How to Transfer Amex Membership Rewards Points

Vault’s Viewpoint

• Transferring your American Express points to airline and hotel partners is typically the best use for your points.
• Several American Express credit cards earn Membership Rewards Points, including The Platinum Card® from American Express, American Express® Gold Card and American Express® Green Card.
• All point transfers are final, so remember to double check all your information and have a plan for your points before you transfer.

Step by Step on How to Transfer Amex Points

If you want to transfer your American Express points, here’s how to do it on Amex’s website. The process for transferring points on the mobile app is the same, but the navigation to get to the points transfer page may be different depending on your device.

1. Log into Your Amex Account and Navigate to the Point Transfer Page

To find the rewards transfer page, log into your account and use the dropdown menus at the top of the page to navigate from “Rewards & Benefits” to “Earn and Redeem” to “Transfer Points.”

Alternatively, head directly to www.global.americanexpress.com/rewards/transfer and log in from there to access the page directly.

On the mobile app, you can navigate to this page by going to “Membership” to “Redeem Rewards” to “Transfer Points.”

2. Find Your Desired Transfer Partner and Select “Show Details”

On the transfer page, you’ll see a list of all of Amex’s current transfer partners, as well as the most up-to-date transfer ratios (example below). Find your desired transfer partner, then click on the “Show Details” button on the right side.

3. Link Your Partner Loyalty Account to Your Amex Account

If you haven’t previously linked your partner loyalty account to Amex, you’ll be prompted to do so. If you don’t have a partner loyalty account yet, you can click on the link Amex provides to create an account on the loyalty partner’s website. After you’ve entered your partner account number and selected the Card Member associated with that account, click “Continue” to link your account.

When you link your account, you may be asked to undergo an additional security verification. Depending on the partner, there may also be a slight delay when linking your account.

4. Enter Your Transfer Details and Select “Review Transfer”

After you’ve linked a partner loyalty account, clicking the “Show Details” button on Amex’s transfer partners page will instead prompt you to choose the amount of points you want to transfer and the account you want to transfer them to. You can find details about the transfer, including minimum transfer amounts, transfer increments and the official estimated transfer time (which may be different from the actual transfer time), on the left side of the page.

Once you’ve made your selections, click the “Review Transfer” button at the bottom.

5. Review the Transfer Details and Select “Submit Transfer”

You’ll be prompted to review the details of your transfer. Confirm all the details are correct, then click “Submit Transfer” to finalize your transfer or “Cancel” to go back. Remember all point transfers are final. If your transfer is successful, you’ll also receive an email confirmation.

Value of Amex Points

By Newsweek Vault’s valuations, American Express points are worth 1.19 cents apiece on average. But because Amex offers multiple redemption options for its points—featuring some fixed-rate redemptions as well as transfers to hotel and airline travel partners—the actual value you get from your points will depend on how you redeem them.

When it comes to fixed-rate redemptions, these options let you spend your Amex points directly without transferring them to a travel partner. Here’s how much your points are worth for The Platinum Card® from American Express:

• Pay with Points at Checkout for certain retailers: 0.7 cents to 1 cent per point, depending on the retailer
• Pay with Points with PayPal: 0.7 cents per point
• Redeem for gift cards through the American Express gift cards portal: up to 1 cent per point, depending on the gift card
• Statement credit to cover your charges: 0.6 cents per point
• Pay with Points with American Express Travel: 1 cent per point for flights, 0.7 points for most other travel purchases

Although several American Express cards can earn Membership Rewards points, the redemption values may differ depending on the card, so double-check the redemption options for your specific card in your account or the rewards calculator on American Express’s website.

Compared to the direct redemption options, point transfers will likely be a better use for your points. You can transfer American Express points to 21 hotel and airline partners at typically a 1:1 ratio (with a few exceptions). Once you transfer your points to a hotel or airline partner, the value of your points depends on how you redeem them through that partner’s own loyalty program. Travel rewards experts typically use a simple “cents per point” calculation as a benchmark. The calculation looks like this:

Cents-per-point value = [cash value of an award booking minus any taxes / fees you paid for that booking] / [the points you spent on that booking]

Take, for example, this award flight booking from Cathay Pacific.

You could book a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for 27,000 Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific’s rewards currency). If transferred from American Express at a 1:1 ratio, this would cost you 27,000 Membership Rewards Points. Taxes and fees on this award flight are approximately $158. The same flight would cost $813.6 (taxes and fees included) if booked with cash. Using the cents-per-point calculation, the value of your MR points on this redemption would be:

[813.6 – 158] / 27,000 = 0.024 = 2.4 cents per point

For this redemption, the value of your MR points is significantly higher than our valuations. But for some redemptions or some travel partners in general, the cents-per-point value will be much lower. It takes some legwork to find worthwhile reward bookings, but a good deal on an award flight or hotel stay can give you outsized value for your points.

Should You Transfer Your Amex Points?

Given that most of the non-transfer redemption options for Amex points offer poor value—many less than one cent per point—you absolutely should transfer your Amex points if you want to spend them on travel. But before you do, there are some important considerations:

• Find an award booking before you transfer: Since point transfers can’t be reversed, make sure you’ve found the award flight or stay you want to book before you transfer your points. We don’t recommend transferring points speculatively without a definite booking planned, or you might end up with a pile of points sitting unused in a loyalty program.
• Consider transfer times: Amex points transfer quickly to some transfer partners, but others might take longer. If you’ve found an award booking, check the expected transfer time for that particular partner to reduce the risk of the award availability disappearing by the time the points reach your account. Some airlines or hotels will let you put a hold on an award booking for a limited time while you wait for your points to arrive if you call customer service.
• Take advantage of transfer bonuses: Amex, like many issuers, sometimes offers transfer bonuses to specific partners. The bonus will typically be a percentage of the points you transfer. For example, a 25% transfer bonus to an airline that normally has a 1:1 transfer ratio means that 1,000 MR points will become 1,250 airline loyalty points when you transfer. Transfer bonuses can boost the value of your points if you were already planning to redeem them that way.