Published: 16 June 2026
Updated: 5 August 2026
Amex Membership Rewards: The Complete UK Guide
Membership Rewards are the loyalty currency of American Express. Membership Rewards are earned on the Amex Platinum, Amex Gold and Amex Rewards personal credit cards, and the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold business cards. In addition if you have an American Express Corporate Card from your employer, you may also be able to collect Membership Rewards. The number of points earned per transaction varies according to the card used by the member.
Membership Rewards points are flexible, meaning that you have a variety of options of how you spend them, from pseudo cash discounts to points transfers to travel programmes. Importantly, the points are held in your American Express account until you are ready to spend or transfer them out.
Best Ways to Use Membership Rewards Points
- Avios transfers to BA/Iberia/Qatar (remember you can also transfer via BA to Finnair and Aer Lingus)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Hotel transfers (although do your maths based on your likely redemption)
- Gift cards (if simplicity matters)
Membership Rewards is one of the key ways of earning Avios but UK Amex users can also convert to Virgin Points or Flying Blue where you should be looking to get at least 1p of value per point converted. At 0.5p each, Nectar points are not particularly good value but are a good way of using up small quantities of MR points due to no minimum number of points required for a transfer.
Using Membership Rewards against an outstanding account balance or against a specific purchase is generally seen as the worst possible use of points in your account and at 0.45p per MR point, I would strongly advise against this as you can order vouchers for high-street/online retailers and get 0.5p per point.
What Are Amex Membership Rewards Points Worth?
| Transfer Partner | Typical value per MR point |
|---|---|
|
Airlines (including British Airways Avios) |
1p+ |
|
Accor Live Limitless |
0.85p |
|
Hilton Honors |
0.7p |
|
Marriott Bonvoy |
0.75p |
|
Radisson Rewards |
0.66p |
|
Club Eurostar |
0.6p |
|
Nectar |
0.5p |
|
Gift Cards |
0.5p |
|
Use as credit against Amex spend |
0.45p |
Membership Rewards Options available to UK registered accounts
Pseudo cash usage
1. Reduce Your Balance
-
- Use your Membership Rewards to reduce the balance on your account
- Minimum redemption: 200 points
- Speed of use: Immediate
- Value per point: 0.45p
2. Redeem against specific purchases
-
- Similar to the Reduce Your Balance option but points are used against individual statement transactions
- Minimum redemption: 200 points
- Speed of use: Immediate
- Value per point: 0.45p
3. Purchase gift cards
-
- Extensive range of gift cards from household name retailers including Amazon, B&A, Ikea, M&S, Sainsbury’s & Tesco. Both physical & digital cards are available plus there is no postage charge for physical cards.
- Minimum transfer: 1,000 points (some retailers are higher)
- Speed of use: Immediate for digital cards, physical cards take 10 days
- Value per point: 0.5p
- Redeem for travel Use Membership Rewards for flights, hotels, flight & hotel bundles, and car hire with American Express Travel Minimum redemption: 200 points Speed of use: Immediate Value per point: 0.45p
Airline Partners
4. British Airways
-
- Convert into British Airways Club Avios
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Avios
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: Immediate
5. Cathay Pacific
-
- Convert into Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Asia Mile
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 3 working days
6. Delta
-
- Convert into Delta Skymiles
- 1,000 Membership Rewards point converts to 1,000 Delta Skymiles
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: up to 30 minutes
7. Emirates
-
- Convert into Emirates Skywards
- 2 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Skywards Mile
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 2 working days
8. Etihad (no longer a partner, last transfer date was ended on 22 June 2026)
-
Transfer time: 5 working daysConvert into Etihad Guest miles- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
9. Air France/KLM
-
- Convert into Flying Blue miles
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Flying Blue mile
- Minimum transfer amount: 500 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 4 working days
10. Iberia
-
- Convert into Iberia Club Avios
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Avios
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 4 working days
11. Qantas
-
- Convert into Qantas Frequent Flyer points
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Qantas Point
- Minimum transfer amount: 500 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 3 business days
12. Qatar Airways
-
- Convert into Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Avios
- Minimum transfer amount: 500 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: Up to 48 hours
13. SAS
-
- Convert into SAS Eurobonus points
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 SAS Eurobonus points
