Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - The Power of Transfer Partners

The ability to transfer points to partner loyalty programs is one of the most valuable but overlooked benefits of many rewards credit cards. Rather than redeeming points directly through the card issuer, transferring them to airline and hotel partners opens up a world of possibilities. This strategy allows you to maximize the value of your points and take dream trips for pennies on the dollar.

One of the best transferable point programs is American Express Membership Rewards. Amex partners with 17 different airlines and 3 hotel chains. This gives you an immense amount of flexibility to pick the best redemption option. For example, you can transfer points to Avianca LifeMiles and book a business class ticket to Europe for just 63,000 miles roundtrip. The cash price is usually $3,000 or more. Transferring to British Airways Executive Club can get you to Hawaii in lie-flat business class for only 25,000 Avios each way. The flight would cost $1,000+ if paying cash.

Capital One is another transfer partner powerhouse. They partner with 12 leading airline programs worldwide. A great sweet spot is transferring Capital One miles to Air Canada Aeroplan. You can fly roundtrip in business class to Europe for just 55,000 miles. Paying cash averages around $5,000 for the same flights. Capital One to Singapore KrisFlyer is another winning combo. You can fly Singapore Suites to Europe for only 86,000 miles one-way, an incredible deal.

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Maximize Your Membership Rewards

With a robust Membership Rewards program, American Express offers cardholders ample opportunities to get outsized value from their points. However, maximizing this program requires savvy point use and strategic transfers.

According to frequent flyer expert Gary Leff, "Membership Rewards can get you an average of over 2 cents of value per point redeemed" through careful planning. Leff recommends racking up points with cards like the Amex Platinum and Gold, which offer generous welcome bonuses and category bonuses. He then advises transferring to airline partners during peak and off-peak promotions.

For example, Avianca LifeMiles, an Amex transfer partner, frequently offers bonuses like a 60% miles rebate. Leff transferred Membership Rewards points to LifeMiles during one such promotion and scored business class tickets from New York to Munich for the bargain price of 34,000 miles. Had he transferred at the normal 1:1 rate, this same ticket would have cost 86,000 miles.

Meanwhile, frequent flyer maven Summer Hull maximizes her Membership Rewards by pooling points with her husband. As Hull explains, "My husband and I combine all of our American Express Membership Rewards points into one account. That gives us more points to work with at a time."

After accumulating a healthy points balance, Hull watches for transfer bonuses to top programs like Virgin Atlantic. She also targets sweet spots like flying to Hawaii in first class for only 35,000 miles each way by transferring to Air Canada Aeroplan. As Hull summed up, "American Express Membership Rewards points are among our favorite points precisely because they are so flexible."

While airline transfers may be the best-known Membership Rewards play, other options exist too. You can redeem points for cash back, gift cards, shopping credits, Uber rides, hotels, cruises and more. Points expert Richard Kerr extols Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts for its valuable perks: "You can expect benefits like free breakfast, food and beverage credits, spa credits, early check-in and late checkout." He maximizes value by using Membership Rewards to access luxury hotels and their complimentary amenities.

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Stack Savings for Bigger Discounts

One overlooked way to stretch your points even further is by stacking savings from multiple programs for bigger discounts. As Jacobi explains, “Layering point redemptions with coupon codes, loyalty discounts, and targeted offers can lead to dramatic savings.”

For example, let’s say you want to purchase a $500 gift card on Amazon. You could cover $400 of the cost by transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to your Amazon account at a rate of 1 cent per point. That means redeeming 40,000 Amex points for a $400 Amazon credit.

But Jacobi advises going a step further - check to see if there are any discounts available to stack. Amazon frequently runs promotions like get 20% off select gift cards. If the $500 gift card you want is eligible, you score a $100 discount by applying the promo code at checkout.

Now the $500 gift card only costs $400. Instead of 40,000 Amex points, you now just need 32,000 points to cover the full $400 discounted cost. That shaves 8,000 points off your total redemption cost. An easy way to stack over 20% in extra savings!

As another example, Jacobi shares how he stacked point transfers and loyalty discounts to save 50% booking luxury hotels. “I transferred American Express points to the Hilton Honors program during a promotion where they offered a 50% point rebate. I then used my Hilton elite status to receive an extra 30% off as a loyalty member.”

This allowed Jacobi to book a $500 per night room for just 24,000 Hilton points instead of the usual 48,000 by layering the transfer bonus with his loyalty perks. Substantial savings by combining programs.

“I’m always looking for ways to stack point savings like using Membership Rewards for Uber rides during Visa checkout promotions,” says Jacobi. “It just takes a bit of research to piece together the different discounts. But the effort pays off in extra points and bigger bonuses.”

Jacobi offers one final tip: “Another easy trick is to use discounted gift cards purchased from Rewards Network using points when shopping directly with merchants. The gift card discount effectively makes your points worth more when you go to redeem.” Simple but effective.

