Even if you aren’t planning any trips to Australia, the addition of Qantas as an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner is worth your attention.
Now available for 1:1 transfers from your Membership Rewards balance in 500 point increments (a welcome improvement over the standard 1,000 point increments), this new partnership allows you to take advantage of Qantas’ distance-based award charts for both Qantas flights and partner airlines.
Here’s what flights will cost you on Qantas, in addition to select partner airlines like American Airlines and Emirates:
And here’s what you’ll pay on some other partner airlines, including Alaska Airlines.
These charts apply to both domestic and international flights, and thus have some sweet spots like New York to London for 45,000 points roundtrip, or flights from certain U.S. cities to nearby Caribbean destinations starting at 16,000 miles roundtrip. The Points Guy has a great list of other routes to look for as well.
The quickest ways to collect Amex Membership Rewards points are with The Platinum Card® by American Express and the American Express® Gold Card, both of which we’re big fans of. The former is one of the best premium travel cards you can get, and the latter earns four points per dollar on restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarket purchases (the spend cap and go-to rate for supermarkets is up to $25,000, then 1x), making it one of the best cards you can use on food of all sorts.
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