No one likes to pick up the phone and hear how important they are while listening to jazz loops! To save you time and uneccessary jazz, here is what has to be the greatest click by click guide ever created for moving your points out of American Express and into an airline partner. As a rule of thumb, if you have successfully transferred points to a partner, you will be booking your flights using points on the airline partners website, and not American Express. Follow the gigantic red arrows. If you can’t transfer the points after reading this, you shouldn’t have an American Express card….
Before you begin any steps with Amex, it’s necessary to create a free frequent flier account with the airline you want to transfer to, if you do not have one already…
Step One: Login Online and Click the Drop Down Menu (on top), which opens the Side Menu.
Next, From The Drop Down Menu That Appears, You Click Rewards…
When You Click Rewards, Options Will Come Up, Click Membership Rewards..
Next A Further Drop Down Occurs, Click Use Points…
Congratulations, in my opinion, the most user unfriendly feature is that initial drop down button which many less savvy computer users don’t notice. From clicking “Use Points” you have been transported to the Membership Rewards section of Amex. Here you can see how many points you have and move forward. Now Click Travel…
Now we’re getting to the nuts and bolts. Here on the Travel page of Membership Rewards, click Get Started in the Transfer Points Column…
Below you will find all the wonderful transfer partners. Depending on where you want to go and what cabin you would like to travel in, different partners may be better options than others. Feel free to ask for suggestions if you are unsure which partner will require the least miles, I’m happy to help. Select one partner below to continue toward your transfer….
I have selected British Airways (below) as an example, you will see a very similar page whichever partner you select.
Assuming you haven’t previously linked your Frequent flier program (top option) you will be taken to this screen (below) to link a partner, enabling you to actually make a transfer.
Now that you’ve chosen to “Enroll Additional Programs” you will see this menu to choose your program and enter your information…
I am going to assume that you are capable of entering your own name, address and frequent flier number from the program you are linking exactly as it appears on your frequent flier account. Before you try transferring to your brother, cousin, or anyone who isn’t a named user on your account, please note that you can only transfer points to yourself. Upon linking the program, much to your joy, you can now go back a few steps, go to membership rewards>travel>transfer>select partner and then press transfer. Your points will be ready to move to the partner of your choosing (usually instantly). The final screen looks something like this…
The thing to remember with transferring points is that if used correctly, you can unlock much better than 1 cent per mile (100,000 points=$1,000) value. 100,000 Amex points can get you a round trip business class flight from the US to Europe or further which generally runs more like $5,000 USD. Get the most bang for your buck (or points).
Need Help? Get in Touch: GodSaveThePoints@gmail.com
