How to get insane value from your Amex points | Ep201 | 5-6-23
Frequent Miler on the Air
Frequent Miler
4.9 • 638 Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2023
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amex Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable when used properly toward flights (with airline transfer partners), but they are awful for those looking to redeem for gift cards. This week, we discuss how you can get so much more value with award travel than you will via redemptions like gift cards, Amazon purchases, etc.
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00:00 Intro
01:14 Giant Mailbag
10:34 Mattress running the numbers: Numerous transfer bonuses
https://frequentmiler.com/current-point-transfer-bonuses/
10:53 50% transfer bonus to Marriott from Chase
11:27 25% transfer bonus from Chase to Flying Blue
14:50 25% transfer bonus from Amex to Flying Blue
16:57 15% transfer bonus from Amex to Avianca LifeMiles
19:19 30% transfer bonus from Chase to Virgin Atlantic
22:00 Award Talk
29:22 Seats.aero adds Qsuites finder
https://frequentmiler.com/seats-aero/
30:52 Nick's quick hit JetBlue Mint review
34:33 Challenge Update
37:37 Card Talk: Amex Gold Card
https://frequentmiler.com/amxgoldcard/
48:28 Main Event: How to get insane value from your Amex points
50:10 Paying with points can offer acceptable value only when paying for flights with the Business Gold, Business Platinum, or Business Centurion card
54:18 Domestic US: 7,500 BA Avios to fly on AA or Alaska on short nonstop flights
56:38 Domestic US: Delta via Virgin Atlantic for 7,500 miles on short flights
58:15 Domestic US: Avianca LifeMiles to fly United for 7,500 miles on short and medium-distance flights
1:02:03 Star Alliance economy class to Europe: Avianca LifeMiles for 20K one-way to Northern Europe
1:03:06 SkyTeam economy and premium economy class to Europe via Virgin Atlantic
1:04:46 oneworld premium economy to Japan with British Airways Avios
1:06:43 Business class to Europe on Delta using Virgin Atlantic miles
1:07: 18 Business class to Europe using Iberia Avios
1:08:32 Business class JFK to Lisbon for 35K LifeMiles
1:11:13 Anywhere in the US on Qatar Airways to Doha in business class for 70K
1:12:51 Air Canada Aeroplan examples
1:15:00 ANA Round the world business class award
1:17:51 Lufthansa first class to Europe with Avianca LifeMiles (including how to hack it)
1:20:02 Hacking Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for first class (if it comes back)
1:21:50 First class on ANA via Virgin Atlantic miles
1:34:39 Question of the Week: Nick, did you get elite credit for booking The Signature at MGM via Airbnb?
Music credit: Annie Yoder
Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a Voyescape podcast. |
| 0:03.9 | You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. |
| 0:10.7 | Let's get into the giant mailbag. |
| 0:13.5 | What crazy thing did City this week? |
| 0:17.5 | It's time for mattress running the numbers. |
| 0:19.8 | Ready for the main event? |
| 0:21.0 | The main event. |
| 0:22.3 | Frequent Miller on the air starts now. |
| 0:26.5 | Today's main event, how to get insane value from your MX points. |
| 0:33.0 | American Express membership rewards points can be used towards fantastic value. |
| 0:40.3 | But we often hear from people who did things like they called up MX and said, I want to book a hotel. |
| 0:46.3 | And they use their points that way. |
| 0:49.3 | And we know they got terrible value with that. |
| 0:53.3 | Or hopefully you enjoyed that trip. Or we hear from people who say, I, like, I have these Amex points, but I can't figure out what to do with them. They're not useful to me. And so that's the other thing that if you've ever felt like you've been in that situation or you are in that situation, there are ways to get crazy value out of these points. |
| 1:11.1 | That's right. |
| 1:12.6 | There's ways to get crazy good value. |
| 1:14.3 | There's a ways to get crazy bad value. |
| 1:19.7 | We're going to cut through all that noise and tell you where you should be using your points and give you real life examples of how you can get fantastic value. |
| 1:23.8 | First, of course, we have the giant mailbag. |
| 1:26.9 | So today's giant mail requires a little bit of background, not a lot, but a little, which |
| 1:31.5 | is that we need to talk about transferable points. |
| 1:35.3 | So Amex points, Chase points, City points, Capital One points, they're all points that we love |
... |
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