American Express Membership Rewards - Where is info on what MR points can be used for?

I looked on the Amex site (now that I was approved for the 25K bonus offer for the Gold Biz card) to see what I might be able to do with my 25K in points. Can't find any info there.

Apparently the points can be exchanged for miles on various airlines, including Delta, among other things, but which airlines and at what ratio. And, is such an exchange the best use of the points?

Maybe next time, look before leaping? :)

Anyhow, what can be bad about no first year fee and 25K points (they have to be worth something) ^

I looked on the Amex site (now that I was approved for the 25K bonus offer for the Gold Biz card) to see what I might be able to do with my 25K in points. Can't find any info there.

Apparently the points can be exchanged for miles on various airlines, including Delta, among other things, but which airlines and at what ratio. And, is such an exchange the best use of the points?

Maybe next time, look before leaping? :)

Anyhow, what can be bad about no first year fee and 25K points (they have to be worth something) ^

Most info is on membershiprewards.com. You can redeem points for gift cards at $.01/point or to airlines for generally 1 point/mile ratios. Here (http://www.membershiprewards.com/catalog/search/Default.aspx?N=1030000&catalog=1&from=/catalog/travel/&results_per_page=24)
is a link to all the transfer partners. You can also use points to get an actual ticket, like 30K miles for an economy ticket on several airlines (normal blackouts/restrictions apply as far as I know).

You can also purchase merchandise directly from Amex, and those are all listed in the various categories on the website. 25K points is worth about $250 in gift cards or 25000 airline miles. Best value is to use the points to book a expensive ticket, like transfer X amount of points to an airline if you can get your hand on intl premium cabin seats, cause thats where the point value goes through the roof! Intl premium cabin tickets are upwards of 80K points usually and your usual .01/point value jumps to .05+ per point. Check the appropriate partner for availability and amount of points needed of course...

You can also transfer to hotel partners, but from my experience the ratios are crappy and almost always never worth it. Best bets are airline transfers and gift cards. If you don't plan on using your card and you just signed up for the 25K bonus, you might as well transfer the points or redeem them out for gift cards. You can also get cash, but at 2 points per penny ratio. So 25K points will get you $125 in travellers checks/amex gift card/statement credit. Unless you absolutely cannot find anything else to spend points on, this option is better than letting them go to waste...

Thanks for the info and the links.

Initial look suggests that the best deal is get Delta or Continental miles with the points, although I have lots of Delta miles (thanks to many Amex bonus offers), none on Continental.

Too bad Amex doesn't offer UAL or AA miles for points. :(

you can redeem
for flights on AA by transferring to mexicana
for flights on UA and all star alliance by transferring to AC or NH

http://www.dinersclubus.com/dce_content/clubrewardsandbenefits/clubrewards/clubrewardscompared
good summary, only missing AF/KLM

Thanks for the input. I have lots of AA and UAL miles, so would like to use the Amex points conversion to those two programs. While Mexicana et al miles can be used for flights as explained by previous poster, I think miles are worth a lot more if you have 200K in a program than if you have none.

I still wonder if there is way to get the Amex points in the AA or UAL programs. Guess Delta is my fallback.

60K membership rewards > 20K starwood > 25K AA

60K membership rewards > 20K starwood > 25K AA

Thanks for that thought. FTers know everything! :)

Looks as though converting to Delta miles might be a better bet, due to the conversion rate.

Originally posted by Kagehitokiri
you can redeem
for flights on AA by transferring to mexicana
for flights on UA and all star alliance by transferring to AC or NH
Please explain what AC or NH stand for.
Also Could you tell me how to go about redeeming my MR to AA ticket. Should I call Mexicana first to inquire the availability for booking an AA ticket and how much points do I need? Have the ticket on hold and then call American Express to transfer the MR point to Mexicana frequent program?
Thanks beforehand for your response.
Trang

AC Air Canada
NH All Nippon Airways

in response to your question, yes.

Here is the information about redeeming Mexicana miles for travel on American Airlines...

https://www.g4.mexicana.com/frecuenta-multilanguage/en/use-millas/vuele/american-airlines/index.html

I would contact Mexicana to confirm availability before transferring...

https://www.g4.mexicana.com/frecuenta-multilanguage/en/ayuda/directorio/index.html