Get a 50% bonus using Amex Membership Rewards to pay BA, Virgin, Ryanair and Emirates

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

• Roger says:

  2 Feb2 February 06:02

  Thanks for the summary.
  Received email yesterday but didn’t look into more details.
  This clears it as a no go for me.

• Freddy says:

  2 Feb2 February 06:39

  Since BA/nectar transfer was watered down and radisson trashed their scheme is this really a bad option when the only other option is flights or marginally better marriott

  • Harry T says:

    2 Feb2 February 07:32

    It’s fairly easy to do better than 0.5p per Marriott point.

• aseftel says:

  2 Feb2 February 07:07

  Worth remembering that if you do want to reduce the cost of a BA flight using MR points, you can generally beat 0.68p/MR using part pay with Avios.

  • Harry T says:

    2 Feb2 February 07:32

    For small amounts, yes.

• Paul says:

  2 Feb2 February 07:53

  It’s a very bad deal when you can transfer to partner airlines and get easier redemptions for fewer miles and massively reduced fees than BA.

  For example FCO SYD 90,000 MR and €112 Euro one way in J with excellent availability

  I did CDG SYD in December booking on the Saturday to fly Monday for same deal returning from SYD in J via on cash fares . Overall saved 2/3rds on the £9000 BA were demanding and 75% on what Qatar wanted from LHR at the time

  • Carlos says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:11

    You also are restricted to any limitations the third party booking website has on fare changing terms etc, as opposed to booking direct

  • James says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:30

    Which airline was this with Paul?

    • Paul says:

      2 Feb2 February 21:22

      You transfer to Delta airlines and then book on their partners. In December I flew Vietnam airlines CDG HAN SGN SYD all lie flat. Don’t get me wrong the transfer in Vietnam was over 12 hrs and a royal pain but lounges helped a little and I was comforted by the price at the very last minute.
      Doing it again in December departing from LHR to AMS on Boxing Day on KLM to overnight AMS then AMS TPE SYD on China Airlines, with just 1 hour transit in TPE. I Arrive SYD evening of 28th.
      I paid 90,000 plus £301 per person as ticket originates in LHR and I pay full APD but, I could have flown ex FCO for same miles and €112. I decided that given potential for bad weather etc I’d rather be protected with a single ticket. I also get full UK261/EU261 protection.
      Booking via delta is so simple and you can check availability before transferring from Membership rewards. Moreover transfers are instant.
      Finally, and this is really helpful, Delta call centres and agents have been outstanding. Calls answered almost immediately and they really want to help. In December I called to get my flight changed. It was made really simple and NO FEES! My December booking was showing waitlisted for a couple of days after booking and I called them. It was sorted in seconds. Really impressive.

      Finally flying Delta on points is ludicrously expensive. It seems to be revenue based with some of their routes requiring half a million miles. Google images of China Airlines A350. VN were superb and catering and wine ex CDG was outstanding. I slept SGN SYD and ate nothing

      • James says:

        3 Feb3 February 14:35

        Not sure if you will see this Paul but just a quick note to say thank you for the information, it is really helpful.

• Steve says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:40

  Has anyone used their platinum dining benefit for Bread Street Kitchen? Credit has still not been applied…

  • Rhys says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:56

    Sometimes they’re slow. I had to chat with Amex after they missed one of mine dining things. Had to email them the receipt!

    • Steve says:

      2 Feb2 February 09:02

      How long did you have to wait before contacting them?

      • Rhys says:

        2 Feb2 February 10:23

        I contacted them about a week after, after I used my second dining credit which had already credited.

• Irons80 says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:46

  But what’s missing in the analysis is that it’s actually worth more than what Rob’s saying as if you use points against a cash fair, you’ve still earned the TPs and Avios on your flight vs a mileage redemption where you haven’t

  • Peter K says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:05

    Plus the flexibility on dates and times with a cash fair, not only having to choose when there is a redemption option available.

    • jjoohhnn says:

      2 Feb2 February 09:46

      But cash fares have loss of flexibility in being able to change your ticket for a nominal fee on a redemption unless you buy an expensive fare.

      Of course, what’s stopping you using this to pay the carrier imposed fees and taxes for your flight off using this?

    • Aston100 says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:03

      Those are both good points.

    • Dubious says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:33

      That’s true but not infinitely so as cash fares are not uniform across all dates or times.

• Steve in Croydon says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:55

  You pay for a flexible/refundable airline fare with MR points, say an Avios ticket with BA.
  What happens when you cancel the flight for a refund, perhaps many months later? Does one receive a refund of MR points or the original cash charge? Perhaps the MR points are lost.
  Has anyone experienced this?

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:23

    Good question. I’d suspect that nothing happens – the cash is refunded to your statement and stays there at a guess, with no points refunded.

• Andy says:

  2 Feb2 February 20:25

  Does anyone know if you lose Avios that haven’t transferred when you cancel the BA Amex, I have a few thousand that must have missed the cut off to transfer

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