How To Redeem Amex Points Like A Pro (Part 1)

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In this video, we’re going over 3 Amex Point Redemption examples to show how to redeem Amex points for travel through transfer partners. The American Express cards that earn Membership Rewards Points are great credit cards to have, but many people ask me how to use Amex points because it can be confusing. So hopefully by going over these examples you’ll be able to fly economy, business class, or even first class flights by using your American Express points which will save you a ton of money on travel!
Now, the best way to redeem Amex points is by transferring those points to one of many partner travel programs that American Express teams up with. These will allow you to book award flights in more expensive classes that typically are too expensive to book with cash, so you can travel in style without spending a lot of money! But if you’re looking to get started with learning how to redeem amex points, you’ll probably get confused because I know I was. That’s why I wanted to show some examples in this video to explain things as simply as possible.
American Express points are very valuable when used the right way. If you have a credit card like the Amex Gold card or the Amex Platinum card, you can earn a ton of these credit card points, but you’ll need to find good point redemptions to make them worth having. So hopefully these examples are useful, but always remember that your mileage may vary and deals like these are not always available. Make sure that you’re willing to book in advance and be flexible when traveling with credit card points, but have fun with it!
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[@JacksonMeyer]

Ayyyy - This is what I come for: EXAMPLES! Thanks Daniel

[@Daniel_Braun]

No problem man! Yeah I love researching these and trying to find some cool deals so this one was fun to make!

[@Lighthousefamily32]

I appreciate you showing the economy option. Most KZbinrs focus on business class / first class options which many of us don’t really care about. I also like how you get straight to the point, no puffery. Subscribed.

[@checo_jb792]

cpp

[@conniecen253]

I think I’ve only ever commented on KZbin videos 3 times in my life but after finishing this video I RUSHED HERE TO SAY THANK YOU. There is literally NO OTHER VIDEO like this on KZbin. This was soooooooo helpful!!

[@Daniel_Braun]

I'm so glad to hear that the video was helpful! Thank you so much for watching - really means a lot to me when I know my content was valuable!

[@MannyCovington]

Love seeing the practical examples using points and also taking into account the opportunity costs for the other methods.

[@joshua.butler]

Loving the level of research in this one. It's incredible how much value you can squeeze out of these points if you do a little digging. 🤑

[@nicanzalone1]

Great video as always man. Would absolutely love a part 2 for both Amex and Chase!

[@OfficialEricGao]

Great video Daniel, people always talk about points this and points that but never give concrete examples. This video will help lots of people!

[@adamwang6715]

Appreciate the economy inclusion! The 4.86 CPP sounds right up my alley because I have no true desire to fly business/first unless considering a LONG haul trip to Asia/Australia.

[@LK_EBM]

Please keep making these videos! Earning points is easy, finding real-life redemption is way harder.

[@reemaszero]

One of the least fluff channels out there. You can see all the prep that goes into these videos with how polished they come out. Nice work.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Been waiting for this one! I love getting to see high value redemptions in action. 9.3 cents/point is some serious value and it just goes to show why using your points for travel is so powerful! Thanks for sharing Daniel. Great work as always.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks Spencer! Yeah I thought that was a really cool one that I plan to use for a trip to London sometime! anything close to 10 CPP is amazing 👍

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

@@Daniel_Braun I really wanna go to London sometime soon as well so I may have to steal that one from you 😉

[@Daniel_Braun]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial Haha if this video does well I bet the date I showed in this video will get booked up. But definitely a good one to use!

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

@@Daniel_Braun Good point lol. Hopefully we can find some other good dates in the future.

[@wm6869]

You're really good at this and make point redemptions for travel so fun!

[@ItsMeCJ]

I love redemption guides like this. All very useful! That insane value for the AA first class is awesome. Prior to joining the credit card game, I’d never known that flying first class for long haul flights with points gained from credit cards (outside of airline credit cards) was even possible. I think I’ll use my Amex points for flights like this and keep my Chase points for Hyatt redemptions 😃

[@noahwilliams8918]

That's the way to do it! And Amex has more transfer partners than Citi, so use your Citi points for Virgin Atlantic and Amex points for British Airways :)

[@swaqqerz5372]

What about if you mostly travel domestically within the US ? Is it not worth it to have the Amex ?

[@checo_jb792]

cpp

[@AnthonyVenture]

This video was REVOLUTIONARY for me! For so long I’ve wanted to see some real examples of how to redeem these Amex Points that I have piled up. You really changed my mind with this one, I will save my points now instead of cashing them out with the Schwab! Especially since we wanted to go to Singapore, London and Ireland so this is all perfect. Any tips for Japan/China areas? Thanks Daniel, that was great!

[@ConnerTurmon]

As someone just getting into using my built up Amex points, this is awesome!

