With an American Express card that earns lucrative Membership Rewards points, cardholders can redeem points through Amex Travel for hotels (including vacation rentals), car rentals, cruises and flights, or opt to use their points for statement credits, gift cards and more.
Whether you're a points expert or not, you can also maximize your Membership Rewards points by transferring them to Amex's 21 airline and hotel partners. With so many options to redeem and maximize your hard-earned points, your Membership Rewards points are extremely valuable.
Keep reading to find out more about how to redeem points, how to maximize Amex benefits and the best Amex cards to earn Membership Rewards points.
What are Amex Membership Rewards points?
Membership Rewards points are the points currency of American Express. If you have an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points, you will earn them for everyday spending, just as you would earn airline miles with an airline-branded card or hotel points with a hotel-branded card. Plus, depending on what Amex card you have, you can also earn bonus points in certain spending categories.
In the world of points and miles, American Express Membership Rewards points are considered some of the most valuable and useful points you can earn because of their flexibility. Per TPG's August 2024 valuations, we value Amex points at 2 cents per point. Since Membership Rewards points are a form of transferable currency — Amex currently has 18 airline and three hotel partners — there are a lot of ways to get the most value out of your points when you transfer them to partners.
Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points in 2024
How do I earn Amex Membership Rewards points?
The easiest way to earn a lot of Membership Rewards points is by applying for a Membership Rewards points-earning American Express card. Amex has several to choose from, ranging from premium cards with generous benefits (and high annual fees) to no-annual-fee cards that reward daily spending.
Earning Membership Rewards points from credit cards
Here's a look at the welcome offer, bonus-category structure, annual fee and benefits for each of the six most valuable Membership Rewards cards to help you choose which is the best Amex card for you.
| Card | Welcome offer | Bonus categories | Annual fee | Perks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 80,000 points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of account opening. | 5 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar) and prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel. | $695 (see rates and fees). |
Enrollment is required for select benefits. |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 150,000 points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. | 5 points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com; 1.5 points per dollar on eligible purchases in select business categories and eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar). | $695 (see rates and fees). |
Enrollment is required for select benefits. |
| American Express® Gold Card | Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases in your first six months of card membership. Plus, receive 20% back in statement credits on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first six months of card membership, up to $100 back. | 4 points per dollar on purchases at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar); 4 points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1 point per dollar); 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com; 2 points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on amextravel.com. | $325 (see rates and fees). |
Enrollment is required for select benefits; terms apply |
| American Express® Business Gold Card | Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership. | 4 points per dollar on two select categories where you spend the most each billing cycle, on up to $150,000 in combined purchases from these two categories each calendar year (then 1 point per dollar); 3 points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels when booked on amextravel.com; 1 point per dollar on other purchases. | $375 (see rates and fees). |
Enrollment is required for select benefits. |
| American Express® Green Card | Earn 40,000 points after you spend $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first six months of card membership. | 3 points per dollar on restaurants, travel and transit and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. | $150 |
Enrollment is required. |
| The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express | Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within your first three months of card membership. | 2 points per dollar on everyday business purchases up to $50,000 each calendar year with no category restrictions (then 1 point per dollar); 1 point per dollar on other purchases. | $0 (see rates and fees). |
*Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company. |
The information for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Other ways to earn Membership Rewards points
Once you have one (or more) of the above cards, there are additional options for earning Amex points. The first is leveraging Rakuten, one of TPG's favorite online shopping portals. Formerly known as Ebates, the site once offered cash back to shoppers who clicked through to participating merchants from its dashboard. However, members can now earn cash back or Membership Rewards points.
If you don't have an account, you can sign up here and enjoy a one-time bonus of $30 (or 3,000 points) when you spend at least $30 within 90 days of becoming a member.
Read more: How to use Rakuten to earn bonus cash back or Amex points
Do Amex points expire?
Membership Rewards points do not expire, provided you keep at least one card that earns Membership Rewards points open.
If you cancel all Membership Rewards Amex cards, you must redeem or transfer your points before closing the last card. Otherwise, you will forfeit the points.
Who are the Membership Rewards transfer partners?
By transferring Membership Rewards points to 18 airline and three hotel transfer partners, you can search for award travel across the globe, covering almost every major route and city. Thus, earning Membership Rewards is usually more valuable than only earning points in one of these airline or hotel loyalty programs. Remember, you are not locked into one transfer partner — you can send some points to one program and then some to another.
Below, we've listed all those partners, transfer ratios and the transfer times discovered in our testing.
