Sweeping changes are coming to American Express Membership Rewards

Are you sitting on a well-earned pile of American Express Membership Rewards points? Then you’ll want to consider your options over the next few months, as American Express is making some significant changes to its points conversion rates. The program will also farewell one of its existing airline transfer partners, but there’ll be a new points transfer option taking its place.

Most changes take effect from 15 December 2025. The last day to convert your points at the program’s current, more favourable rates, is 14 December 2025. This means you’ll have a few months to plan and book any upcoming trips without being immediately affected by the changes. Or at least, to convert your points to your preferred airline before those rates change. Here’s the scoop.

Out with the old, in with the new

From 15 December, Membership Rewards is removing Thai Royal Orchid Plus as a transfer partner. This means you’ll no longer be able to convert MR points into Royal Orchid Plus miles from that date. You’ll still be able to transfer MR points to Thai Airways at the existing 2:1 rate until 14 December.

If you regularly travel with Thai Airways and plan to continue after mid-December, consider booking those journeys through another Star Alliance frequent flyer program going forward. For instance, you can book Thai Airways flights using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. And you’ll still be able to convert Membership Rewards points into KrisFlyer miles at the current 3:1 rate, even after the upcoming changes take effect.

But with Thai Airways leaving the Membership Rewards program, another partner is effectively taking its place. That new partner is Everyday Rewards, the loyalty program attached to Woolworths supermarkets. Launching “soon”, transfers will be available at a 5:4 rate from Membership Rewards.

Its addition is a small win for cardholders in the Ascent and Gateway tiers of Membership Rewards. That’s because Everyday Rewards allows its points to be converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer – something that Ascent and Gateway members can’t do today. For example, you could soon convert 2,500 Membership Rewards points into 2,000 Everyday Rewards points. From there, 2,000 Everyday Rewards points can fetch 1,000 Qantas Points. For Membership Rewards members, it’s an indirect way to achieve a 2.5:1 conversion between MR points and Qantas Points.

American Express Platinum Card

Find Out More & Apply

Read the guide

Sign-up Bonus:

150,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹

Rewards Earn Rate:

Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards points per $1 on all eligible purchases, except for spend with government bodies, for which you will earn 1 point per $1 spent

Annual Fee:

$1,450 p.a.

Offer expires

13 January 2026

Enjoy 150,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹ when you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months. (Offer available to new American Express Card Members only. Offer ends 13 January 2026. T&Cs apply.) Unlock premium perks including unlimited airport lounge access, international travel insurance, Amex Hotels and Resorts benefits, up to $400 in Global Dining Credit¹⁰, and a $450 Travel Credit⁵ each year. Earn up to 2.25 Membership Rewards Points per $1 on eligible spend. The annual fee is $1,450.

From Membership Rewards to Everyday Rewards

Of course, the main focus of Everyday Rewards is using points on purchases like groceries and fuel. But when those points come from Membership Rewards, the numbers don’t quite stack up. That’s because you can already use MR points to ‘pay for charges’ on your account – which could include those essentials. And the rate for doing so is better than you’d achieve by utilising Everyday Rewards.

For instance, to save $10 off your shopping through Everyday Rewards, you’d need to convert 2,500 Membership Rewards points. Under the 5:4 rate, that’d give you 2,000 Everyday Rewards points, triggering a $10 saving. But if you redeemed those same 2,500 Membership Rewards points to ‘pay for charges’ directly on your American Express card, you’d receive a $12.50 credit. That’s 25% more value from the same number of points, compared to using Everyday Rewards.

The scales may tilt in Everyday Rewards’ favour during any short-time transfer bonus offers that may arise. But that bonus would need to be at least 25% just to reach parity with the value of using points for charges directly through Membership Rewards.

Membership Rewards adjusts airline points transfers

In recent years, Membership Rewards shifted two of its airline partners from a 2:1 rate to a 3:1 rate. That change affected Emirates Skywards and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. Under this latest shuffle, there are pleasingly no adjustments to KrisFlyer conversions. These will remain available at a 3:1 rate. But transfers to Emirates Skywards will weaken once more: shifting to a 4:1 rate from 15 December.

