American Express Membership Rewards - Top 10 Value Awards

In the hope of tapping into peoples' experiences claiming Membership Rewards awards, and knowing what value-hunters most of us are, here is the question: What awards have you claimed that you considered to be a very good value?

I must say that I have doubts that we can come up with 10 entries for this list but I thiought it was worth a try to see what people have found.

I don't think there is much argument among FT'ers that transfering to an Airline is by far the best value for MR points. So, based on my own personal experience in being able to find seats, as well as info gleened from FT, with finding International First and Business seats being the very best value, I rank them as this:

A) The Star Alliance Partners

1) NH
2) US
3) AC

B) Skyteam

4) DL
5) CO

C) No Alliance Affiliation

6) VS
7) EA
8) HA

D) Low cost carriers

9) WN
10) J6

E) Other

11) ME
12) MX
13) LP

In 2002 I had 80,000 Amex points, back then AF gave you 2 for 1 so I joined their FF prog ( wanted to try Concord which was 160000 pts). about a month later they did a 2 for 1 special on Concord and that included business class flights from the UK to CDG. So my wife and I had a great trip to NY. At the time it cost about £6000 per person , I rate that as being pretty good use of my Amex points.

In the hope of tapping into peoples' experiences claiming Membership Rewards awards, and knowing what value-hunters most of us are, here is the question: What awards have you claimed that you considered to be a very good value?

7,000 points for an A$650/night New Years Eve stay at the Four Points Sydney. Over 7 cents (USD) per point. ^

10k points for a 100$ gift cert @ Mortons steakhouse.....

thats all i ever used on my points... though i've had an eye on the 42plasmas for around 450kpoints....anyone think its worth it?

7¢ per mile - great value. Wish I were going to Sydney. Someday....

Morton's - 1¢ per mile in value so not great.

Airline, the obvious choice, especially when they offer bonus miles.

Finally, to Redray, who used 80,000 for a trip on the Concorde - Bravo!!!

Some of the periodicals aren't a bad deal if you're looking to burn small chunks of points. An annual subscription to the Financial Times used to only be 2,000 points but is currently 3,100.

Still, considering that the face value of an annual subscription in the US is $300, that's 9.7 cents per point -- not too shabby. Then again, even Amazon will sell you a six month subscription for $50, lowering the redemption value to only 3.2 cents per point.

I dumped virtually all of my Membership Reward points into Starwood during the last 2:1 offer. Like another poster, I also stayed at the Four Points Sydney over NYE, but unfortunately the Starwood redemption rate for that particular property was increased for 2005. Oh well... I'd rather pony up the extra points for the W anyway -- pity it wasn't available over NYE.

Like another poster, I also stayed at the Four Points Sydney over NYE, but unfortunately the Starwood redemption rate for that particular property was increased for 2005. Oh well... I'd rather pony up the extra points for the W anyway -- pity it wasn't available over NYE.

I stand corrected. Last year I stayed for 3,000 points (6,000 membership rewards) vs A$600, for a rate of just over US 8 cents per point!!! ^ ^ ^

This year I'll be going back, but it's now 7,000 points per night (14,000 membership rewards points) :td: but hey, that's still US 4 cents per point - still an amazing deal!

Personally I've found the gift cards redemption to be the best. The Home Depot is one of them, along with Staples for the way we've used our points.

We bought a dishwasher and a gas stove from the home depot using our points; at Staples, I upgraded my OS from WinMe to WinXP using a $100 cert from Staples.

What bites is that some certificates only let you use one per purchase (like Staples, Linens 'n Things, and Dell), but others are unlimited, like the Home Depot, Pottery Barn, etc.

I can't see the value of gift cards for redemption of membership reward points. There is ONLY one real redemption offer and that is airline/hotel awards, and that too the "point" variety. Here's my top list:

1. Delta - with very regular transfer bonuses you can afford using double miles for hard to get flights.

2. Marriott-now expired, but used to be an awesome transfer program with the 7 night award with 120K airline miles

3. Virgin- 80K for upper class to Europe is a real bargain

4. Southwest - for real people using real flights.

To me, getting a 1% rebate by way of gift cards/vouchers is not a good value. Any credit card rebate/value should be at least 1.5%. 1% is way to low in my opinion.

I got a TomTom Go navigator for 155,000 MR points equivalent same to the €.
Those Amex towels are also very nice. Pitty they dont have it in the Centurion Card.

To me, getting a 1% rebate by way of gift cards/vouchers is not a good value. Any credit card rebate/value should be at least 1.5%. 1% is way to low in my opinion.

That's true, but a lot of the points I earn are on "everyday" purchases, which earn double points. (Grocery Stores, Drug Stores, Gas Stations, Post Office, and Wireless Bill)

40000/80000 points for a oneway/RT upper class ticket on Virgin is not bad when compared to the 100000 point thresholds that most airlines charge for Business Class. This opinion considers that VS has one of the best products at less cost. They also allow one way awards which increases flexibility. VS often has last minute availability in UC and one could purchase AMEX MR points for a roundtrip last minute trip to Europe at a cost of $2000 + Taxes, roundtrip. $1000 each way to Europe not too bad in Business Class at the last minute and they seem to usually have pretty good availability from the NYC area....even offering BusinessFirst Flights on CO from EWR.....at 20000 less points. Transfer of points is usually instantaneous allowing for quick on-line booking.

I agree with the OP that NH is maybe the most attractive way to use your MR points (unfortunately, I would have to transfer my European-based account to the US first).

The only drawback with NH - similar to UA - is that no changes for *A tickets are permitted once travel starts...

60,000 MR points (net with 30% transfer bonus on 90,00 MR points) for 1 DL business class ticket to London in December. $3,206.01 for the ticket so a $0.019/per point. Not all that great, but its better than forking out the $3200 IMO.

60,000 MR points (net with 30% transfer bonus on 90,00 MR points) for 1 DL business class ticket to London in December. $3,206.01 for the ticket so a $0.019/per point. Not all that great, but its better than
??? isn't it $ :0.053/point? :)

forking out the $3200 IMO.

Hey ls, your right! My math skills get increasingly worse as the night goes on. So that’s not a bad value at all, and much better than the $3200:)