Amex Membership Rewards Transfer Partners & How To Use Them

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!

Table of contents

Earning Membership Rewards
Amex Airline Transfer Partners
Amex Hotel Transfer Partners
How To Transfer Membership Rewards
American Express Transfer Bonuses
Booking Travel With the Amex Travel Portal
- Should You Transfer or Book Through Amex?
Other Ways To Use Your Points
Combining Membership Rewards From Different Accounts
Redeeming Membership Rewards
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

Earning Membership Rewards
Amex Airline Transfer Partners
Amex Hotel Transfer Partners
How To Transfer Membership Rewards
American Express Transfer Bonuses
Booking Travel With the Amex Travel Portal
- Should You Transfer or Book Through Amex?
Other Ways To Use Your Points
Combining Membership Rewards From Different Accounts
Redeeming Membership Rewards
Final Thoughts

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)

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 150,000 points with the Amex Platinum card! (The current public offer is 80,000 points.)

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card! (The current public offer is 60,000 points.)

If you’re a business owner, see our list of the best Amex business credit cards.

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

The American Express Membership Rewards program has a ton of 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
Aer Lingus	1,000	1:1	Almost Instant
AeroMexico	1,000	1:1.6	2-12 days
Air Canada	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.

Amex Hotel Transfer Partner	Min Transfer	Transfer Ratio (Amex > Partner)	Transfer Time
Choice Privileges	1,000	1:1	Almost Instant
Hilton Honors	1,000	1:2	Almost Instant
Marriott Bonvoy	1,000	1:1	Almost Instant

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 Earn and Redeem from the menu.

Amex Membership Rewards — Image Credit: American Express

Step 2: Select Transfer Points under Redeem.

Earn and Redeem Amex Membership Rewards Points — 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 the example below, we chose Delta Air Lines.

American Express Transfer Link Account — 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.

Transfer Amex — Image Credit: American Express

Step 5: Confirm the number of points you are transferring and complete the transfer.

American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Confirm — Image Credit: American Express

Step 6: Head over to the appropriate airline or hotel program to book your award flight or award stay.

Bottom Line: Transferring Amex points to partners is easy. Just have your loyalty program numbers handy and your Amex card details, and you’ll be good to go!

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!

Amex has previously offered both public and targeted transfer bonus offers of 15% to 40%. For example, if you were to transfer 10,000 points when a particular partner is offering a 40% bonus offer, your points would be worth 14,000 points after transfer.

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, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Marriott Bonvoy) until you have a specific redemption in mind.

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. You can get up to 1 million points rebated per calendar year.

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 22,516 Membership Rewards points initially.

Once the rebate is applied, American Express will return 7,880 Membership Rewards to your account, which means this booking would actually cost you 14,636 points.

JFK to LAX Amex Travel Pay with Points — Image Credit: American Express

You 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 14,636 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 25,000 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 up to 1 cent per point in value through Fine Hotels & Resorts.

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, as long as they have been an authorized user for at least 90 days.

American Express Authorized User — Image Credit: American Express

While 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 so many 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.

Featured Image Credit: Cherag Dubash via Upgraded Points

Frequently asked questions

What airlines can Membership Rewards points be used for?

There are multiple different airline and hotel partners that you’re able to transfer your Membership Rewards points to. Refer to our table in the post for the most up-to-date transfer partners!

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards points to another person?

You cannot transfer your Membership Rewards points to anyone else. However, you can transfer your Membership Rewards to someone’s frequent flyer account so long as they are an authorized user on one of your cards and have been so for at least 90 days.

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards between your Amex cards?

American Express pools all of your Membership Rewards points into 1 account, so there is no need to transfer them back and forth between cards.

Can you transfer points from an airline to Membership Rewards points?

You cannot transfer miles or points from an airline to Amex Membership Rewards points. You also cannot get back any Membership Rewards points that you have already transferred to an airline partner — all transfers are final.

Do Membership Rewards points expire?

Your Membership Rewards points will not expire as long as your account remains open and in good standing.

How much are Membership Rewards points worth?

Generally, your Membership Rewards points will be worth 0.6 cents toward cash-back, 1.10 cents when cashing them out into a Charles Schwab investment account (depending on which card you hold), or 2+ cents for redemptions made through transfer partners.

Sending feedback...

Your feedback has been sent. Thank you!

We take your comments very seriously as they really help us to improve the site.

If you'd like to add a comment to this article and share your valuable feedback and opinions, please click here to leave your comment.

