Loyalty points

[Austin Prefect]

I can exchange Amex points for British Airways avios points at a rate of 1:1. Which would imply they are both worth the same. But I can't exchange avios for Amex points at all, so does this mean Amex are worth slightly more?

[c32dave]

No.

Amex points can go to a range of airline schemes. If you could turn avios into Amex points, then the “ loyalty” points BA gives you could end up being used for travel on one of their competitors (ie an airline that isn’t in the Oneworld scheme).

It is sometimes possible to move points between schemes by converting into hotel points or similar, then back into another airline, but where this works, the points devaluation is pretty horrible.