American Express Membership Rewards - Most Simpllistic Question Ever

I've been spending lots of money in my small corporation and accumulating hundreds of thousands of AM EX points (Gold). Now I've bought 1 airline trip and 1 Broadway show show ticket but they seemed to take an extreme amount of points. So, duh, is there a general formula? With airlines you just follow a chart with miles to dollars but this does not make sense and seems "expensive"--for instance $250 item for 58,000 points.

No set rule. But I expect a "more than" $.02 per point return. So a $250 item for 58K points is terrible, unless you have so many points you're actively looking for ways to burn them.

If you poke around on ftalk a bit, you'll probably see numerous posts evaluating which items are better usage of MR points.

And, remember, there is a never ending tug of war between consumers, who want LOTS of goodies for LITTLE cost, vs. AMEX, who wants to -charge- LOTS of expense for LITTLE in the way of goodies.

Remember that redeeming MR points for flights via Amex travel service gives you a fixed value of 1c/point. You can get much better 'value' by transferring to a FF programme, and booking (e.g. a J/F) award redemption.

tb

Remember that redeeming MR points for flights via Amex travel service gives you a fixed value of 1c/point. You can get much better 'value' by transferring to a FF programme, and booking (e.g. a J/F) award redemption.

tb

I agree, assuming:

1) MR supports the airline you want/need to fly on (not always the case)

and

2) You're ok flying on an award ticket, which will not earn Elite Qualifying Miles (for Elite status qualification purposes, many of us care about that)

Regards

Yep, I should have transferred the miles. I need to train an assistant for this!

I agree, assuming:

1) MR supports the airline you want/need to fly on (not always the case)

and

2) You're ok flying on an award ticket, which will not earn Elite Qualifying Miles (for Elite status qualification purposes, many of us care about that)

Regards

And assuming there are award seats left.

Often using the pay with points is cheaper when you factor in # of points plus fees to fly on a particular date.