American Express Membership Rewards - Value of AMEX Platinum Points

Hello, my current Membership Rewards balance is 191,359, what is this worth? I was thinking of using these for a flight from LAX-HKG but not sure what the value of 190k points is...I've never really looked at my rewards balance until now.

Thanks in advance for any replies!!

The approximate value is $1,913.59 or $0.01 per point. Good enough for plane tickets to most places. :)

Ethan

Your best bet is to try to redeem for a partner airline award. Check which airlines fly your itinerary and then whether or not those are MR partners. You may also need to transfer to an MR partner that is in alliance with the airline on which you want a flight.

Call the airline to see if a award ticket is available. You will need to be a member of the airline's FF program. Have the ticket held, then have your MR points transfered to the relevant FF program to redeem the award.

That's the short version. You'll want to do a bit of research once you've narrowed down your options because some airlines won't hold award seats, or might only hold them for a day or two. So you need to find out those rules vs. how long it typically takes to transfer your MR points. For some airlines, the transfer is instant, others can take a week or more.

So you'll need to do some reading in the forums here for the specific airlines once you've narrowed down options. Most airlines are going to need 50,000+ points for an economy international award, and most want 90,000+ for a business class award. It varies, but you certainly should have enough points to fly business or first class. Are you traveling solo? You will have better odds of finding an award seat if you are only looking for one seat, and if your dates are flexible.

As Ethan states, MR points can also be converted to a dollar value and applied to a ticket purchased through AmEx travel, but this is usually not the best use of points, in terms of value, unless it's your only option.

Do your research, be flexible, and you should be able to get a nice trip out of it. With the number of points you have, you may be able to get the flight and a nice hotel on points for some nights.

Good luck,
Susan

Hello, my current Membership Rewards balance is 191,359, what is this worth? I was thinking of using these for a flight from LAX-HKG but not sure what the value of 190k points is...I've never really looked at my rewards balance until now.

Thanks in advance for any replies!!

Your best bet is a First Class ticket on SQ or other foreign airline. My FC ticket to Europe on SQ was 110,000 MR points. Ticket would have been approx $11,000 making the points worth $0.10 each. That seems to be the best "bang for your buck" with points.

I have 300k in points now, and I plan on going JFK - SIN soon (just so I can have more time with my Singapore girl :-) )

...approx $11,000 making the points worth $0.10 each.

If the award had not been available you would have paid $11,000?

If the award had not been available you would have paid $11,000?

Oh hell no! :-)

I think an award is only worth what it saves me paying with money. When I redeem 125,000 AAdvantage miles for a transatlantic first class ticket, list price $12,000, I calculate the value of the redemption based on the ticket I would have otherwise purchased in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for, say, $3,500.

I think an award is only worth what it saves me paying with money. When I redeem 125,000 AAdvantage miles for a transatlantic first class ticket, list price $12,000, I calculate the value of the redemption based on the ticket I would have otherwise purchased in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for, say, $3,500.

Seems like a very reasonable way for most of us to think about it and get a realistic value (2.8 cents) vis a vis a pie in the sky value for FF miles. (I know, I know - different calculations are needed for last minute tickets, corporate flying, etc.) On target as usual, mia.

I think an award is only worth what it saves me paying with money. When I redeem 125,000 AAdvantage miles for a transatlantic first class ticket, list price $12,000, I calculate the value of the redemption based on the ticket I would have otherwise purchased in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for, say, $3,500.

Totally agree. Thanks Mia

I think an award is only worth what it saves me paying with money. When I redeem 125,000 AAdvantage miles for a transatlantic first class ticket, list price $12,000, I calculate the value of the redemption based on the ticket I would have otherwise purchased in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for, say, $3,500.

Mia,
Interesting. Let me ask you a question. Suppose you have 4 years of tuition payments for yourself or your kid that total 125K, and you have two payment options.

1. pay cash and get no miles
2. pay by CC and get 125K miles and pay 3,500 convenience fee for paying that way.

Would you really pay 3500 extra to use your credit card?
I wouldn't. Not even 1500.

Mia,
Interesting. Let me ask you a question. Suppose you have 4 years of tuition payments for yourself or your kid that total 125K, and you have two payment options.

1. pay cash and get no miles
2. pay by CC and get 125K miles and pay 3,500 convenience fee for paying that way.

Would you really pay 3500 extra to use your credit card?
I wouldn't. Not even 1500.

Mia's post that you quote talks about redeeming miles and not earning. To me 2.8% convenience fee is not worth it to earn extra membership rewards points.

Would you really pay 3500 extra to use your credit card?

Would I pay extra to earn points or miles on a breakeven basis? No. Cash can be spent anywhere, points are only worth $0.028 if redeemed for a specific award. Cash can earn interest at rest, points do not. Cash devalues gradually through inflation, points can be devalued abruptly.

Would I pay anything extra to earn points? Yes. In the specific case of Membership Rewards the premium would have to be less than 2.5% because American Express sells them to US based cardholders for $25 per thousand.

I think an award is only worth what it saves me paying with money. When I redeem 125,000 AAdvantage miles for a transatlantic first class ticket, list price $12,000, I calculate the value of the redemption based on the ticket I would have otherwise purchased in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for, say, $3,500.

Thats a reasonable and realistic point of view when it comes to valuing miles/points. Much more so than the person (no one in particular) who would argue that their miles are worth 10 cents a piece when redeemed for an international first class ticket, yet would never even purchase a coach ticket.

I have a bit of trouble placing a value on them myself because quite honestly, I wouldn't pay anything for a business/first class ticket, I'd simply fly coach or not at all. At my age and income, it would just be fiscally irresponsible to start dropping thousands of dollars on airfare. I have a hard time justifying spending what I do on coach airfare.

I tend to value my airline miles at anywhere from 1.0 - 2.5 cents per mile, based on what I sometimes pass up on my earning miles instead of cash. For example, if I am ordering something online and can earn 5% cash back through an affiliate site but instead opt for 5 miles per dollar offer. Valuing miles/points earned through traditional channels like actually flying is a bit more difficult and I haven't even tried to work out those calculations.

For SPG points, I aim for 2.5 - 3.0 cents per point and have no problem justifying this. The reason is unlike the first/business class ticket costing thousands of dollars that I would never purchase, I could (and periodically do) spend a few hundred dollars on a hotel room and these points offset costs that I would actually incur.