Best Ways to Use Amex Membership Rewards Points

American Express Membership Rewards are a flexible, easy points currency to earn, and you can find a lot of value when you cash them in. This guide helps you understand the best ways to use your points for maximum value, plus important information about using the travel portal and getting the award booking you want.  

Amex Membership Rewards best uses at a glance:

• The best use of Amex points is almost always a transfer to an airline or hotel partner.

• Amex points, sometimes called Membership Rewards points, transfer to 20 airline and hotel transfer partners. Most points transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

• Use Amex’s travel portal as the backstop, not your first booking option.

• Award space appears and disappears fast. Check that a seat is bookable before you move your points.

• Amex runs transfer bonuses often. Check the current transfer bonuses before you move points.

Amex has a few marquee transfer options that no other bank can match. First, a transfer allows you to book ANA premium economy seats to Japan. Second, you can book award tickets through Delta SkyMiles. The other is Hilton at a 1:2 ratio, meaning that your points double when you transfer them over. Transferring points is almost always the best way to get the highest value from your points. The best option still depends on your route, your cabin, the cash fees, and seat availability. Get that combination right and your points can be worth several times their cash value.

How do you get the most value from Amex Membership Rewards points?

You get the most value by transferring Amex points to an airline or hotel partner and booking an award that costs far less than the cash price. The travel portal is a reliable backstop, but for premium-cabin trips, a good transfer is almost always the highest-value option.

Transfer Amex points to airline and hotel partners for the best value

Amex partners let you send points into an airline or hotel loyalty program, then you can book the award seat or room you prefer. In the Amex travel portal, each point is worth the same fixed amount, no matter which ticket you book. A business-class award, on the other hand, costs a set number of miles even when the cash price is very high. So the more expensive the ticket, the better the deal you get by using points for an award.

Amex points transfer to programs in all three major airline alliances. By leveraging alliance relationships, you can use one airline to book flights on its alliance partners. That is how a single points transfer to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can let you book an American Airlines or British Airways flight.

Amex transfers are usually instant, which matters when award space can vanish quickly. For the full partner list and the exact transfer ratios, see the Amex transfer partners page. For step-by-step instructions, see our guide on how to transfer Amex points. And always check the current transfer bonuses before you move your points, because a bonus can significantly change your transfer math.

When the Amex travel portal can be the better choice

The portal earns its keep in a few cases. Use it when you have to be on a particular flight and can't afford to wait for award space to open up, or you’re worried about a price swing.

The portal also works when the gap between the portal price and the transfer cost is small or when the cash fares are so cheap that a transfer would waste your points. Some Amex business cards will refund a portion of your points on certain portal bookings, which raises the value of the portal for those cardholders. To learn more about the value of your points, see our guide on how much Amex points are worth. For partner-by-partner transfer strategies, see our Amex points tricks and workarounds guide.

What are the best Amex Membership Rewards point redemptions?

The table below sums up the redemptions that can offer more value than booking through the portal. Use it to find the transfer strategy that fits your trip.

What are the best ways to use Amex points for flights?

These Amex redemptions consistently beat the travel portal. Start with your preferred travel destination, then pick the program that books it best.

Fly to Asia in business or first via ANA Mileage Club

• Best for: Travelers heading to Japan who want a premium economy seat. You also need to be able to book that space the moment you find it.

• Route, cabin, and program: Premium economy to Asia on ANA-operated flights, booked through ANA Mileage Club. ANA belongs to Star Alliance but also has a lot of non-Star Alliance partners.

• Why it offers value: ANA only releases premium economy award tickets to members of its own program. No other partner program has access to these seats. When ANA space is bookable at all, this is the program that finds it. That makes this the only way to book ANA premium economy seats on points. Overall, ANA offers one of the most competitive redemption rates for their own flights, and partner flights as well.

• Fees and trade-offs: The miles price is only one part of what you’ll pay. Award tickets still charge cash for taxes and airline fees, and these can run high, depending on the carrier. Amex is the only bank currency that transfers to ANA, and that transfer takes about 72 hours. ANA won't hold an award seat while you wait for your points to arrive, and you can only redeem award tickets for family members.

