5 Ways to Redeem 44 Million American Express Membership Rewards Points … not available at Rite Aid

news7g11/21/2022

10 6 minutes read

5 Ways to Redeem 44 Million American Express Membership Rewards Points ... not available at Rite Aid

Last week, David Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, posted a video that is now going viral on Twitter of him paying with American Express Business Centurion Card at a Rite Aid.

The pharmacy chain has a partnership with American Express where members can redeem American Express Membership Rewards subprime 0.7 cents per point. As Portnoy pays out, his Membership Rewards balance — a staggering 44,403,931 points — appears on the screen, presumably earned from large business spending.

Information about Centurion Cards and Centurion Business Cards has been independently obtained 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, it’s a whopping $888,079 worth when leveraged transfer partnerbased TPG’s valuation 2 cents per Membership Rewards point. That said, it’s possible that Portnoy could get more value by exchanging his points for high value things like international business class ticket.

However, with so many points in his account, it seems clear that Portnoy is hoard your pointslet them open Price break if Amex changes its program. With that in mind, I take the liberty of writing this article to give him some completely unsolicited points and mile-long advice.

David, here are some ways you can use your nearly 45 million Amex points. These examples range from completely ridiculous to realistic, but anything is better than letting your Amex point lie there and collect dust. For others, use this article as inspiration for redemption your Amex points balance (which can be much smaller).

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 Moved To Hilton title with a 1:2 transfer ratio, generating 44,403,931 points worth 88,807,862 Hilton points. This is more than enough points for an extended stay almost anywhere in the world.

Hilton Honors redemptions vary in price, but you can usually find a good deal at the Waldorf Palace Astoria Versailles Trianon in Paris. Rooms typically cost around 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night, so Portnoy could theoretically use all of his Amex points to book 1,110 nights at the hotel. This December, most nights at a hotel cost around $260.

Of course, there are other options as well. Waldorf Astoria Bangkok also scores 80,000 points per night on most days. Or, if he really wanted to stretch his points, he could spend 21,000 points a night at the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow in Poland, leaving him with just over 11 and a half years at the hotel if the odds current is preserved.

Fly from New York to Europe in business class… 700 times

Amex Points offers you no shortage of ways to visit Europe in style.

One of my favorite ways to use my Amex points to fly to the area is to transfer to Avianca Life Milescharges 63,000 LifeMiles for a one-way business class flight from the US to most European cities.

Better yet, the airline adds fuel surchargeso there will be very little out-of-pocket costs for these redemptions regardless of which airline operates the flight.

Since Avianca is a member of Star Alliance, Portnoy can fly some of my favorite European business class products like Shirt, Switzerland and Turkish Airlines.

United is also a member, opening up a number of exciting summer routes to Europe and connecting options. Plus, with over 44 million points, Portnoy can check out all these great flight options and still have millions to spare.

Book 5,900 short-haul domestic flights on American Airlines

Domestic flights are also an option. One of my favorite ways to stake them with Amex points is to transfer points to Airline British, charges 7,500 Avios for a one-way economy class flight up to 651 miles within North America. This includes popular business routes such as New York to Washington, DC and Seattle to Portland, Oregon.

Longer flights cost slightly more points, with flights up to 1,251 miles costing 9,000 Avios. These flights are operated by Oneworld’s partners American Airlines and alaska airline. Test complete guide to British Airways award chart for more information.

With 44,403,931 Amex points, he can book more than 5,900 short-haul domestic flights (up to 651 miles) by switching to British Airways. That would leave Barstool Sports domestic employees covered for at least a few years, which could theoretically save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the cash value of those tickets.

Book almost $900,000 worth of paid airline tickets with Amex Travel

One of the best benefits of the Amex Centurion card is 50% off points on airline tickets booked through Amex Tourism. Portnoy can redeem points for flights at 1 cent per point initially and 50% off points a few weeks after booking.

This allows him to effectively redeem points at 2 cents each with little effort, so a $1,000 ticket will only cost 50,000 Amex points. He’ll also earn frequent flyer miles and elite status on these flights because they treat them like paid tickets. This is by far the easiest way to redeem Amex points for flights, and it can help Portnoy greatly offset the cost of business travel for him and his staff.

Note that the 50% discount is only valid on the Amex Business Centurion card. However, if you have Business Platinum® Card from American Expressyou are eligible for a 35% off on all premium cabin tickets and tickets booked with your preferred airline through Amex Travel, up to 1 million points back per calendar year.

Or, simply cash out for $488,443

While it pains me to write this, if Portnoy doesn’t have any travel plans right away, he could open an American Express® Platinum Card for Schwab and withdraw from his points for 1.1 cents per Schwab account.

If he pulls out all of his points, he will make $488,443. While the points will be worth a lot more when used for flights, when you have more than 44 million points that you don’t use, you can withdraw at least some of them.

Information about American Express Platinum Schwab has been independently obtained by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

After all, how many flights does a person really need to fly from the US to Europe in a year? Even if Portnoy spends six months at the hotel, he still has millions of points left over.

Also, he has the ability to earn points at a faster rate than he can spend them. Cashing out some of his points ensures he gets some value now and is protected from future Member Rewards devaluation. With tens of millions of points in hand, leaving them all dormant is a risk.

How to earn Membership Rewards

Itching to build your own Amex points balance? You may not be able to match Portnoy’s 44 million points, but the cards below offer welcome bonuses that can get you enough points to book business class tickets to Europe, select domestic flights or flights. other travel.

Here are some of our favorite cards and their respective welcome offers:

Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $6,000 on purchases during the first six months of a card membership. However, some readers were targeted up to a 125,000 bonus points use CardMatch . tool (Offers are subject to change at any time). Terms apply.
Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $15,000 on qualifying purchases with your Business Platinum Card within the first three months of becoming a card member. Terms apply.
American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on qualifying purchases with your new card within the first six months of becoming a member. However, some readers were targeted up to a 75,000 bonus points use CardMatch . tool (Offers are subject to change at any time). Terms apply.

bottom line

David Portnoy’s adjustment of his Amex points balance was a genius move to drive social engagement. God, I wish I had that many Amex points.

Now that Portnoy has shown his balance, it’s time to start spending those points. Otherwise, they will be left open to devaluation if Amex decides to change its loyalty program.

Whether he chooses three years in a hotel, thousands of flights, close to $500,000 in cash, or a combination of the above, the Barstool Sports founder gets more value out of his miles instead of letting them lie dormant.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our complete guide to Maximize Amex Membership Rewards.

For Amex Platinum Card rates and fees, click here.
For Amex Business Platinum Card rates and fees, click here.
For Amex Gold Card rates and fees, click here.