American Express Membership Rewards Complete Guide

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Membership Rewards is American Express’ transferable points currency. Membership Rewards can be earned via credit card spend, new account bonuses, credit card referrals, and in many other ways. Once earned, these points can then be transferred to airline or hotel partners, used to pay for travel or merchandise and, in one specific case, even converted to cash back.

If you’re at all interested in free and/or luxury travel with points & miles, then you need to understand the basics of Amex Membership Rewards. Here, you’ll find everything you need to know.

This post is part of our guides to the top transferable points programs: Amex Membership Rewards (this post), Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One “Miles”.

How to earn Amex Membership Rewards Points

Credit Card Welcome Bonuses

The easiest and quickest way to earn Membership Rewards points is through Amex credit card welcome bonuses.

Most Amex welcome offers stipulate that you can’t get the bonus if you’ve ever had that card before. That said, it doesn’t preclude you getting a bonus for a similarly named card.  For example, there quite a few versions of the high end Platinum card, and it’s possible to get the welcome bonus with each and every one.  Additionally, targeted offers sometimes do not have that once per lifetime language.  In those cases, you can get the bonus even if you’ve had the card before. See: 8 ways to get the best targeted Amex welcome bonus offers.

Below are the Amex cards with the best current and public Membership Rewards welcome offers.

Card Offer
150K points after $8K spend in 6 months. Terms apply.
$695 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 150K after $6k spend (referral only, expired 10/23)
150K points after $15K spend in the first 3 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
$695 Annual Fee
Alternate Offer: Targeted online offer of 170K points after $15K spend in the first 3 months See this post for details.
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
130K points after $10K spend in 3 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
$375 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: (Expired 2/1/24) 130K referral offer after $10K in spend
90K Points + 20% back up to $50 ⓘ Friend-Referral
90K points after $6K in purchases in the first 6 months + 20% back on restaurant purchases worldwide for the first 3 months up to $50 back. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
$250 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 90K after $4K in the first 6 months + 20% back at restaurants for the first 12 months up to $250 back [Expired 6/8/22]
80kK after $6K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
$695 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 125K points after 6k spend [Expired 11/8/23]
80K after $8K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees)
$695 Annual Fee
This card is only available to clients that maintain an eligible Schwab brokerage account.
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 100K points + 10x when you Shop Small in the US & at restaurants worldwide [Expired 1/20/22]
40K after $3K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. See Rates & Fees
$150 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 60K after $3K spend in first 6 months + 20% off travel and transit purchases for first 6 months. [Expired 8/21/23]
15K points + 0% APR for 12 months ⓘ Affiliate
15k points after $3k spend within the first 3 months + 0.0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening, then a variable rate, 18.49% - 26.49%, based on your creditworthiness and other factors at account opening. (Rates & Fees)
No Annual Fee
10K after $1K spend in 3 months. Terms apply.
No Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
15K after $1K spend in 3 months. Terms apply.
$95 Annual Fee
Alternate Offer: Some people click through and find that they are targeted for an offer of 30K points after $2K spend in 3 months.
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 30K after $2K in first 3 months
15K points after $3K spend in first 3 months. Terms & limitations apply.
$95 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.

Credit Card Upgrade Bonuses

Amex frequently offers bonus points for upgrading from one card to another.  For example, we’ve seen 140,000 point offers for upgrading from the Business Gold Rewards card to the Business Platinum card.  Even better, these upgrade offers usually do not have the once per lifetime language.  That is, if you are targeted for an upgrade offer, you may be able to earn the bonus points even if you currently have the card or if you’ve had the card before.

Note that it’s best to accept these offers only after you have earned a signup bonus for the card that you’re upgrading to. Accepting an upgrade offer for a given card will make you ineligible to receive a new cardmember welcome bonus for that card if it contains Amex’s “once in a lifetime” language.

a close-up of a man holding a tablet

Shopping Portal Rewards

Earn American Express Membership Rewards Points

It is possible to earn Amex Membership Rewards points by starting your shopping with the Rakuten Shopping Portal.  An option within the portal lets you choose whether you want to be paid via cash back or in Membership Rewards points.

In addition to earning points by clicking through to stores from the portal, you can also register your credit cards with the portal to earn additional points at select stores and restaurants.

