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Jasmin Baron
As many do at the end of the year, I’m taking stock of my points and miles balances — and discovered that in the course of 12 months I’ve accumulated over 250,000 American Express Membership Rewards points without doing anything particularly exciting. I earned most of the points by opening and using just two new cards —
In a normal year, I would probably burn just as many credit card rewards as I earned, from redeeming points for flights and hotels to using cash back to offset travel expenses. But 2021 was far from normal, and again my family was mostly grounded due to the pandemic, only taking domestic trips aside from a couple of short jaunts to Canada to visit relatives.
But 2022 will hopefully be different, and I’m excited to use these points toward a much-needed vacation with my kids. Here’s a breakdown of how I earned over a quarter million Amex points in 2021, and how I plan to redeem my stash in the coming year.
How I earned over 250K Amex points in a year
Like many folks, I used the pandemic as an opportunity to stockpile a ton of points by applying for elevated credit card welcome offers and making the most of bonus spending categories.
I opened the
A few months later, I followed up by applying for the increased offer on the
American Express
While these big welcome offers were a huge factor, they’re not the only reason I opened both cards. I’d actually hoped to do more traveling and take advantage of perks like airport lounge access and airline incidental fee credits** with the
With the
Read more: 3 reasons why the Amex Gold card is an easy choice for foodies, travelers, and even beginners
Here’s a quick breakdown of what I earned from each card:
|
|
||
|
Points earned from intro bonus |
100,000 | 60,000 |
|
Points earned from bonus categories |
5,444 | 58,678 |
|
Points earned from other spending |
4,239 | 6,173 |
|
Total earned this year |
69,683 | 164,851 |
In total, between these two cards, I earned 234,534 Amex Membership Rewards points — but a couple of other cards I have had for years also contributed to my points earning this year, for a grand total of 257,282 points:
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express : I use this card for expenses that don’t fall into regular bonus spending categories, because it earns 2x points on the first $50,000 per year in eligible purchases (then 1x)Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express : I almost never use this card except for some small recurring charges, but it’s my oldest Amex account and has no annual fee, so I keep it open and active to help boost my credit score
Another reason I chose to open the
I’ll use Amex points for a trip to Ireland and Scotland with my family
Of course, there are no guarantees with the pandemic, but I’m hoping to redeem points for a trip to Ireland and Scotland with my boyfriend and three kids later in 2022. I was optimistic enough for this trip, in fact, that this past fall I preemptively transferred Amex points to British Airways Executive Club when there was a 40% transfer bonus (no longer available).
Read more: The best ways to get to Europe with credit card points and miles
Using British Airways Avios points to book award flights on Aer Lingus from the East Coast to Dublin is a great rewards sweet spot — it costs just 26,000 Avios round-trip in economy per person. With the 40% transfer bonus, I only needed to transfer 93,000 Amex points to British Airways to get enough points for round-trip flights for my family of five.
I may take advantage of my Amex Platinum prepaid hotel credit in Dublin, but will likely use points from other programs for most of our accommodations because it’s tricky to find traditional hotel rooms that accommodate five people in Europe. I’ll likely cash in some Capital One miles from my
However, I’ll likely use some Amex points toward flights between Ireland and Scotland. Since these flights are typically inexpensive, it might make sense to Pay With Points to book tickets directly through Amex Travel — but I’ll run the numbers and see if transferring more points to British Airways or another program costs fewer points.
The great thing about Amex Membership Rewards points is that they don’t expire as long as your account is open and in good standing. Because there’s still so much uncertainty around the pandemic, I’ll probably wait until the last minute to firm up my travel plans. Since most Amex transfers are instant and it only takes a few minutes to book flights online, I’m not worried about not being able to plan so far ahead.
And if we don’t end up making the trip this year, I’ll just sit tight until travel is a possibility again — and continue to boost my stockpile of points in the meantime.
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