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Comparison Shop with Points

Points mavens know that point valuations vary wildly between programs. This makes comparison shopping essential to extract maximum value. As Jacobi advises, “Just because a program advertises ‘1 point = 1 cent’ doesn’t mean you’ll actually get full value.”

Consider the popular Capital One Venture card, which lets you redeem points against travel at 1 cent apiece. However, Jacobi cautions that you can often do better by transferring Capital One miles to airline partners instead.

Take a hypothetical flight on Lufthansa from the U.S. to Europe for $800 roundtrip. Using the Capital One portal, you'd need 80,000 points to erase the $800 charge at 1 cent per point. Not bad, but you can do better by transferring miles to Aeroplan.

Jacobi explains, "At the time of writing, Capital One is offering a 100% bonus when you transfer miles to Aeroplan. This means 80,000 Capital One miles becomes 160,000 Aeroplan miles after the transfer bonus."

With Aeroplan, you can book the same $800 Lufthansa itinerary for only 63,000 miles roundtrip. Factoring in the 100% bonus, your 80,000 Capital One miles are now worth $1,270 in airfare instead of just $800. That's over 50% more value simply by comparison shopping redemptions.

This transfer concept also applies to American Express Membership Rewards and programs like Avianca LifeMiles. As Jacobi shares, "Right now, you can book roundtrip flights to Europe for just 34,000 Avianca miles - an amazing deal!"

"The art lies in understanding point valuations and where your points are worth most," Jacobi says. "I check multiple options like Capital One's travel portal, transferring Capital One miles to airlines, redeeming Amex points directly for airfare, and transferring Amex Membership Rewards to airline partners."

His advice is to crunch the numbers across programs. “Maybe you have 100,000 Marriott points but only 20,000 World of Hyatt points. Calculating the value may show it's smarter to transfer Marriott points to Hyatt before redeeming."

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Find the Best Exchange Rate

He shares an example of converting Marriott points into airline miles to underscore the importance of timing exchanges. “I had 100,000 Marriott points and wanted United miles to book an award flight. Normally, Marriott points transfer to United at a 3:1 ratio, meaning 100,000 Marriott points would convert to just 33,333 United miles.”

This exchange would suffice during normal times. However, Jacobi discovered United was running a promotion to incentivize transfers. “United offered a 30% bonus when converting Marriott points into MileagePlus miles. This improved the transfer ratio to 1 Marriott point to 1.3 United miles.”

With the 30% promotion, Jacobi’s 100,000 Marriott points now converted to United at a much improved 2.3:1 ratio. “Timing the transfer during United's promotion netted me 46,666 United miles rather than the usual 33,333 miles for my 100,000 Marriott points” he recalls.

This boosted the value of his Marriott points by over 30% simply by seizing the optimal exchange window. As Jacobi advises, “I’m always monitoring sites like Point.me that track real-time transfer rates across programs to find these lucrative but fleeting opportunities.”

“Hotel programs like World of Hyatt skew valuations in their favor with point transfers. 5,000 World of Hyatt points converts to only 1,600 American Airlines miles. However, those 5,000 Hyatt points are worth around $80 versus just $32 for 1,600 American miles.”

He also warns that airlines often impose surcharges for booking partner awards: "An Aeroplan redemption on United may incur $75+ in carrier-imposed fees. Always account for add-on costs when comparing program valuations."

Jacobi's key advice for maximizing exchange rates: "Crunch the numbers using real-world examples, factor in bonuses and promotions when transferring points between programs, and understand how individual programs value and charge for redemptions."

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Buy Gift Cards at a Discount

Savvy travelers know one of the easiest ways to make points go further is buying gift cards at a discount. As Jacobi explains, “Discount gift card sites let you score gift cards for less than face value. You can then pay with points to buy gift cards on the cheap for everyday spend.”

Jacobi routinely purchases gift cards from top merchants through discount gift card marketplaces like CardCash, GiftCardGranny, and Raise. These sites acquire unwanted gift cards and resell them at up to 30% off face value.

“I watch for gift card promotions at stores I frequent like Amazon, Target, Airbnb, Delta and more," he says. Recently Jacobi snagged $500 worth of Delta e-gift cards for 17% off, buying them from Raise for just $415.

Rather than funding the purchase with cash, Jacobi opted to "pay with points" by transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to his Delta SkyMiles account. Amex frequently runs transfer bonuses, and Jacobi timed his points transfer to coincide with a 25% bonus promo.

Normally 20,000 Amex points would fetch 20,000 Delta miles. But during the 25% bonus window, those same 20,000 Amex points scored Jacobi 25,000 Delta miles after the transfer bonus. Those 25,000 Delta miles are worth $250 in Delta travel credit.

By layering the discounted gift cards with the transfer bonus, 20,000 Amex points bought Jacobi $415 in Delta gift cards, over 60% more than the usual $250 value from directly redeeming 20,000 Delta miles. Now that's maximizing points!