[@floridalife2800]

You killed it with examples!! THANK YOU

[@sjg6158]

Thanks Danny. I don't have any AMEX cards, but always enjoy your knowledge sharing and insight.

[@MattWelterOfficial]

Thanks for making this video Daniel! I'm always looking to redeem my points for the highest redemption values to take your points the furthest, so this was very helpful. I'm also looking to hopefully travel to Southeast Asia in the next couple years, so I especially loved that first example. Great work as always!

[@roburb73]

Great video! $1,800 for that business class - absolutely! Appreciate the breakdown!

[@Dividendology]

Great stuff Daniel!

[@412foto]

very interesting. I've yet to use any points for a trip as new to credit cards and just stockpiling points right now. Seems like even big sign on bonuses might only get you one really nice round trip first class flight so making it an inspirational bucket list kind of trip is something to consider

[@liangchengwengchen111]

Thanks for the content as always! ❤ your content is great. Please consider adding time stamps! That will make your videos amazing!

[@DoremonUCR]

What you said at 8:20 is soooo clutch. To many travel hackers especially on Reddit will choose a vacation destination based on reward availability. That’s crazy to me

[@mistyluv261]

dude, this video was awesome! hope you can show more first class aa flagship from LAX next time. great job!

[@tarrius1210]

Bro, you're the best. Thank you for sharing this!

[@Tigerman286]

The examples help so much, thank you!

[@hectordelangel9575]

Great info Daniel. Watch your videos I was able to get the freedom and amex gold thanks buddy 👍 congratulations in your upcoming wedding!🙏

[@word42069]

Great video, thanks! Just got the gold card and racking up the points. Will definitely want to maximize my points!!!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Glad to hear you liked it, thanks! I'll be making some more videos with examples soon as well

[@vikashsamaga]

Booking AA on Etihad has great value but from my experience, they usually don't seem to have award availability for most saver award spaces AA releases. Qantas seems to have the most AA award availability but their redemptions are not cheap as Etihad's. Perhaps during transfer bonus season from Amex to Qantas, it might be worth looking into. Great video as always Daniel! Additional tip on the North America to Europe business award space - Booking through Virgin Atlantic for Delta One flights only costs 50k one-way. Finding award space might be tricky but it can score you a great redemption. ANA is another option for 88k round-trip!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Great tips Vikash! I was actually look at Delta One flights through Virgin Atlantic to include in this video but I could not find ANY haha - but great when availability is there. Yeah award availability is always a challenge so it varies for everyone depending on the situation. Booking in advance helps sometimes but it's a little bit of trial and error. Thanks so much for watching and sharing some good info!

[@vikashsamaga]

@@Daniel_Braun Absolutely. VA Delta One award space is hard to come by but is a great option if it's available. I just did a quick search on VA and found a D1 flight from JFK-FCO on Feb 13 for 50k points. Depending on how flexible someone's travel plans are, it makes sense to fly to a neighboring city and fly out from there to the intended destination. In Europe, since the local flights are so cheap, this is definitely an option. Of course, nothing beats ANA's 88k RT to go from N.A. to Europe but the caveat being one-way redemptions are not possible with ANA. Emirates also has a similar RT sweet spot that allows you to fly from N.A. to Europe for 90k RT (although the one-way cost is 72.5k I believe). Lots of ways to maximize points with award travel and that's why we chase after the SUBs and high-multiplier spending categories haha.

[@TriggerTravels]

Gotta watch dudes videos at .75 speed 😂

[@BernardoSilva70]

But have you tried it at a mere 1.25x?

[@matthewharrison8531]

Actually he goes too slow. It's a perspective trick. Try speeding it up. Trust yourself.

[@felixlatorre235]

I love you ahead of time. Now!! Gotta watch this video!

[@dh2266]

Thanks for the economy example. You're spot on in saying I wouldn't even pay the cash value of the points used in a business class redemption. MSRP price is for suckers and is a bloated number.

[@garyr1522]

Excellent video. Needed to pause it now and again to take a breath as the edit was, shall we say, fast paced. But, excellent stuff.

[@CesarJoel]

Great video, thanks for the info!

[@TylerKBarr]

Dan, amazing video showing how to get the most value with your points! Can you do this same search style video for Chase UR points?

[@chrisv4920]

Awesome video! Any suggestions on which Amex travel partners are good to travel to Central Americas? Thanks

[@maryturkmen1264]

Wow, I'm shook 😮 I'm a visual learner and was so confused about Etihad n AA situation, now I get it. Thanks!!!

[@candiceabr]

Very helpful video, thank you!

