Dilemma on where to store my accumulated Amex points

[n166]

Hi guys,

I would be grateful for some help in deciding where to allocate points that I have, considering a few of the below factors:

I currently have a personal Amex gold card with about 40,000 points left on it
I am also a supplementary business platinum card holder for my ltd company (i convinced my brother to sign up for the card under my company so i could take advantage of the 100,000 points offer). I have about 100,000 points on that
I have about 80,000 avios points on my BA Exec club account and have Bronze status with them (narrowly missed Silver a couple of years ago)

I am only with BA due to the convenience and the fact that they fly everywhere, but I was thinking it would be nice to allocate my ~150,000 points to a better airline. I know it’s not a massive amount of points and I’m not a super regular flier so it’s not like I’ll always have access to this volume of points

I want to close the platinum account and get the pro rata refund, but I’m also wondering where I can put those 100,000 points. I can either close both the platinum and gold accounts, so I can be eligible for a sign up bonus in 24 months, but that would mean I would need to put these points in an airline account. Alternatively I could transfer it to my gold account but that would mean a longer period of not being eligible for a sign up bonus

Any thoughts? Is there a way i can close both those cards and open a basic Amex card to store my points and use them on a flight-by-flight basis, whilst also starting the 24 month wait for a new sign up bonus?

Hope that is clear!
Thanks

• This topic was modified 55 years, 3 months ago by .

[BuildBackBetter]

Marriott Bonvoy is the best if you want to keep your options open. You can transfer Bonvoy points to more than 30 airlines.
Downside is you lose a lot of value. But partly offset by the 5k bonus on 60k points transfers.

[Barraclough]

The Amex Rewards Card is a place to keep your Membership Rewards Points. If you’re closing other Amex accounts you can transfer the points to a Rewards card and keep the flexibility to use on other airlines than BA. Well worth opening I think. Take a look at this HfP article:

https://www.headforpoints.com/category/amex-rewards-credit-card/

If you want to be Amex free for two years though, to apply for other cards and get the bonus, the Amex Reward card won’t work for you.

.

[Sean Mc]

Unless you have a 241 to use – you can get as much value now by cashing out via avios to nectar (and then spending at argos/sainsbury’s) using cash saved to buy cash tickets.

[memesweeper]

Avios are a safe bet for as long as the two-way street with Nectar remains. You can cash out for a hotel, ebay, sainsburys etc if a OneWorld flight doesn’t appeal.

My last two big non-Avios MR transfers were to Marriott (which I’m finally redeeming next week I hope) and Singapore Kris. The latter I would unreservedly recommend if it wasn’t for the fact the miles expire. All the Kris redemptions I’ve made were good value and low tax/fee/charge. Trouble is with Covid, when will you use them?

[Super Secret Stuff]

You could transfer to virgin and then get the virgin card. Great if your a solo traveller or a pair

Always possible to transfer again to Hilton if you get worried about virgins finances

[memesweeper]

I have a decent stash of Virgin points, and a voucher. and I wouldn’t speculatively top up with MRs if I had a lot of BA points and a voucher. The issue is the Virgin network is almost duplicated entirely by BAs. The odd exclusive route Virgin has in the Caribbean with no BA competition has very poor award availability in my experience.

Some Virgin partnerships offer value but a transfer to another airline in a major alliance is likely to offer greater choices for partner redemption than Virgin can.

Just my 2p. If you fly to North America frequently Virgin might be a fabulous choice.

[n166]

thanks! in my head i think of BA and Virgin very much the same – similar quality, prices and taxes. any reasons why you think virgin would be especially better than BA, especially for the US?

[memesweeper]

n166 wrote:

thanks! in my head i think of BA and Virgin very much the same – similar quality, prices and taxes. any reasons why you think virgin would be especially better than BA, especially for the US?

Virgin has nicer lounges, and historically had a better Premium and Upper versus WTP/Club.

The gap has narrowed with Club Suites though.