AMEX miles to AA
 

Does anyone have a simple way of transfering AMEX points over to AA?
I think there is a way via Starwood or Hilton, but you lose miles. Is there any other way?

Check webflyer.com.

I had a strange conversation with an AMEX Centurion rep who said that if you call MR Customer Service, they somehow can convert to AA. The agent, however, didn't give details.

AA is not an Amex Membership Rewards partner.

There are some funky ways to get there, but the conversion rates are terrible.

There was some hope when AA co-branded a business credit card with Amex that it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and that they could partner up with Membership Rewards... but that certainly hasn't materialized so far.

Here's the link on WebFlyer:
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/

There is another way if you are just thinking of using your points for travel on American, rather than to try and convert to AAdvantage miles for other partner travel, etc. MR recently introduced a way for members to use their points for flights on virtually any airline you choose. From my understanding (i have actually yet to use the option) you use a link from American Express Travel Services to search for the flight you need and when the payment page comes up, choose to redeem your MR points for all or part of the price of the ticket. Because you are effectively channeling points/miles into money, you can possibly assign a value per miles/point into the purchase price and go from there. Of course the positive thing about this is that you control searching for the flight and price of the ticket you are looking to exchange your points for. Here's where you can start your flight search:
http://leisure.americanexpress-travel.com/Promotions/0,,AMEX|2981|mkt_main,00.html

Hope this helps.

And, welcome to FlyerTalk.

Randy

I suspect that's what mesadler was referring to. R.P. tends to know what he's talking about in the miles department.

That may get you an AA flight, but it doesn't get you AA miles if you want them for something else. You might be able to talk AmEx into buying miles for your account. They may be able to get a better deal on miles than we can individually, though I don't know if they'd admit it, and of course we can't buy them with MR points at all individually, but it might be better (in terms of how much you lose) than other laundering options like Hilton.

Diners is pretty flexible in tailoring rewards for just about anything you want. I don't know about AmEx, but they could do this in principle and they ought to be at least a bit flexible at the higher membership levels.

You can transfer to Mexicana and use the MR points on most AA destinations. Make sure you call Mexicana before transferring.

Mike

cant you transfer AMEX to partners of AA and then use those rewards to redeem ON AA flights?

or, if you have starwood AMEX, why not just do it that way? 20k SPG points = a 25k AA reward...or am I wrong?

:)MM

That's interesting -- I wasn't aware of the Mexicana-AA partnership. Most of AA's partners are in the One World alliance, which doesn't have any members in MR.

And that was what she was talking about on the phone.

It was Mexicana. My question is can you use Mexicana to make OW bookings? Their site has this list of airlines that you can book award travel on.

https://www.mexicana.com/staticVersi...olineas_en.htm

Aeroliteral
AeroMexico
Air NZ
AA
Iberia
LOT
SAS
Varig
AeorCaribe
Aeromar
Air Canada
ANA
Asiana
LAN
LH
Singapore

This is very interesting.

That's not acutally what I was talking about. That cashes out at 1cpm. It's a straight point for cash trade.

[EDIT: Figured out my question. Sorry for the noise ... ]

In this context MR = (American Express) Membership Rewards

MR = Membership Rewards. It's the points you can accumulate on your American Express account if you select the option and pay the annual fee.

The Mexicana transfer idea seems to have some potential. The miles required from Mexicana for award travel on SQ, for example, seem reasonable especially in J and F and to Australia and Asia. On the other hand, the exchange rates with LH seem very, very high. On paper, you certainly have a wide range of options for using Mexicana miles on other airlines.

Has anyone actually used Mexicana miles to get award travel on these other airlines and, if so, how difficult has it been to find award seats. Any specific and recent examples would be appreciated.