# Amex Membership Rewards deal



## Jennie (Oct 27, 2008)

From now until November 30, 2008 you can book tickets on most airlines at the Amex travel division: 
www.membershiprewards.com/pwpoffer

The tickets could be for flights in 2009. They just have to be booked on-line by November 30th.

You will use 30% less of your Membership Rewards Points by doing it here. The example they give is that if a ticket costs $300. you can pay for it using 21,000 Points instead of the usual 30,000. There's a 5000 point minimum. I don't see any maximum mentioned. 

If you do not have enough points to pay for the entire ticket, the balance can be charged to your Amex card dollar for dollar. Buried in the fine print is that a $7.00 service charge per round trip ticket is included in the total fare shown. Oh, and you can book one way or multi segment tickets too and still receive the 30% point discount. And you book the ticket in anyone's name even if they are not a cardholder or family member. 

I booked several tickets today using this deal for our Florida vacation in February. The prices shown at the Amex web site were the same as I had found on other web sites (Travelocity, Expedia, and the airlines' own web sites). Other than the $7.00 service charge per ticket, the Amex prices were the same.

The fine print states that the offer is non-transferrable and valid only for the  addressee (person receiving the post card) . I almost threw it out thinking it was a piece of junk mail.

I guess there's no harm in trying to book something if you don't think you received the offer. If it doesn't go through on the web site, I would call and complain about why others received this offer and you did not.


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## pcgirl54 (Oct 27, 2008)

and you should earn FF miles as the points are considered cash.


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## x3 skier (Oct 27, 2008)

*Not me*

Tried the link and I am "not eligible". 

Cheers


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## rhonda (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm offered only 10% fewer points.


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## gorevs9 (Oct 27, 2008)

rhonda said:


> I'm offered only 10% fewer points.


Could the eligibility, and discount offered, be based on the type of American Express card a person owns?


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## Blondie (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, the way I figure it, a $300 ticket for 21,000 pts is no bargain. After all, Jetblue lets you transfer in 25,000 Amex points for a free roundtrip ticket and they go to Cancun, SXM and Aruba as well as the DR. That to me is a better use of points as those tickets, at least for Feb when we travel, can be pricey. The Cancun tix we got are also non stop from Boston!! So, I find JB to be the best use of my amex points these days, and I never spend my points on domestic as I can really get my money;s worth on Caribbean or Mexico flights. But, anyway, my husband who has over 50,000 amex points is not eligible for this offer. I have under 5,000 points (just cleaned out my account with a transfer into Jet blue) and I am eligible! Go figure.


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## Jennie (Oct 28, 2008)

pcgirl54 said:


> and you should earn FF miles as the points are considered cash.



Good point!!! However, it will probably only be single points because I had to book it through the Amex web site. If I had been able to book it directly at the JetBlue website, I would have received double points. But hey, I'll take whatever I can get.


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## Jennie (Oct 28, 2008)

Blondie said:


> Well, the way I figure it, a $300 ticket for 21,000 pts is no bargain. After all, Jetblue lets you transfer in 25,000 Amex points for a free roundtrip ticket and they go to Cancun, SXM and Aruba as well as the DR. That to me is a better use of points as those tickets, at least for Feb when we travel, can be pricey. The Cancun tix we got are also non stop from Boston!! So, I find JB to be the best use of my amex points these days, and I never spend my points on domestic as I can really get my money;s worth on Caribbean or Mexico flights. But, anyway, my husband who has over 50,000 amex points is not eligible for this offer. I have under 5,000 points (just cleaned out my account with a transfer into Jet blue) and I am eligible! Go figure.



I called Jet Blue before doing this. They told me there were no reward seats available for the date we needed--coming into Ft. Lauderdale the Friday of President's week-- and the agent said the chance of reward seats becoming available for that week is slim to nil. 

I have been checking for reward tix for several months now, since the first day Jet Blue opened up the bookings for February. I was faced with paying $550. (OUCH) for each round trip ticket. We need two. Because of my daughter's work obligations, she absolutely cannot come a few days earlier nor return a few days later so we are locked into paying the prime holiday fare of $399. plus tax and fees for the *one way* part of her trip down. That has been the price of all 4 flights on Jet Blue for that day since the first day the bookings opened. 

I have checked often. We go through this every year, unfortunately. Last year the flights were priced at over $600. *one way * as it got closer to the date. I check regularly in case there is a sale or something that brings the price down. If I see that happen, I call Jet Blue and they give a credit for the difference that can be applied to any future flight for a year. But it never happens for that date.

I have used Jet Blue reward vouchers (via Membership Reward Points transfer)to go to Aruba and Cancun and Nassau Bahamas during February last year and the year before. But  reward seats to Ft. Lauderdale (and Miami and West Palm Beach) are just not available on the Friday or Saturday of President's week. As it is, my daughter will be returning on Thursday on a flight that will get her to New York after midnight so that we do not have to pay an outrageous price coming *and *going. The next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would be almost as bad as the price coming down. But the Thursday return fare is only $114.. So that's the compromise we are making.

By booking through the Amex deal, I saved 30% of what I would have had to pay out of pocket.  Plus, I plan to drop out of the Membership Rewards program when it comes up for renewal in May 2009, having been a member for over 15 years. I can no longer see the value in continuing to pay Amex the hefty $125. annual fee. After lots of research, I found a better program--Chase Freedom Plus. I need to liquidate all my Amex rewards points before closing the account or they will be lost. My best deal will to be to get Home Depot gift cards with whatever points I still have in April because they "cost" 10 points for each dollar vs. 20 points for everything else available through the Amex catalogue and web site.


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