Published: 16 June 2026
American Express 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.
What Are American Express Membership Rewards Worth?
- Best value: Airline transfers, typical value: 1p+ per point
- Average value: Gift cards (0.5p)
- Poor value: Statement credits (0.45p)
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)
Better for UK Amex users are conversions to Avios, 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.
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.
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.
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 (last day to transfer 22 June 2026)
- Convert into Etihad Guest miles
- 1 Membership Rewards point converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile
- Minimum transfer amount: 1,000 Membership Rewards points
- Transfer time: 5 working days
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 Partners
16. Accor
- Convert into ALL Accor Reward points
- 2 Membership Rewards points convert to 1 ALL Accor Reward point
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Minimum transfer amount: 1 Membership Rewards point
- Transfer time: 4 working days
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.
