What gives you the most return when redeeming AmEx Membership Rewards?

We spend a lot with our debit card. We'd prefer to get some kind of rewards if possible using a card the same way - just charge and pay each month.

I'd like to get a benefit towards Delta flights but I am also interested in finding out what Membership Rewards can be used for since most of what I have read indicates they are better than Skymiles AmEx cards. I just do not really understand why.

We spend a lot but only take 1 or 2 trips a year. Always Delta. My wife and I. We may check 2 bags.

There is some kind of free TSA precheck or Clear with the card.

Excellent travel agent service.

Delta and some other airline club free entry. You have to have a boarding pass for that day on that airline to use the lounge. We use Delta club with it and have used a couple of others, one in Houston and one overseas (London?). United no longer allows access with Amex.

Former Amex employee here, and I have the Business Plat. and Blue Cash Back cards. Regardless of what credit card you go with, you are exposing yourself to huge fraud liability by using a debit card. Mine only ever comes out for ATM or grocery store cash withdrawals.

You can get a huge welcome offer from the various travel benefit-heavy cards. Assuming you go with Amex and fly a lot with Delta, that's where you can really do well with points and perks. I never ever fly Delta, but still get the spend level on my BP card to get Mrs. Lee into the lounges for free when she's with me. Once that threshold is met, I switch everything (non-travel related) to the cash-back card. I run a lot of business expenses every month through the cards, so it's a greta way to get some tax-free perks. Global Entry is the best thing ever. For gas I have the Sam's and Costco cards and I only ever buy gas there. In addition to the 4-5% off on gas I get, I get about $200/yr back on each of those cards. I really monitor this stuff and make sure I squeeze every card for every penny of benefit.

I have a personal platinum card and a business platinum card. You can pay for flights with points at a 1% value, ie $1 airline charge is 100 points $100 flight is. 10,000 points, and so on. So 1 % value.

But, if you have a business platinum card, when you redeem points for a flight on your preferred airline ( you can pick annually), you get a rebate if 35% of the points used. So in effect, a 35 % discount on flights.

There are other rewards, but those are independent of points usage. For example, with your preferred airline you get a $200 annual credit that can be used for incidentals, like luggage fees, seat fees, drinks, WiFi, etc. Platinum, business and personal, will reimburse you for Clear for one person. Business platinum gives you $400 annual credit toward a Dell purchase. And there are more, but again, those are independent of points usage.

I’ve had an Amex card since 1984, and while customer service is still pretty good, it in no way approaches the levels of yesteryear. My advice today would be to get a cash back card, like a Capital One Spark, that pays 2% cash back with no limits. Anything with over 1% cash back is unquestionably better than an Amex card today.

I am keeping my Amex cards for now, as I have nearly 2 million points accumulated. I have saved them for flights. But I would certainly be better off with cash back.

2mm points is amazing. I wouldn't let that ride forever. I belong to two Amex card Facebook groups and just tonight read about a guy losing 100k points because he got into a spat with one of their phone jockeys, they canceled his card and points. Who knows what happened? But I try to use my points up as fast as I can, before they can move the goal posts. I have two flights to Europe booked now and have called a few times about upgrades and get a different story every time. I'm probably going to have to just hope for something popping up when I get to the airport. The price delta between canceling everything and booking direct on the airline is about $6k, which is insane. I can probably argue my way out of a cancelation fee, but I'm getting to the point of not wanting to spend any more time on it.

Rick I’ve had a small fear of that. I’m currently at 1.84 million points. I’ve used a fair amount over the years, but just haven’t flown that much. But my wife and I are semi- retired and hoping to step up our travel game. So I know they’ll go fast. Hopefully several trips to Europe over the next couple of years. And I’m exploring their Fine Hotels program or whatever they call it. Just the logical side of me won’t let me use them for things where I get much less value.

I think you can buy travel vouchers on airlines with your points. Not sure though. I know you can do that with the $200 airline credit.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
2mm points is amazing. I wouldn't let that ride forever.

