I apologize if there's a better forum for this topic, but based on a cursory search for e-rewards-related topics, this seemed to the the place...

I'm looking for some advice on what folks think the best redemption options are for e-Reward currency. I have about $230 saved up and need to unload it by the end of October before it expires. Any suggestions? What's the best value per point?

Many thanks,
Rafi

It depends on two things:

1. What redemption options you have for your e-Rewards account? Not every e-Reward account is equal.

2. What you value more? Some likes miles while some prefer Hilton (or giftcards).

I don't think you'll get any standardized answer. Quite a few folks like Hilton points but you can only redeem it once every 90 days.

Thanks for the reply, lin. I didn't realize that different people had different redemption options (embarrassing how I'm suddenly the newbie on a topic�Amtrak Guest Rewards are my fort�). What determines how many redemption choices you have available? I can't seem to find any information about that on the Member Services page.

In any case, here are redemption options available to me that I'd potentially be interested in:
Air France
Blockbuster
bmi
Borders
Continental
Delta
Magazine collection
Forzieri
FTD
Hilton Honors
Levenger
Macy's
Neiman Marcus Last Call
ProFlowers
Sony
US Air
Zales

So out of those, does anyone have any advice on which give the most bang for the buck, so to speak? HHonors is tempting, although it wouldn't cover the amount of points I need to unload, so I'll need some other outlets, too...

How does a Delta redemption rank vs, say Air France (my wife has an account with them), for example?

Thanks again!

Rafi

Personally, I would use $100 to get 7,000 HHonors points and another $100 to get 2,000 Continental OnePass miles. Both then could be transferred to AGR.

Yep, I considered that (which is why I put Continental in the list). The problem with Continental is that in order to transfer the points to AGR, you have to do it in increments of 5,000, and I'd be opening a new Continental account for this transfer, which would only be 2,000 points.

$100 gets me 7,000 HHonors points, however, and while I don't have quite enough points in my HHonors account to push it over 10,000 (the minimum required to turn those 10,000 HHonors points into 5,000 AGR points), I could bank them there long enough to either use them at Hilton or transfer them over to AGR after my next Hilton stay.

Here's what I'm thinking:
-I have to cash in at least $176 worth of e-Rewards by October 30.

-My wife saw me furiously researching all of this and just laid claim to a 2,000 miles cash-in to her Air France account (it'll put her at 25,000 to give her a First Class upgrade to Eastern Europe while I sit back in COACH!! ), so I think I'll take the second $100 and throw it to my HHonors account for 7,000 points where it'll either get used or transferred over to AGR when I have 10,000 in that account.

Pretty good bang for the buck, I think, right? It gives us enough for a free First Class upgrade (one way) on a North America-Europe flight (or 1 domestic round trip), and close to a free night at a Hilton or alternatively 5,000 AGR points, good for a one-zone LD redemption on Amtrak.

-Rafi

I didn't realize you could transfer awards to a person other than the name on the account. Thanks for that information - it will definitely help.

I don't want to bring bad news, but the miles required for First class for Air France have changed dramatically after April 1st.
JerryFF, it is possible, but be sure to change the e-rewards account name to match the destination account, otherwise the miles just disappear.

What is AGR?

AGR is Amtrak Guest Rewards

You mentioned the 7,000 HH points not putting you over the 10,000 you need. You can redeem $100 for 7,000 miles now, and again 90 days from now - well before your October date - that gives you 14,000 anyway.

Thanks.

Note the date of the post, it was last Sept of 08, only a month before the October expiration date.

JudyJFLA

Thanks Judy - I'm still living in the past....... :-)

I hate AGR now b/c I have no status there and you can no longer transfer points to hotels unless you are Select or Select Plus.

I basically switch between transferring the max to US Airways and the max to Hilton (I like how you get a point bonus when transferring more money into HH)

I'm going to wait til I get $100 to do another $100 transfer to Hilton. However, the 2mths before my last "expiration" of money, I didn't get ANY surveys to be able to claim a reward. Then one day after a lot of my money expired, I got like 15 surveys in one day. Odd...

I found a Wall Street Journal subscription to be a good deal using E Rewards.
However that only costs $ 45.