If you’re looking for a way to earn lots of points to redeem for some amazing travel, you can’t go wrong with American Express Membership Rewards credit cards. Amex provides a number of ways to earn Membership Rewards points and plenty of fun ways to redeem them for some great flights.
In this post, we’ll show you all of the American Express transfer partners, how to transfer Membership Rewards to these partners, and much more. With this guide in hand, you’ll be ready to book some amazing vacations!
Earning Membership Rewards
American Express provides tons of opportunities to earn Membership Rewards points. Pick the card or combination of cards that will help you earn the most points and get the benefits that matter to you.
Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)
The Platinum Card® from American Express - There's currently a new welcome bonus offer of 60,000 100,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $6,000 on purchases in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, earn 10x points on eligible purchases on the Card at restaurants worldwide and when you Shop Small in the U.S., on up to $25,000 in combined purchases, during your first 6 months of Card Membership.
This is our #1 card for accessing 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Priority Pass (enrollment required). We leverage ~$4,900+ in benefits and perks from the card every year. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum card, click here. |
American Express® Gold Card - This card has a welcome bonus of 60,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
We love using this card as it earns 4x Membership Rewards Points at restaurants, including takeout and delivery, and earns 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x).
With an annual fee of $250, there's no better card in our opinion if you eat out and/or shop at supermarkets regularly; and you'll have access to many benefits and perks. Terms apply and for rates and fees of the Amex Gold card, click here. |
Recommended American Express Cards (Business)
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express - Right now, there's a new welcome bonus of 85,000 120,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
See how we get $4,000+ in value per year by leveraging many of the benefits & perks, including access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Business Platinum, click here. |
American Express® Business Gold Card - one of our favorite Amex business cards because we earn 4x points across the top 2 select categories that we spend the most money in each month, such as Facebook or Google ads. The 4x points applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year. After that, you earn 1x.
The current welcome bonus is 70,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Business Gold, click here. |
| The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express - A super simple, no-annual-fee card that earns you 2x points on everyday business purchases, up to $50,000 in purchases per year. After that, earn 1x. Right now, you can earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus, click here. |
A fun and easy way to boost your earning potential is to maximize Amex Offers, which grant additional Membership Rewards for your purchases at select merchants.
Amex Airline Transfer Partners
EL AL is no longer included as of January 2020. Image Credit: American ExpressThe American Express Membership Rewards program has 18 airline transfer partners. Make sure you check the transfer rate (see below) since not all transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio.
| Amex Airline Transfer Partner | Min Transfer | Transfer Ratio
(Amex > Partner) | Transfer Time |
|---|
| AeroMexico | 1,000 | 1:1.6 | 2-12 days |
| Air Canada | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Alitalia | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Aer Lingus | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| ANA | 1,000 | 1:1 | 3 days |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost instant |
British Airways
| 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Cathay Pacific | 1,000 | 1:1 | Up to 1 Week |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Emirates | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Etihad Airways | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Flying Blue Air France/KLM | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Hawaiian | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Iberia | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1-3 days |
| JetBlue | 250 | 1:0.8 | Almost Instant |
| Qantas | 500 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Singapore Airlines | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
| Virgin Atlantic | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
Amex Hotel Transfer Partners
Membership Rewards can also be transferred to 3 hotel rewards programs. Like American Express airline partners, transfer ratios vary (see below), so make sure you check them before transferring.
Hot Tip: Use our transfer partner tool to see how many points you’ll get when you transfer your Amex Membership Rewards to their partner airlines and hotels!
How to Transfer Membership Rewards
With some Membership Rewards points in your account, it’s time to decide where you want to transfer your points so you can start traveling. Here are the simple steps to make the transfer process easy.
Step 1: Select “Travel” from the menu.
Image Credit: American Express
Step 2: Select “Get Started” to head over to your transfer partner options.
Image Credit: American Express
Step 3: Choose your desired airline or hotel transfer partner and select “Transfer Points.” If you haven’t already, you will need to link your frequent flyer account to your Membership Rewards account. In this example below, I chose Delta Air Lines.
Image Credit: American Express
Step 4: Once you have linked your airline or hotel account to your Membership Rewards account, choose how many points you would like to transfer. Transfers must be made in increments of 1,000.
Image Credit: American Express
Step 5: Confirm the number of points you are transferring and complete the transfer.
Image Credit: American Express
Step 6: Head over to the appropriate airline or hotel program to book your award flight or award stay.
