Flights Help: Amex Points and Transferring to Other Airlines?

[brad1549]

Hi all,

I'm a Qantas Frequent Flyer but have only recently joined the American Express bandwagon.

I've managed to accrue 200k Amex Membership points in the past couple of months.

I now have a trip to Asia planned in March 2019. I'm still working out my itinerary, but it looks like I will be flying direct from Sydney to either Seoul or Osaka.

Qantas flies direct to Seoul (on Asiana Airlines), and it costs 35k points plus $266 AUD.

American Express Travel also flies and it costs 101k Amex points.

Unfortunately neither Qantas or American Express Travel fly from Sydney to Osaka.

My question is surrounding Amex Points. Which airlines is Amex Travel affiliated with? And, I've heard people transferring their Amex points to other airlines (such as Asia Miles). Why do they do this? Is it cheaper using points with the airlines directly than going through American Express Travel?

1. For my current situation, would you recommend I pay using my Qantas points or American Express points? Or, would you recommend I transfer my Amex points to another airline?

2. In addition, could someone please recommend an airline which travels directly from Osaka to Sydney? And, can I transfer my Amex points to that airline?

Thanks everyone!

 

[JohnK]

From memory you can transfer Amex Membership rewards to Virgin, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Emirates, Etihad Guest.

None of those airlines fly direct to Japan. My choice would be to check Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program as that is likely to require less points and taxes are now genuine taxes not surcharges.

P.S. Do not go through Amex travel. Very poor value.

Time to research your options.

 

[hossein_au]

Just to confirm what JohnK said: whatever you do, do not go through AmEx travel!

Also, to clarify: research how many KrisFlyer miles Singapore Airlines charges for return flight to Japan. Then transfer AmEx rewards to Singapore Airlines and book with them.

Also note flying economy is always poor use of frequent flyer miles; better value, if you can afford it (point-wise), is to fly in business or first class.

 

[blueythecat]

Asia Miles (for booking direct on Japan Airlines) or Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Miles could be good choices for your circumstances.

Either way, as the others have said, Amex travel is not a good value use of points - you can do much better!

 

[Drakecula]

I believe ANA flies direct from Sydney to Osaka, no wait, we went via Tokyo... But if that's an option, ANA is part of Star Alliance, so you could use Krisflyer points with them?

 

[JFi]

Unfortunately neither Qantas or American Express Travel fly from Sydney to Osaka.

1. For my current situation, would you recommend I pay using my Qantas points or American Express points? Or, would you recommend I transfer my Amex points to another airline?

2. In addition, could someone please recommend an airline which travels directly from Osaka to Sydney? And, can I transfer my Amex points to that airline?

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, do you mean you can't find seats using points on Qantas for your dates because I believe Qantas does fly direct from Sydney to Osaka.

As others have mentioned, transferring to to an airline is much better than using points on Amex Travel. Which airline you can transfer to depends on the card you hold. I don't think there's a huge difference but for example if you do decide on Qantas, having the Charge card can transfer directly to Qantas otherwise you might need to transfer to Asia Miles and use that to redeem the Qantas flight.

 

[Bell21]

To reinforce comments above, I was looking at booking some flights through AMEX travel recently and the friendly customer service rep suggested that I could use AMEX points for the flights - I think the max value I was receiving was 1 cent / point - not a good use of points!

 

[hossein_au]

To reinforce comments above, I was looking at booking some flights through AMEX travel recently and the friendly customer service rep suggested that I could use AMEX points for the flights - I think the max value I was receiving was 1 cent / point - not a good use of points!

Of course they did!

 

[andye]

Hi brad1549

You can use your Amex points on Amex Travel but you will receive only 1c worth of value for them. On the plus side the flights you book will earn status credits and points.

However, most of us would aim to get over 2c per Amex point (and at least 1.5c)
Using Amex points to their full potential usually involves redeeming award seats in a premium cabin after transferring to an Amex partner airline programme:-Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (for OneWorld airlines) and Singapore KrisFlyer (for Star Alliance Airlines) are the most used ones. If you have the Platinum Charge card you can also transfer to Qantas but this is usually only beneficial if you want to redeem on Emirates or Jetstar as Qantas has high fuel charges.

Availability particularly in premium cabins is limited so it pays to plan ahead. It may well mean taking a connecting flight rather than a direct one.

In general for return economy flights it is usually better to pay with cash and save the Amex points for another trip. However, you may find some economy routes are expensive (eg school holidays) and make a points redemption effective if you book early.

In your example I would almost certainly pay cash but everyone's perception of value differs and you may find yourself points-rich/cash-poor in which case using the points makes sense

 

[Haplo]

If you have a platinum card then this is my suggestion.

Transfer all points to Qantas, then for 200k redeem a business class ticket Melbourne to Osaka via Shanghai, flying on China Eastern return ticket.

You are looking at around 196k points plus $300 in tax.

You could go direct Sydney to Osaka on QF but if you dont have the status for seat release in business then China Eastern is your only way to go.

 

[ftm]

To reinforce comments above, I was looking at booking some flights through AMEX travel recently and the friendly customer service rep suggested that I could use AMEX points for the flights - I think the max value I was receiving was 1 cent / point - not a good use of points!

I agree that using points with Amex Travel is not good value if you are comparing to a points redemption ticket. It is however, very good value if you are comparing to Qantas Points + Pay. The Amex redemption rate of 1c per point is far superior to Qantas when redeeming for cash value. It is terrible to accumulate points in QF only to realise you can't use them and end up redeeming them at terrible redemption rates for things you didn't want. Better to have kept them in Amex.