• Availability and execution: Premium economy availability is usually quite good year-round, as this availability is exclusive to ANA’s own members. If you’re planning a transfer, remember that ANA miles expire on a fixed clock and no amount of account activity can stop or reset it. So a “stranded” transfer  – when you transfer miles that you can’t use because an award seat has disappeared – can turn into dead miles. Only move points when you have a specific, confirmable seat in mind, and your travel dates and route are flexible. This protects you in case availability changes by the time your miles post. Search the live space first, confirm it's bookable, then transfer.

Fly to Europe in any cabin via Air France-KLM Flying Blue

• Best for: Transatlantic travelers who want flexible pricing. You should also be open to economy or premium economy, where you’ll find some of the best deals.

• Route, cabin, and program: Air France and KLM-operated flights to Europe in any cabin, booked through Flying Blue. Flying Blue is the SkyTeam program that every major U.S. bank currency can reach, so you can top up your balance in a lot of ways.

• Why it offers value: Amex offers Flying Blue bonuses often. So always check to see if your booking will land inside a bonus window. Beyond that, Flying Blue prices its own flights well and shows its minimum award prices openly, even though demand drives the pricing of most seats. Its monthly Promo Rewards deals can be generous in economy and premium economy.

• Fees and trade-offs: Cash taxes and fees on Flying Blue awards are a bit high, especially compared with other ways to book the same flights, and you’ll rarely find premium cabins on the Promo Rewards list. So treat this as a way to book economy and premium-economy, not business-class.

• Availability and execution: Flying Blue releases more space to its own members than to its partners, and it's one of the few programs that will still hold a seat by phone. Check the current Amex transfer bonuses before you move points.

Fly American or British Airways via Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Best for: Travelers booking long-haul oneworld flights who want the lowest miles cost and the lowest cash fees.

• Route, cabin, and program: American Airlines and British Airways-operated flights, booked through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. Cathay, American, and British Airways all belong to the oneworld alliance, so Cathay's program can book seats on all three.

• Why it offers value: Cathay is a cheaper way to book oneworld flights with Amex points, but it’s not the only one. Amex also partners with British Airways directly. But its partner award pricing often beats booking British Airways seats through its own program. Cathay also releases more of its own premium space to Asia Miles members, which matters now that American and Alaska no longer have access to this space for most of the year.

• Fees and trade-offs: This transfer runs at a 5:4 ratio, so you lose a little on the way in. In plain terms, 100,000 Amex points become 80,000 Asia Miles. The lower miles price and lower fees usually make up for it, but run the numbers first.

• Availability and execution: Search both programs when you want a specific British Airways flight. Cathay typically wins on cost, but seat availability isn’t always great. British Airways wins when the seat is member-only inventory that Cathay can't access. On American flights, Cathay has limited access to those flights compared to AAdvantage members, so it comes down to availability and pricing.

Fly Qatar Qsuites business class via Qatar Airways Privilege Club

• Best for: Solo travelers who want one of the best business-class seats in the world. You also have to be willing to deal with a complicated booking flow to get it.

• Route, cabin, and program: Qatar Airways Qsuites business class, booked through Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Qatar is a oneworld program, and it prices awards in Avios, the same currency as British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, and Aer Lingus.

• Why it offers value: Qatar releases much more Qsuites space to its own members than to partner programs. That holds at the standard award level and at a higher-priced tier for high-demand dates. Qsuites is the business product most travelers actually want to fly, and that extra inventory matters.

• Fees and trade-offs: The booking site is genuinely hard to use. It also won't show taxes and fees until you already hold enough Avios for the ticket. Expect a few hundred dollars one-way per person on Qatar-operated flights. Booking for anyone else is hard. Even a companion on your own reservation must be pre-registered on a nominee list, and new accounts (under 30 days old) can't book for others at all.

• Availability and execution: Log in first, because you can't search award space while logged out. An itinerary that doesn't appear isn't available, and Qatar allows no holds. Confirm the space is showing before you transfer, then book right away.

What are the best ways to use Amex points for hotels?

Amex hotel value concentrates in one strong transfer partner and one premium card benefit. For most other hotel programs, your points are worth more on flights. So transfer to hotels only when the specific stay clearly beats the cash price.

Book aspirational Hilton stays via Hilton Honors

• Best for: Travelers who like the Hilton portfolio and want to stretch points across longer or higher-end stays.

