Amex Membership Rewards Transfer Partners & How to Use Them
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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
- 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
- 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)
| The Platinum Card® from American Express - There's currently a new welcome bonus offer of This is our #1 card for accessing 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Priority Pass (enrollment required). We leverage ~$3,000+ 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 new welcome bonus of 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). 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 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. For rates & 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. Terms Apply. 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. 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 purchase, up to $50,000 annually. After that, then 1x. That makes for an easy 100,000 points per year. 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
The 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.
| 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 “Travel” from the menu.
Step 2: Select “Get Started” to head over to your transfer partner options.
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.
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.
Step 5: Confirm the number of points you are transferring and complete the transfer.
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.
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 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.
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 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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Does Amex charge a fee to transfer MR points to Delta Airlines ?
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!
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.
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.
Does the AF Bank of America credit card satisfy the 3rd way?
Hi!
Yes, that will keep your points from expiring. Thanks for reading!
Does The Amex Platinum card have typical travel insurance? I heard it doesn’t.
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.
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?
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!
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?
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.
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!
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.