We really appreciate it!
- Alex & Erin

An error occurred please try again later

About Spencer Howard

Always a fan of flying, it was only natural that Spencer was drawn to finding a way to improve the travel experience. Like many, he started this journey searching for cheap flights to take him around the world. This was fun for a while, but Spencer was intrigued by the idea of flying in business and first class! Throwing himself into what became an extensive research project, Spencer spent 3-4 hours per night learning everything he could about frequent flyer miles over the course of several months (he thinks this is normal).

Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.

30 comments

DONALD FLOWERS June 7, 2019

Does Amex charge a fee to transfer MR points to Delta Airlines ?

Reply
- Stephen Au June 7, 2019
  
  Hey Donald,
  
  Yes, they charge an excise tax for any U.S.-based frequent flyer program, including Delta Airlines. This fee is $.0006 per point with a maximum of $99. Thanks for reading!
  
  Reply
dixieboz July 12, 2019

If I transfer miles from Amex MR into Flying Blue, will it reset my 2 year clock with Flying Blue? I have 57K FB miles that are expiring on August 31.

Reply
- Jarrod West July 13, 2019
  
  Hi Dixieboz,
  
  Unfortunately, that will not reset the expiration clock. Per the Flying Blue website, the only ways to reset the clock are to:
  1.) Take an eligible flight at least once every 2 years with Air France, KLM, Joon, HOP!, or any SkyTeam partner
  2.) You’re a Silver, Gold or Platinum member
  3.) You make a purchase with an eligible partner bank card at least once every 2 years.
  
  Reply
  - Upgradedpintsuser October 2, 2019
    
    Does the AF Bank of America credit card satisfy the 3rd way?
    
    Reply
    - Jarrod West October 3, 2019
      
      Hi!
      
      Yes, that will keep your points from expiring. Thanks for reading!
      
      Reply
Mary Ellen August 31, 2019

Does The Amex Platinum card have typical travel insurance? I heard it doesn’t.

Reply
- Andrew Kunesh September 3, 2019
  
  Hey Mary, good question. The American Express Platinum Card has baggage insurance for checked bags but does not offer full-blown travel insurance. The Platinum card also includes access to the Global Assist Hotline which can assist in case of medical emergencies when traveling. Learn more in our American Express travel insurance benefits guide.
  
  Reply
Jacqu'e C September 28, 2019

I have 2 Hilton Honors America Express cards, for which I receive Hilton Honors points. Does this disqualify me from getting the 100,000 points with the American Express Platinum Card?

Reply
- Jarrod West September 29, 2019
  
  Hi Jacqu’e,
  
  No, this does not disqualify you from receiving the 100,000 welcome bonus with the Amex Platinum card. But do keep in mind that the offer is very hard to come by.
  
  Thanks for reading!
  
  Reply
COLLEEN DOERING February 22, 2021

I’ve booked a transatlantic cruise for April 2022 that ends in Barcelona, I have 750K Amex points now. I want to make the most of my time when I get there, fly to Paris and fly back to the US business or first class. What do you recommend and how early should I book to get the best deal?

Reply
- Jarrod West March 29, 2021
  
  Hi Colleen,
  
  You can get flights between Barcelona and Paris for pretty cheap, so it might not make sense to use points in that instance. As for flying back to the U.S. in business class using Membership Rewards points, your best option would probably be to transfer to 55,000 points to Air Canada which will allow you to fly United’s Polaris business class back to the U.S.
  
  I would try and book as far in advance as you can as award availability can dry up quickly the longer you wait.
  
  Reply
Marc F April 20, 2021

I knew about the ability to transfer your Amex MR points into your spouse’s frequent flyer account as long as they are an AU, so I planned for this for a while. Just tried to finally move over my wife’s MR points into my Emirate’s account (I’m am AU on her Amex Personal Gold card) and it bounced back. Amex was confused, so I asked Emirates and they believe their system only allows point transfers from the same Amex account as the Emirates account. Is this right? Kinda ruins the ability to pool points with family!

Reply
- Stephen Au April 29, 2021
  
  Hi Marc,
  
  You can transfer Amex points to authorized users, but this must be done correctly. If you’re an authorized user on your wife’s Amex Gold card, you should be able to designate the person whose Emirates account you’re transferring your points to. When you try to link the Emirates account, there’s a box at the beginning of the linking form that says “Select a card holder to link”. If you’re an AU, your wife should see your name there. After that, confirm the account linkage and transfer Amex points to that account.
  
  Reply
BARBARA CAMERA September 2, 2021

Does Aex partner with Big Buy?

Reply
- Jarrod West September 3, 2021
  
  Hi Barbara,
  
  I’m not sure I understand your question. What do you mean by parter? As in, do Big Buy stores accept American Express?
  
