I recently cancelled my AMEX Platinum and transferred points to Singapore Airlines. Actually it was my wife’s credit card that she earned 100,000 MR points on a while back. I had a tough time deciding where to transfer the membership rewards points before cancelling the credit card. I redeemed $200 of United airline gift cards last year and $200 this year through the gift registry to help offset the $450 before cancelling. Here were my thoughts on where to transfer my miles.
I thought about my future travel destinations and pinpointed the following possibilities:
- Hawaii
- Europe
- Asia
Given the three options above I pinpointed the following transfer partners:
- Aeroplan. The one-way 45,000 business class awards on Star Alliance partners to Europe are a great deal. The main problem is availability from the west coast is quite rare and also partners such as Lufthansa have fuel surcharges.
- ANA. Besides United and US Airways, ANA charges fuel surcharges. The fuel surcharges to Taipei on Eva Air are not too bad, at about $300-$400 roundtrip and 90,000 miles. However, I don’t like to be limited to round trip tickets.
- Singapore Airlines. I’ve been wanting to try Singapore Airlines, but the only route I would likely take is LAX-NRT business or suites class. Since my sister lives in Japan, it seems like a practical choice. Fuel surcharges are also $300-$400 on a roundtrip. The other sweet spot is 17,500 SQ miles on a one-way United trip to Hawaii.
I ended up choosing Singapore Airline miles because I want to try Singapore Airlines business class in the future. Using SQ miles is the best way to fly their premium product. Also, Hawaii is one of my favorite places and can give me another option for a direct flight to Hawaii for only 17,500 SQ miles each way if I can’t find Avios (12.5K one-way) availability to Hawaii. I didn’t consider transferring to Avios because I could transfer Ultimate Rewards. The downside to transferring to Singapore is it won’t give me the option to go to Europe unless I take JFK-FRA route, which is limited in availability. I also live on the west coast so that is inconvenient.
The current AMEX Platinum offer is 40,000 MR points, if you are in need of MR points. It’s a decent offer, but there could possibly be a higher offer in the future. However, nothing is certain.
What is your favorite transfer partner for American Express Membership Rewards?
