American Express Membership Rewards is a credit card rewards program that allows you to earn valuable points on every dollar you spend. Membership Rewards is one of the best card rewards programs because the Amex points it earns are so versatile. You can redeem points for travel, gift cards, statement credits and more, but points are most valuable when transferred to Amex travel partners.
A great way to earn Membership Rewards points is through credit card spending, so signing up for an Amex card with a high welcome offer and a great earning rate on everyday purchases will help you to maximize your rewards.
To squeeze plenty of value out of your Amex points, you’ll want to redeem them through the American Express Travel portal (for flights, hotels, rental cars or cruises) or transfer them to some of Amex’s airline and hotel partners. With these perks, the program is ideal for frequent travelers.
The American Express Membership Rewards program is one of the most lucrative rewards programs in the game — if you prefer travel rewards. If you’re unsure, read up on the difference between cash back, miles and points to decide which type of rewards program is best for you. However, if you’ve got the travel bug, Amex’s long list of transfer partners makes these points particularly valuable, and the wide variety of excellent Membership Rewards-earning cards helps make it easy to accumulate points
The American Express Membership Rewards program is a traveler favorite, and for good reason. But for all its strengths, the program is not without its weaknesses, so be sure to weigh the pros and cons.
American Express reward points are worth anywhere from 0.5 cents to 2 cents each, depending on how you redeem them.
Shopping through the Amex Membership Rewards portal and statement credits generally offer the lowest value redemptions, while transferring points to the right travel partner tends to yield the highest value.
Keep in mind that the value of points transferred to travel partners varies depending on the partner and the reward you choose, so it’s important to plan out your travel and calculate the redemption value before transferring points to a travel partner. If you prefer an easy redemption method that still offers decent value, using your Amex points to buy flights, hotel rooms, rental cars and cruises through the Membership Rewards portal is a happy medium.
| Redemption options | Value |
|---|---|
| Value transfer strategically to the right travel partner | 2 cents |
| Get a flight, hotel, car rental, vacation package or cruise through the Membership Rewards portal | 0.7 - 1 cent |
| Use Amex points on Amazon.com | 0.7 cents |
| Redeem points for gift cards | 0.5 - 1 cent |
| Redeem points for statement credits | 0.6 cents |
| Buy merchandise with points | 0.5 cents |
| Donate points to charity | 0.7 cents |
There are many ways to earn American Express Membership Rewards points so that you can stockpile points for your next vacation. Luckily, they’re not hard to accumulate, especially if you use multiple earning strategies.
| Card | Welcome offer | Earning rate | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. | 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel. Terms apply. | $695 |
| American Express® Gold Card | Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, receive 20% back in statement credits on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first 6 months of Card Membership, up to $100 back. Limited time offer. Offer ends 11/6/24. | Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X), Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X). Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com. Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com. Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point on all other eligible purchases. Terms Apply | $325 |
| American Express® Green Card | Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. | Earn 3X Membership Rewards® Points on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the US. Also earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on travel including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds, and vacation rentals. Additionally, earn 3X Membership Rewards® Points on transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways and 1X points on other Purchases. | $150 |
| Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express | Earn 15,000 bonus points after you use your new card to make $2,000 in purchases in your first 6 months of account opening | 3X points at U.S. supermarkets; 2X points at U.S. gas stations; 1X points on other purchases | $95 |
| Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express | 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in purchases in your first 6 months | 2x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x), and 1x points on other purchases | $0 |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. | 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com, and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases. Earn 1.5X points (that’s an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year. Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus. | $695 |
| American Express® Business Gold Card | Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.* | Get 4X Membership Rewards® points on the 2 eligible categories where your business spent the most each month on the first $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com using your Business Gold Card. Earn up to $20 in statement credits monthly after you use the Business Gold Card for eligible U.S. purchases at FedEx, Grubhub, and Office Supply Stores. This can be an annual savings of up to $240. Enrollment required. Terms apply. | $375 |
| 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 3 months of Card Membership. | Earn 2X points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners. 2X applies to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, 1 point per dollar thereafter. Terms and limitations apply. | No annual fee |
| Business Green Rewards Card from American Express | Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. | 2X points for each $1 you spend on eligible purchases at amextravel.com and 1 point for each $1 you spend on other purchases. | $95 |
These cards come with large welcome offers that can help you earn a lot of Membership Rewards points fast, as long as you’re able to meet the minimum spending requirement. You’ll also want to pay attention to the earning rate, though — when a card’s bonus categories align with your spending habits, you’re able to continue collecting points for years to come.
In addition to the welcome offers and earning rates listed, each card comes with its own list of extra benefits and perks, such as statement credits and complimentary airport lounge access, that can help you recoup the annual fee.
