American Express Membership Rewards: Ultimate Guide

The easiest way to earn American Express membership rewards is by applying to one of the membership rewards cards and getting a welcome bonus.

Welcome bonuses are different between each card and are available to new cardholders.

The Platinum Card^® from American Express is the frequent flyer card of the American Express membership rewards program.

This card has many advantages such as unlimited access for its holder and a guest at more than 1,200 airport lounges, an annual travel credit of $200 and a nice earning of membership rewards.

Here is the current welcome bonus:

The American Express Cobalt^MD Card is an excellent American Express Membership Rewards program card.

Here is the current welcome bonus:

The American Express Business Edge^MD Card is the most accessible card in the American Express Membership Rewards program for self-employed / professionals / small business owners.

Here is the current welcome bonus:

The American Express^® Business Gold Rewards Card^® is the other most accessible card in The American Express Membership Rewards program for the self-employed/professionals/small business owners.

Here is the current welcome bonus:

The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express is the card for frequent flyer professionals in the American Express Membership Rewards Program.

The card has many advantages such as unlimited access for its holder and a guest at more than 1,200 airport lounges and a great earning of membership rewards in all shops.

Here is the current welcome bonus:

Aside from the welcome bonus, the best way to earn membership rewards is by using your card to pay for all your purchases.

It is thus possible to earn between 1 and 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar depending on the categories of purchases.

This is where you have to be strategic in accumulating Membership Rewards !

While the American Express CobaltTM Card is the ultimate accumulation card in certain 5X categories, don’t forget the other 2X accumulation categories offered by the American Express^MD Gold Rewards Card.

For the self-employed, professionals and small businesses, the American Express Business Edge^MD Card is great for purchases of office supplies (Staples, for example) and electronics (Dell, Apple…).

However, if most of your purchases fall outside of all of these categories, the American Express Platinum Corporate^MD card will be recommended because of its1.25 Membership Rewards points per dollar earning rate.

American Express is the only institution that allows you to refer friends so they can open a card.

Offers are not always attractive compared to those offered on milesopedia.

Indeed, some offers may require spending up to twice as much money in 3 months to get an equivalent welcome bonus. Nothing to make good friends with…. !

However, it is an option to keep in mind… especially in a couple.

For the referrer, it is possible to get between 5,000 and 25,000 membership rewards points per referred card.

American Express recently introduced “Amex online offers“: you can earn Membership Rewards points with some offers.

American Express regularly offers a reward in membership rewards to provide an additional cardholder to your account.

Offers can range from 1,000 to 5,000 membership rewards.

American Express membership rewards can be transferred to many hotel and airline partners.

This is one of the best ways to use Membership Rewards points: to get the best possible value.

American Express Canada partners with 7 airline rewards programs.

Here are each of them, with the transfer rate and duration:

The American Express Fixed Point Travel Program is a fare structure that applies to select economy class flights:

And on some business class flights:

To book this type of flight, you will have to go to the American Express Travel portal.

Let’s take the example of a round trip flight between Montreal and New York.

In this example, the flight costs $462.87.

Here, with the Fixed Travel Program, you can use 15,000 Membership Rewards points and pay $162.87 in taxes.

So you save $300 with 15,000 Membership Rewards points.

So 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $20.

With the soft-spot travel allows you to redeem Membership Rewards points to pay for your ticket in whole or in partincluding taxes, fees and carrier surcharges, in a ratio that entitles you to a $10 account credit for every 1,000 points.

Let’s take the same round trip between Montreal and New York with the Flexible Points option.

In this example, the flight still costs $462.87.

Here, with the flexible point travel program, it is possible to redeem 46,287 membership rewards to cover the full ticket.

To compare with fixed points, you save $150 with15,000 Membership Rewards points.

So 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $10.

American Express membership rewards can be applied to the account for any travel purchase charged on the card.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $10.

American Express membership rewards can be applied to the account for any current purchase charged on the card.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $10.

A little-known option: redeem your Membership Rewards Points as a statement credit for your Card Annual Fee.

For example, when renewing the American Express^MD Gold Business Rewards Card, you could use 15,000 Membership Rewards points to pay the $150 fee.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $10.

You can redeem your Membership Rewards Points on American Express’ online store. The first option is gift cards. There are dozens of them.

For example, an Air Canada gift card:

You could redeem 13,000 Membership Rewards Points for a $100 gift card.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $7.70

The second option on the American Express store is for products. Hundreds of them exist.

This toaster costs $75 in stores.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $5

Another little-known option: redeem its membership rewards on Amazon.ca.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $7.

Finally, it is possible to donate your Membership Rewards Points.

Here, 1,000 Membership Rewards points = $10.

Now you know how to earn and redeem your American Express Membership Rewards Points.

Now let’s see how to manage them… every day!

As you may have seen above, there are many ways to redeem American Express Membership Rewards Points.

The value of 1 membership reward is estimated between 0.5 and 5.0 cents per point depending on the redeems (from the purchase of a toaster to the transfer to Aeroplan to travel in business class).

So we decided to rate the membership reward at 1.7 cents per dollar in order to be conservative.

This means that the American Express^MD Gold BusinessCard Welcome Bonus is worth approximately $400.

Membership rewards do not expire, as long as you keep a card active and in good standing.

It may be worthwhile to have a card such as the American Express^MD Gold Business Card with the least expensive fee ($150) to keep a Membership Rewards account active.

You can combine Membership Rewards Points from several cards in one Membership Rewards account.

The condition: all cards must be in your name.

It is therefore impossible for a couple or friends to transfer Membership Rewards points from one account to another.

To request a combination of membership rewards on a single account, you will need to contact American Express (by phone, secure messaging or chat).

American Express membership rewards is the best loyalty program in Canada.

You can easily earn membership rewards with the many cards available and easily redeem them in multiple ways.

Here are the current offers for the 6 Membership Rewards cards:

This post was not sponsored. The views and opinions expressed in this review are purely my own.