Your complete Amex Membership Rewards guide

Amex Membership Rewards highlights

• Transfer partners: You can transfer your points to over a dozen travel partners, including numerous airline and hotel loyalty programs, giving you plenty of redemption flexibility. 

• No expiration date: Amex Membership Rewards points never expire as long as you have at least one eligible card on your account that earns Membership Rewards.

• Partner integration: Through a unique partnership with Rakuten, you can earn Amex Membership Rewards points when shopping at thousands of stores and restaurants, making it even easier to pad your rewards bank.

What are Amex Membership Rewards points?

American Express Membership Rewards points are rewards you can earn within the Amex Membership Rewards program. You can earn these points with specific American Express credit cards that earn Membership Rewards.

How to earn Amex Membership Rewards points

Credit cards

The primary way to earn Amex Membership Rewards points is through American Express credit cards. However, only certain Amex cards earn Membership Rewards points. This includes:

You can also earn Membership Rewards points with American Express business cards, such as:

In general, these cards can provide earning opportunities on everyday spending and welcome bonus offers if you’re an eligible new cardmember. In addition, you may be able to earn more points through upgrade offers, referring friends and family to sign up for cards, and taking advantage of Amex Pay Over Time targeted offers.

Bank accounts

In some cases, American Express may offer bank account products that let you earn Membership Rewards points by opening a bank account and completing qualifying activities. 

For example, a past checking account deal offered 30,000 Membership Rewards points for opening an Amex Business Checking account.

How to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points

Travel

You can redeem points for flights, cruises, and prepaid hotel stays through AmexTravel.com. It’s an easy, convenient way to use your points for travel, but it may not always offer the best value.

Related: Best travel credit cards

Transfer partners

Redeeming points with Amex transfer partners is often the best redemption option for many frequent travelers because you can typically get more value than using AmexTravel.com, especially if you’re able to take advantage of a transfer bonus.

With Membership Rewards, you can transfer your points to over a dozen airline partners, including:

• Aer Lingus (Avios)

• Aeromexico

• Air Canada Aeroplan

• Air France KLM Flying Blue

• ANA

• Avianca lifemiles

• British Airways Executive Club (Avios)

• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Delta

• Emirates Skywards

• Etihad Airways

• Hawaiian Airlines

• Iberia (Avios)

• JetBlue

• Qantas

• Qatar Airways (Avios)

• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

You can also transfer points to these hotel partners:

• Choice Privileges

• Hilton Honors

• Marriott Bonvoy

Keep in mind that transfer rates can vary by partner, and you have to pay excise tax offset fees if you transfer to U.S. airline programs, like Delta and JetBlue.

Related: Credit card transfer partners

Cash back

Cash-back options include:

• Statement credits: Redeem points for a statement credit to cover recent charges on your card.

• Cover your charges: Directly cover eligible charges with points.

• Bank deposits: Convert points into direct deposits if you have an American Express Rewards Checking or Business Checking account.

Related: The best cash-back credit cards

Other redemption options

While typically not recommended because they don’t provide as much value, you can also redeem points for:

• Gift cards: You can redeem points for a variety of gift cards, including those from many different travel, restaurant, and retail brands.

• Pay with Points at Checkout: You can redeem points at checkout with retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, PayPal, Dell.com, and more.

Amex Membership Rewards points sweet spots

There are loads of opportunities to use Amex Membership Rewards for excellent redemption value, but here are a few options to get you started.

Air France – KLM Flying Blue

The shared Flying Blue program of Air France and KLM often offers excellent redemption options between the U.S. and Europe, especially if you want to visit Paris or Amsterdam. The taxes and fees can be high, but they may be worth paying, depending on the situation.

For example, a business class flight from Atlanta to Paris.

While this particular flight would typically cost $4,484, we found it for 60,000 miles and $342.50 in taxes and fees, which isn’t a bad deal at all. 

It gets even better if you’re able to take advantage of a transfer bonus when transferring Membership Rewards points to your Flying Blue account. In this scenario, a 25% transfer bonus would mean you would only need to transfer 48,000 Amex points to get 60,000 Flying Blue miles, giving you a redemption value of about 8.6 cents per point.

Related: Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards

Avios

Avios is a shared rewards currency between multiple frequent flyer programs, including British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Finnair, and Qatar Airways. Given the numerous airlines that use Avios and a decent frequency of transfer bonuses, you can usually find good award flight deals throughout the year.

Take this business class flight to Madrid, for example.

While typically 3,180 euros (about $3,600 at the time of writing), you could snag this flight from Washington, D.C. to Madrid for 40,500 Amex points transferred to Avios. Or, with a 30% Avios transfer bonus, you would only need to transfer 32,000 points over.

This would net you an excellent redemption value of about 11.25 cents per point.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has consistently, and unfortunately, continued to raise the taxes and fees on its flights to and from Europe, but there’s still value to be found within its program. This includes using Virgin points to fly with partners, such as Delta.

For instance, if you want a relatively cheap flight to Hawaii, check out this award option.

