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One of the best credit card rewards systems is the American Express Membership Rewards® program, where your spending translates into points that can be redeemed as statement credits, gift cards, or travel bookings.
While you can book travel with your points directly through Amex, you can sometimes get better value by transferring them to a partner airline or hotel loyalty program.
Erika Recommends
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
Premium travel card with perks like lounge access. - American Express® Gold Card
Mid-tier rewards card ideal for foodies. - The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
Good starter rewards card for small businesses.
Why Transfer Amex Membership Rewards®?
Depending on your Amex card and purchases, you can earn 1 to 5 points per dollar spent. Typically, these rewards equate to around 0.6 to 1 cent per point, depending on how you redeem them.
Flights, for example, are typically redeemable at 1 cent per point through the Amex Travel portal. But at that rate, you’d need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your card to get a free flight.
However, you may be able to speed up the timeline for free travel by transferring your Membership Rewards® to certain airline or hotel partners.
Although transferring points isn’t guaranteed to provide more value than booking through Amex, you might find that certain brands have better redemption rates, or certain bookings offer great deals.
For example, sometimes you can find first-class tickets where relatively few points equate to what would otherwise be a very expensive cash ticket.
When Should You Transfer Membership Rewards®?
You'll have to research which option provides the best value, because once you transfer points, you can't transfer them back to Amex.
There are websites that track deals on points redemption so you don't have to do all the work yourself, including aggregator sites like PointsYeah (free or paid membership options) and point.me (can get free membership with certain Amex cards).
On point.me, for example, I found a one-way business class flight from New York to Dubai for 139,000 Amex points plus $150 (a fee that equates to about 15,000 points normally), if I transferred points to Iberia Plus, which had a 30% bonus conversion rate as of writing.
From there, because of a partnership with Iberia and British Airways, I could book this flight to Dubai, which would otherwise cost 992,120 points (or $9,921) through the Amex travel portal.
That's not to say the Amex portal always costs more, but in this case, I'd get much more value through the travel partner's loyalty program.
American Express Transfer Partners
Currently, Amex lists 20 transfer partners — 17 airlines and three hotels.
Hawaiian Airlines was phased out for transfer as of June 30, 2025. Also, another partner, Emirates, has been temporarily unavailable since May 28, 2025.
Partners may be subject to change further in the future.
Keep in mind that while some have bonus offers that give you additional value, other instances where the transfer value is more or less than a 1:1 ratio don't necessarily imply a higher or lower value — different loyalty programs can have different monetary values for their own points.
| Loyalty program | Transfer ratio (Amex points to partner rewards) |
|---|---|
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Avios |
| Aeromexico Rewards | 1,000 Points = 1,600 AeroMexico Rewards Points |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Aeroplan® Points |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Flying Blue® Miles |
| ANA Mileage Club | 1,000 Points = 1,000 ANA Mileage Club Miles |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1,000 Points = 1,000 lifemiles |
| The British Airways Club | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Avios |
| Cathay Pacific | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Asia MilesTM |
| Choice Privileges® | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Choice Privileges® Points |
| Delta SkyMiles® | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Miles |
| Emirates Skywards® | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Skywards Miles |
| Etihad Guest | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Etihad Guest Miles |
| Hilton Honors | 1,000 Points = 2,000 Hilton Honors Points |
| Iberia Plus | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Avios |
| JetBlue TrueBlue® | 250 Points = 200 TrueBlue Points |
| Marriott Bonvoy® | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy® Points |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 500 Points = 500 Qantas Points |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Avios |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1,000 Points = 1,000 KrisFlyer Miles |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1,000 Points = 1,000 Virgin Points |
Which Amex Cards Can Transfer Points?
Any Amex card that earns Membership Rewards® can be used to transfer points to airline or hotel partners.
Currently, three widely available personal cards fit this bill:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: This card has a steep annual fee but extensive perks, such as airport lounge access and digital entertainment credit that for subscriptions like Disney+ or The New York Times.
- American Express® Gold Card: This card has a moderate annual fee but potentially offers more ways to earn Membership Rewards®, with boosted earning rates on restaurants globally and U.S. supermarkets.
