Amex Points - Where am I going wrong?

[ecs]

I'm having trouble using my Amex points! I've accumulated a decent amount of reward points which I'd like to use for travel, however whenever I try to use them I find there aren't any rewards available.

Cases in point, I'm travelling to Dubai in October, the plan was to upgrade to business using Avios so I booked premium economy with BA and then tried to upgrade the flights. I then found out the hard way that you can't 'just' upgrade with Avios like you can with cash as there are very few reward seats available and for that route, they all seem to be taken. Whoops!

So then I thought I'd book the hotel through Hilton and use the points there but I can't seem to find any room availability for any dates this year. I'm planning on visiting Edinburgh at some point in the near future so I thought I'd check availability at the Waldorf Astoria and I'm having the same luck.

I think I'm doing something wrong here - does anyone have and pointers about how best to use points for travel? I keep saying I'm going to cancel the cards as I've only ever had success with using the points on Amazon, which is a bit of a poor rate of return!

[The Leaper]

I have never had any trouble using Avios although I've only done so for flights. I think that the keys are to book as early as possible and be flexible about dates. You were hoping today to get seats in October...I'd expect no availability as the small allocation of seats for Avios would have long gone. I also think that using Avios for the club seats rather than to upgrade from economy gives you a better chance of getting what you want.

R.

[DonkeyApple]

Avios are amazing if there is somewhere you don’t want to go on a date which you are not available.

Of course, in reality much of my issue stems from the arrival of offspring. Not just contained to Avios points.

I think they have changed a lot though. Ten/fifteen years ago it was never an issue to use the points or the companion tickets. Destinations and dates always available. I think today they are much more efficient in connecting reward systems in with pricing systems and they are more used as a means to steer trapped consumers into more costly deals.

[QuartzDad]

ecs said:

I'm planning on visiting Edinburgh at some point in the near future so I thought I'd check availability at the Waldorf Astoria and I'm having the same luck.

If the near futures means in the middle of the festival then it probably is going to be quite hard, can't see any lack of availability at the Waldorf between late August and Christmas.

[alorotom]

Have you transferred the points from AMEX to HHonors??

I did this and had zero issues booking for Dubai for August and Orlando for next week only a couple of weeks ago?? But it was all booked via HHonors

[Hamsterdam]

ecs said:

I'm having trouble using my Amex points! I've accumulated a decent amount of reward points which I'd like to use for travel, however whenever I try to use them I find there aren't any rewards available.

Cases in point, I'm travelling to Dubai in October, the plan was to upgrade to business using Avios so I booked premium economy with BA and then tried to upgrade the flights. I then found out the hard way that you can't 'just' upgrade with Avios like you can with cash as there are very few reward seats available and for that route, they all seem to be taken. Whoops!

So then I thought I'd book the hotel through Hilton and use the points there but I can't seem to find any room availability for any dates this year. I'm planning on visiting Edinburgh at some point in the near future so I thought I'd check availability at the Waldorf Astoria and I'm having the same luck.

I think I'm doing something wrong here - does anyone have and pointers about how best to use points for travel? I keep saying I'm going to cancel the cards as I've only ever had success with using the points on Amazon, which is a bit of a poor rate of return!

Use the link below, it’s updated daily, if there isn’t availability now, there may be later, so keep checking. Even if you can’t fly both legs in business class, you might be to on one leg of the flight.

https://rewardflightfinder.com/

[anonymous-user]

As per the link above, this a screenshot showing the availability of 2 x club seats from LHR-DXB in October. If you booked a WT+ seat on these dates you could have upgraded it using Avios.



In practise, whilst you aren't going to be able to use Avios for the start and end of Feb half-term and a few other key dates, if you book far enough in advance, getting availability is straight forward.

[BaldOldMan]

As above really - planning as far ahead as you can & being flexible.

I just did HK return BA first - business from there to Australia to Bali & back to HK - and hotels also on points - I booked almost a year out & travelled mid week.

[sleepezy]

Plan in advance - we've used them for a family of 5 to New York (easy as so many flights) a couple of years ago and same to Canada at the very start of this year's summer holiday. Just booked the maximum number of days in advance (for Canada, NY was relatively late) and had to be flexible on seats to Canada as they only released 4 economy seats (so we split into 3 economy for the children and 2 business for the parents, shame!)

[anonymous-user]

sleepezy said:

<snip>...(so we split into 3 economy for the children and 2 business for the parents, shame!)

Don't admit to that.... you will cause a few angry people here to come out of the woodwork

[ecs]

alorotom said:

Have you transferred the points from AMEX to HHonors??

I haven't transferred any points out of Amex yet, I don't want them stuck somewhere I might not use them. Possibly not the best tactic as I believe it takes a few days for them to move.

For me, booking the flights 4 months in advance was planning ahead. I guess that's not good enough for this game I'll keep trying, thanks for the links and things everyone else.

[alorotom]

Fair point.

For reference, when I transferred 700k-ish of mine out of Amex into HHonors it happened overnight; the formal email to confirm the transfer took about 8days though.

[ecs]

Managed to get some dates to work on the HHonours points explorer website for the Waldorf in Dubai for October, seems like their cash deals are better if you pay in advance.

At least I've figured out how Avios works as I've found fares for next year which are points eligible

[Hamsterdam]

ecs said:

Managed to get some dates to work on the HHonours points explorer website for the Waldorf in Dubai for October, seems like their cash deals are better if you pay in advance.

At least I've figured out how Avios works as I've found fares for next year which are points eligible

Did you find any availability to upgrade your flights for October?

[ecs]

We're booked for the 8th and the 20th so no luck on the way out yet and the 20th didn't seem to be available when I last checked. I've signed up for alerts on reward flight finder though

[skeeterm5]

The Leaper said:

I have never had any trouble using Avios although I've only done so for flights. I think that the keys are to book as early as possible and be flexible about dates. You were hoping today to get seats in October...I'd expect no availability as the small allocation of seats for Avios would have long gone. I also think that using Avios for the club seats rather than to upgrade from economy gives you a better chance of getting what you want.

R.

This.

We have just booked flights to Orlando, out premium economy and back first all with Avios in September. We booked the flights then the rest of the holiday around those dates.

I think it might have been impossible if I had wanted specific, fixed, dates.

[cheshire_cat]

When I buy flights through BA I just “pay using Avios” to reduce the price. Am I missing a trick here and underutilising the points?

[Insurancejon]

The trick with Amex points and Dubai is to fly emirates.

Economy is approx 380 return and 36k points to upgrade to business each way

[shopper150]

Insurancejon said:

The trick with Amex points and Dubai is to fly emirates.

Economy is approx 380 return and 36k points to upgrade to business each way

Do you need to buy the tickets directly from Emirates? I assume you then need to transfer AMEX MR points to Emirates Skywards and then ask Emirates to upgrade your tickets using Skywards points?

[Captain Raymond Holt]

Thought I’d wake this thread up rather that start a new one.

We have been collecting them blindly for the last year or so and have c85k points.

How much is classed as a lot/ a useful amount? Not that I’ll be flying any time soon