You could book a flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu for 22,000 Amex points (transferred to Virgin) and $6 in taxes and fees, or 17,000 points if you’re able to take advantage of a 30% transfer bonus.

If you were to pay for this flight directly through Delta, it would cost $503.10. Using points and the transfer bonus, you would get a great redemption value of about 2.9 cents per point.

Amex Membership Rewards points tips and tricks

Amex Offers

Amex Offers are a free card perk for eligible cardmembers. In general, they provide a discount on purchases from specific companies and retailers, as long as you meet the terms of the offer. For instance, you may be able to receive a $15 credit for spending $60 at a certain retailer.

Note that you have to add an offer to your card before you can use it, which you can do through your online account.

Combine points

American Express automatically combines points between multiple cards on the same account, but there’s generally no option for transferring points to a friend or family member. If you find that your points aren’t automatically pooling, you may have to call customer service to link products to the same rewards account.

Credit card referrals

American Express often offers referral bonuses when you refer a friend or family member to a new card, and they’re approved. You can access referral links through your online account.

Excise tax offset fees

If you plan to transfer Membership Rewards points to transfer partners, be aware that Amex charges excise tax offset fees for transfers to U.S. airline frequent flyer programs at a rate of $0.0006 per point (maximum fee of $99). That means you would have to pay $60 to transfer 100,000 points to Delta or JetBlue.

Pay Over Time

Pay Over Time is a free Amex card feature that lets you carry a balance with interest rather than paying in full each month. We don’t recommend carrying a balance with interest unless you have to, but we do recommend keeping an eye out for targeted Pay Over Time offers on your card accounts.

In the past, American Express has released offers to activate the Pay Over Time feature on your account to immediately earn up to 20,000 Membership Rewards points. That’s without making any charges or purchases, just simply activating the feature. You could even turn off the feature after receiving your points, so it was an easy way to add to your points bank without doing much.

If you get one of these offers, make sure you do it for the virtually free points.

Rakuten shopping portal

If you have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points, you can link your account to Rakuten to earn points on eligible purchases. Rakuten is a free shopping portal that rewards you for making purchases at thousands of retailers, both in-store and online.

This can be a great way to earn points on purchases you were already planning to make.

Transfer bonuses

You may already know that you can redeem Amex Membership Rewards points as transfers to travel partners, such as Air Canada, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. However, did you know that American Express frequently offers transfer bonuses to different partners throughout the year?

This means that, rather than the typical 1:1 transfer rate (which depends on the partner), you can get a bonus for transferring the same number of points. For example, you typically get 1,000 Virgin points for transferring 1,000 Membership Rewards points. With a 30% bonus, you would get 1,300 Virgin points for 1,000 Membership Rewards points.

Transfer bonuses can provide a lot of value if you’re able to take advantage of them during the times they’re available.

Upgrade offers

American Express sometimes offers upgrades to convert one of your existing cards to another card product. Similar to a new cardmember offer, an upgrade offer usually provides a certain number of points for meeting qualifying activities.

Keep in mind that it’s worth comparing what the welcome bonus is on a card before jumping on an upgrade offer. In many cases, you may be able to get a better deal by simply opening a new card rather than upgrading an existing one.

Related: Best credit card sign-up bonuses and welcome offers

What are Amex Membership Rewards points worth?

According to the Amex Membership Rewards calculator, they’re worth at least 0.7 cents per point, which is $70 for every 10,000 Membership Rewards points. However, in our experience, the actual value of Amex points depends on how you use them.

In the “sweet spots” section above, we portrayed different scenarios where you can easily get far more value than even 1 cent per point with your rewards by taking advantage of transfer partners and bonuses. 

FAQs about Amex Membership Rewards points

What is the best use of Amex Membership Rewards points?

We consider using them for travel, especially transferring them to travel partners, to be the best use of Membership Rewards points because that’s where you’ll typically get the most value. Using Amex points for gift cards or online shopping generally provides much less value.

How much are 100,000 Amex points worth in dollars?

Depending on the redemption option, 100,000 Amex Membership Rewards points could be worth:

• Cash back: $600+

• Gift cards: $700+

• AmexTravel.com redemptions: $700+

• Transfers to travel partners: $1,000+

In most cases, transferring to travel partners yields the best redemption value, though it depends on the specific transfer.

How much are 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards points worth?

They’re worth at least $350 in gift cards or cash back, but you can get more value if you redeem them for travel. Specifically, making well-timed transfers to travel partners can more than double the average value.

What kind of rewards do you get with Amex?

The American Express rewards program, Membership Rewards, offers eligible cardholders the opportunity to earn Membership Rewards points. These points can be redeemed for booking travel, transfers to travel partners, gift cards, cash back, and more.

Are Amex Membership Rewards worth it?

Yes, they’re typically worth it for travelers who can maximize transfers to travel partners to get high redemption values. They’re not as worthwhile if you typically focus on earning cash back, since the redemption value is much lower.

Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

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