mvitachi

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I currently have like 3500 amex points and have an option to turn 2000 amex points to 1000 delta skymiles points. Does that mean 1000 flying miles or what?
This my first time about redeeming points.
Help would be appreciated .
Thanks.

rkkwan

Your American Express Membership Rewards points will be converted to Delta Skymiles, at whatever ratio your card specifies. Many AE cards convert 1:1, some 2:1, which probably include yours.

20,000 Delta Skymiles = 1 domestic Skysaver roundtrip tickets. Europe is usually 50,000 miles.

1,000 DL Skymiles isn't worht much.

gail

And it is getting harder and harder to find a flight with "Skysaver" points - maybe Detroit in January, but not anyplace for a vacation. Usually they end up having you pay 50,000 miles/points, even for domestic air.

Flyboy

Right. If you are still collecting Amex points, the best thing to do is to maintain them there until you have some reason to convert them, such as to reach an award threshold. The reason is to retain the flexibility that you have with the Amex points instead of simply locking yourself in for no particular reason. There is essentially no relationship between flying miles (distance) and frequent flyer miles on the redemption side. It is only present in the way that they are earned on actual flights, where longer flights earn more miles.

rkkwan

Sorry, domestic Skysaver flight is 25,000 miles.

Save your Membership Rewards points until it's time to transfer. You can book your FF award flights first, put it on hold, and then transfer after. Don't transfer before you book, as you may not (or never) find seats on the flights you want.

Patty

You must have a card that's eligible for Membership Rewards Options and not Membership Rewards. With MR Options 2 points converts to 1 mile while with MR 1 point converts to 1 mile.

I'm afraid with 3500 MR Options points you're still a long way from redeeming anything.

Depending on what you're paying for your current card annual fee and how much you anticipate charging in a year, you may be better off switching to a card that offers MR instead of MR Options.

Or consider the Starwood Amex where points are deposited into your Starwood Preferred Guest account and convert 1:1 to many major airlines with a 5K bonus for every 10K transferred. You can keep the points in your SPG account until you're ready to redeem which gives you ultimate flexibility. If you can't find award seats, you can always use the points for free hotel nights.

I agree with others that it's best to reserve your award first, then transfer (though I sometimes take advantage of the transfer bonuses and do it anyway).

Patty

Sorry, that's 5K bonus for every 20K transferred from SPG.