Now that you’ve earned thousands of American Express Points, you are probably wondering how to transfer them to an airline or hotel. This is actually extremely easy and can be done online via the Membership Rewards home page. Below I am going to show you how to transfer the points to British Airways, one of my favorite Amex transfer partners. The same process can be used for any transfer partner though. However, before we begin, make sure you have an account number with the airline or hotel’s frequent flyer/hotel program. Without a membership number, transfers cannot occur.
First log into your American express account on Americanexpress.com, once logged on choose rewards on the top center on the page and select “use points”.
Once redirected the easiest thing to do is to highlight use points again, and click on travel.
On the left hand side you’ll see transfer partner option broken into different categories. These include airlines, hotels, car & rentals, and family. Choose what category you want to choose from, In this case I am going to choose Airlines, as I plan to transfer my points to British Airways.
Once you click airlines, you will be redirected to a page that has all airline travel partners listed. Here you can choose what airline you want to transfer to, for the sake of this article we are going to choose British airways. click “transfer points” next to the British Airways icon.
Now you are on the British Airways transfer page, from here, transferring points is really easy. In section 2, type in the number of points/miles you need for your reward and click calculate. American Express will automatically tell you how many membership rewards points are needed. In this case I need 14,000 points for my reward. So I type in 14,000 and since membership reward points transfer at a 1:1 ration, I am informed that I need 14,000 membership reward points to make the transfer. To continue the transaction select transfer this amount.
Once you select transfer this amount you will be taken to your shopping cart. Here you will have a chance to review your order. Once you have verified the number of points you want to transfer choose proceed to check out.
You will be redirected to a page where you have to verify your primarily card on your membership rewards account. If you have more than one card that earns membership rewards points, be sure to pay special attention to the first line of the screen that identifies your card and presents you with the cards last 4 digits. Enter both the card ID number and security code and then click continue
Once your card has been verified you need to select what account you will deposit the points into. If you have already linked an account, you can choose the account you have already linked to, if you need to add a new account, select add new account or link another account and fill in the proper details, then click continue.
Next enter your contact details where you can be contacted at. This should be the same information that is on your American express account. I have never had Amex contact me but if something was to go wrong, it’s important that they have the right information. Click continue once you’ve filled out this section.
For a final time, you must review your order and ensure everything is correct. Verify your frequent flyer account number, name, phone number, and all ever pertinent information. If everything is correct choose redeem.
Once you click redeem you have successful transfer the points and your miles should appear immediately into your British Airways account. If you are currently logged in to your British Airways executive club account, be sure to sign off and sign back in. Now your points will be available for redemption. You will know your transfer went through as you will see the success page.
Although this may seem like a lot of steps, the entire process really only takes 5 minutes or less. This is great as you can redeem membership rewards points for a slew of hotel and airline rewards and be on your way to your next free vacation! Transferring points to airline and hotels are by far the best redemption options in my opinion and allows members to really stretch their points. If you have any questions about this process do not hesitate to ask for help. This transfer that I just accomplished allowed me to book the LAN 787 from Madrid to Frankfurt in business class – trip report to come! This saved me $450 on a last minute booking and allowed me to fly for free, what more could a frequent traveler ask for?!?!
