What is American Express Membership Rewards?

History of American Express Membership Rewards

Think Hoover, think vacuum. Think Kleenex, think tissue. Think American Express? Well, naturally, think Points. Unlike its Visa and Mastercard counterparts, American Express has built its whole value proposition around its American Express Membership Rewards Program. And for good reason.

For decades, the American Express Membership Rewards Program has been one of the most comprehensive and versatile rewards programs in Australia. Originally, it followed in the footsteps of the now-defunct Diners Club Rewards Program, which offered the ability to earn Rewards Points and transfer these Points to one of several travel partners.

As detailed in the last module, the same proposition remains available today, albeit with some new competition in the form of PayRewards.

Delving deeper into the American Express Membership Rewards Program

But for now, we take a closer look at the American Express Rewards Program. Cardmembers who hold a non-co-branded American Express Card are automatically enrolled in the American Express Membership Rewards Program. Non-co-branded cards are those that do not directly earn points in another frequent flyer program, such as Qantas Frequent Flyer or Velocity Frequent Flyer.

The current list of American Express non-cobranded Business Cards

1. The American Express Platinum Business Card – Explore
2. The American Express Business Gold Plus Card – Explore
3. The American Express Business Explorer Card – Explore

How to earn and redeem American Express Membership Rewards Points

American Express Membership Rewards Points are earned by using your American Express Business Card for your business expenses. The number of points you earn is dependent on the card you hold. Please click on the link to your card above for further details.

American Express Membership Rewards Card Members can redeem their Membership Rewards Points for a variety of rewards. These include travel rewards, such as flights and hotels booked by transferring Membership Rewards Points to airline and hotel partners, as well as other travel options, including cruises and travel packages booked through American Express Travel. Additionally, there are non-travel rewards, including gift cards.

For further information, please refer to American Express Membership Rewards.

Transfer Partners and Rates

As of July 2025, The American Express Membership Rewards Program currently has 11 airline and 2 hotel partners. These are:

Transfer Partner	Redemption Rate
Air New Zealand Airpoints	1,000 Membership Rewards Points = 10 Airpoints Dollars
Asia Miles (Cathay)	5,000 Membership Rewards Points = 2,500 Asia Miles
Emirates Skywards	3,000 Membership Rewards Points = 1,000 Skywards miles
Etihad Guest	1,000 Membership Rewards Points = 500 Etihad Guest miles
Malaysia Airlines Enrich	1,000 Membership Rewards Points = 500 Enrich miles
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	500 Membership Rewards Points = 250 Avios
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	7,500 Membership Rewards Points = 2,500 KrisFlyer miles
Thai Royal Orchid Plus	5,000 Membership Rewards Points = 2,500 Royal Orchid Plus miles
The British Airways Club	2,000 Membership Rewards Points = 1,000 Avios
Velocity Frequent Flyer	2,000 Membership Rewards Points = 1,000 Velocity Points
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	2,000 Membership Rewards Points = 1,000 Virgin Points

Hotel Partner	Redemption Rate
Hilton Honors	2,000 Membership Rewards Points = 1,000 Honors Points
Marriott Bonvoy	600 Membership Rewards Points = 400 Marriott Bonvoy Points

Benefits of using American Express Rewards

There are several benefits to using American Express Rewards. The two main benefits are:

Increase the chances of finding a reward seat

This benefit is somewhat self-explanatory. If you are locked into a single frequent flyer program, your options for finding reward seats are limited to that airline’s program or any of its airline partners.

For example, suppose you are a member of Velocity Frequent Flyer. In that case, you will be able to redeem your Velocity Points for Virgin Australia-operated flights, as well as for flights with its airline partners, such as Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, to name a few.

If there are no reward seats available for any of these airlines on the date and destination you require, then unfortunately, you are out of luck. Your only option at this point is to change your date or routing.

Contrast this with a member of American Express Membership Rewards. This member holds American Express Rewards Points, which can be transferred to any of the partners mentioned above.

As such, this member can look beyond Velocity Frequent Flyer and see if any of American Express Membership Rewards’ 10 other airline partners have reward seats available. While not guaranteed, the chances of finding a reward seat improve significantly, around tenfold in fact!

The ability to take advantage of better pricing for the same flight

Did you know that you can use different points currencies and end up on the same exact flight? That’s right, using Qantas Points could land you in Business Class from Sydney to Perth, but so could using Cathay Asia Miles, Emirates Skywards miles and British Airways Avios. Why? Because these airlines are partners, specifically in this case, oneworld alliance partners of Qantas.

Why is this important? Because each program determines its own pricing for reward seats. And this means that the pricing for the same reward seat can differ among different programs. Given that the redemption rates between American Express Membership Rewards Points and frequent flyer points for all airline programs, with the exception of Air New Zealand AirPoints, are the same at 2:1, an arbitrage opportunity is available. In other words, you can get the same reward seat for a lower cost.

Let’s take a one-way Business Class Reward Seat for QF655 between Sydney and Perth as an example. The pricing for such a reward seat among competitive American Express Rewards airline partners offering this seat are as follows:

Please note that redemptions from American Express Membership Rewards to Qantas Frequent Flyer can only be made if holding an American Express Platinum Business Card. AM = Asia Miles, SM = Skywards Miles, QP = Qantas Points, and BAA = British Airways Avios.

Because the total Reward Seat cost includes a points and cash component, how do we actually compare which combination is the best value? For example, is it the airline program offering the lowest points cost but a higher cash cost? Or the airline program offering a higher points cost but the lowest cash cost? Or neither of these two?

To answer this question, we’ll need to compare apples with apples. That is, have one total cost for each airline program. We can then compare them and choose the lowest cost option.

So, how do we get a single total cost for an airline program? This can be done by using the following formula below:

Standardised Cost = Point Cost + (Cash co-payment / Est. value of redemption point)

An estimate for the value of a redemption point should be based on what value you think you can redeem your point for. If you have no idea, then let us help.

The table below shows the expected value you should receive from a one-way flight in different cabin classes. Please note that these values will fluctuate based on many factors, including routing, airline and date of travel. But nonetheless, they are a pretty good estimate.

For example, given our example of QF655 relates to a Domestic Business Class redemption, we can assume an estimated value of a redemption point of 1.3c, as shown here. So therefore, the Standardised Cost (“SC”) for Cathay Asia Miles is:

Cathay Asia Miles SC = 33,000 + (75.06 / 0.013) = 38,773 Points

If we apply the above formula to the above four options, we get the following:

Given that all these four partners have a redemption rate of 2 American Express Membership Rewards Points to 1 frequent flyer Point/Mile/Avios, then American Express Card Members are best placed to transfer their American Express Membership Rewards to Cathay Asia Miles to book the one-way Business Class flight on QF655.

The exact number of American Express Membership Rewards Points given a 2:1 conversion rate is:
38,773 * 2 = 77,546

You can tailor the estimate of the redemption value of a point to the value you deem most appropriate, but the formula to apply remains the same.

Key Takeouts

• American Express Membership Rewards is a flexible rewards program that allows members to transfer their American Express Membership Rewards Points to several leading airline and hotel programs.

• Cardholders of the following American Express Cards are automatically enrolled in American Express Membership Rewards:

  • The American Express Platinum Business Card

  • The American Express Business Gold Plus Card

  • The American Express Business Explorer Card

• There are two main benefits of using a flexible rewards program like American Express Membership Rewards:

  • Increase the chances of finding a reward seat

  • The ability to take advantage of better pricing for the same seat

• To compare the value of different reward programs for the same reward seat, use the following formula:

  Standardised Cost = Point Cost + (Cash co-payment/Est. value of redemption point)

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