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5 ways to redeem 44 million American Express Membership Rewards points ... that aren't at Rite Aid
Andrew Kunesh is TPG's Points & Miles editor. He has been active in the points and miles space since 2014, using them to travel far and wide around the world. He is originally from Chicago but moved to New York City after graduating from DePaul University. His work is featured on Credit Karma, UpgradedPoints, ValuePenguin and various other travel and finance publications. He currently holds Delta Diamond Medallion and Marriott Titanium status, and 20+ credit cards that each have a special place in Andrew's wallet.
November 21, 2022 • 9 min read
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
A viral video showed a prominent business owner with over 44 million transferable points, sparking discussion on optimal redemption strategies.
Redeeming points through transfer partners can yield significantly higher value than using them directly at merchants or for cash back.
Potential redemptions include multi-year luxury hotel stays, hundreds of business-class flights to Europe, or thousands of short-haul domestic flights.
Letting points sit unused exposes them to possible devaluation if program terms change.
What to consider
Transferring points to hotel or airline partners can provide greater value, with some programs offering favorable conversion ratios.
Certain premium cards offer enhanced rebates or bonuses when booking airfare through their travel portals, but eligibility varies by card type.
Cash-out options exist, but typically provide less value than travel redemptions, especially for large point balances.
What you'll miss from the article
Detailed examples of high-value redemptions and practical advice for maximizing a large transferable points balance.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Last week, David Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, posted a now-viral Twitter video of himself paying with an American Express Business Centurion Card at a Rite Aid.
The drugstore chain has a partnership with American Express, where members can redeem American Express Membership Rewards points at subpar 0.7 cents per point. When Portnoy pays, his Membership Rewards balance — a staggering 44,403,931 points — appears on the screen, presumably earned from heavy business spending.
The information for the Centurion Card and Centurion Business Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
To put that into perspective, that’s worth a whopping $888,079 when leveraging transfer partners, based on TPG’s valuation of 2 cents per Membership Rewards point. That said, it's possible that Portnoy could get even more value by redeeming his points for high-value things like international business-class tickets.
However, with so many points in his account, it seems clear that Portnoy is hoarding his points, leaving them open to devaluation if Amex were to change its program. With that in mind, I took the liberty to write this article to give him some completely unsolicited points and miles advice.
David, here are a few ways you can use your nearly 45 million Amex points. These examples range from absolutely ridiculous to practical, but anything is better than letting your Amex points sit there and collect dust. For everyone else, use this article as inspiration for redeeming your (probably much smaller) Amex points balance.
Spend 3 or more years at the Waldorf Astoria in Paris
Why pay rent when you can live in a five-star hotel for three years?
Amex points transfer to Hilton Honors at a 1:2 transfer ratio, making 44,403,931 worth 88,807,862 Hilton points. This is more than enough points for an extended stay just about anywhere in the world.
Hilton Honors redemptions are variably priced, but you can often find a good deal at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles Trianon Palace in Paris. Rooms usually go for around 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night, so in theory, Portnoy could use all of his Amex points to book a whopping 1,110 nights at the hotel. This December, most nights at the property cost around $260.
Of course, there are other options too. The Waldorf Astoria Bangkok also goes for 80,000 points per night on most dates. Or, if he really wanted to stretch his points, he could spend 21,000 points per night at the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow in Poland, giving him just over 11 1/2 years at the property if the current rate holds.
For simplicity's sake, these numbers do not include Hilton's fifth-night free benefit. So if Portnoy is willing to check in and check out of his hotel, he could theoretically stretch his points even further.
Fly from New York to Europe in business class ... 700 times
CHRISTIAN KRAMER/THE POINTS GUY
Amex points give you no shortage of ways to get to Europe in style.
One of my favorite ways to use my Amex points to fly to the region is by transferring to Avianca LifeMiles, which charges 63,000 LifeMiles for a one-way business-class flight from the U.S. to most European cities.
Better yet, the airline doesn't add fuel surcharges, so there's little out-of-pocket cost for these redemptions no matter the airline operating the flight.
Since Avianca is a Star Alliance member, Portnoy could fly some of my favorite European business-class products like Austrian, Swiss and Turkish Airlines.
United is also a member, opening up some interesting summertime routes to Europe and connecting options. Also, with over 44 million points, Portnoy can check out all of these excellent flight options and still have millions of points to spare.
Book 5,900 short-haul domestic flights on American Airlines
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Domestic flights are an option, too. One of my favorite ways to book them with Amex points is by transferring points to British Airways, which charges 7,500 Avios for a one-way economy flight up to 651 miles within North America. This includes popular business routes like New York to Washington, D.C., and Seattle to Portland, Oregon.
With 44,403,931 Amex points, he could book just over 5,900 short-haul domestic flights (up to 651 miles) by transferring to British Airways. That should have Barstool Sports' domestic employee travel covered for at least a few years, in theory saving the company possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the cash value of those tickets.
Book almost $900,000 worth of paid airfare with Amex Travel
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
One of the best benefits of the Amex Centurion card is its 50% points rebate on airfare booked through Amex Travel. Portnoy could redeem points for flights at 1 cent per point initially, and receive a 50% rebate on points a few weeks after booking.
This effectively lets him redeem points at 2 cents per point with very little effort, so a $1,000 ticket would cost just 50,000 Amex points. He'll also earn frequent flyer miles and elite status on these flights since they process as paid tickets. This is by far the easiest way to redeem Amex points for flights, and it could help Portnoy offset a lot of business travel expenses for him and his employees.
Note that the 50% rebate is only valid on the Amex Business Centurion card. However, if you have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you're eligible for a 35% bonus on all premium-cabin tickets and tickets booked with your preferred airline through Amex Travel, up to 1 million points back per calendar year.
While it pains me to write this, if Portnoy doesn't have any immediate travel plans, he could open an American Express Platinum Card® for Schwab and cash out his points at 1.1 cents apiece to a Schwab account.
If he cashed out all of his points, he'd walk away with a cool $488,443. While the points would be worth a lot more when used for flights, when you have over 44 million points at your disposal that you're not using, it could make sense to cash out at least a portion of them.
The information for the American Express Platinum Schwab has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
After all, how many times does one really need to fly from the U.S. to Europe in one year? Even if Portnoy spent six months at a hotel, he'd have millions of points left over.
Also, he's likely earning points at a rate faster than he can spend them. Cashing out some of his points ensures he gets some value now and protection from a future Membership Rewards devaluation. With tens of millions of points at his disposal, letting them all sit dormant is a risk.
Itching to build up your own Amex point balance? You might not be able to match Portnoy's 44 million points, but the cards below offer welcome bonuses that can help you get enough points to book a business-class ticket to Europe, some domestic flights or other travel.
Here are a few of our favorite cards and their respective welcome offers:
The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases in your first six months of cardmembership. However, some readers have been targeted for up to a 125,000-point bonus using the CardMatch tool (offer subject to change at any time). Terms apply.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Platinum Card within the first three months of card membership. Terms apply.
American Express® Gold Card:Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. However, some readers have been targeted for up to a 90,000-point bonus using the CardMatch tool (offer subject to change at any time). Terms apply.
David Portnoy's flexing his Amex points balance was a genius move for social media engagement. Boy, do I wish I had that many Amex points.
Now that Portnoy has shown off his balance, it's time to start spending those points. Otherwise, they'll be left open to devaluation if Amex decides to change its loyalty program.
Whether he picks three years at a hotel, thousands of flights, nearly $500,000 cash or a combination of all the above, the Barstool Sports founder will get a lot more value by using his miles than letting them sit dormant.
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