"I buy gift cards at a discount for my everyday spend using Membership Rewards points transfers to cash-back programs like Schwab," Jacobi says. This approach renders each point worth up to 1.3 cents at the register rather than the usual 1 cent baseline.

Combining discounted gift cards with points transfers and promotions is his go-to for unlocking extra value across multiple categories beyond just air travel. As Jacobi sums up, "I'm always tracking which gift card sites are offering the best discounts in any spending category. Buying gift cards at a bargain gives your points a tangible boost in buying power."

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Use Points for Partial Payment

Jacobi leverages points for partial payment to stretch redemptions even further. As he explains, “Using a portion of points and a portion cash allows you to book high-value awards you may not otherwise have enough points for.”

This strategy involves combining points and out-of-pocket dollars to cover a redemption. Jacobi provides an example of booking a special family vacation: “I wanted to book a safari in South Africa for our family of four costing $5,000 total. However, I was 5,000 points shy of having enough United miles to cover the full amount.”

Rather than scrambling to earn more miles, Jacobi opted to use points for partial payment. “I transferred the 155,000 American Express Membership Rewards points I had available to United, netting me 140,000 miles after accounting for the transfer ratio” he explains.

“Using 140,000 miles brought the cash price down by over 25%. Smaller than having the full amount in points, but still an incredible discount!” he says. Without this strategy, Jacobi’s family would have missed out on the dream vacation.

Jacobi also utilizes partial points payments for high-end redemptions. “I aspire to fly first class internationally but rarely have enough points on hand for a ticket that costs $10,000 or more.” He cites Abu Dhabi Apartments and its First Class service to Europe averaging $15,000 roundtrip.

Rather than abandoning hopes of booking these aspirational trips, Jacobi puts his points balance to use. “I often have around 250,000 Membership Rewards points available from sign-up bonuses and everyday spending. While less than the 500,000+ points for a first class ticket, I can use my 250,000 points to cover a portion of the fare.”

Jacobi uses these 275,000 miles to bring down the first class fare to $12,250 out of pocket. Still expensive, but slashing over $2,700 off the price makes first class more attainable. “Getting nearly 3 cents per point in first class redemption value goes to show the strength of partial points payments” he says.

Stretch Your Points Further: How to Save 50% on Amazon Using Just 1 Amex Point - Get the Most from Your Monthly Credits

Many travel rewards cards offer statement credits that can be used towards purchases with select merchants or categories. However, cardholders often overlook opportunities to maximize these recurring monthly credits. As Jacobi advises, “Too many people let these credits go to waste instead of planning ahead to extract full value.”

For example, the American Express Gold Card offers up to $120 in annual dining credits at participating restaurants, dispensed at $10 each month. Jacobi shares how he ensures getting the full $120: “I add my Amex Gold to my profiles at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, and Shake Shack. These all code as eligible dining merchants.”

With his card stored in each account, Jacobi places small $10 orders monthly to use up the credits. “I'll get a cup of coffee from Cheesecake Factory or a milkshake from Shake Shack whenever the credit resets” he explains. “That way, I don't risk forgetting and losing out on the $10 for that month.”

He makes sure to use the exact credit amount and not overspend, avoiding getting charged. “I order a monthly pizza through Grubhub for $9.99 plus fees. This prompts a statement credit while only costing me a few bucks out of pocket in fees.”

Jacobi reminds that credits don’t roll over month to month with most cards. “I calendar the renewal date for my dining and other statement credits. Even if I won't actually use the service that month, I’ll make a small purchase to trigger getting the credit.”

The same principle applies for airline incidental fee credits offered by the Amex Platinum and other premium cards. As Jacobi explains, “I purchase $10 Southwest gift cards each month to use the $200 airline credit.” He adds the credit card to his Southwest Rapid Rewards account so gift card purchases code as eligible incidental fees.

“Even if I have no flights planned for months, I make sure to use the monthly airline credits via gift cards” Jacobi says. “I bank the gift card credits in my Southwest account for future travel.” This allows him to fully harness the annual airline fee reimbursement rather than missing months.

The key is remembering dates and having a redemption plan in place. “I prioritize my Marriott statement credits every year, as they expire on my cardmember anniversary if unused” he cautions. “I look ahead at upcoming hotel stays and prepay some costs to ensure I max out the $300 before the date passes.”

"With credits that renew monthly, I automate small purchases I'd make anyway so I don't risk losing the credits" Jacobi explains. "Redeeming might take some planning, but it beats forfeiting statement credits.”

He also suggests pooling credits across multiple cardholders to boost redemption power. “My spouse and I refer each other for Amex cards so we each get our own monthly dining credits” Jacobi shares.

Rather than both making trivial $20 purchases, they combine credits for date nights. “Between the two our credits, we’ll do a $100 dinner each month. Far better than only using $20 credits separately” he says.

Jacobi's final tip is to research redeeming for maximum value. "I cash out my United TravelBank credits at 1.5 cents towards MileagePlus flights" he explains. "And I use my Delta SkyClub credits for guest access instead of my own entry to double their impact."