Advice on AmEx Points Transfer

My son has about 88,000 AmEx points. He is planning to cancel the card and is asking for advice about where best to transfer his points.

He and his girlfriend are planning a trip to Europe in May of next year, but it may be a bit late in the game to score any saver award fares there on Delta.

Otherwise, he does love going to Hawaii every few years and, on a google search, I found some information about being able to book fares on Hawaiian Air for only 35 K points round trip from the east coast (he lives in the Wash DC area) using Virgin America ff progam. However, I am not clear how this would work.

Any advice on the best use of these points for award travel?

Amex Points? If his AMEX card gives him StarPoints, and he can use American Airlines, this is a good time to transfer StarPoints to miles. For every 20K point transfer, you get an additional 10K miles! See this thread for more info: http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244866

PamMo said:

Amex Points? If his AMEX card gives him StarPoints, and he can use American Airlines, this is a good time to transfer StarPoints to miles. For every 20K point transfer, you get an additional 10K miles! See this thread for more info: http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244866

Click to expand...

Does it have to be a Starwood-branded card? I don't believe he has that type of card. He has a Gold card.

What airlines can he transfer to? This info. should be on the AMEX website for his card.

regatta333 said:

Does it have to be a Starwood-branded card? I don't believe he has that type of card. He has a Gold card.

Click to expand...

Then he probably has Membership Reward points.
Here's the list of options for Amex points transfers - https://rewards.americanexpress.com/myca/loyalty/us/catalog/view/ptlanding/?tier=MR&viewfullsite=y

Hawaiian Airlines is 20,000 to 40,000 miles each way.
AWARD CHART - http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/kw/award chart
Frequent flyer members can search for award availability but you have to login to search.
NOTE:Hawaiian has direct nonstop flights from JFK to HNL.

British Airways (Avios) is another option. Membership Rewards has a special offer at the moment.
Get 50% more Avios when you transfer Membership Rewards points through 10/10/2016.
Avios miles can be used to book on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines
There are several sites that discuss Avois. Here's one - http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/04/08/british-airways-miles/

Starwood

Amex MR take 3 to get 1 Starwood point. Unless you are just topping off an account it is just plain crazy to make this redemption. As pointed out above there are better options.

Pam is just asking if this is an SPG AMEX - not suggesting he convert to Starpoints.

alwysonvac said:

Then he probably has Membership Reward points.
Here's the list of options for Amex points transfers - https://rewards.americanexpress.com/myca/loyalty/us/catalog/view/ptlanding/?tier=MR&viewfullsite=y

Hawaiian Airlines is 20,000 to 40,000 miles each way.
AWARD CHART - http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/kw/award chart
Frequent flyer members can search for award availability but you have to login to search.
NOTE:Hawaiian has direct nonstop flights from JFK to HNL.

British Airways (Avios) is another option. Membership Rewards has a special offer at the moment.
Get 50% more Avios when you transfer Membership Rewards points through 10/10/2016.
Avios miles can be used to book on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines
There are several sites that discuss Avois. Here's one - http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/04/08/british-airways-miles/

Click to expand...

Thank you. On researching the options, it looks like anything on Hawaiian Air would add about 5 hours of travel time from DC to Hawaii. Alaska Air has some good options for getting to Hawaii from DC, but you'd have to transfer the points to one of their partners, like BA.

I have a BA membership and when I sign on and try to look at options for getting to Hawaii from here, it is not showing Hawaii as a valid destination.
Can award seats on partner airlines not be booked via their website?

Partners

regatta333 said:

Thank you. On researching the options, it looks like anything on Hawaiian Air would add about 5 hours of travel time from DC to Hawaii. Alaska Air has some good options for getting to Hawaii from DC, but you'd have to transfer the points to one of their partners, like BA.

I have a BA membership and when I sign on and try to look at options for getting to Hawaii from here, it is not showing Hawaii as a valid destination.
Can award seats on partner airlines not be booked via their website?

Click to expand...

It depends on the airline. You can book AA flights on the BA site but there are other partners of BA that are not bookable. Other airlines are the same way. Put a name with the partner and someone can answer your question.

BTW a Gold card earns MR not Starwood points. The only Amex that directly earns Starwood points is a co-branded Starwood Card. If he had a Starwood Card I think the initial post would have been written differently. Besides, if he had 80K Starwood points, he wouldn't have to worry at all about booking a flight. That would be a minimum of 100K points with any airline that is an Amex Partner.

regatta333 said:

Thank you. On researching the options, it looks like anything on Hawaiian Air would add about 5 hours of travel time from DC to Hawaii. Alaska Air has some good options for getting to Hawaii from DC, but you'd have to transfer the points to one of their partners, like BA.

I have a BA membership and when I sign on and try to look at options for getting to Hawaii from here, it is not showing Hawaii as a valid destination.
Can award seats on partner airlines not be booked via their website?

Click to expand...

If you want to fly on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines using your BA Avios points, it's best to first use the American Airlines and Alaska Airlines websites to find availability. The lowest award level must be available on the partner website for you to be able to book the flight with your BA points.
NOTE: American Airlines flights can be booked directly on the BA website but Alaska Airlines flights can only booked over the phone with BA.

Try this to make sure you know how to find availability.
Right now there are lots of Coach MileSAAver availability for LAX to HNL leaving Sept 11 returning on Sept 18 (20K each way). Try finding it on the American Airlines website (NOTE: I select nonstop flights on the calendar availability page since Avios bookings are based on segments). You can see all of the direct American flights then login into your BA account and try pulling the same dates. You should see a number of flights to choose from using your Avios points.

Do a similar exercise with the Alaska Airlines website. Right now I see the lowest Coach fare is available for SEA to HNL leaving Sept 11 returning on Sept 18 (20K each way). Find it on the Alaska Airlines website. You can also search the BA site but you won't find the availability. (Reminder - you have to call BA to book the Alaska Airlines flight). Also try looking up availability on the American Airlines you should see the Alaska flight also listed under Coach MileSAAver. Any Alaska flights found under MileSAAver is available to book with your Avios points but you have to call BA.

I hope this all makes sense

Here's additional info on BA's distance-based award charts - http://thepointsguy.com/2016/04/maximizing-distance-based-british-airways-awards-2016/