American Express Membership Rewards - What is the best way to use membership points??

What is the best way to use membership points??
because I have alot of membershiop point I have no idea what to do with..

and transfering them to AA or any other airline seems to bring a HUGE lost in points...

... transfering them to AA or any other airline seems to bring a HUGE lost in points...

Welcome to Flyertalk.

AA does not participate in Membership Rewards. However, if you transfer to any of the carriers listed here the ratio is 1:1 (except for those airlines which use a unit other than miles)...

http://www.membershiprewards.com/catalog/travel/NewPointsTransfer.aspx?tab=airlines&mrnavlink=topnav:TravelFreqFlyerProg

Airline miles provide the greatest return if you redeem them for longhaul (intercontinental) business or first class awards.

May not be the best bang for your buck, but if your card is eligible, you can also use the points to pay for travel at American Express Travel. Log into your account and click the Travel tab. Last I saw, each point was worth a penny.

Mia, is the expert, but I agree. Transferring to an airline where you want to fly long haul in business (or first if allowed) class gives you a pretty good return, especially when there is a bonus in transferring.

Mia, is the expert, but I agree. Transferring to an airline where you want to fly long haul in business (or first if allowed) class gives you a pretty good return, especially when there is a bonus in transferring.

Be careful with that one. It isn't always the best solution. If you want to fly on VS, for example, it is often a good idea to transfer the points to ANA. @:-)

While I agree with mia and others that Premium International award travel is the best value of MR points, I would recommend first checking to make sure that the airline has availability before you transfer.

I am facing a similar situation where I would like to use my AMEX MR points to redeem for travel to SYD in C. However when I check availability on any carrier, there seems to be very little inventory that is available. I am reluctant to transfer a large number of points into carriers program (especially one I never fly) and then just have them sit there with very little chance of redemption.

Any suggestions would be welcome...

Why transfer points? When not using a AMEX partner airline what I do is call (Must call) AMEX travel and say for ex I want to book an AA flight to ? using points. If the cost of the ticket (slightly higher than booking through airline on line) is $600.00 then 60,000 points are needed for free ticket $700.00 70,000 points and so on. The beauty of this is I still receive metal miles on the airline that I'm flying and the ticket was free using AMEX points.

Why transfer points?

Because under your method, you receive $0.01/point in value (actually less, since as you noted you may end up paying some transaction fee). Transferring to an airlines mileage program lets you redeem premium class tickets, a much better value, assuming the award availability is there.

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I think that the best way to use miles is to earn them on the right card into the right program.

I made the mistake of earning lots of points with AMEX. At that time I thought that I'd be able to easily transfer them from AMEX MR for use with US Air (which was at that time my local airline).

Then, after 9/11, US Air dropped out and was replaced by United. However, transferring from AMEX to UA is not direct.

I finally got a Visa Mileage Plus card so that I can now earn my miles directly into the United program (and basically have stopped using my AMEX card).

FRANK

Why transfer points? When not using a AMEX partner airline what I do is call (Must call) AMEX travel and say for ex I want to book an AA flight to ? using points. If the cost of the ticket (slightly higher than booking through airline on line) is $600.00 then 60,000 points are needed for free ticket $700.00 70,000 points and so on. The beauty of this is I still receive metal miles on the airline that I'm flying and the ticket was free using AMEX points.

Try that for a $2200 ticket that has an open-jaw and an extra stopover in Europe. It'll cost you 220K points for the trip in Y. I booked that trip with the return in Biz for 100K points each for 2 seats by using CO as the conduit. I think I did pretty well there.

... call (Must call) AMEX travel and say for ex I want to book an AA flight to ? using points.

I agree with troyb and sbm12 that this seldom provides the same value as transferring to an airline frequent flyer program, but if you do decide to use this method it is not necessary to call anyone. The points can be redeemed to pay for the purchase using American Express online travel booking site. See FAQ here...

https://www212.americanexpress.com/dsmlive/dsm/dom/us/en/travel/ctn/ctn_ecomm_customerservice_faq_mr.do?vgnextoid=ab75 34edb5a6c110VgnVCM200000d0faad94RCRD&vgnextchannel=0f1513538896c110VgnVCM200000d0faad94 RCRD

...after 9/11, US Air dropped out and was replaced by United.