Combining multiple American Express cards can be a smart way to earn points even faster, as long as your earnings are enough to outweigh the annual fees. It’s possible to qualify for the welcome offer on more than one American Express card. For example, you could open both The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card, earn both welcome offers and rotate the two cards to get bonus points on multiple spending categories.
However, you should understand Amex application rules before applying for multiple cards to make sure you’ll qualify. An important rule to note is that you can only have four American Express consumer cards at a time.
Savvy traveler tip: The American Express “once-in-a-lifetime” rule means each cardholder may receive only one welcome offer per card type during their life. So if you’ve had a certain Amex card before, you may not be eligible for the welcome offer. Amex now offers an eligibility tool that pops up after you apply for a card and before credit is pulled.American Express regularly runs targeted welcome offers that are more generous than its standard welcome offers. For example, both The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express sometimes make targeted welcome offers of more than 100,000 points if you meet the minimum spending requirement.
Sometimes these offers are publicly available for a limited time, and sometimes you have to receive the offer in order to qualify. The main ways to get a targeted offer are through the U.S. mail, through an email or by going to AmericanExpress.com to see if the targeted offer appears for you.
If you have an American Express card, you might be able to earn bonus points for referring a friend who’s approved for the same card. Make sure they apply for the card using your referral link, which you can get at the Amex Refer a Friend page.
Amex Offers gives you the chance to earn bonus points on spending with certain retailers. Simply log in to your American Express account, scroll down to “Amex Offers & Benefits” and add any relevant offers to your card.
Rakuten is a shopping portal that allows you to earn cash back, but you can also link your Membership Rewards account and have rewards converted to Membership Rewards points. You’ll get 1 Membership Rewards point for every 1% back you earn, and you’ll still earn points through your card, making this a great way to “double dip” with your regular shopping.
You can redeem your Membership Rewards points for everything from travel to statement credits and even charitable donations, but each option yields a different value. The best ways to use American Express Membership Rewards points will get you at least 1 cent per point. Here are all the ways you can use your Amex points.
The Amex rewards program is very versatile, but that doesn’t mean all of the options for using your Amex points are good ones. In fact, many won’t get you anywhere near the maximum value for your points. Amex has a points value calculator, so you can see the dollar value of your points used in different ways.
Amex Travel lets you redeem your points for flights, hotel stays, rental cars or cruises. You search the portal the same way you’d search other travel aggregators like Expedia and Kayak, and the offerings are similar. This is the easiest way to redeem Amex points, and it offers decent — though not the highest — value. You’ll also get the flexibility of not being limited to one airline or hotel chain.
The value you get from these redemptions varies — some hotels net just 0.7 cents per point, while some flights can get 1 cent per point or more — but typically these hover around 1 cent per point. Flights tend to offer more value than other travel options.
Below you’ll find a list of all of Amex’s transfer partners and the transfer rate for each one. Pay attention to how long it takes to transfer American Express points to your partner of choice, and make sure you have a trip in mind before making the transfer, as it can’t be reversed.
| Transfer partner | Airline alliance | Value of transfer into partner loyalty program |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | None | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Avios |
| AeroMexico | SkyTeam | 1,000 MR points = 1,600 AeroMexico Rewards Points |
| Air Canada | Star Alliance | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Aeroplan Points |
| Air France/KLM | SkyTeam | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Flying Blue Miles |
| ANA Mileage Club | Star Alliance | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 ANA Mileage Club Miles |
| Cathay Pacific | oneworld | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Asia Miles |
| Avianca | Star Alliance | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 LifeMiles |
| British Airways | oneworld | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Avios |
| Delta Air Lines | SkyTeam | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 SkyMiles |
| Emirates | None | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Skywards Miles |
| Etihad | None | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Etihad Guest Miles |
| Hawaiian Airlines | None | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 HawaiianMiles® |
| Iberia | oneworld | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Avios |
| JetBlue | None | 250 MR points = 200 TrueBlue Points |
| Qantas | oneworld | 500 MR points = 500 Qantas Points |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | oneworld | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Avios |
| Singapore Airlines | Star Alliance | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 KrisFlyer® Miles |
| Virgin Atlantic | SkyTeam | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Virgin Points |
| Choice Privileges | N/A | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Choice Privileges® |
| Hilton Honors | N/A | 1,000 MR points = 2,000 Hilton Honors Points |
| Marriott Bonvoy | N/A | 1,000 MR points = 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points |
Depending on which airline partner you choose to transfer your points to, you may also have the opportunity for an upgrade using your Membership Rewards points.
To see if you’re eligible to upgrade with points, follow these steps:
1. Go to your reservation details to see if you’re eligible for an upgrade. If you’re eligible, you can elect to use points to make an offer for an upgrade.