Six other Membership Rewards frequent flyer partners will also have their rates adjusted to match KrisFlyer. From 15 December, conversions to the programs below will adopt a 3:1 rate, versus 2:1 at present.

• The British Airways Club
• Cathay (Asia Miles)
• Etihad Guest
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Effectively, you’ll need 50% more MR points to achieve the same number of frequent flyer points as you’d get today.

American Express confirms that there are no changes to points conversions from Membership Rewards to its other partners. These include Velocity Frequent Flyer (2:1), Air New Zealand Airpoints (200:$1), Hilton Honors (2:1) and Marriott Bonvoy (3:2). For Ascent Premium members, there are also no changes to Qantas Frequent Flyer transfers (remaining at 2:1).

For that matter, Membership Rewards is currently offering a 30% bonus on eligible transfers to Hilton Honors. Transfer at least 2,000 MR points in a single conversion before 31 October 2025 and receive a 30% boost on the total balance converted.

Earning Membership Rewards points

Unfortunately, American Express won’t be increasing the number of Membership Rewards points earned per dollar spent. This means spending on the Amex Platinum Card would effectively deliver 0.75 frequent flyer points per dollar spent with international partners like British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic once the changes kick in.

Comparatively, with no adjustment to the conversion rates for Qantas and Velocity, the same spends could be earning 1.125 frequent flyer points per dollar spent in these programs. But both Qantas and Velocity have recently increased the number of points needed to book many reward flights. So even though the earning rates with these programs will be stronger on paper, those overseas programs may still be an appealing choice where redemption rates are comparatively lower.

In a small but positive shift, American Express will tweak how points are calculated on a per-transaction basis. Currently, Membership Rewards points are only earned on whole dollars spent, with any decimal amounts truncated before points are assessed. From 15 December, Amex will round decimal amounts to the nearest dollar before calculating the points earned. For those who transact frequently – or who often make low-value transactions – it could add an extra couple of points to many payments.

Why is American Express making these changes?

American Express hasn’t shared a detailed explanation on the thinking behind these changes to Membership Rewards. Instead, Amex says that its tweaks to transfer partners and conversion rates are “to ensure we can continue to deliver you more choice and value in your redemption options.”

It’s unclear how reducing the number of airline partners and weakening conversion rates represents “more choice and value,” compared to the program’s current structure.

American Express adds that “these changes are the result of several factors that influence how we can deliver a sustainable program.” The company has not shared what these factors are. Realistically though, some of those factors are likely to include:

• Unfavourable currency conversion rates between AUD and USD. Most international airline costs are domiciled in US dollars, and this includes the purchase price of points and miles. With a weak cash exchange rate, every foreign mile purchased by Amex costs more behind the scenes.
• Price rises in frequent flyer points. Airlines aren’t immune to inflation. According to several industry sources, Emirates Skywards miles are some of the most expensive to buy. This saw CommBank Awards recently shift its own Skywards transfer rate from 4:1 to 5:1. Winding the clock back further, American Express used a 4:3 rate for Skywards for many of its MR members at a time where most of Membership Rewards’ other airline partners were at 1:1.
• Downward pressure on merchant fees. American Express now pursues a strategy of greater card acceptance rather than significantly greater merchant fees. With less money earned per dollar spent than in the past, the money available to purchase points for the customer is lessened.
• Market trends. This news comes as CommBank prepares to axe almost all of its own flexible points partners for credit card customers. And of course, as the RBA is considering a major downward shift to credit card interchange fees, which would put Amex in a difficult position if its cards would cost significantly more to accept.

There are no changes to American Express’ co-branded Qantas and Velocity cards. The revised airline conversion rates also don’t apply to Business Ascent, Corporate Choices, Corporate Membership Rewards and Corporate Spirit.

On another note, American Express will also end the Amazon Prime Credit benefit on the Platinum Card after 31 December 2025. But the Platinum Global Dining Credit Benefit is being extended for one more year, now expiring on 31 December 2026.

Also read: Frequent flyer points in the crosshairs of the RBA’s credit card crackdown

Featured image courtesy of American Express.