  Reply
Andy Vo March 26, 2022

Any guess as to which transfer partners with bonuses will be available in April?

Reply
- Jarrod West March 28, 2022
  
  Hi Andy,
  
  We don’t know for certain, but we will be sure to update as soon as we do!
  
  Reply
Anita April 5, 2022

Amex no longer transfers to ANA. Not sure when the change happened. There is a Virgin Atlantic workaround. You have to find the available award space elsewhere and then call VA, from what I understand. It was my favorite transfer. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Reply
- Jarrod West April 5, 2022
  
  Hi Anita,
  
  American Express definitely still transfers to ANA. I just checked on my own account.
  
  Reply
Rose May 30, 2022

Can the American Express blue card points transfer to flying miles?

Reply
- Chris Hassan May 30, 2022
  
  Hi Rose,
  
  If you have a card like The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, you cannot transfer points as you are earning cash back. However, if you have a card that earns MR points, like The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, then yes, you can transfer.
  
  Reply
May September 27, 2022

Hello, I live in LA. I plan to travel to Istanbul Turkey during Thanksgiving. How do I use my AMEX and Marriott points most effectively for the air travel?

Reply
- Jarrod West September 27, 2022
  
  Hi May,
  
  Read through this guide for some helpful tips to get you started.
  
  Reply
Lynne November 13, 2022

Hi there,
To save costs in this economy my husband and I decided to close our Amex Platinum and only hold onto our Amex Gold. However, we have 250k Amex Points we have to use up. Which airline or hotel partner would you recommend us to transfer it to maximize future trips? We most likely will be making one EU and one Asia trip for 2023. Thanks!

Reply
- Jarrod West November 14, 2022
  
  Hi Lynne,
  
  If you’re planning to continue on with an Amex Gold then you do not have to use your points at this time. The Amex Gold card has the same access to transfer partners that the Amex Platinum offers.
  
  Reply
Tien Tran March 2, 2023

Hi,

What is the best way to book business class from LAX to Zurich or Geneva using Amex points?

Reply
- Chris Hassan March 3, 2023
  
  Air Canada Aeroplan has some great rates with Swiss Air, if you find something you like, you can transfer your Amex points over instantly to book.
  
  Reply
Sudo March 17, 2023

I was surprised to find that Amex uses a 3:2 ratio for Singapore transfers (table above is inaccurate/old). Given all Chase/Capital one/Citi use a 1:1 ratio, this is a big problem for Krisflyer members.

Reply
- Christine Krzyszton March 17, 2023
  
  Hi Sudo. I just logged in to my American Express card account and looked up the transfer ratios for Membership Rewards points to KrisFlyer miles and the ratio still states 1:1.
  
  Reply

Earn Points

Use Points

Business Credit Card Reviews

Business Guides

Air Travel Guides

Airline Points

Earn & Use Hotel Points

Hotel Loyalty Program Reviews

Amex Membership Rewards Transfer Partners & How To Use Them [2023]

Earning Membership Rewards

Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)

Amex Airline Transfer Partners

Amex Hotel Transfer Partners

How To Transfer Membership Rewards

American Express Transfer Bonuses

Booking Travel With the Amex Travel Portal

Should You Transfer or Book Through Amex?

Other Ways To Use Your Points

Combining Membership Rewards From Different Accounts

Redeeming Membership Rewards

Final Thoughts

Frequently asked questions

What airlines can Membership Rewards points be used for?

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards points to another person?

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards between your Amex cards?

Can you transfer points from an airline to Membership Rewards points?

Do Membership Rewards points expire?

How much are Membership Rewards points worth?

About Spencer Howard

30 comments

Any thoughts or questions? Comment below! Cancel reply

Advertiser Disclosure

Earning Membership Rewards

Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)

Amex Airline Transfer Partners

Amex Hotel Transfer Partners

How To Transfer Membership Rewards

American Express Transfer Bonuses

Booking Travel With the Amex Travel Portal

Should You Transfer or Book Through Amex?

Other Ways To Use Your Points

Combining Membership Rewards From Different Accounts

Redeeming Membership Rewards

Final Thoughts

Frequently asked questions

What airlines can Membership Rewards points be used for?

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards points to another person?

Can you transfer your Membership Rewards between your Amex cards?

Can you transfer points from an airline to Membership Rewards points?

Do Membership Rewards points expire?

How much are Membership Rewards points worth?

About Spencer Howard

30 comments

Any thoughts or questions? Comment below! Cancel reply

Related Posts

Advertiser Disclosure