Introduction
American Express lists 20 Membership Rewards transfer partners: 16 airlines and four hotel programs. It is also a list that gets misused constantly. People look at 20 partners and assume 20 good redemptions exist. They do not.
I have transferred Amex Membership Rewards to ANA for first-class suites, to Aeroplan for Star Alliance business class, to Virgin Atlantic for Delta One on the transcons, and to Flying Blue when there was a 25% bonus running. I have also watched friends torch 100,000 points sending them to Aeromexico for a domestic flight that would have cost $190 cash. The list rewards readers who know which doors actually lead somewhere.
This is the partner list as Amex shows it on September 30, 2026, the ratios, the sweet spots that justify keeping points in this ecosystem, and the redemptions to skip even when they look tempting on paper.
Quick Answer
Amex Membership Rewards transfers to most partners at 1:1, with exceptions worth knowing: 1,000 points become 800 Asia Miles at Cathay Pacific, 800 Skywards Miles at Emirates, 1,600 points at Aeromexico, 2,000 at Hilton and 250 at The Leading Hotels of the World, and 250 points become 200 at JetBlue. The partners that actually move the needle in 2026 are ANA, Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore KrisFlyer, and British Airways for short-haul American Airlines redemptions. Everyone else is situational.
Why the Transfer Partner List Matters More Than the Earn Rate
Most articles about points programs lead with earn rates. I want to flip that on its head, because the transfer partner list determines what your points are actually worth. A 5x earn rate on a currency that redeems at 1.0 cents per point is worse than a 3x earn rate on a currency that redeems at 1.8 cents per point. With Amex, the headline earn rates are competitive, but the real story is what you can do with the points once you have them.
The reason Membership Rewards points are worth chasing in 2026 is that the partner list still includes ANA at 1:1, Aeroplan at 1:1, Virgin Atlantic at 1:1, and Flying Blue at 1:1. Those four programs alone get you to five-figure-value premium cabin redemptions if you know the routes. A transfer bonus makes the math better still.
The list also includes some partners I would not transfer to under any circumstance. Hilton at 1:2 is one of the most-discussed and least-useful transfers in the entire ecosystem. JetBlue at 250:200 hands you fewer points than you send. Aeromexico's 1:1.6 looks generous until you realize what an Aeromexico point is worth. Knowing what to skip is half the value of this guide.
For the broader context on how this program stacks up against Chase, see Amex Membership Rewards vs. Chase Ultimate Rewards where I went deep on the comparison.
The Full Amex Membership Rewards Transfer Partner List (September 2026)
Here is the complete partner list with ratios. I have grouped airlines by alliance for navigation.
Star Alliance Airline Partners
- Air Canada Aeroplan (1:1)
- ANA Mileage Club (1:1)
- Avianca LifeMiles (1:1)
- Singapore KrisFlyer (1:1)
Oneworld Airline Partners
- The British Airways Club (1:1, in Avios)
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1,000 points to 800 Asia Miles)
- Iberia Club (1:1, in Avios)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer (500 points to 500 Qantas Points)
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (1:1, in Avios)
SkyTeam Airline Partners
- Aeromexico Rewards (1:1.6)
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue (1:1)
- Delta SkyMiles (1:1)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (1:1)
Non-Alliance Airline Partners
- Aer Lingus AerClub (1:1, in Avios)
- Emirates Skywards (1,000 points to 800 Skywards Miles)
- JetBlue TrueBlue (250 points to 200 TrueBlue points)
Hotel Partners
- Choice Privileges (1:1)
- Hilton Honors (1:2)
- Marriott Bonvoy (1:1)
- The Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club (1,000 points to 250 Leaders Club Points)
That is 16 airlines and four hotel programs, per Amex's transfer page. Now let me tell you which ones actually matter.
The Partners Worth Using (and the Routes to Use Them On)
This is the section I wish more guides led with. Twenty partners is a number. The redemptions that justify the program is what readers are actually trying to figure out.