- American Express Green Card®: The annual fee is more accessible, and while the earning rates aren't always as lucrative, they do cover car rentals and vacation rentals, transit, and restaurants.*
The Platinum Card® from American Express
Rewards Rate
- 5x on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year; 1x thereafter
- 5x on prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com
- 1x on all other spending
Welcome Offer
You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
Annual Fee
$695 (rates and fees)
American Express® Gold Card
Rewards Rate
- 4x points at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x points for the rest of the year
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x points for the rest of the year
- 3x points for flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 1x points on all other purchases
Welcome Offer
You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
Annual Fee
$325 (rates and fees)
For business cards, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Business Gold Card, and the Business Green Rewards Card also earn Membership Rewards® that can be transferred to partners.
So does The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, which has no annual fee.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Rewards Rate
- 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com;
- 1.5x points (that’s an extra half point per dollar) on purchases at U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more, up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year (purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus)
- 1x points on other eligible purchases
Welcome Offer
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.
Annual Fee
$695 (rates and fees)
American Express® Business Gold Card
Rewards Rate
- 4x points on the top two eligible categories where your business spends the most each month from 6 eligible categories, up to $150,000 in combined purchases (1x thereafter)
- 3x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com
- 1x points on everything else
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months
Annual Fee
$375 (rates and fees)
The Business Gold Card now comes in three metal designs: Gold, Rose Gold and Limited Edition White Gold. White Gold design is only available while supplies last. Make your selection when you apply on Americanexpress.com.
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
Rewards Rate
- 2x points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners on the first $50,000 in purchases per year (1x thereafter)
- 1x points on all purchases after that (terms and limitations apply)
Welcome Offer
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.
Annual Fee
There's also the invite-only, premium American Express Centurion Card, also known as the Black Card, which earns Membership Rewards® but certainly isn't for the average consumer.
There's also the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card and Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card, but these are no longer open to new applicants.
Other Amex cards, like cashback ones or those co-branded with other airlines or hotels, earn different rewards that can't be converted into Membership Rewards® points.
How To Transfer Amex Membership Rewards®
Transferring to travel partners is an easy process. The minimums and maximums vary by travel partner, and there’s a small fee of $0.0006 per point ($6 per 10,000 points) if transferring to U.S. airline rewards programs, with a maximum fee of $99.
To get started, log into your Amex account through the Amex mobile app or on the web. (We'll walk you through what it looks like on the web, since sometimes it's easier to make these types of transactions on a larger computer.)
To start, click on Rewards & Benefits on the top menu after logging in.
After that, there are a couple of ways to enter the transfer portal, with one being to scroll down to where it says “Ready to Redeem.”
Click on “Transfer Points” and then “View All” to find the travel partner you want.
There, you'll see the list of travel partners, and you can sort by the ones where you might already have linked accounts.
Or you can search by other factors, like current offers, where you can typically transfer for more than the usual amount.
Click “Show Details” for the loyalty program you want to transfer points to.
If the accounts are already linked, like this Delta SkyMiles account in the screenshots here, you'll go right into the option of selecting how many points you want to transfer.
You’ll also see the conversion rate and any excise taxes, based on how many points you transfer.
If you don't have an account linked yet, when you click “Show Details,” it will take you through that process to pair accounts, after which you can then simply choose the amount of points you want to transfer.
The estimated transfer time is typically 48 hours, so if you don't see the points show up in the partner account by then, contact Amex customer service.
Amex typically has strong customer service, so if at any point you're struggling with the transfer process or just want more clarity, don't hesitate to call.
FAQs About Transferring Amex Points
When is it worth transferring Amex points?
It's worth transferring Amex points if you can get a better deal through a travel partner or if you're close to having enough points for a free trip through another loyalty program.
Can you combine Amex rewards?
Your Amex rewards are associated with one account, and while you can combine Membership Rewards® if you have multiple eligible cards under one primary account holder, you can’t combine rewards among different primary account holders.
However, if you have multiple cardholders on one account, those cardholders' purchases can all contribute to earning Amex rewards under the primary account.
Do Amex Membership Rewards® expire?
No, as long as your card account is active and in good standing, your Membership Rewards® points do not expire.
Is there a limit to how many Amex points I can transfer?
Yes, different travel partners have different limits on how many Amex points you can transfer, but these are typically quite high, such as a limit of 999,000 points for many airlines.
TL;DR: Transferring Amex Points
Transferring Amex points to travel partners can sometimes yield exceptional value.
That's because the cost of a ticket or stay through Membership Rewards® doesn't always perfectly match the cost through a travel partner's loyalty program.
However, this varies depending on the partner and offer. Transferring points is easy but irreversible, so do your homework to see if it makes sense to transfer or book through Amex.
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* All information about the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by Erika.com. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
