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
- Sign-up Bonus:
- 200,000 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
- 25 August 2026
- Enjoy 200,000 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 25 August 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.
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Where is the detail on the changes to rounding specified? I don’t recall seeing it in the notifications I received, and the rounding behaviour has not changed in the last week.
Chris, thanks for the article. Whilst it is an individual decision, what would you recommend one do with over 1.3 Million MR points at this stage? The best I can think of is to transfer to Velocity with the 15% bonus (2 transfers in Nov and Dec) and hope to use on VA or transfer over to Krisflyer at an opportune moment
I haven’t done the maths but think about how much more expensive it is now using points to book flights. Qantas recently increased points required by 20% and now Amex requires you to use 50% more to get those points. 20% added by Qantas and 50% more by Amex. Actually can’t remember if MR to Qantas is increasing g but I know Asia miles is and they increased required points by like 20% last year. Crikey!!
Thanks for the update Chris!!! Are you aware of any blackout dates to redeem flights between SYD and CDG between from late Dec/Xmas-ish and late Jan on Cathay or Qatar. With the need to transfer pre 15 December, a calculated risk is tempting…
Cheers
Sitting on a lot of points and no idea where to best put them. Hoping to use them annually from next year for euro flights annually. Any tips?
Chris, thank you for the great site and info which I am a follower. One question: The current AMEX rewards points conversions seem incorrect to me. Can anyone confirm the following on their amex platinum transfer screen. On 9/17/2025, I am seeing Amex MR points to:
British Airways 1:1
Virgin Atlantic 1:1
Cathay Asia Miles 1:1
Etihad 1:1
Qatar 1:1
etc.
The article above lists the current exchange rate at 2:1 which is worse than what I am seeing today. Can someone help me understand what is going on? I have seen these conversion rates of currently 2:1 (soon to be 3:1) listed on multiple different websites now. Is this current exhange rate somehow dependent on card type i.e. platinum/gold? Thanks!
Hi DJ, I suspect you’re viewing the US version of the American Express website, not the Australian version. Our article is specific to the Australian version of Membership Rewards, which uses the rates listed in the article and has different partners than are available in other markets.
This is one way to eliminate a huge % of their customer base in one go. Will Thorne, Vice President and General Manager, International Card Services has clearly not thought this through as the reality is that it has taken an expensive card (annual fee) and turned it into an illogical card without a improved set of benefits. Building loyalty takes time and eliminating it takes one email – well done Will.
This really is very annoying when I’ve spent much time and paid many surcharges building a nice nest egg of points to redeem when I want to travel with who I want, not in a mad rush now to avoid this outrageous devaluation. Surely they could manage a grandfathering of points already accumulated! Hard to justify keeping the card.
An article summarizing the most effective airline programs to park MR points that we now have to redeem to save their value would be very useful.
This card is becoming impossible to justify. Now it takes 50% more MR points just to get the same number of frequent flyer points with Qatar, Etihad, and others. Seriously, WTF are they thinking?
Only someone completely delusional would keep paying $1,450 a year for what is basically a glorified coupon book with no real benefits. The “perks” are smoke and mirrors, and the value is pathetic compared to what’s offered overseas.
I’ve been a loyal member for 25 years, and honestly, Amex has destroyed any goodwill I had left.
The US version of this card wipes the floor with what we get in Australia. With these latest changes, this isn’t just bad — it’s a complete insult.
Sadly companies know that us Aussies are happy to pay more for things than overseas and accept lesser featured products and they will still make money from us. They know the feature/value difference here vs US is much better over there.
Anyone got an email address where I can address a complaint to?
Things change, I get that, but with such a significant devaluation, the annual charge of $1,450 is over the top.
I’d love to get a chance to hear them defend that decision before cancelling the card.
Would love to see an article about what to do with Amex points! I’m considering my options, including moving most of them to Avios (Qatar or BA). Very annoying as Amex was a great place to park them until booking whichever airline had availability!
Will likely close our business platinum card now with these changes. Was pumping a lot of our business expenses through AMEX Accessline, at the 2.15% surcharge, came out *just* on top when comparing surcharge to airline points redemption value. Now with 3:1 on most airlines, wont be worth it. Have to only look to lower fee transactions, which are minimal and might not end up justifying cost of card.
I did manage to get a few excellent redemptions with Qatar this year, so hopefully can score another good flight deal before devaluation December. Thanks for the update, heard about this via your email before Ive heard from AMEX!
Fine print – business ascent excluded?
Does anyone agree?
I am trying to find the evidence for this as I have a platinum business charge card that costs $1750. On their website, it says business ascent excluded but when I ring, they say the devaluation applies to my card and the exclusion clause is irrelevant!
Quote from AMex website
** Airline redemption rate changes are not applicable for Card Members enrolled in the following Membership Rewards Tiers: Business Ascent, Corporate Choices, Corporate Membership Rewards, Spirit and Corporate Spirit
Used to be complimentary MP Gold and 1:1 Asia Miles transfer and Shangri-la Jade: Now all those benefits are gone and it’s a 3:1 transfer rate! How does that justify the significant fee hike over the years!! Ridiculous.
Unless there is something new coming very soon, that’ll be the straw that broke the camels back. I’ve been considering dropping the card since the Accor ‘enhancement’. Going back a few years Plat was great. AFR, 2:1 on SIN, now just making it all too hard to justify $1,450pa
I have to be honest, after the last raft of changes, I barely held onto the Amex Plat charge. But these make it harder to consider keeping if they don’t add any further value (such as more partners, better perks like Gold status, etc).
If everything remains the same, its a serious develuation that after 8 years, I might just give them up.
100% agree Jay. Amex continues to devalue its cards, and especially given the fee on the charge card, it has me questioning the value. The Accor free night disappearing (replaced with a 2 for 1) and now this. They removed the concierge, which although not used often at least made the card feel premium…