Originally Posted by
gringo09
How do I know where there is a bonus?
Best way is to read the AmEx Credit Card forum here on FT.
Originally Posted by
exwannabe
True that it is easy to book that way (and one gets MQMs), but the value is less than what one can get on any airline.
I would not say the value is less than one can get on
any airline. Most of the time you are correct, but there are examples where (especially when one has a limited number of miles) that using miles for 1% makes sense. If one has 20K miles, they get a $200 "credit" toward a flight. Many times people find good value in this if they find a fare for $200. So rather than using 25K miles for a domestic award ticket, they use 20K miles for $200 off a $200 fare.
Would you and I use miles this way? Probably not. But if someone is not a frequent flyer and is not saving miles for some international business class award, I can see why they might use miles this way.