ANA Mileage Club: Still the Best First-Class Redemption in Points
ANA's First Class cabin, "The Suite," is a private room with a sliding door at the front of a Boeing 777. Award pricing from New York to Tokyo runs around 110,000-120,000 ANA miles round-trip in first. Cash tickets on the same route routinely run $15,000-$25,000. Amex estimates four days for a transfer to ANA Mileage Club, so confirm the seat before you move points.
Sweet spots in ANA business class are equally strong: 75,000-90,000 miles round-trip from the U.S. to Japan in business. If you have not flown ANA business, the food alone justifies the booking. This is the redemption I tell every new Amex points-holder to plan a trip around.
Air Canada Aeroplan: The Star Alliance Workhorse
Aeroplan is one of the most underrated programs in the points world and a Chase partner too, which means dual-program holders can pool points from both. From the U.S. to Europe in business class, Aeroplan prices Star Alliance partners (Lufthansa, Swiss, United, Austrian) at 60,000-70,000 miles one-way. To Asia in business, 75,000-90,000 miles one-way on partners. The stopover policy lets you add a five-day stopover in any partner hub for 5,000 extra miles, which is one of the last great mileage hacks left in the game.
If you are flying Star Alliance business class in 2026, Aeroplan is usually your best routing.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: Better Than People Realize
Virgin Atlantic has two separate sweet spots. The first is the Delta One transcon redemption at 50,000 miles round-trip in business class on Delta. The second is using Virgin Atlantic miles to book ANA business class from Tokyo to the U.S. West Coast at 47,500-57,500 miles one-way, which is one of the cheapest ways to fly ANA business from Asia to the U.S. on points.
If Amex runs a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic, the math gets better still. Say a 30% bonus is running: 10,000 Membership Rewards points would become 13,000 Virgin points.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue: The Promo Program
Flying Blue is built around its monthly promo awards, which drop pricing on specific routes by 25-50% for a month. Last cycle had Newark to Paris in business at 50,000 miles one-way. Atlanta to Amsterdam at similar. The promo awards rotate, so the strategy is to keep points flexible until you see a route you want, then transfer.
For more on this, Flying Blue miles guide breaks down the program in detail and Air France Flying Blue program guide covers the latest 2026 changes.
Avianca LifeMiles: Star Alliance on the Cheap
Avianca prices Star Alliance partners aggressively. U.S. to Europe in business runs 63,000 miles one-way. U.S. to South America in business is 35,000-50,000 miles one-way. There is a fuel surcharge waiver on most partner awards, which is huge if you are booking Lufthansa or Swiss out of Europe. Avianca also runs constant points sales where you can buy LifeMiles for around 1.4 cents apiece, which lets you supplement transfer-based bookings.
The British Airways Club: For American Airlines Short-Hauls Only
British Airways Avios is a distance-based award chart that punishes long-haul redemptions and rewards short-haul. The sweet spot is using Avios on American Airlines domestic short-haul routes (under 1,151 miles) at 9,000 miles each way off-peak, 11,000 peak. Coast-to-coast BA awards on AA are not worth it because the fuel surcharges destroy the value. But for Hawaii from the West Coast on AA, BA Avios at 13,000 miles each way off-peak is a deal.
Singapore KrisFlyer: The Suites Class Tax
Singapore Airlines Suites is the only product in the world that competes with ANA First on points. SFO to Singapore in Suites runs 130,000-150,000 KrisFlyer miles one-way. It is the most expensive premium-cabin redemption on this list, but the cabin is also the most expensive in the cash market.
The Partners to Skip (Even When They Look Tempting)
This is where most readers lose points. The list is long enough that it is easy to convince yourself a marginal redemption is "fine." It usually is not.
Hotel Transfers: Almost Always a Mistake
Marriott at 1:1, Hilton at 1:2, Choice at 1:1, Leading Hotels of the World at 1,000 points to 250. None of these get you better value than an Amex point at its best deployment elsewhere.
