As of today, AMEX Membership Rewards cardholders can use AMEX.Point.me for free to help find the best AMEX points options for redeeming flights.
A Twitter/X follower asked if there was value in it, so I decided to take it for a spin.
@DansDeals I just read about https://t.co/KVBtVQATyt becoming a new benefit/perk for American Express ultimate rewards members. @DansDeals can you please let us know if booking through https://t.co/KVBtVQATyt has any value?
— Stanley Berkowitz (@BorisKarshina1) March 11, 2024
I recently made charts showing the lowest rates for flying between Cleveland-NYC and NYC-South Florida.
I decided to search for flights using a random date, May 5th, between Cleveland-Newark on United, Cleveland-LaGuardia on AA or Delta, and Cleveland-JFK on AA or Delta.
Cleveland to Newark:
AMEX.Point.me failed to find a booking option to fly on United, instead it offered a Delta flight stopping in Detroit for a whopping 43,000 points:
The DansDeals award comparison chart shows that Air Canada offers the Cleveland-Newark flight on United for 6K miles+$29 booking fee or using Lifemiles for 6.5K miles plus a $10 booking fee.
Plus, you can currently get a 15% bonus for transfer from AMEX to Lifemiles, dropping the cost to just 5.6K points.
- AMEX.Point.me suggestion for AMEX points transfer for United flight: None
- DansDeals suggestion for AMEX points transfer for United flight: Air Canada or Lifemiles
Cleveland to LaGuardia:
AMEX.Point.me found a booking option to fly on Delta, using 8K Flying Blue miles+$17.
It failed to find any options on AA, instead offering a JetBlue itinerary stopping in Boston.
The DansDeals award comparison chart shows that Virgin Atlantic offers the Cleveland-LaGuardia flight on Delta for 7.5K miles+$0 booking fee or using flying Blue for 7.5K miles plus an $11-$18 booking fee.
AMEX.Point.me just rounds that to 8K miles I guess? Personally, I’d rather know the real rate, even if AMEX requires transfers in 1,000 point increments. But either way, Virgin Atlantic is clearly the better way to book as it has no booking fee, and cancellations are just $5 instead of $75 with Flying Blue, as noted in the chart.
The DansDeals award comparison chart shows that there are several good options to book American from Cleveland to LaGuardia. I usually start on the BA site to search for award space.
And indeed, BA can book the route for 8,250 Avios, despite the option not showing up with AMEX.Point.me.
Once you find the award space, you can book it with Etihad for 6,000 miles, or 5,000 if you’re targeted for a 20% bonus from AMEX.
As the chart notes though, Etihad charges absurdly high cancelation fees.
A better route would be to book with Qatar for 6,000 Avios. Cancellations would be $25. Unfortunately, Qatar doesn’t have this route available online. I chatted with Qatar, and they found the award seat available, though the chat agents can’t book it. You can either submit a special request form online to book it, or you can call to book.
You could book online for 8,000 Qantas miles, but cancellations would cost 6,000 miles.
If you don’t want to call and want easy cancellations, just book with BA Avios for 8,250 Avios, cancellations cost just $5.60.
- AMEX.Point.me suggestion for AMEX points transfer for AA flight: None
- DansDeals suggestion for AMEX points transfer for AA flight: BA, Etihad, or Qatar
- AMEX.Point.me suggestion for AMEX points transfer for Delta flight: Flying Blue
- DansDeals suggestion for AMEX points transfer for Delta flight: Virgin Atlantic
Cleveland to JFK:
AMEX.Point.me did the best on this route, finding options to book both the AA and Delta nonstop flights:
It suggests using Flying Blue for Delta, when in fact you should book with Virgin Atlantic for the reasons posted above:
It suggests using Qantas for the AA flight, when in fact you should book with Etihad, Qatar, or BA for the reasons posted above.
Although for some reason AMEX.Point.me lists Qatar as charging 13,000 points plus $350, which in fact it will be 6,000 points plus $10. Go figure.
- AMEX.Point.me suggestion for AMEX points transfer for AA flight: Qantas
- DansDeals suggestion for AMEX points transfer for AA flight: BA, Etihad, or Qatar
- AMEX.Point.me suggestion for AMEX points transfer for Delta flight: Flying Blue
- DansDeals suggestion for AMEX points transfer for Delta flight: Virgin Atlantic
To answer the question that led to this post, personally I don’t see much value in the service, but share your thoughts below!
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25 Comments On "Will AMEX’s New Point.me Service Show You The Best Award Flight Options?"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Points yeah is a decent option
i love pointsyeah – though i tried it with Dan’s first example, and it wouldnt find the 6k Air Canada for the United flight
Ouch.
When logging in to Poin.me and using your AMEX login credentials…
Does Point.me see the credentials that you are logging in with?
No
So is it points.me problem as a whole ? Or it’s only if you are using them thru amex ?
I assume it’s problematic as a whole if these are the results it’s coming up with, but paid members can share if they get better results than these.
I’ve been using it since inception, and it has very fickle results!! You can’t search by premium or first by itself, it is mixed with economy and business respectively. It was Juicy Miles before that and that search was better but not complete. I have seen some major misses on it, so it gives a false sense of a complete search
I’m using the paid version for a very long time, its better from all award search sites, but its not always perfect’ international is much better then domestic
Point.me is always suspect on their results. They are not ready for prime time at all. Kind of embarrassing for amex to be associated with them honestly!
@Dan,
Have you tested roame.travel? Looks like their award searches are more accurate but maybe it’s just me….
I find that booking with qatar is just a PITA I usually go with the next best option, unless qatar has the availability online.
Funk should be ashamed of herself… point.me is the worst of the automated award search tools.
But either way, Virgin Atlantic is clearly the better way to book as it has no booking fee, and cancellations are just $5 instead of $75 with Flying Blue, as noted in the chart.]
virgin is $5 cancellation ? isnt that only ba ?
They both are capped at the taxes paid.
Folks, any sweet spots on the MSP-YYZ route.
Ideally would prefer an option with free cancellation. On the non-stops, I see Flying blue offering DL flight for 9.5K, Virgin 11K. With 1 stop, I see Lifemiles 7.5K, but none of these offer free cancellations.
@dan
which tool do you recommend to use?
i use points.me because it sonnets to award wallet which manages my points
That is worthless.
As worthless as my Palestinian alarm clock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_0NoRHOEM
With the Amex free point.me option, it only shows results for airlines with Amex transfers, hence no option on United
Doesn’t work well enough for me to use it to replace the award searches means I use.
Pointhound is much better. They search and show results in ~10 seconds or less and it’s free.
So now we just need award charts for every other route.
Dan, Any way to search for routes to, and from, multiple airports at once? Also, are there any alternate services to point.me that may better?
I’m trying to book award flight from Phx-Tlv any recommendations on where to look?