Credit Card Category Bonuses

Another great way to earn Membership Rewards points is by using the best card for different spending categories.  If you spend a lot personally or through your business on any of the below categories, you can do very well.  Particularly noteworthy is the no-annual-fee Blue Business Plus Credit Card which offers 2 points per dollar for all spend, up to $50K spend per calendar year (then 1X thereafter).  That’s fantastic.

Spend Category Best Options
US Supermarkets
American Express Gold 4X (up to $25K per year, then 1X)
EveryDay Preferred Up to 4.5X* (max $6K per year)
US Gas Stations
Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**
EveryDay Preferred Up to 3X*
Restaurants American Express Gold 4X
American Express Green 3X
Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**, US only
Travel (Broadly Defined)
American Express Green 3X
Flights
Platinum consumer cards 5X
Business Platinum (via Amex Travel) 5X
Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**
American Express Gold  3X
American Express Green 3X
Prepaid Hotels
Platinum cards (via Amex Travel) 5X
American Express Green 3X
Select Car Rental Companies American Express Green 3X
Morgan Stanley Credit Card 2X
Select US Department Stores Morgan Stanley Credit Card 2X
US Shipping Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**
US Advertising in select media Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**
US Computer related purchases
Business Gold Rewards Up to 4X**
US Construction/Hardware Stores Business Platinum 1.5X
Everywhere else Blue Business Plus 2X
EveryDay Preferred 1.5X*

* The Amex EveryDay Preferred card earns a 50% bonus every billing period in which the card was used for 30 or more transactions.  Before the 50% bonus, the card has the following bonus categories: 3x points at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x); 2x points at US gas stations; 1x points on other purchases.  After the 50% bonus, it offers: 4.5x points at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1.5x); 3x points at US gas stations; 1.5x points on other purchases.

** The Business Gold Card offers 4X on the two categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle from the following categories: ⚬ US purchases at restaurants ⚬ Airfare purchased directly from airlines ⚬ U.S. purchases for advertising in select media ⚬ U.S. purchases at gas stations ⚬ U.S. purchases for shipping ⚬ U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers. 4X applies to first $150,000 in combined purchases in your two categories each calendar year, 1X point per dollar thereafter and on other purchases. Terms apply.

Credit Card Referrals

Yet another way to earn Membership Rewards points is by referring friends and relatives to an Amex credit or charge card.  In some cases these referral bonuses can be substantial and Amex has offered as much as 30,000 points for referring someone to another Amex card. However, if you want to keep your friends, then make sure that the offer they get is as good as the best available public offer (by comparing your referral offer to our Best Offers page).

a screenshot of a credit card

Log into your account to check for any special referral offers.

Keep in mind that you can refer friends to other cards — even to cards you do not have.  See this post for full details: Maximizing value from Amex multi-referrals.

Amex Offers

Amex Offers are a great option for saving cash.  But, sometimes Amex Offers can also provide terrific opportunities for point-earning instead.  One (now expired) example was an offer for Reebok: Spend $75 or more, Get 1,500 Membership Rewards points. And one for Hugo Boss: Spend $250 or more, Get 5,000 points.

Amex Offer Reebok Boss

Amex Offers can also be longer term and act more like a new category bonus in which you can get an extra Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at selected merchants.  See: 2x Membership Rewards (2.5x with Everyday Preferred) at many online merchants.

Log into your account and check the section titled “Amex Offers and Benefits” to look for offers like these.

Other Options for Earning Amex Membership Rewards Points

Enroll in Pay Over Time

Once you sign up for an American Express charge card, you will start getting emails and letters inviting you to sign up for the Pay Over Time.  This option essentially turns your charge card into a credit card.  Don’t do it.  That is, don’t sign up until the offer includes a bonus of 10,000 to 30,000 Membership Rewards points.  In my experience, these bonus offers usually appear towards the end of your first year of card membership (as long as you haven’t enrolled already).

a man and a child looking at a pen

Once you get an offer like the one shown above, go ahead and sign up.  As long as you keep paying your card’s complete balance each month, there is no downside to enabling this feature.

It’s possible to be repeatedly targeted for Pay Over Time enrollment bonuses, even on the same card. However, to have a chance of getting targeted for these offers, you need to ensure the card isn’t currently enrolled in Pay Over Time. Amex doesn’t make it obvious how to do that, but you can see our post on how to unenroll here.

FX International Payments

FX International Payments

Amex offers businesses the ability to earn 1 Membership Rewards point per $30 of foreign wire payments (max 4,000 points per transaction).  Even better, you may receive a welcome bonus offer like the one shown above (keep an eye out for this in your mailbox or email!).