2. Your upgrade offer will either get accepted or denied by the airline within around five days of your flight, and American Express will keep you in the loop with those details via email.
3. If your upgrade offer is accepted, be sure to get a copy of your updated flight itinerary before departure.
Once your upgrade offer is accepted, the dollar amount for the upgrade will initially be charged to your Amex account. Then, the corresponding points will be removed from your Membership Rewards account and the dollar amount will be credited back to your American Express card account.
You can use your points to pay when you shop with a long list of popular online retailers. This is an easy and versatile way to use your points, but unfortunately, it has a low redemption value. You’ll get 0.5 cents per point using this method.
You can use points to buy gift cards with dozens of major retailers, restaurants, technology companies and more. Starbucks, Nordstrom, Uber, Walmart and Best Buy are all on the list, as are American Express gift cards, which function similarly to cash. You could get 0.5 to 1.1 cents per point from this redemption option depending on the retailer. Typically, this isn’t the best use of your Membership Rewards points.
If your card bill is larger than you’d prefer, you can redeem your points for statement credits, essentially erasing any eligible purchases. This option is super handy, but you’ll only get 0.6 cents per point, so this is also one of the lowest value redemptions.
You can use your points to donate to over 1.5 million charities with JustGiving. You’ll likely get no more than 0.7 cents per point from this redemption option, but it’s available if you can’t redeem your points for travel.
To enroll in the Amex Membership Rewards program, you’ll need to have an eligible American Express card. Once you’ve received your card, you’ll go to the American Express site to log in to your account or to enroll in the program by entering your new card information. If you’ve just received your card and are a first-time cardholder, you’ll need to click below the login to “Create a new online account.” If you already have an account, you can log in and link any new eligible cards.
Making sure that all eligible cards are linked to your account will help you maximize your Amex points earnings. If you have an eligible corporate card issued in your name, you can link that to your account as well, though you may have to pay a fee to do so.
Using Amex points for flights is easy, and you can redeem them through a partner airline or through Amex directly.
The most valuable way to use Amex points for flights is to transfer your points to an Amex Membership Rewards transfer partner. By going this route, as we mentioned, you can get the maximum value for your Amex points. Once you’ve transferred your points into the partner program, you will then follow that partner’s procedure for booking a flight with points. This procedure differs by partner, so it’s smart to familiarize yourself with each program you plan to use regularly.
You also have the option to redeem Amex points for travel through the American Express Travel portal. Here you can book a flight, hotel, car rental, cruise or package. You’ll get less value per Amex point, but you may find the procedure more straightforward.
To use your points this way, log in to your American Express Travel account and select the item you want to buy. Then proceed to checkout and select “Use all or some Membership Rewards points,” choose the amount you would like to use and select “Apply.” At the time of purchase, the full amount will be charged to your Amex card, but it will be credited back to your account within 48 hours.
Savvy traveler tip: Make sure you’re 100% certain about your redemption plans before you transfer your Membership Rewards points to a travel partner. Once transferred, you can’t move the points back to your Amex account.When comparing Amex Membership Rewards against other comparable credit card rewards programs, you’ll likely want to see how Membership Rewards stacks up against Chase Ultimate Rewards®. While the two programs are very similar, they do have different transfer partners, redemption options and point valuations. Before committing to either flexible rewards program, you’ll want to consider which transfer partners and redemption options you think you’ll use the most to see which program will be most beneficial for your needs.
You earn American Express Membership Rewards points through your card spending, and they can be redeemed for a variety of options, including travel, statement credits, gift cards and shopping. American Express points can also be transferred to numerous airline and hotel partners, which is considered to be the best way to use Amex points.
American Express Membership Rewards points do not expire as long as you have a Membership Rewards-earning card account that is open and in good standing. If you want to close your card, you’ll need to spend your points first, or they’ll be forfeited. You can also consider downgrading to or opening a low- or no-annual-fee Membership Rewards-earning card to maintain your points.
American Express Membership Rewards points can be used for travel booked through the Amex Travel portal, transferred to any of Amex’s airline and hotel partners or redeemed for gift cards, statement credits, online shopping and charity donations.
For personal cards, The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, the American Express® Green Card, Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express and Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express are all eligible for Membership Rewards. For business cards, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Business Gold Card and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express are eligible for Membership Rewards.
No, you cannot transfer Membership Rewards points to someone else.
After completing eligible purchases, your rewards points will initially appear as Amex points “pending.” Because these points are in pending status, they are not technically posted. So, when do Amex points post? Within 24 to 72 hours after you pay the minimum amount due on your statement.
To see rates & fees for American Express cards mentioned on this page, visit the links provided below:
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