• Hotel use and program: Award nights at Hilton properties, booked by transferring Amex points to Hilton Honors at 1:2. The range runs from Embassy Suites and Hampton up to Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, and LXR.

• Why it offers value: The 1:2 ratio means your points go further here than at most hotel partners. Elite members also get a fifth night free on award stays, which lowers the effective rate on longer trips. Hilton waives resort fees on award and certificate stays, unlike other hotel programs. And the co-brand credit cards add the best free-night certificate in the business. It's good at any participating property with a standard room, even one that sells for thousands a night or costs 250,000 points. Hilton status is easy to hold through the Amex card lineup, and that status is what unlocks the fifth-night-free benefit.

• Limitations: Hilton has raised top-tier award prices repeatedly and without notice. So the aspirational stays are exactly the ones whose cost can jump. Always compare the points cost against the cash cost before you transfer. If your whole plan is luxury properties on points, tread carefully.

Book luxury stays via Fine Hotels & Resorts or Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club 

• Best for: Amex Membership Rewards cardholders chasing luxury hotel stays, whether they want to pay cash and stack on perks, or stretch points at properties that reward well on transfers.

• Hotel use and program: There are two separate paths. Fine Hotels & Resorts covers cash stays and is limited to Amex Platinum and Centurion cardholders, both personal and business. Leading Hotels of the World's Leaders Club is a points-transfer program open to any Membership Rewards member. 

• Why it offers value: Every Fine Hotels & Resorts stay comes loaded with elite-style perks and property credit. The standout is a guaranteed 4 PM late checkout. Almost everywhere else that's subject to availability, and even top-tier status holders rarely get it, especially at resorts that carve themselves out of those programs. On top of that, you get free breakfast, property credit, and often a room upgrade. On the Leaders Club side, points redemptions deliver solid value, better than booking through Amex Travel or burning points on Fine Hotels & Resorts stays. The tradeoff is that points stays don't carry the elite-style benefits like free breakfast, even if you hold status with the Leaders Club program. 

• Limitations: Fine Hotels & Resorts is restricted to Platinum and Centurion cardholders, and only a select list of luxury hotels take part. With Leaders Club, the 4:1 transfer ratio looks concerning at first glance. But the program's own points values run high, so the real value is better than it appears. Crunch the numbers before you transfer.

More Amex points tips and tricks

• If you can’t transfer points to your preferred airline, you can often book it through an alliance partner. You can reach an airline Amex doesn't partner with by routing through one that it does.

• You can time a transfer to land inside a bonus window. 

• You can choose between the portal and a partner transfer when the two prices are close.

Check out Amex points tricks and workarounds for more guidance and a deeper-dive into this topic.

What Amex point redemptions should you avoid?

A handful of Amex redemptions quietly give back less than they should. Steer around these.

• Don't redeem Amex points for cash back, gift cards, merchandise, or checkout-with-points. All of them return less than the travel portal's fixed value, and the portal itself is usually beaten by a good transfer.

• Skip transfers to Delta SkyMiles for premium cabin seats. Delta charges two to four times what peer programs do for a comparable business-class seat. It also tightly controls the visibility of its partner space. Delta is worth it mainly for domestic economy flights. Co-brand credit card holders also get a 15% award discount.

• Don't transfer to Hilton, or any hotel program, on a hunch. Always check the value of your transfer before you move your points. A transfer only pays off when the specific award stay beats the cash price.

• Don't expect transfer bonuses, promo prices, or portal boosts to stick around. They come and go, so always check the list of current transfer bonuses.

• Never move points before you confirm a bookable seat or room. Transfers are one-way and cannot be reversed. 

• Expect is a small, capped excise-tax charge on transfers to U.S. programs like Delta. Factor it into your value math.

Summary and expert verdict

The best way to use Amex Membership Rewards points is to transfer them to the right airline or hotel partner and book an award. This option often beats the portal for value. Its three standout redemptions are the ones no other bank reaches: ANA premium economy awards to Asia, its exclusivity with Delta SkyMiles, and Hilton at 1:2, where your points double. Use the travel portal for the flights you simply can't risk losing. One rule protects every redemption mentioned here: confirm a bookable award before you transfer.