- Minimum transfer amount: 100 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 5 working days
14. Singapore Airlines
-
- Convert into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles
- 3 Membership Rewards points convert to 2 KrisFlyer miles
- Minimum transfer amount: 900 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 15 working days
15. Virgin Atlantic
-
- Convert into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Virgin point
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: Instant
Hotel Transfers
16. Accor
-
- Convert into Accor Live Limitless (ALL) reward points
- 2 Membership Rewards points convert to 1 ALL Accor Reward point
- Accor Reward points are worth exactly €0.02 as a redemption so each Amex MR point is therefore worth €0.01 (or about 0.85p) when transferring to Accor Live Limitless
- Minimum transfer amount: 300 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: Instant
17. Hilton
-
- Convert into Hilton Honors points
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 2 Hilton Honors points
- Hilton Honors points are generally valued at around 0.35p each as a redemption so each Amex MR point is worth about 0.7p when transferring to Hilton Honors
- Minimum transfer amount: 200 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 5 working days
18. Marriott
-
- Convert into Marriott Bonvoy Rewards Points
- 2 Membership Rewards points convert to 3 Marriott points
- Marriott Bonvoy Rewards are generally valued at around 0.5p each as a redemption so each Amex MR point is worth 0.75p when transferring to Marriott Bonvoy
- Minimum transfer amount: 400 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: up to 1 business day
19. Radisson
-
- Convert into Radisson Rewards Points
- 1 Membership Reward point converts to 3 Radisson points
- Radisson Reward points are worth exactly 0.22p each as a redemption (although you can get better than this sometimes) so each Amex MR point is worth 0.66p when transferring to Radisson Rewards
- Minimum transfer amount: 3 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: up to 10 working days
Other Partners
20.Eurostar
-
- Convert into Club Eurostar Points
- 1,500 Membership Reward points convert to 100 Club Eurostar points
- Club Eurostar Points are worth around 9p each as a redemption (generally 7-10p), so each Amex MR point is worth round 0.6p when transferring to Radisson Rewards
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,500 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 5 working days
21. Nectar
-
- Convert into Nectar Points
- 1 Membership Reward point converts to 1 Nectar point
- 500 Nectar Points = £2.50 off your shopping at Sainsbury’s & Argos, meaning that each Amex MR point is worth 0.5p each when transferring to Nector
- Minimum transfer amount: 1 Membership Rewards point
- Transfer time: 4 working days
Keep an eye out for Transfer Bonuses
Also, from time to time, American Express have offered transfer bonuses for moving miles to various travel partners. These bonuses have no real pattern or consistent but in the past have ranged from 15-50% additional miles/points. These are definitely worth watching out for and if there is a transfer to your preferred frequent flyer or hotel scheme, you should give serious consideration to taking advantage of it.
Are Membership Rewards Transfers Immediate?
Whilst BA, Virgin and Accor transfers are instantaneous, for security reasons, most points transfers take at least a couple of days so bear this in mind if you are looking to book a flight redemption.
Do Membership Rewards Expire?
Amex Membership Rewards points remain active as long as your account remains open and if you close your account, you have 30 days to redeem any points
If you miss a monthly payment, the relevant points earned in that period will be be forfeited. If your account is closed by American Express “in accordance with the Card Account agreement”, all unredeemed points will be lost.
Are Membership Rewards worth the same in every country?
The short answer is no. Amex cardholders in other countries can (and do) have both different transfer partners and different transfer rates to the UK. So be careful what you might read on other websites that are focused on US or Continental European readers.
Our Take
American Express Membership Rewards is one of the most flexible loyalty currencies available to UK travellers. Unlike airline-specific schemes, your points can be held in your Membership Rewards account until you decide how best to use them.
While statement credits and gift cards provide a simple redemption option, the best value is usually achieved by transferring points to airline and hotel partners. Programmes such as British Airways Club, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Flying Blue can often deliver more than double the value available from cashback-style redemptions.
The real strength of Membership Rewards is their flexibility. By keeping your points unconverted until you are ready to book, you can choose the airline or hotel programme that offers the best redemption for your next trip.
Further Reading
- Learn how Amex Offers can get you additional discounts off your travel (and other) spend
- Want to maximise your points?
