Amex MR for a Houstonian?

[Anonymous]

I got a 50K MR offer for the new Amex Gold.

The question I have is this:  are MR valuable for Houstonians?  This is a United/Southwest town.  Amex seems to partner with Delta.

Can MR points be transferred to Singapore Air or Air Canada in the Star Alliance network and then used on United flights?  What are MR points worth when doing so?

Many thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

Yes you can transfer to other star alliance partners and book UAL flights with point through their website. Avianca is said to be a good option. Or you can book far east vacation with some asian airlines.

On average, these points won't worth more than 1.2-1.7cpp. But you can wait for Amex transfer bonus and/or airline sales. Don't ask me when though, I don't have that kinda of flexibility of waiting myself. lol

btw, don't transfer until you find a good deal and ready to buy.

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I got a 50K MR offer for the new Amex Gold.

The question I have is this:  are MR valuable for Houstonians?  This is a United/Southwest town.  Amex seems to partner with Delta.

Can MR points be transferred to Singapore Air or Air Canada in the Star Alliance network and then used on United flights?  What are MR points worth when doing so?

Many thanks for your help!

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Not the best value but yes you can. you can do ana for united also. MR i wouldn't say is the best value for domestic flights btw. 

[Anonymous]

To piggyback off of the above response, not with the intention of hijacking the post...

What would be considered a halfway decent point system to stick with in regards to domestic flights? I'd guess it'd be UR if not MR, due to Chase having United/Southwest (and I don't believe Southwest flies international, but I could definitely be wrong as I'm not super knowledgeable on these things yet)

On a few of the domestic flights I'd checked out via Delta's website, I was able to get about 1.3-1.4cpp. Whereas Southwest domestic I seemed to be getting about 1.2cpp.

I understand it is largely a YMMV situation, but figured I'd input the question to get a general consensus from some of the more well-versed airline travelers on the forum, particularly regarding domestic flights.

If this needs to be a separate thread due to the depth of the question and somewhat off-topic for this thread, I apologize for not creating a new thread initially.

[Anonymous]

For regular deomestic travel, you may just be better off using CSP/CSR's travel portal, each point nets you 1.25-1.5c.

Amex travel portal is very sucky for the route I fly, price is abusrdly high copmparing to the airline website. Obviously YMMV, so at least give it a test.

Currently I am using Wells Fargo GFR system personally, the combo (or trifecta) of wells system give you similar points as CSR+CFU, with no AF. Downside is its a fixed 1.5cpp system, no point transfer, no airline point flash sales, no transfer bonus.

(I should add in my household we have decent amount of UR each year as well, and I get some MR from my Amex ED when any excellent deal presents itself).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For regular deomestic travel, you may just be better off using CSP/CSR's travel portal, each point nets you 1.25-1.5c.

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Yes, the CSR giving 1.5c at the portal often makes this fairly competitve (or better) with transferring UR for economy domestic (+ no availability issues and you earn miles on the flights).

In the past, people have found good value in transferring to Avios and using these to book AA domestic for short haul (as Avios awards were based on distance).  This might have changed though.

[mongstradamus]

The only issue is that Houston is only a United and southwest hub I think closest hub for AA would be Dallas.

The CSR redemption is probably best value.

[Anonymous]

I am blocked from Chase by 5/24 and will be for awhile. 

Thus my question about MR.

[wasCB14]

Aeroplan will help no/low-status United flyers dodge the close-in award booking fee, but the award prices aren't that great for the (relatively few) routes I've searched.

Still, though, a decent value when Chase isn't an option.

[K-in-Boston]

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@Anonymous wrote:

To piggyback off of the above response, not with the intention of hijacking the post...

What would be considered a halfway decent point system to stick with in regards to domestic flights? I'd guess it'd be UR if not MR, due to Chase having United/Southwest (and I don't believe Southwest flies international, but I could definitely be wrong as I'm not super knowledgeable on these things yet)

On a few of the domestic flights I'd checked out via Delta's website, I was able to get about 1.3-1.4cpp. Whereas Southwest domestic I seemed to be getting about 1.2cpp.

I understand it is largely a YMMV situation, but figured I'd input the question to get a general consensus from some of the more well-versed airline travelers on the forum, particularly regarding domestic flights.

If this needs to be a separate thread due to the depth of the question and somewhat off-topic for this thread, I apologize for not creating a new thread initially.

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Southwest flies internationally to Mexico and numerous countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.  Hawaii is coming soon, also.  Their points have a fixed value that is tied to the cash price of the fare.  So while you'll never get outsized value like 25,000 points for a transoceanic flight in business class you also won't get horrible redemptions like 200,000 points for a domestic economy flight that pop up sometimes with some legacy carriers.

1.2 is a good baseline for Delta.  As you move forward in the cabin, that value can go up a bit, especially during SkyMiles sales where you might get a domestic F ticket for as low as 10,000 SkyMiles.