[@ananafridi655]

By far the best video for traveling using points 🙏🙌

[@mikeschmitty4438]

Dude ... this was awesome ... subbed

[@XxS1l3nTxa1Mx]

Thank you. You made it good w examples. Everyone else so confusing jesussss… great vid make more

[@amaurisalcantara1044]

Great video, 👍 I'm looking to travel to Los Cabos next year from Boston. Any advice I have a points and miles on Amex, Jet Blue and CAP1.

[@anirudhgadhavi41]

Great video, thanks for screenshots and details.

[@gutierra]

Thanks for the great tips!! congrats on the good job!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks so much Adrian, glad it was helpful!!

[@juliancen2815]

Great video, Daniel!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks so much Julian, glad you liked it! 👍

[@robertbraun6758]

Great video and practical examples and thanks for doing the math

[@Daniel_Braun]

You're welcome - I know math wasn't your best subject in school

[@DarElBarka]

This is amazing. I never knew this. Goodness!! All of these miles i wasted.

[@semaerzoukirobbins2911]

Great video! Thanks for sharing actual screenshots and examples. Quick question - with Etihad showing 62,500 for AA Flagship Ticket, would it have mattered how many points AA's website shows the flight costs? Or the Etihad points will always cover that type of ticket for 62,500 (as long as there's availability)

[@flasellsfla]

This is so helpful! If you already book with an airlines but want to upgrade to business. Can you use points transfer?

[@jefuryo]

I like clear examples :) thank you

[@robertovillanuevajr7947]

I'm glad I found this video, thank you - I have about 300k amex points so I gotta be smart with it

[@PhelpsTalks]

That etihad -> AA workaround is some god tier info

[@gauravbhandari7084]

This is neat, thanks for sharing

[@brianguerra2848]

this Is the video I needed

[@Dev-hv4pt]

Avianca has amazing flexibility like Etihad in your last example too. Since I live in a United hub I'm able to transfer to Avianca for United flights & it's so clutch.

[@nubianpwr]

great tip!

[@TheAudioCzar]

Using Amex points for travel is great... When you can actually use them. Every award flight I try there's either nothing available or it's a crappy 12 to 18 hour flight that should take me 3 hours to get there. It's already hard to find reward flights but it's even harder trying to find one on the day you want to go. Going to keep paying cash and stacking my points until I can actually use them for a good redemption

[@LK_EBM]

Don't wait too long. Points are guaranteed get devalued. But I agree with your thoughts. These high redemption requires flexibility, which not everyone has.

[@daianapardini7276]

Daniel , which cards transfer to United Airlines? Most of my flights best options are with United. Thank you!

[@anaty6364]

Dude is hacking the system, absolutely bonkers. Also congrats on the Engagement!!🎉

[@kevinalejandrocastillo5042]

Hey Dan! Thanks for this great video! Could you make some examples to fly in Latin America? I do not fly to Europe, but inside the Americas Thanks!

[@charliepistone8481]

Love the throw programs

[@Heroslaga]

For the next one try doing 3 domestic flights and best redemptions. Amex has a knack for being harder to use for domestic economy flying

[@gidvictor]

Daniel, as a Amex platinum holder, when it comes to domestic flights, do you just book them in the portal at 1 cent valuation? For example NY to Los Angeles, or NY to Dallas, what would you do? Also, how do you get first class or business class upgrades on domestic flights if you're a business platinum holder? TYIA

[@jacobfain6504]

Have you tried transferring your points to British Airways to fly American Airlines? You should be able to get that flight at least 1.5 cents in value

[@HoweyJR_]

@@jacobfain6504 im sitting here confused i went on amex trying to use my points i dont get this transferring thing but ima learn!

[@officialflorint]

5:17 same! Love economy redemptions!

[@travisabt6805]

Awesome breakdown! Have you done a review on the costco anywhere visa? Just taking a look at it, it seems like it would be a great card for a lot of people with just gas savings alone and the cash back earnings

[@aadeorukhkar]

Costco Citi card does good savings but the best savings only come if you have COSTCO Executive membership with it. The card does give 4% CB on gas, but overall I personally am not very impressed after holding it for 4 years. The annual Cashback is marginally profitable after deducting the annual membership fee for costco. Wells Fargo Autograph with 3X points in gas is pretty close second choice. There are several other cards that get flat 2% Cashback and can easily replace costco anywhere in your wallet IMO.

[@Rotadiva]

Good tip thanks.

[@markattwell5813]

Hi Daniel, this sound great in theory, however whenever I try to redeem points for plane tickets thru my amex platinum they are usually double in price. for example, a round trip ticket for one person on American Airlines from Miami to Santo Domingo comes out to $328.00 and the same ticket thru the amex travel portal comes out to double.

[@TheRelationshipmemes101]

Just joined Amex gold and was able to get the 90k bonous offer !!

[@yashajgaonkar5389]

Hi can you make some videos on Amex Canada portal, as there are not many transfer partner here in Canada. Any way to maximize for Candian Amex card holders would be great

[@stalling7709]

You should do a video on finding domestic deals!

