Membership Rewards Guide: Points Accounts No Longer Combine Automatically; You Can Link Them Manually

AMEX has made a major change to its Membership Rewards program. New AMEX MR cards now have their own separate MR accounts, so points no longer pool with those from your other cards by default. To combine them, log in to your account and link the MR accounts for your new and existing cards. Chase and Citi already work this way: each card has its own points pool, and the redemption options and rates can vary by card. Perhaps AMEX is making a similar move!

About Membership Rewards

Membership Rewards (MR) is the rewards program offered by American Express (AMEX). You can earn points through welcome bonuses, card spending, and other means. Points can be transferred to airline miles and hotel points, or redeemed for gift cards and travel expense reimbursements. With the right redemptions, 10,000 points can be worth $200 or more. However, we generally value MR points at an average of 1.5 cents each, meaning 100 MR points are worth $1.50.

How to Earn MR Points

Welcome Bonuses and Card Spending

The biggest sources of MR points are the AMEX Platinum and Gold cards, both of which offer generous welcome bonuses.

A few other personal cards also earn MR points:

• AMEX Everyday (discontinued and no longer open to new applicants; 2.4x at grocery stores, 1.2x on other purchases)
• AMEX Everyday Preferred (discontinued and no longer open to new applicants; 4.5x at grocery stores, 3x at gas stations, 1.5x on other purchases)
• AMEX Green 

In addition to these personal cards, AMEX offers many business credit cards. The Business Gold and Business Platinum are the main options for earning MR.

AMEX Checking and Business Checking accounts can also earn MR.

• AMEX Checking account review
• AMEX Business Checking account review

AMEX Offers

Recently, some of the cards listed above received an offer to earn 6,000 MR after spending $400 at Saks. There are also many other AMEX Offers that can earn you additional MR points.

Upgrade and Additional Cardholder Bonuses

AMEX is very good at encouraging cardholders to upgrade. It frequently sends targeted offers inviting cardholders to upgrade their cards in exchange for additional MR points. Note that, like welcome bonuses, these offers require you to keep the upgraded card for at least a year; otherwise, AMEX may claw back the bonus.

You may even be able to earn a bonus for adding an additional cardholder. Offers are available for both personal and business cards.

Rakuten Transfers

AMEX and Rakuten have partnered to let you convert Rakuten cash back into MR points at a 1:1 ratio. If you do a lot of online shopping, this can be a significant source of MR points.

To sign up for a Rakuten account that earns Membership Rewards (MR), you must first have an eligible AMEX credit card. You can start by using the cash-back signup link, then enter the MR-earning signup URL in your browser.

• First, click: Rakuten signup link and complete registration (only the cash-back version has a signup bonus)
• Then, visit: https://www.rakuten.com/american-express to switch to the MR version

Other Ways to Earn

• Pay Over Time: AMEX sometimes sends offers like this that award points just for enrolling. AMEX Pay Over Time offer guide

How to Use MR Points

Transfer to Airline Miles and Hotel Points

AMEX's airline and hotel transfer partners are listed below. Airline partners tend to be more useful; hotel partners are generally not worth transferring to unless you need to top up an account. Some of the more important airline partners are:

• 1:1 transfers to Delta, British Airways (BA), ANA, Air Canada (AC), Air France (AF), and Avianca (AV)
• 5:4 transfers to Cathay Pacific (CX)

For details, see:

• Air Canada Aeroplan mileage guide
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program guide [fully updated for 2024]
• ANA mileage guide (fully updated for 2025)
• Avianca LifeMiles (AV) redemption guide
• British Airways Avios mileage guide [fully updated for 2025]
• Delta SkyMiles and loyalty program guide [fully updated for 2024]
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue program guide (fully updated for 2025)
• Virgin Atlantic (VS) loyalty program and mileage guide (fully updated for 2025)

Note that transferring MR points to a U.S. airline such as Delta may incur an excise tax. Transfers to airlines outside the U.S. do not.

Features of Selected Transfer Partners

This section covers only some beginner-friendly redemptions. For more creative routes, see the mileage guides on this site.

