is a list of those programs, along with our primers for each point currency.
Airline programs (17):
Hotel programs (3):
There are only two unique transfer partners that no other bank program covers:
- ANA Mileage Club
- Delta SkyMiles
Transferring your hard-earned points to partner programs can be the most affordable method to flying in first or business class.
Should you need assistance looking for award availability with Amex’s airline partners, check out their free version of the point.me tool.
Spending points directly on flights
Sometimes you just don’t want to worry about finding award availability, and that’s where this really helps. If you find a great cash fare, you can reimburse yourself with points at a rate of 1 cent each. Find a roundtrip flight in business class for just $1,500? You could use 150,000 points to purchase the flight, have it count toward elite qualification, and even earn miles from the airline. The airline sees this as a cash fare.
It gets even better if you have the Business Platinum Card. This card has a 35% rebate returned to you for purchasing the flight with points. Unfortunately, American Express devalued this to only work on the airline you select for the incidental credit, which limits its usefulness, but it’s still a good redemption.
That $1,500 theoretical cash flight above? You’ll have to have 150,000 points in your account up front to make the purchase and then you’ll get 52,500 returned to you shortly after (and spend a net 97,500 points). That means you’ll get about 1.54 cents/point in value this way, plus you’ll earn miles from the airline.
What matters the most to maximize this redemption is if you find a great cash fare.
Cash out rewards
We’ve made references to it above, but one the best ways to cash out your points is to sign up for the Charles Schwab Platinum Card. This card will unlock the option to cash out points for a whopping 1.1 cents each. That’s far better than the normal 0.6 cents value you get toward statement credits.
If you wish to get the Schwab Platinum, you must have an eligible account with Schwab:
- A Schwab One or Schwab General Brokerage Account in your name or in the name of a revocable living trust where you are the grantor and trustee, or
- A Schwab Traditional, Roth, or Rollover IRA that is not managed by an independent investment advisor pursuant to a direct contractual relationship between you and such independent advisor.
If you’ve signed up for a Schwab debit card to get free ATM withdrawals in foreign currency abroad, you’ll more than likely already have a brokerage account open that will qualify you for this card.
Amex Membership Rewards sweet spots
What are the best awards you can get with your Amex Membership Rewards points? Here are some of the best redemptions to travel partners (in no particular order):
Virgin Atlantic: Book ANA First Class
Consider this a theoretical option for you, but ANA First Class is one of those options that everyone would love to experience. Add on top of that how popular Japan has been lately and the fact that ANA doesn’t release more than one first class seat at or near schedule opening, and you’ll find that it’s tough to take advantage of this. That said, if you’re persistent with checking options within two weeks of departure, you might find more seats open up.
Being able to book ANA First Class for as little as 57,500 points (via Hawaii) or 72,500 points (via West USA) is a treat. Unlike booking with the ANA program, which requires round-trips, being able to book one-ways gives you more flexibility. This is especially relevant if you only find award space in one direction but not the other or if you want to use different award programs to build your award.
Virgin Atlantic: Book Air New Zealand Business Class
Want another difficult-to-find award flight to find? If so, then you’ll love Air New Zealand’s cheap business class awards bookable with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Assuming you are successful in finding flights, you’ll be able to book flights for just 62,500 points. Or you could book Hawaii to New Zealand for only 45,000 points in business class.
Similar to ANA, this is an option that might become available at the last minute before the flight departs when they release how popular (or not) any given flight will be. And this is another award booking that will need to take place over the phone if you are lucky in finding award space.
Avianca Lifemiles: Asia to Australia for 40,000 miles in business class
If you’re looking to travel between Asia and Australia in business class, it’s hard to beat this rate with Lifemiles. Only 40,000 miles for the journey between Tokyo and Sydney? Sign us up for that!