[@gillianleigh222]

Thank you!! 🙏❤️🙏

[@boogeymanw9643]

is there a way for you to know which airline you can take to maximize your points to go from A to B? It's super boring and tired to look through every single airline to find the best one. To top off on that, some airline even link to another airline which makes it harder to know which is the best. Hopefully you have a tools or something like a website to help exactly know which one. like at 5:50, how exactly you know the second option is better? I have both Chase and Amex and it's a very boring and exhausted to find a best airline to transfers both points into 1. Please help. like how do you even know that Singapore is the best to maximize your point? Thank you and Great video!!!

[@Kenyi_]

how did you find out etihad was a one to one partner with amex and american airlines? did you look through all the partners that american airlines has and see whcih one had one with amex as well?

[@timothynguyen1183]

I’m planning on booking my October Korea trip but wasn’t sure to look for two one-ways or one round trip. People say it’s best to book 2 one-way because of the risk of the outbound flight getting cancelled. What do you think? Kinda conflicted which to do when browsing flights right now

[@TehzeebR]

Thank you ❤

[@kevinonthank]

Awesome vid! How would you get max value when flying with points domestically here in the US?

[@Daniel_Braun]

It's sometimes harder to find really high value domestically, but there are ways. I'll do more examples like that in another video like this!

[@karieltheone]

Super useful guide. That said, this gave me a headache, getting good value out of your points shouldn't be this complicated.

[@henryjonesphotography4934]

Can you get a good redemption for domestic flights?

[@sx3todd]

very helpful

[@Kebinnugget]

I’ve tried looking at Aer lingus for reward flights but they fees are too high for me on any dates I’ve chosen

[@connorlally3464]

Thank you

[@danbeer4452]

My wife and I work in the aviation industry and traveling as a non-revenue passenger does us no justice using our points for airline tickets. I'm curious to see how I can maximize my points maybe through hotel partners rental car agencies or any other way then airlines

[@saltamonte777]

But aren’t flights and seats very limited when trying to use reward miles? Meaning, hard to get the flight you want on date(s) you want. Is that right or am I missing something?

[@kevinkelley7470]

I literally just booked this exact flight to Ireland from NY and I had to spend 26,000 Avios but then I remembered you only did a one way example 😂

[@DCGEMINI202]

I’m flying to bahrain with a stop in frankfurt (in economy) for 1200ish. That 15 hour flight is gonna suck😅

[@jeztravel]

I booked a business class with Singapore Airlines and it just took about 2 hrs and I saw my transferred points from Amex to Singapore air. It did not take me a day or 2.

[@shakthigunashekaran5371]

Thank you for the great informative video! Please consider slowing down while talking. It’s too fast to follow sometimes.

[@julianatonini8441]

Amx has a FDIC Insured account for 4. something? Do you suggest this?

[@arjealis97]

I'm working in Australia for a year and am currently using about $37,000 AUD a year on my cc's ($24k US) - but I have virtually no credit card history back home and countries don't transfer credit records. Do you think it's worth incurring the 3% fee as I'm only going to be in this country for a year and don't want to waste a good credit history

[@kylemckenna]

Wait, so Daniel suggests buying two one-way flights when traveling instead of a roundtrip ticket ?

[@CodyPowers-wj4qg]

liked and subscribed :)

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks so much!

[@Gurwinderparmar]

I have question like I want to book a flight international and I have 100k membership, points and the flight I need cost is 183k points. So my question is can I still book a flight with my points and pay the rest value with card.

[@sanef6826]

Do you have anything for the Caribbean?

[@bellawest2585]

So looking at this, i need to book flights on American airline. but i cant transfer to them. but can to BA. But the flight i need isnt showing on BA websites So does AA let u use the BA miles on the AA website?

[@zehuazhou3390]

AA has many partners. How do you know that you can call Editha when you want to book an AA first class?

[@alg1457]

Can we do something similar with Chase cards?

[@tomtomato213]

I need help booking a flight to Aruba from NYC airports using Amex points. Please help!!

[@YajairaMatos-wg4ys]

Do i get access to the delta sky club lounges with my amexgold?

[@anthonygsa]

1 to 1 points, i would love to have that with Amex France

[@scuevas7]

I have the CFF what amount of time should I wait until applying for the CFU and should I get the CFU? Thank you

[@Daniel_Braun]

Usually I say 3-6 months between applications is good for most people. If you're gonna run a Chase Trifecta setup with the CSP or CSR then I think it's worth it to. have all 3 with the CFF and CFU as well!

[@scuevas7]

@@Daniel_Braun thank you I appreciate it.

[@td4812]

Several months worth of your time to find this kind of deals, and remember he is a pro at finding deals!