Instant transfers are always preferred, and Amex does a good job of making that happen compared with other transferable points, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi ThankYou Rewards points. If you haven't done so already, link your transfer partner accounts to your Membership Rewards account. This prevents delays in the future when you may need to make a quick transfer.
Related: Current point transfer bonuses
| Program | Ratio | Transfer time |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 1:1 | Instant |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 1:1.6 | Instant |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 1:1 | Instant |
| All Nippon Airways Mileage Club | 1:1 | Within 48 hours |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 | Instant |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 | Instant |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1:1 | Instant |
| Delta Air Lines SkyMiles | 1:1 | Instant |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 | Instant |
| Etihad Airways Guest | 1:1 | Instant |
| Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles | 1:1 | Instant |
| Iberia Plus | 1:1 | Instant |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 1.25:1 | Instant |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:1 | Instant |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1:1 | Instant |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 | Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 | Instant |
| Choice Privileges | 1:1 | Instant |
| Hilton Honors | 1:2 | Instant |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 | Instant |
The best ways to redeem Membership Rewards points
There are endless ways to use these transfer partners to get maximum value for your Membership Rewards points. Here's just a few of our favorite redemptions:
- Fly to Hawaii on points and miles: Transfer your points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and you'll pay just 13,500 KrisFlyer miles for a one-way flight from California, Oregon or Washington to any of the four Hawaiian islands serviced by Alaska Airlines. Those based elsewhere in the country can book nonstop or connecting flights on United Airlines. You'll pay 19,500 points for a one-way economy ticket or 39,000 for business class. This includes United's long-haul nonstop flights from Newark, Chicago and Washington, D.C., to Honolulu.
- Save on business-class award flights: Singapore Airlines also operates two of the world's longest flights, from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). You won't want to spend 18 hours in an uncomfortable seat — so use your Membership Rewards to fly business class. Both routes cost 111,500 points plus taxes and fees one-way, a small price for comfort on such a long flight.
- Transfer your Amex points to Iberia Plus: On off-peak dates, you can fly from JFK and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) for just 17,000 Avios in economy, 25,500 in premium economy and 34,000 in business class each way. This is a steal — most airlines charge at least 60,000 miles for a one-way business-class flight to Europe.
- Transfer your Amex points to Air France-KLM's Flying Blue: Book business-class flights from North America to Europe starting from just 50,000 miles each way.
- Book domestic American and Alaska award flights: Following devaluations from British Airways Executive Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club is now the best way to book domestic flights operated by American and Alaska Airlines. Flights 650 miles or shorter can be booked for just 6,000 Qatar Airways Avios.
- Transfer your Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club program: Book round-trip business-class flights to Japan on ANA for just 105,000 Membership Rewards points from the West Coast of the United States and 120,000 points from the East Coast.
Just remember that transfers are irreversible, so you should only transfer your points once you've confirmed award space for the flight or hotel you want.
You can also use your points to book virtually any travel through the Amex Travel booking platform. You usually receive a value of about 1 cent per Amex point. This is an OK but not spectacular way to redeem these points.
Poor-value ways to redeem Membership Rewards points
Unfortunately, several options for redeeming your points represent less than stellar value and should typically be avoided if you want to maximize your hard-earned rewards. These include:
Using points for charges: This is like a cash-back option covering eligible charges on your billing statement. What are eligible charges? You can view the list of eligible charges from your current online statement. With this option, you'll only receive 0.6 cents per point, so it's not a great return.
Using Pay with Points at checkout: After linking your Membership Rewards account with online merchants like Amazon, Best Buy and Grubhub, you can pay for your purchases at a slightly better (but still poor) value of 0.7 cents per point. Although this option can sometimes be useful for promotions, you may want to turn this off to prevent accidental and unauthorized use of your points.
Redeem for taxi rides in New York City: You can redeem points for your fare in New York City taxis at a value of 1 cent per point.
Redeeming for gift cards: One of the worst options is redeeming your points for gift cards. Depending on the merchant, these redemptions are worth anywhere from 0.5 cents to 1 cent apiece.
Related: How everyday purchases cost me thousands of points
Bottom line
Membership Rewards points are easy to earn thanks to Amex's generous card offers. Plus, with a mix of transfer partners, they're also easy to redeem. Whether you choose to splurge on a tropical getaway or use your points to visit family in another state, having Membership Rewards points at your disposal can definitely help save you money.
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Gold card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Business Gold card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus card, please click here.
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
