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Is the American Express Tripflex ‘pay with points’ option a good deal?

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Whenever I visit the statement page for my Platinum charge card on the American Express website, I am met with a message encouraging me to use their TripFlex feature to ‘pay with points’.

I thought it was worth taking a quick look at the various ways of redeeming Membership Rewards points for cash or ‘near cash’ and then showing you why this is generally a bad deal.

American Express Membership Rewards offers a number of ways in which you can redeem your points for cash or something that is nearly as good as cash. These include retailer gift cards as well as the option to book travel using your points or to redeem your points for a statement credit.

In general, these are all a bad deal.

I try to target 1p of value per Membership Rewards point. Transferring 1:1 into Avios or other airline miles can achieve this, as can hotel redemptions. This article from September shows how Club Carlson redemptions via an Amex Membership Rewards transfer can be great value.

By comparison, this is what you get for redeeming for cash or near-cash:

Redeeming points for statement credit = 0.4p per point

Redeeming for Boots gift cards = 0.5p per point

Redeeming for Marks & Spencer gift cards = 0.525p per point (special offer based on redeeming for £100-worth)

Redeeming for East Coast Trains gift cards (valid for all train operators) = 0.6p per point (special offer)

The TripFlex offer is slightly different.  As I noted above, if you redeem your points for general statement credit you will only receive 0.4p per point.  However, if you redeem your points against specific items of travel expenditure, you will receive 0.45p per point.

TripFlex is a 10% better deal than redeeming your points for a general statement credit.  It is still a pretty poor deal overall and best avoided if you can.

None of these are great, frankly.  You are better off trying to get ‘outsized’ value via the Membership Rewards travel partners.

Ironically, for booking hotels, you will get over 0.55p per point by transferring to Avios and using the Avios hotel booking service. That gets you almost 25% more value than booking via the Amex service and getting 0.45p per point.

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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 15th July 2025, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card is TRIPLED to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. This would convert into 25,000 Avios or into 40 other airline schemes. It would also get you at least £300 of Marriott hotel stays based on our 0.5p per point low-end valuation. Other T&C apply and remain unchanged. Click here for our full card review and click here to apply.

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

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British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

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Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

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Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

The American Express Business Platinum Card

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The American Express Business Gold Card

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Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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Capital on Tap Visa

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British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

American Express Membership Rewards

Comments (15)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Andrew says:
    11 Nov11 November 07:14

    That’s not irony, it’s just inconsistency.

  • Erico1875 says:
    11 Nov11 November 07:26

    Sometimes a value of a penny a point is only an illusion. If you cant get the exact date you want due to reward restrictions.
    There is also the inconvienience of transiting through London.
    I think there may be some value in transfering to Nectar. You can then access low cost airlines via Expedia and of course Easyjet.

    • Brian says:
      11 Nov11 November 11:02

      True – but also factor in the better experience of flying BA versus Ryanair.

      • erico 1875 says:
        11 Nov11 November 11:26

        If I am having to transit LGW flying EDI to AGP, PMI and return etc with BAthen the overall experience with Ryanair/Easyjet/Jet2 who opperate DIRECT flights is bound to be better.
        If I was London based, then BA would probably be my first choice.
        Our last Avios trip back from Malaga, flight got in about 00.40 to LGW . EDI was not untill 7 ish. Thats a long wait.

        • sandgrounder says:
          11 Nov11 November 16:04

          depends- if you have status and a thirst that only a complementary bar in t5 can quench, its the indirect all the way!

          Seriously though, now you can reserve seats on Ryanair (and often.enough get the front row) it’s not that bad any more. they do love to leave you standing in corridors for long periods of time though, which annoys me very much.

  • Metatone says:
    11 Nov11 November 08:02

    It would be nice if Tripflex was actually worthwhile, but I guess that would cost Amex too much.
    Still, one advantage over rewards partners – you can use Tripflex on any booking, rather than depending on “reward availability…”

  • RIccati says:
    11 Nov11 November 09:58

    It’s easy to have value on Club Carlson or London hotels redemptions just because of the level of prices. There is always an alternative of not staying in their expensive hotel!

    • Rob says:
      11 Nov11 November 10:02

      Carlson still works out well at the low level though. 9000 points for a regional Park Inn is only 3,000 Amex points and I doubt those rooms are selling for under £30 cash.

      • Brian says:
        11 Nov11 November 11:06

        Those rooms aren’t – but as I think the original point was saying, there is no real need to stay in that particular chain. At weekends, for example, you can often get Ibis hotel rooms for 25 pounds. As ever, it will depend on other things like location.

        Certainly, I would rarely stay in a high-end London Club Carlson hotel, when you can get something much nicer for less using sites like secretescapes.com.

  • Max says:
    11 Nov11 November 10:11

    OT
    Last night, I received an email offer from Etihad:

    Dear Business Connect Member,
    As the preferred airline for your company, we are pleased to extend a complimentary Etihad Guest Gold or Silver Card if you currently hold Gold or Silver frequent flyer status with any another airline.

    Unfortunately, I don’t have any gold/silver FF status with any airline 🙁

  • Richard says:
    11 Nov11 November 14:15

    Any idea if Amex point transfer bonus to Avios is coming up soon? The last one i think was almost a year ago.

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