American Express Transfer Bonuses
Transferring your points when there is a bonus is an ideal situation. Getting the most value out of every point you have is the key to getting those high level redemptions!
However, you shouldn’t transfer points JUST because there is a bonus. It’s best to keep your points in a transferable account (like Amex, Chase, Marriott, or Citi) until you have a specific redemption in mind.
American Express Transfer Bonus History
Here are the transfer bonuses offered by American Express over the last couple of years. These are the public bonuses only — sometimes Amex will send targeted bonus offers as well.
| Amex Transfer Partner | Transfer Bonus | End Date |
| Virgin Atlantic | 30% | 7/1/2019 |
| Qantas | 20% | 6/30/2019 |
| Air France | 25% | 4/29/2019 |
| Avianca | 15% | 4/1/2019 |
| Hilton | 30% | 11/30/2018 |
| Aeromexico | 25% | 11/30/2018 |
| British Airways and Iberia | 40% | 11/15/2018 |
| Virgin Atlantic | 30% | 9/12/2018 |
| Air France | 25% | 6/15/2018 |
| Hilton Honors | 33% | 12/15/2017 |
| Virgin Atlantic | 30% | 11/30/2017 |
| JetBlue | 25% | 11/30/2017 |
| British Airways or Iberia | 40% | 9/17/2017 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 25% | 6/30/2017 |
| JetBlue | 25% | 5/30/2017 |
| Virgin Atlantic | 30% | 5/30/2017 |
Booking Travel With the Amex Travel Portal
If you’re booking economy flights or hotels, don’t forget to check out Amex Travel where you can book cash flights with points. Points are generally worth 1 cent each.
With the Business Platinum Card® from American Express, each point is worth about 1.54 cents when booking on your preselected airline. The boost is applied in the form of a 35% rebate, so you’ll still need the total points in your account at the time of booking.
Let’s check out an example (below). If you have the Amex Business Platinum card and Delta Air Lines is your selected airline, this booking will cost 69,996 Membership Rewards points initially.
Once the rebate is applied, American Express will return 24,498 Membership Rewards to your account, which means this booking would actually cost you 45,497 points.
Image Credit: American ExpressYou might have noticed in the example above that the booking is a Membership Rewards Insider Fare. This can make your bookings through Amex Travel even more valuable, since American Express sometimes discounts flights if you pay entirely with points.
Should You Transfer or Book Through Amex?
Consider the flights we discussed above. Booking this itinerary through Amex Travel costs 45,497 Membership Rewards points, and the booking still earns Delta SkyMiles as a paid fare rather than an award ticket.
If you were to transfer Membership Rewards to Delta and book this same itinerary as an award ticket, you would have to transfer 60,000 points to your SkyMiles account to book it. In this case, booking through the portal would be a much better deal.
This is clearly a time to book through Amex Travel rather than transferring points. To ensure you get the most out of your points every time, it’s important to check both the portal and transfer options when booking economy class.
Other Ways to Use Your Points
Amex Travel also allows you to book hotels at the same 1 cent per point. This rate is the same regardless of which card you hold. You can also redeem your points for gift cards to merchants like Nike, Saks Fifth Avenue, Walmart, or Amazon, or use your points to shop for items from the Membership Rewards site.
Unfortunately, these are generally terrible uses of your hard-earned Membership Rewards points. To get the most value out of them, stick with travel redemptions!
Combining Membership Rewards From Different Accounts
If you have multiple cards that earn Membership Rewards, they can each be linked to the same account so your points will automatically collect in one place. Generally, when you apply for a new card that earns Membership Rewards points, it will automatically be linked to your account.
One downside is that points cannot be transferred to your spouse or significant other’s Membership Rewards account. However, you can transfer points to a frequent flyer program owned by any authorized users on your account.
Image Credit: American ExpressWhile this isn’t a perfect solution, it still allows you to help friends and family book award flights.
Redeeming Membership Rewards
Using your Membership Rewards points for travel is clearly the best way to use your points. With over 10 airline transfer partners and tons of ways to redeem your points, it’s almost overwhelming! To make the process a bit easier, we’ve compiled a list of the best ways to redeem your Membership Rewards for some amazing travel experiences.
Final Thoughts
American Express Membership Rewards points are tremendously useful if you want to travel. With so many ways to earn and redeem points, you can book award flights to just about anywhere in the world!
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.
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