How to cash out your Amex Membership Rewards points or Emirates Skywards miles for 1p each

In our main article today I wrote about the very generous ‘double up’ bonus which Heathrow Rewards is running from today, 24th July, to Monday 30th July.  During this period, every 250 Heathrow Rewards points you convert will get you a £5 Heathrow shopping voucher instead of a £2.50 voucher.

There is an ‘advanced’ way to work this offer.  I have put it into this separate article in order to not dilute the main message of the ‘double up’ deal for those readers who are less keen on the sort of creativity I am about to outline.

Regular readers of Head for Points will know that there is a second Heathrow Rewards bonus running at the moment.  You receive a 50% bonus when you transfer Emirates Skywards miles into Heathrow Rewards.  This offer runs until 31st July.  Full details are in this article.

You should also remember that American Express Membership Rewards points convert to Emirates Skywards miles at a rate of 1:1.  This transfer is instant as long as your accounts are already linked and should be done within a day if they are not.

This means you can get creative …..

It is possible, for the next seven days only, to get 1p of Heathrow Airport shopping vouchers per American Express Membership Rewards point or Emirates Skywards mile you have.

This is how:

Step 1:  Transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points to Emirates Skywards via this page of the Amex website 

The transfer is instant if your accounts are already linked and should be fairly quick even if they are not – although there is a risk.  You need to transfer in chunks of 500 American Express points with a minimum of 1,000.

Step 2:  Transfer your Emirates Skywards miles into Heathrow Rewards points via this page of the Emirates website 

You need to convert at least 6,000 Emirates Skywards miles which, under this offer, will get you 3,000 Heathrow Rewards points instead of the usual 2,000.  Larger transfers must be in multiples of 2,000 miles.  The transfer was instant when I did this a couple of years ago.  The risk here is that the bonus does not post immediately.

IMPORTANT:  Heathrow Rewards points transferred from Emirates can only be used for shopping vouchers, Heathrow Express tickets or airport parking.  They cannot be transferred out to another airline scheme.

Step 3:  Redeem your Heathrow Rewards points for Heathrow shopping vouchers via the Heathrow Rewards website 

As long as you order your vouchers by 30th July, you will receive 2p per point instead of the usual 1p.  You need to redeem in multiples of 250 Heathrow Rewards points.

So ….

6,000 American Express Membership Rewards points converts into

6,000 Emirates Skywards miles which converts into

3,000 Heathrow Rewards points (with the 50% bonus until 31st July) which converts into

£60 of Heathrow Airport shopping vouchers (with the 100% bonus until 30th July) which are valid for 12 months

That is 1p per American Express Membership Rewards point or Emirates Skywards mile.

There is, of course, some risk here and if it all goes goes wrong, don’t blame us:

Emirates Skywards transfers from Amex are instant but if your accounts are not linked it may take a day

The one time I did a transfer from Emirates Skywards into Heathrow Rewards it was also instant, but that was two years ago – I don’t have any recent experience

I’m not sure if the 50% Heathrow Rewards bonus posts immediately or not

As you have a full week from today to order the vouchers from Heathrow Rewards, the risk is manageable in my view.  1p per American Express Membership Rewards points is a good return although, of course, you should really have something in mind to buy and be planning a visit to the airport.

Heathrow Rewards is expecting high demand during this promotion and is warning that it could take 28 days for your shopping vouchers to arrive in the post.  Do not order if you must have them sooner, although it may well happen.

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How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (March 2024)

Emirates Skywards does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Emirates Skywards miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 40,000 Emirates Skywards miles

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 10,000 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Emirates Skywards miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Emirates Skywards mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.