Options to maximise Amex MR points

boiali

I have around 60 000 points on my amex gold card. i want ideas on best way to use them. Gift cards seem to be poor reward compared to airline(for example I checked 10000 points only gives £25 boots gift voucher).

I thought of transfering to airlines but the trouble is each time we fly it is a family of 5 and chances of getting 5 award tickets are close to impossible even if I accumulate enough points.

any other ideas of how I can use my points? I have over 60 000 miles with airfrance and unable to use them. We travel 3-4 times a year but each time it is as a whole family trip.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

michaels

I have same issue and decided xfering to nectar is probably as good as anything else.

[Deleted User]

If you're doing one of the big airline programs like Avios, wait for a conversion bonus to come up. These often offer between 30-50% bonus miles/points when converting from Amex and often come up once or twice a year.

One thing to consider is that you don't necessarily have to buy reward tickets for the whole family, you could book as many reward tickets as you can for a flight and then just pay cash for the remainder, you'll still save money.

With British Airways, redemption slights within Europe are usually pretty easy to get and you can fly return to most places in Western Europe for 9000 Avios +£30. Further afield such as Cyprus or Turkey would be 20000 Avios (I think) but still only £30 taxes.

Another option to consider is transferring to Hotel Points. You get 3 x Club Carlson Gold points to each 1 Amex MR for example. 180,000 points is enough for 3/4 nights in their top category hotels. It's certainly enough for 3 nights in the May Fair in London which would normally set you back about a grand. No good for the kids I guess but if you and your wife/husband wanted a long weekend in London...

boiali

Thanks for the replies so far....Really helpful. I never actually considered hotel stays and thats certainly something we could do. We are going to edingburg in two weeks and I might check hotels there with my points....

Also just in february we went to cyprus, Now I am kicking myself for not realising this coz we spent over £1000 on flights!!! Ignorance is a sin:-)