British Airways (BA)

• Short-haul flights within the U.S. and between the U.S. and Canada
• Routes between China and Japan, domestic flights within Japan, and flights between China and the U.S. for travel between certain city pairs
• Check for high fuel surcharges. When searching on BA's website, select the option to search for award flights.
• British Airways Avios mileage guide [fully updated for 2025]

ANA

• Round-trip flights between China and the U.S.: economy for around 60,000 miles and business class for around 110,000 miles. Round trips can include a free stopover.
• One-way award tickets are also available.
• Note that ANA miles expire after two years and changes in your mileage balance do not extend their validity, so transfer points only when you need them.
• ANA mileage guide (fully updated for 2025)

Air Canada (AC)

• Long-distance flights within the U.S., including connecting itineraries between smaller cities
• Award tickets within the U.S. booked within 21 days of departure can avoid the $75 close-in booking fee.
• Air Canada Aeroplan mileage guide

LifeMiles

• No fuel surcharges; one-way awards are available, and award space can be searched online. No close-in booking fee.
• A one-way business-class award between China and the U.S. costs 75,000 miles. A one-way first-class award between China and the U.S. on ANA or Asiana costs 90,000 miles. Domestic U.S. awards start at 7,500 miles.
• However, AV still has several drawbacks. For example, some award flights may not show up in searches (even when UA can find them), online bookings incur a $25 ticketing fee, and phone agents may not speak English very clearly.
• Avianca LifeMiles (AV): A Guide to Using Avianca Miles

Qantas Airways (QF)

Membership Rewards points can now be transferred to Qantas Airways (QF) at a 1:1 ratio. Qantas miles are also distance-based and can be used to book Qantas flights, oneworld flights (such as AA), and some non-alliance flights (such as AS). You can book award tickets directly on the Qantas website. QF miles are a good option for nonstop flights within the US (similar to BA) and flights from the US East Coast to Western Europe. MR transfers to QF are instant, making it a solid option.

Leading Hotels

AMEX now allows transfers to Leading Hotels at a 4:1 ratio. Leading Hotels of the World is a collection of more than 400 independent luxury hotels in 80 countries. Leaders Club has no fixed award chart, and the points required are generally tied to the hotel's cash price, so the value is relatively consistent. Many redemptions yield around 7–8 cents per point, and the official site lists free nights starting at about 4,000 points. That works out to an MR redemption value close to 2 cents per point. Note that points cannot be used to cover taxes and fees, which must be paid in cash.

• Official website

Some redemption examples:

• The Ritz London: cash rate of $2,361.63; 25,768 points, or about 9.2 cents per point.
• The Fifth Avenue Hotel New York: cash rate of $1,415.21; 16,188 points, or about 8.7 cents per point.
• The Legian Seminyak Bali: cash rate of $631.78; 6,732 points, or about 9.4 cents per point.
• Chablé Maroma Cancun: cash rate of $869.84; 13,425 points, or about 6.5 cents per point.
• The Manor House at Fancourt: cash rate of $578.35; 7,273 points, or about 8.0 cents per point.
• The Brazilian Court Hotel: cash price of $3,161.74 for two nights; 34,976 points, or about 9.0 cents per point. No additional taxes or fees were charged for this booking.
• Constance Lémuria Seychelles: cash rate of about $1,200 per night; about 17,000 points, or about 7.1 cents per point.

Other Redemption Options

• Redeem points at a 1:1 rate for purchases through AMEX Travel; this can be a way to cash out.
• With the AMEX Platinum Schwab, you can cash out at 1.1 cents per point.
• With the AMEX Business Platinum, you can redeem points at 1.54 cents each for eligible premium-cabin tickets on selected airlines.
• You can also redeem points for gift cards, shop through the online mall, pay bills directly, or pay for McDonald's. The redemption rates are terrible, so these options are generally best avoided.