How to Use Membership Rewards Points

In general, Membership Rewards points are worth up to 1 cent each. Fortunately, there are three ways in which it is possible to get more value: redeem points for flights, transfer points to hotel or airline partners, or invest rewards. More on each below…

Travel

Those with American Express Platinum cards automatically get 1 cent per point value when redeeming points for travel.  That’s not particularly good, but it’s much better than the value that people get without a Platinum card.  Currently, the only way to get better than 1 cent per point value when redeeming points for travel is with the Business Platinum Card.

The Business Platinum Card offers a 35% Airline Bonus: Get 35% of your points back when you redeem points through Amex Travel for either a First or Business class flight on any airline, or for any flights with your selected airline.

After you receive the 35% rebate, the value works out to 1.54 cents per point.  That’s very good, but it does require owning this ultra-premium card.

Transfer Points to Partners

The best use of Membership Rewards points, in my opinion, is to transfer them to airline and hotel partners in order to book high value awards. Your best bet is usually to wait until you find a great award before transferring points. One exception: Amex often offers 30% or higher transfer bonuses to certain programs (Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are two recent examples).  If you’re confident that you’ll use the points for good value, it may make sense to transfer points when those bonuses are in effect.

Points can be transferred to the loyalty accounts of the primary cardholder or any authorized user or employee on the account.

For specific examples of great ways to use points transferred to airline miles, please see: Amex Membership Rewards sweet spots.

List of Membership Rewards Transfer Partners

It is free to transfer Membership Rewards points to foreign airlines. For transfers to US airlines, however, Amex charges an “excise tax offset fee” of $0.0006 per point (with a maximum fee of $99). Airlines subject to this fee are noted below.

Rewards ProgramAmex Transfer RatioBest Uses
Aer Lingus Avios1 to 1Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus (Avios.com) rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar.  See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
AeroMexico ClubPremier1 to 1.6AeroMexico is a SkyTeam partner. Club Premier points can be used to book flights on AeroMexico, SkyTeam alliance members (such as Delta or Korean Air), or on select partner airlines. Unfortunately many have reported that awards are extremely difficult to book through AeroMexico so we do not recommend transferring points to this program. If you want to fly AeroMexico, look to transfer points to another SkyTeam partner (such as Air France) and then book AeroMexico with that program.
Air Canada Aeroplan1 to 1Redeem for Star Alliance flights and/or flights with Air Canada partners (such as Etihad). No fuel surcharges; $39 CAD award booking fee; 5,000 points to add stopover on one-way award. See: Air Canada Aeroplan: Everything you need to know.
Air France KLM Flying Blue1 to 1Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel.
ANA Mileage Club1 to 1Redeem for Star Alliance flights. Multiple stopovers allowed. ANA offers many great sweet-spot awards, including flying around the world in business class for as few as 115K miles! See also: ANA - a terrific Membership Rewards gem.
Avianca LifeMiles1 to 1Avianca LifeMiles can be great for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable award prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. They also offer shorthaul awards within the US (for flying United, for example) for as few as 7,500 miles one-way. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details.
British Airways Avios1 to 1While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles1 to 1Cathay Pacific has a decent distance based award chart, but they no longer allow stopovers longer than 24 hours. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can be a good option for booking American Airlines flights with a distance based award chart, especially if other OneWorld Alliance miles aren't available. For long distance flights, it is possible to reduce the cost of a premium cabin award by adding on a lower cabin segment. See this post for details.
Choice1 to 1Choice Privileges points seem to be randomly valuable within the US, but dependably valuable internationally in expensive locations such as Scandinavia and Japan. Points can sometimes offer great value when used towards participating Preferred Hotels of the World.
Delta SkyMiles1 to 1 plus excise taxDelta no longer charges change or cancellation fees on awards originating in North America. Flash award sales and flights to/from locations other than the U.S. or Canada can offer great value. See: Best uses for Delta miles.
Emirates Skywards1 to 1The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be steep. See: Emirates Sweet Spot Awards - First class from 30K miles round trip.
Etihad Guest1 to 1Etihad offers a distance based award chart for flying Etihad and another for its partners. Points may offer good value for expensive but short-distance flights.
Hawaiian Miles1 to 1 plus excise taxHawaiian Airlines’ award prices tend to be quite high, but there are some not-terrible uses: fly to neighboring islands for 7.5K miles, fly first class round-trip from Hawaii to South Pacific islands for as few as 95K miles, fly first class round-trip from Hawaii to Australia for as few as 130K miles, or use miles to upgrade paid flights.
Hilton1 to 25th Night Free awards. Best value is usually found with very low end or very high end Hilton hotels. Bonus: award nights are not subject to resort fees.
Iberia Avios1 to 1On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets.
JetBlue250 to 200 plus excise taxJetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards.
Marriott Bonvoy1 to 15th Night Free awards. Opportunities to get outsized value exist but can be hard to find.
Qantas Frequent Flyer1 to 1Best use is probably for flights on El Al with no fuel surcharges. Also useful for short AA flights. Qantas offers distance based award charts similar to Cathay Pacific. Both are OneWorld Alliance members. I recommend comparing award prices across both programs before transferring to either. Qantas offers round the world business class awards for only 280,000 points (but with many restrictions)
Qatar Privilege Club Avios1 to 1Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer1 to 1Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines).
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club1 to 1Virgin Atlantic offers a few great sweet spot awards including US to Europe on Delta One business class for 50K points one-way. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight).