I don't understand the sense in which you understood that UA replaced US in Membership Rewards, because UA has never participated. However, you can transfer Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan (Air Canada) , ANA or a few other Star Alliance members and redeem for travel on any Star Alliance airline, including US Airways.

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I think that the best way to use miles is to earn them on the right card into the right program.

I made the mistake of earning lots of points with AMEX. At that time I thought that I'd be able to easily transfer them from AMEX MR for use with US Air (which was at that time my local airline).

Then, after 9/11, US Air dropped out and was replaced by United. However, transferring from AMEX to UA is not direct.

I finally got a Visa Mileage Plus card so that I can now earn my miles directly into the United program (and basically have stopped using my AMEX card).

FRANK

As pointed out elsewhere here, United and US Air flights are easily accessible using MR points via the other Star Alliance partners in the MR program.

There are many, many cards that are better to use, even if you have every intention of redeeming on UA. It's crazy, but given Starnet blocking and generally atrocious award pricing, it's true. Unless you are trying to upgrade on UA metal or redeeming for some random award that UA has advantageous pricing, your spend is better allocated elsewhere.

In the past I have found that moving points into a Hilton account to be the most effective. I used them for a Hilton in Helsinki about 3 years ago and got about €350-€400 of accommodation for free. It worked out at about a 2-3% return on my spending - which if I remember correctly was about twice or more the return I was getting elsewhere. However I would recommend signing up for the Hilton scheme first and then checking out the hotels you would like to stay in before converting your points. That way you can get an idea of how to compare across the various deals on offer :)

While I agree with mia and others that Premium International award travel is the best value of MR points, I would recommend first checking to make sure that the airline has availability before you transfer.

I am facing a similar situation where I would like to use my AMEX MR points to redeem for travel to SYD in C. However when I check availability on any carrier, there seems to be very little inventory that is available. I am reluctant to transfer a large number of points into carriers program (especially one I never fly) and then just have them sit there with very little chance of redemption.

Any suggestions would be welcome...

There is lots of award inventory LAX-SYD at the moment. Both on QF and UA. There is also some availability on NZ but not much and hardly anything on AC. OZ also has availability form Chicago.

Through the years, I pretty much have only redeemed my MR points for long-haul international business class flights. My general rule of thumb on how I value MR points is : 1% - 3% - 5% - 10% . 1% for most MR rewards; 3% if I redeem my points for a biz class ticket I could have otherwise bought at a discounted price -- 5% if I redeem for intl biz/first travel that I could not have obtained at a deep discount (ie. advance purchase window has closed, the trip exceeds the maximum stay of a leisure fare or the stopovers would not have been allowed on a leisure biz class fare), 10% in those cases when I obtain long-haul premium travel tickets using points that I earned during a targeted MR double miles promo.

Of course value is in the eye of the beholder. Some might say my values are out of whack because--were it not for the MR program-- I never would have paid $20,400 for the four family biz class tickets to Europe that I redeemed last year for a leisure trip to an opera festival. Yet at the time I obtained the award tickets, that would have been the cheapeast purchase price for the itinerary and travel dates that I had planned. In my case, the trip cost me 360,000 Membership Rewards points.

I have to agree about transferring them for long flights. Last year, we transferred 300,000 for 4 first class tickets from the East Coast to Hawaii (Delta). The tickets bought would have been about $8000 and up, so that would have cost more than twice that through pay with points. Plus we got the itinerary we wanted with just one stop in Atlanta.

You do have to check availability! Also, it was during a 20% bonus time, so then I got 60,000 bonus a couple months later - don't know when I'll use them.

I have to say, I love the Starwood Amex so much more, but the Mem Rewards one is a business one that I have no control over - just get the points, so really shouldn't complain.

Try that for a $2200 ticket that has an open-jaw and an extra stopover in Europe. It'll cost you 220K points for the trip in Y. I booked that trip with the return in Biz for 100K points each for 2 seats by using CO as the conduit. I think I did pretty well there.

Ew...why? For 100 you could've done the same thing in First and has two stopovers and been able to close the open-jaw for free. And wouldn't have had to fly CO/AF/KL/DL.