MR Points: Key Features

• Account structure: All MR points earned on your personal cards (primary cards) are held in one account and can be used together. (Additional-card members' MR accounts are linked to the primary cardholder's account.)
• Expiration: As long as you keep at least one card that earns MR points open, your MR points will not expire. Transfer them to the airline miles you need before closing all your cards.
• Earning points:
  • If you already have an MR account (meaning you hold one of the cards mentioned above) and open another card, the welcome bonus from the new card will appear in your MR account as soon as you meet the spending requirement. If you do not already have an MR account (because it is your first MR-earning card), the points will appear in your account in about two months.
  • Points earned from regular spending on a billing cycle will appear in your MR account a few days after the next statement closing date. You must pay the statement balance in full for the points to post.
• Transfers:
  • To transfer points, link your airline or hotel loyalty account to your MR account. In most cases, you can transfer points as soon as the accounts are linked.
  • Transfers to US airlines incur a small fee ($6 per 10,000 points); transfers to airlines in other countries are free.
  • Most airline transfers are instant. Transfers to Asian airlines (ANA, CX) may take 1–3 days.
  • Transfers are irreversible and generally start at 1,000 points.
  • The name and address on the linked airline or hotel loyalty account must exactly match those on your MR account.

• Wait 90 days to transfer to an additional-card member's account: After adding an additional card, you must wait 90 days before linking that cardholder's airline or hotel loyalty account to MR (previously, the wait was only 1–2 days). In other words, to transfer points to someone else's loyalty account, you need to add that person as an additional cardholder and then wait 90 days. The practice of adding additional cardholders to sell points may be restricted.

How to Transfer Points:

• First, you need an account with the airline or hotel loyalty program you want to transfer points to. If you don't have one, register on the program's website.
• Link your MR account to the loyalty account you want to transfer points to.
  • Log in to your AMEX account and click Membership Rewards in the upper-right corner. Or log in directly at the MR website.
  • Click your name, usually near the upper right (to the left of your points balance), and select “points summary.”
  • At the bottom right of the page, select “Link Loyalty Programs” and then “Link additional programs.”
  • Fill in all the required information.
• Log in again and go to your MR account.
• Select “Travel,” then “Transfer Points,” and choose your desired transfer partner.
• Enter the number of points you want to transfer and follow the prompts to complete the transfer.
• After transferring, check the relevant airline or hotel loyalty account to make sure the points have arrived.

The Value of MR Points

The value of MR points depends on the value of the airline miles you can transfer them to. Redeeming MR points for airline miles and using them to book business class can yield at least $0.02 per point. That means earning 1 MR point for every $1 spent on a credit card is equivalent to getting $0.02 in value (2% cash back). This is why we consider cards that earn MR points better than 1% cash-back cards. Also, because MR points can be transferred to multiple airline programs—and most transfers are instant—you can search for an award ticket, confirm availability, transfer points, and book it all in one go. This convenience means MR points should be worth slightly more than the miles of any individual transfer partner. MR transfer partners also include airlines from all three major alliances: Star Alliance (ANA, AC), SkyTeam (Delta), and oneworld (BA). That gives you access to award flights across all three alliances, which is another major advantage. However, since not everyone can book business class, an average redemption value of 1.5 cents per point is a more reasonable estimate.

Of course, points are not the same as cash, and their value depends entirely on your needs. If you have no need for flights, MR points probably aren't right for you, and there's no need to learn the MR program in depth. The value of MR points also varies from one traveler to another. First, it depends on your route and the airline. For example, if BA miles can get you 6 cents per point on the New York–Toronto route—three times the value of other options—then MR points are especially valuable to you, and you should prioritize MR when choosing which credit card to apply for or use. Second, value depends on your redemption skills. Learning how to search for award availability and book through an agent takes time and experience.

In short, if you want to get into points, commit to learning how to use them. Otherwise, cash back may be a better fit.

Summary

MR points are more flexible because they can be transferred to airline miles, but using them well takes some skill. If you know how to make the most of them, your MR points can be worth several times more than they are to someone who doesn’t know how to use them. That’s like earning signup bonuses and cash back from credit card spending that are several times greater than someone else’s.