When my father died unexpectedly, he had about 1 million points on an airline credit card. Non-transferable after death, so they all disappeared.

We use the Amex Skymiles card and a Chase Marriott Bonvoy card. Most charges go on those

They definitely help with free flights and free stays, we do our best to exclusively use those two companies when traveling

Used to have a Platinum, Gold, and Amex Delta Gold Business when I was on the road working and traveling. Got rid of the Platinum after I quit travelling for work. I had gotten to almost 1 million but I have started to burn them off since I was getting paranoid might devalue or something else. I keep enough for two Business tickets to Europe since I have family there so about 300k. You can cash them in for statement credits, 10,000 is worth $60. Or shop with them on Amazon, little better, 10,000 is worth $70. I have pretty much changed my spending just to keep enough for airmiles on Delta, KLM, or Air France.

For Cash back and points, I have switched to Chase Ultimate rewards, you get more points and every 10,000 is $100. I keep enough there for 1 flight on Lufthansa or United.

This way I feel I have all my bases covered. I pay all my cards off every month. I have gotten so much stuff and flights over the years just from every day spending I recommend it to every one. I have not flown economy in a long time.

Best value will always be flights but there are also hotels.

Good website is thepointsguy.com

My wife did (still does) a lot of flights to Maui to see the daughter and her family (mostly the grand kids). I think it did help her get to platinum? or diamond? level on Delta where she is often bumped to first class. It does get you into the Delta Captains club in airports. Beyond flying, I have seen zero benefits.

I have a basic Gold card. I have found the best value is to redeem points for gift cards to high-end restaurants like Ruth's Chris, Morton's, etc. We like eating at these types of establishments and typically get either a $100 or a $250 gift card, which we then use.

Typically these cost either 10,000 or 25,000 points respectively. Once in a blue moon, they put the gift cards "on sale" so that you can get a $100 gift card for only 7500 points, or a $250 card for about 19,000 points, or similar.

There are all kinds of ways to use points.

I have around 350K amex points right now.

My most heavily used use for points is Home Depot gift cards. A $500 gift card is 50K points. I have used these multiple times to defray the cost of major appliances.

You can use Amex points on Amazon to pay for purchases if you wish but the redemption ratio is not great.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
2mm points is amazing. I wouldn't let that ride forever.

When my father died unexpectedly, he had about 1 million points on an airline credit card. Non-transferable after death, so they all disappeared.

A) I hope you didn't jinx me; and
B) Those points might could have been redeemed before the credit card company knew anything.

As an update, we shifted to the Delta Platinum and regular Gold. We always fly Delta from a Delta hub.

By not using our debit card we are generating about $80 per month in points. That does not include the 170,000 total signup bonus points.

I made sure the credits for each would cover the annual fees as we would naturally use them.

The AmEx “Offers” have been a surprise bonus. About $50 more dollars on things we were already buying.

I may eventually get the Platinum depending on the benefits at the next card refresh. I calculate it as a break even card at the moment but I want to see how it changes.

I wish I had a 2% catch all AmEx that wasn’t a business card. I have to cover that with the Costco and a very old 2% card.

We never gave this any consideration before. So many thousands just spent on debit cards. It always felt better knowing it was paid and done. Now it works the same way, we just see it paid in big hits.

quote:

Originally posted by daikyu:

You can use Amex points on Amazon to pay for purchases if you wish but the redemption ratio is not great.

No, but I feel less guilty when buying completely unnecessary stainless steel taco holders by burning points.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:

When my father died unexpectedly, he had about 1 million points on an airline credit card. Non-transferable after death, so they all disappeared.

A) I hope you didn't jinx me; and
B) Those points might could have been redeemed before the credit card company knew anything.

Oh I surely have been tempted many times! He had miles on both Delta and United which I could have used for free positive-space seats. I get free stand-by seats with the worst priority as a retiree, so having positive-space would have been really nice. Or I could have gifted them to one of my kids, etc.

I still have access to all his various accounts but have not meddled with anything. I figure if I got caught they would hit me with some really expensive bill plus maybe identity theft charges.