Where should I transfer my AMEX points before devaluation?

Frequent Flyer Programs
1

Hi guys, I’m sorry but I have run numbers myself, and searched PH and the web for answers and I’m still really confused as to what would be the best place to transfer my 86,523 Amex points before the devaluation.

I have travel coming up this year from Perth to Boston in June and Perth to Rome in late Aug/Early Sep. Boston I will be travelling solo and Rome I’ll be traveling with my Mum. I’m not set on using points for those, but I will have to purchase a MacBook Pro in the next year which will cost more than 3k and I intend to get a new points earning credit card (to replace the amex) and score a big bonus if that helps (would love to take mum to Rome in BC if that would accrue enough points mixed with my AMEX haul).

Ultimately I guess I’m just asking for advice;
Where should I transfer my Amex points, and is there a specific new card I should get, is there any possibility I could send two people to Italy on that total?

Or should I send AMEX to one (like velocity) and get a qantas earning card going forward and use those points later down the track?

Many many thanks for any advice and TOTAL APOLOGIES for the annoying question, I’ve been researching it for months and I’m running out of time and it’s doing my head in!

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Hi Amelia,

No worries at all. Don’t be too apologetic. Courteous questions are always welcome.

A couple of questions to clarify your query:

  1. Have you made any bookings for the two trips you mentioned?
  2. If so, what airline is that with?
  3. Are the flights simple A to B routes?
  4. Are you after the shortest flight from A to B?
  5. Or do you not mind flying a bit further if travelling in Business?
  6. What type of Amex card is your Amex points from? Explorer, Plat Edge, Plat Charge?
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Thanks so much! I really appreciate it.
To answer your questions;

  1. Have you made any bookings for the two trips you mentioned? - No, not yet!
  2. Are the flights simple A to B routes? - Perth to Rome is a simple route run on the single airline, but not a direct flight, always has one stop minimum in my experience, depending on the airline (for example emirates stops in Dubai, Singapore airlines in Singapore, etc)
    I’ve never done Perth to Boston before but my early searches indiciate one to two stops and a possible airline change so a less simple route.
  3. Are you after the shortest flight from A to B
  4. Or do you not mind flying a bit further if travelling in Business? - For Rome I wouldn’t mind flying a bit further if in business class, for Boston it would depend on how much time it adds, but I would be open to it.
  5. What type of Amex card is your Amex points from? Explorer, Plat Edge, Plat Charge? - I have the Plat Edge (that 3 points per dollar in supermarkets was amazing while it lasted haha)

Thanks so much for your reply :smile:
Amelia

4

Thanks for the additional info.

Amex Ascent points are great because it is a flexible currency - can be transferred to multiple programs.

I think first things first, we should have a look at availability of award space for the dates your are interested in. For oneworld airlines, Qantas search engine is pretty good and easy to use. Have a play by doing a dummy search (tick Classic Awards). If it doesn’t show much, try ‘Classic Awards’ and ‘Multi-city’. Try searching for one seat if two seats doesn’t yield much.

As your point balance is not extremely large, I would probably concentrate on trying to use your points on the flight to Rome. You current amount of points is sufficient for 1 passenger in Business Class. PER-HKG-FCO with Cathay Pacific. This costs 85k Asia Miles (transferrable from 85k Amex Ascent pts). This is pretty decent use of points but the important thing is availability of award space on the dates you want.

The other suite of airlines you can try for is Star Alliance (Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, etc.) Again, try search for award seats on Singapore Airlines -> redeem seats. You will need to create a Krisflyer account (which is free).

If you need help searching, provide the range of dates you are interested in and I can help you have a quick look.

2 Likes
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Thank you SO much for all your help.

My date range for PER-FCO is any day 28-22nd August
OR I could go the other direction coming back FCO-PER any day 7-11 September

I’ve done a search on both Qantas and Cathay and it’s yielding no availability (Qantas gives a weird part availability for an interstate leg of the flight in business only, with the majority being economy) that I can see.

Perhaps there’s just nothing for either sets of dates. I am going to try searching Singapore airlines though.

I feel like I’m so close too! Any airline where I could get a credit card sign up bonus of around 100,000 for should give me a total large enough for 2x people when mixed with my acsent points. Though I know Singapore is significantly higher redemption amounts than cathay.