What's everyone doing with their Amex points before the devaluation on Dec 15?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
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Curious, for those of us with stockpiled Amex Membership Rewards, do you plan to move them into an airline before Dec 15? Or do you still prefer the flexibility of holding them in Amex despite the changes

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Interesting question but of course there’s no “one size fits all” answer.

It goes without saying that if you have a specific redemption in mind which involves one of the programmes that’s being devalued, it’s a no-brainer to transfer the points before December 15.

It also goes without saying that if you have a specific redemption in mind which involves one of the programmes not being devalued (Qantas,Velocity, KrisFlyer), there’s no reason at all to move them until you need to — before or after December 15.

Would I transfer my points speculatively to a programme that’s being devalued? My answer is yes, I’m transferring a portion into Qatar Avios and a portion into Cathay. That’s because I’ve been studying these two programmes for years, and I know my travel habits and plans very well, and I have a reasonably high degree of confidence that I’ll use those two FF programmes in the future.

But my advice to someone who’s considering doing the same thing: be very, very careful, and make sure you know what you’re doing. Feel free to run your thoughts by us in our community here because we may be aware of dangers and pitfalls that you’re not aware of.

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Thanks for your feedback. It sounds like we have similar travel habits as they are the two loyalty schemes of my choice too. I’ve got 800,000 points in Avios and about 1.3m Amex Points which I think I’ll move into Cathay.

The good news about transferring to Avios is that they have a really long shelf life compared to Cathay, as far as I’m aware.

Thanks for the tips

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Well, Cathay points don’t expire if there’s account activity at least every 18 months (same as Qantas points), and Qatar Avios don’t expire if there’s account activity at least every 36 months. So in that sense Qatar points “have a really long shelf life compared to Cathay”. But in reality, it’s not difficult to prevent points in either programme from expiring.