Air Canada: Europe for as little as 60,000 miles in business (no fuel surcharges)
East Coast US to Europe only comes in at 60,000 miles in business. This includes the excellent Singapore Airlines on the JFK to FRA route. Of course, since award pricing doesn’t incur fuel surcharges, you can take any of the European carriers and not be stuck with a fee.
Pricing in first class could be as cheap as 90,000 miles on shorter hops, but more than likely a connection and other marginally longer flights (like IAD-FRA) will push you into the 100,000 mile range.
West Coast US to Europe is theoretically possible for only 10,000 miles more to either cost, but good luck finding the award space in advance.
Air Canada: Cheap stopovers and excellent infant pricing
One thing I absolutely love is when I can piece together multiple destinations on an award trip for an efficient price (5,000 miles). Sure, the old round-the-world style bookings were nice back in the day, but most programs got rid of those. Instead, I’ve been looking more for programs that offer a stopover along the way. Recall that a stopover is defined as a stay that’s longer than 24 hours on an international journey.
On top of that, Aeroplan only charges $25CA or 2,500 Aeroplan points for the lap child. This applies regardless of the cabin booked. Talk about a cost-effective way to bring along your pint-sized loved one! That ranks it as one of the absolute best programs for your infants and one that I would tell parents to go check out.
ANA: Flying between Europe and the US in business for 100,000 roundtrip (with fuel surcharges)
ANA offers one of the best mileage prices for flights between the US and Europe. For only 100,000 miles (equivalent to 50,000 miles per direction), you can book yourself a comfortable price at practically the best price. However, there are a couple of important caveats to this:
- Asiana offers a cheaper mileage rate (80,000 miles per roundtrip), but with no banks that transfer points to Asiana, it’s generally a red herring to focus on that. Besides, Asiana will soon disappear due to the merger with Korean Air.
- Most award availability is controlled by the Miles & More airlines. As mentioned above, expect hefty YQ on those routes (in the range of $1,000 per direction).
- If you want to avoid YQ, stick to United Airlines, LOT Polish, or Singapore (assuming you can find availability).
ANA: Booking Singapore Airlines awards in business
Singapore Airlines business class is a very desirable option given the level of service, the food, and the seats. Assuming you can find the award space, the price for business class is just 55,000 miles roundtrip within Southeast Asia or between 60,000 and 63,000 for the rest of Asia. Or if you want to fly between Southeast Asia and Europe, you can do that for just 94,000 roundtrip.
Aer Lingus: Off-peak business class between North America and Ireland as low as 50,000 miles
How about business class on the route? That’s also not a bad deal, assuming you can find the award space. You’re looking at only 50,000 Avios between the northeast section of North America and Ireland. Or, expand your horizon and travel from the west coast for only 62,500. The best part? There are no pesky fuel surcharges you have to worry about. That makes this pricing far more attractive than what sister program British Airways charges.
British Airways: Flying on Qatar in business class
If you’re flying on Qatar between the US and Doha, expect the price of the award to be a flat 70,000 Avios. I’m not sure why that holds, but it’s not an unreasonable price to pay. Some flights are operated by their Qsuites product, so it’s worth taking a look.
British Airways: Flying short distances nonstop in economy on some partners
This might sound anti-climactic, but the British Airways program offers a decent award price for economy flights. However, not all economy flights are made the same. The best options are going to be the shortest flights on flights other than British Airways, American, Alaska, Japan Airlines, or Cathay Pacific. Basically, you want the flights that price at 6,500 Avios or the Qatar flights at 8,000 Avios.
Examples of potential flights include Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Sri Lankan Airlines, and China Southern.
Just keep in mind that ideally you don’t want to connect since the price of each segment is additive. So if you happen to take two short flights, the total price might double. Ouch.
Also, importantly for economy flights, please double-check the cash price of the ticket to make sure you’re getting a good deal.
