AMEX adds new airline partners to their membership program

Good news if you’re an AMEX credit card holder or looking for a new rewards credit card, AMEX has announced that it’s adding Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airlines as transfer partners in Australia and New Zealand.

What does this mean for AMEX cardholders?

AMEX already had multiple transfer partners including Air New Zealand, Asia Miles, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Virgin and now have added Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airlines.

This means that AMEX members can transfer their Membership Rewards points to any of these airlines to save on flights. 

However, there will be a different point to point ratio depending on the airline you wish to transfer your points to.

These are the ratios for AMEX points to Qatar Airways Avio Points and Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles points:

• Qatar Airways: 2 MR to 1 Avios in Australia or 3 MR to 1 Avios in New Zealand
• Hawaiian Airlines: 2 MR to 1 Hawaiian mile in both Australia and New Zealand

Other changes to AMEX points 

As well as adding two new transfer partners, AMEX has changed the ratio between AMEX points to Singapore KrisFlyer Points or Emirates Skywards. The ratio was previously 2:1 but it has now been changed to 3:1.

What else can you use AMEX points on?

If you’re not interested in using AMEX points to save on flights, you can use your AMEX points to pay for hotels, rental cars or cruises. 

You can also use your AMEX points to pay for purchases at merchants such as Amazon, Paypal and BestBuy. If you use your points to pay, the point redemption ratio is 0.7 cents per point.

You can also turn your AMEX points into gift cards from over 80 eligible stores. The ratio for this is between 0.5 to 1 cent per point, so it’s not the best value for your points.

Another way to use your points is to pay off your credit card balance. Again, this is not the best value as you will only get 0.6 cents per point.

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