Link: American Express Premier Rewards Gold
Even if you don't have a ton of American Express points, you can get an AMEX points advance to take advantage of the 50% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios that's available until May 31, as we wrote in 50% AMEX Transfer Bonus to British Airways Avios: Best Deals. Couple that with an up 100,000 miles via the British Airways Visa and you could have a nice hoard of Avios for cheap business tickets to Europe on Aer Lingus (or splurge on first class on British Airways), business class to South America on LAN, or flights to the Caribbean or Hawaii on American.
Here are some tips for your AMEX Membership Rewards point advance:
How many AMEX points can I advance?
- 15,000 Membership Rewards points for Premier Rewards Gold and other AMEX cards
- 60,000 Membership Rewards points for Platinum and Centurion cards
How do I receive an AMEX points advance?
You must call AMEX to receive a points advance:
Membership Rewards Customer Service: 800-297-3276
Platinum Customer Service: 800-297-1300
Can I have AMEX advance the points to my Membership Rewards account, and not do the transfer?
No. Per AMEX Membership Rewards program Ts and Cs: “You may request a Points Advance only in connection with a conversion of points to a participating Frequent Customer program or redemption of points for a reward.” So you won't be able to get the points advance directly to your AMEX Membership Rewards account; you'll need to do the points advance in conjunction with a redemption, for example, the transfer to Avios with 50% bonus.
Can I secure message AMEX to advance points?
No. I asked them about this, and the reply was that they've removed this option to avoid the potential for fraud. You may only advance points over the phone.
What are the best ways to earn back the AMEX points quickly?
- Be on the lookout for free bonus AMEX points. For example, you can get 10,000 AMEX points for signing up for Extended Payment. See our post 10,000 AMEX Bonus Points for Enrolling in Extended Payment
- Make sure to take advantage of bonus categories to earn back points quickly. For the Premier Rewards Gold card, you receive 3x points for airfare purchases and 2x points for grocery and gas purchases, so make sure to put these types of purchases on your card to earn back the points faster
What if I don't earn back all the points within a year?
If you don't earn back all the points within one year of your points advance, you'll be charged the purchase points rate that was in effect as of the date you received your points advance. Currently, for U.S. members, this is $25 per 1000 points, or 2.5 cents per point.
Can I receive multiple points advances within the year?
Yes: for the Premier Gold Rewards and other non-Platinum/non-Centurion AMEX cards, if you earn back the 15,000 points, or some portion of it, you may request another points advance. The maximum you may have outstanding at any given time, however, is 15,000 points. Similarly, if you have an AMEX Platinum, you can make multiple points advances as long as you never have more than 60,000 points advanced at any given time.
May I request a points advance for someone else?
No: per the AMEX Membership Rewards program terms and conditions: “You may obtain a Points Advance only for your own program account.”
Can I also get a Starpoints advance for the Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX Card?
No. There is no points advance allowed for the SPG card.
Related Posts
How to Transfer Miles and Points Between Frequent Flyer Accounts
American Express Membership Rewards Changes: Miles, Points and Spend Strategy
Starwood Preferred Guest Airline Transfer Partners: Turn SPG Points into Miles
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