American Express Membership Rewards Handbook


EARNING AMERICAN EXPRESS MEMBERSHIP REWARDS POINTS

You can earn Amex points with any of the following credit cards.


PERSONAL CARDS

No Annual Fee Credit Cards
Amex Everyday
- 2 points on U.S. supermarkets, up to $6K per calendar year
- 1 point everywhere else

Annual Fee Credit Cards
Amex Everyday Preferred ($95/year)
- 3 points on U.S. supermarkets, up to $6K per calendar year
- 2 points on U.S. gas stations
- 1 point everywhere else

American Express Green Card ($150/year)
- 3 points on restaurants, travel, and transit
- 1 point everywhere else

American Express Gold Card ($250/year)
- 4 points on U.S. supermarkets, up to $25K per calendar year
- 4 points on restaurants
- 3 points on flights
- 1 point everywhere else

The Platinum Card ($695/year)
- 5 points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through AmexTravel
- 1 point everywhere else

The Platinum Card for Morgan Stanley ($695/year)
- 5 points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through AmexTravel
- 1 point everywhere else 

The Platinum Card for Schwab ($695/year)
- 5 points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through AmexTravel
- 1 point everywhere else


BUSINESS CARDS

No Annual Fee Credit Cards
Blue Business Plus Card
- 2 points on first $50K per calendar year
- 1 point after the first $50K spent

Annual Fee Credit Cards
Business Green Rewards Card ($95/year)
- 2 points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through AmexTravel
- 1 point everywhere else

Business Gold Card ($295/year)
- 4 points on top 2 business categories
- 1 point everywhere else

Business Platinum ($695/year)
- 5 points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through AmexTravel
- 1.5 points on U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5K or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year
- 1 point everywhere else


USING YOUR POINTS
With the Schwab Platinum you can transfer your points for 1.1 cents each to eligible Schwab accounts.

With the Morgan Stanley Platinum you can transfer your points for 1 cent each to eligible Morgan Stanley accounts.

You can also use your points to pay for flights and hotels through the Amex Travel portal.  The redemption rates vary with 1 cent per point as the best possible rate.  For travel, you can probably do better by transferring to partners outlined next.


TRANSFERRING POINTS BETWEEN ACCOUNTS

You are not allowed to transfer Membership Rewards points to another person's account, but you are allowed to transfer your Membership Rewards points to an authorized user's Airline or Hotel loyalty account.  The only requirement is that they have been an authorized user on one of your accounts for at least 90 days.


TRANSFERRING YOUR POINTS TO AIRLINE AND HOTEL PARTNERS

You can transfer your Amex points to the following Airlines and Hotels at these standard rates.  Throughout the year they usually have bonus offers to redeem for more than the standard rate.  These offers will always vary, so there's no way to know for sure if any particular airline or hotel will have a bonus that year.

These include the following Airlines:
Air Lingus (1:1 per 1,000)
AeroMexico (1:1.6 per 1,000)
Air Canada (1:1 per 1,000)
Air France KLM (1:1 per 1,000)
ANA (1:1 per 1,000)
Avianca (1:1 per 1,000)
British Airways (1:1 per 1,000)
Cathay Pacific (1:1 per 1,000)
Delta Airlines (1:1 per 1,000)
Emirates (1:1 per 1,000)
Etihad (1:1 per 1,000)
Hawaiian Airlines (1:1 per 1,000)
Iberia (1:1 per 1,000)
JetBlue (1:0.8 per 250)
Qantas (1:1 per 500)
Qatar (1:1 per 1,000)
Singapore Airlines (1:1 per 1,000)
Virgin Atlantic (1:1 per 1,000)

and Hotels:
Choice (1:1 per 1,000)
Hilton (1:2 per 1,000)
Marriott (1:1 per 1,000)

By transferring to partners it's possible to get even more value from your Amex points than redeeming through the Amex Travel portal for a fixed value.  Of course this will depend on which partner you use and the redemption you are looking at.  So, before transferring your points to a partner, it's important to check the value you are getting to make sure it's actually better.  Also, always remember to make sure any redemption is actually available to book before you transfer your points to any partner.  Once transferred, they will be stuck with that partner.  You can't reverse the transfer.

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