Current Partner Transfer Bonuses

Here are the currently available transfer bonuses from Amex Membership Rewards (this table will update automatically when new offers are found):

Transfer Bonus DetailsEnd Date
[Targeted] 20% transfer bonus from Amex to Etihad Guest2024/04/04

Cash back (invest with rewards)

The best way to get cash back is to add the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab to your credit card portfolio.  This card offers a benefit called “Invest with Rewards.”  This allows the cardholder to deposit Membership Rewards points into a Schwab account at a value of 1.1 cents per point.  For example, 50,000 points becomes $550.

Considering the fact that there are so many ways to earn lots of Membership Rewards points, the ability to cash out at 1.1 cents per point isn’t too bad.

Note that the Morgan Stanley Platinum card also offers Invest with Rewards but only at a value of 1 cent per point.

Amex Business Checking is another way to cash out Membership Rewards, but there is a bit of a catch, though. The standard rate is only 0.8 cents per point, which is something no one should consider doing. There is an increased rate of 1 cent per point possible, but in order to get it, you must also hold a Business Platinum card (and the $695 annual fee that comes with it). Also, that improved rate is limited to a maximum of 1,000,000 points redeemed per year while the standard rate of 0.8 cents per point is unlimited.

Other ways to redeem Membership Rewards Points

You can also redeem points for gift cards or merchandise. At most, with this approach you’ll get 1 cent per point value, but usually you’ll get quite a bit less.

You can also use points to pay some merchants directly (Amazon.com, for example). Don’t do this. These options offer very poor value. Further, they may compromise the security of your account (i.e. if someone hacks into your Amazon account, they might spend your Membership Rewards points – causing you a headache in getting your points reinstated).

Amex Membership Rewards Travel Sweet Spots

Our post, Amex Membership Rewards sweet spots, details the best value uses of Amex Membership Rewards. Either click here or click below to jump to a section of the post:

Managing Membership Rewards

Combine Points Across Cards

Amex automatically pools all of your points together.  When you earn points with different cards, the point total shown when viewing either card is the total across cards.

Share Points Across Cardholders

Unlike Chase and Citibank, Amex doesn’t allow members to move points from one person’s account to another.  That said, it is possible to transfer one person’s points to another person’s loyalty program account.  The key is that the person who receives the points must be an authorized user or employee on the other person’s account.  For example, my wife can transfer Membership Rewards points to my Virgin Atlantic account as long as I’m an authorized user (or employee) on any of her Membership Rewards cards.

In order to use this method to share points, the authorized user card must be active for 90 days before it will unlock the ability to transfer your points to the authorized user’s loyalty program account.

How to Preserve a Deceased Person’s Points

If a person with Amex Membership Rewards points dies, the executor of the estate or an authorized account manager can request to transfer their Membership Rewards points to another person or to redeem points in any other way (e.g. transfer to loyalty program, redeem for gift cards, etc.).  Full details can be found here.

How to Keep Points Alive

Thankfully, it is very easy to keep Amex Membership Rewards points alive.  Simply keep any Membership Rewards card open.  For example, if you are about to close your one and only Membership Rewards card, then open another Membership Rewards card account first in order to preserve your points.  Amex offers some no-fee Membership Rewards cards, such as the Blue Business Plus and the Amex Everyday, so this shouldn’t be much of a burden.

More information

Amex’s official Membership Rewards page can be found here.

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