Qatar: Fly on JetBlue
JetBlue has a good Mint product available on transcontinental flights within the United States and between the U.S. and Europe. Pricing is cheaper than what JetBlue would charge in its own program. And if you need to connect (say, Los Angeles to New York to London), pricing isn’t terrible at 95,000 Avios for business class.
Even economy awards aren’t a terrible price compared to cash rates. You might not appreciate the stopover if connecting (and paying 35,000 for the privilege of doing so), but the nonstop economy rates aren’t bad at all.
Now if you could find Mint to somewhere in the Caribbean? That might only cost you 26,000 Avios according to what Qatar Avios charges and would be a steal.
Iberia: Flying off-peak long-haul Iberia in business class
Let’s take a look at some examples. You can find New York JFK to Madrid MAD for only 40,500 Avios in business class. Or maybe you want Los Angeles LAX to MAD for just 50,500 Avios in business class? Despite the devaluation, this is still an efficient way to get to Europe in lie-flat business class. Isn’t that the name of the game anyways?
Is there anything to look out for?
Protections against “gaming”
American Express actively is on the lookout for what they consider to be “gaming” among members. Within the context of Membership Rewards points, this can include signing up for new cardmember bonuses and not holding onto the card for a full year. Those retention bonuses you might get for threatening to cancel the card? Better hold onto those for a full year after getting them, too.
It might take a little more effort on your part to ensure you’re not going to be hit with an unexpected negative account balance. But spending the effort is almost required with American Express.
“Once in a lifetime” vs. “NLL” language on credit card offers
When you sign up for a new credit card with American Express, you’re generally only allowed to apply for it one time and receive the sign-up bonus. Those card offers are considered to be once in a lifetime offers.
However, American Express makes card offers that some consider to be “NLL”, or “no lifetime language”. To find out if your offer has no lifetime language attached, go to the “Offer and Benefit Terms” pop-up. If you see the phrase “You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card“, that means this is card has lifetime language included. If the offer does not contain that phrase, it’s an “NLL” offer and you may be able to earn the sign-up bonus listed.
Not sure if you’re eligible for a sign-up bonus? You can try applying for it anyways and the system will let you know after you submit if you are not eligible for the bonus (more on this below).
Don’t upgrade to a card unless you’ve had it before
A byproduct of the once in a lifetime rule is that it applies to the card itself, not the sign-up bonus. If you haven’t had the American Express Gold Card before, you might want to hold off on upgrading your Green Card. If you want both a sign-up offer and an upgrade offer, you’ll want to sign-up for the Gold Card first. Then, after getting approved, you can consider upgrading the Green to the Gold. There’s nothing that says you can’t have more than one of the same card. But upgrading to a card will lock you out of getting a sign-up bonus on it in the future (aside from NLL offers).
Some sign-up bonuses now say “as high as”
This is an annoyance of how American Express is structuring some of its sign-up bonuses. You used to know exactly what offer you’re applying for before you submit your application. Now American Express is taking it a step further and showing what you might get but it depends on what their computer thinks of you.
We don’t like this approach to signing up for cards and would generally discourage others from engaging. There’s no public algorithm on how they compute your worth to them as a consumer. And going through the effort of applying for a card just to find out it might be a low-ball offer seems like a waste of time. Our recommendation is to wait for a superior offer to come along that doesn’t have the “as high as” language.
“Pop-up jail” or “PUJ”
You apply for an American Express credit card and get to where you submit the application only to find out you’re not eligible. There is no advice they give on how to make yourself eligible in the future. Some people are just trapped at this screen and all new cards they attempt to get have a similar message. Sometimes American Express just decides it doesn’t want you as a customer. This is what some have coined “pop-up jail”.
How do you get past this screen? If you already have some American Express credit cards, put more spend on them and pay off your amounts when they come due. Do this for a month or two and it might bypass the “PUJ” screen, but there’s no guarantee. If you don’t already have an American Express credit card, you might be out of luck for some time.
Are you ready to earn and redeem Amex Membership Rewards points efficiently?
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