The Hilton 1:2 ratio sounds great until you price an aspirational Hilton. The Conrad Maldives runs 95,000 to 150,000 Hilton points per night. Compare that to two nights at a Park Hyatt via Chase Ultimate Rewards (the Hyatt route is unavailable to Amex transfers, which is the whole problem) or to booking ANA business class one-way at 75,000-90,000 ANA miles. You are leaving four-figure value on the table.
Marriott at 1:1 makes no sense because you can earn Marriott points faster from a Marriott co-branded card and because the Marriott award chart gets revalued constantly. Choice Privileges has occasional sweet spots at European partners like SLH but the volume is too low to plan around.
For more context on the program comparison, Amex Membership Rewards vs. Chase Ultimate Rewards covers why Hyatt-via-Chase outguns every Amex hotel partner.
JetBlue TrueBlue (250:200): Fewer Points Out Than In
Amex converts 250 Membership Rewards points into 200 TrueBlue points, so you get fewer points than you send. JetBlue prices awards based on cash fare, which means there is no sweet spot to chase. Say a ticket prices at 20,000 TrueBlue points: you would move 25,000 Membership Rewards to cover it.
Aeromexico Rewards (1:1.6): Looks Generous, Is Not
The 1:1.6 ratio fools people. Amex turns 1,000 Membership Rewards points into 1,600 Aeromexico Rewards Points, but more points is not more value: what counts is the award price against the same seat booked through another partner. The arithmetic does not work unless you have an Aeromexico-specific routing in mind, and even then there are usually better partners in SkyTeam through Flying Blue.
Emirates and Qatar: Fuel Surcharge Traps
Both programs offer eye-catching premium-cabin redemptions on paper, and Emirates also converts at 1,000 points to 800 Skywards Miles. In practice, Emirates routinely charges $1,500-$2,000 in fuel surcharges on a one-way first-class award. Qatar is slightly better but still hits you with hundreds of dollars in cash on top of the points. If you are willing to pay the surcharges for the cabin, fine. Most readers should route through cleaner programs.
Cards That Earn Membership Rewards in 2026
Here is how the main Membership Rewards cards stack up:
The Amex Platinum is the flagship. It earns 5x on flights booked direct or through Amex Travel (up to $500K annually) and 5x on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel. The annual fee is $895. See benefits of Amex Platinum for the full breakdown of how to weigh the card's credits (Amex puts its benefits at $3,500+ in annual value) against the fee.
The Amex Gold is the everyday earner. 4x at restaurants worldwide (up to $50K), 4x at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25K, then 1x), 3x on flights booked direct. Annual fee is $325.
The Amex Business Platinum at $895 annually earns 5x on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com and 2x on eligible purchases in key business categories or single purchases of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million of those purchases per calendar year. If you are running a business with high single-purchase volume, the 2x on $5K+ adds up fast.
The Amex Business Gold at $375 earns 4x on your top two eligible categories each month, on the first $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year. It is the right card for businesses with concentrated spend.
The Amex Blue Business Plus is the no-annual-fee earner at 2x on eligible purchases up to $50K per year. It is the card I tell every points enthusiast to keep open as a backup, because 2x with no annual fee on miscellaneous business spend is genuinely hard to beat.
Transfer Bonuses: The Free Money Layer
A transfer bonus, when one shows on Amex's transfer page, changes which partner is actually best to transfer to in a given month.
The strategy is straightforward: keep your points in Membership Rewards until you are ready to book. Check Amex's transfer page in your account for a bonus before you move anything. When a bonus hits a partner you have a redemption planned with, transfer then. A bonus means fewer Membership Rewards points for the same award. That is real money.
The mistake is transferring speculatively, before you have award space confirmed. Transfers are non-reversible: Amex's terms say transferred points can't be moved back to Membership Rewards. Once your points are in Avianca LifeMiles, they are LifeMiles forever. Always confirm award availability first.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Transferring without checking award availability. Transfers are one-way. Search for the seats you want first, then transfer when you are ready to book.
- Treating the partner list as 20 equal options. It is not. A handful of partners do most of the work. Skip the rest unless you have a specific routing in mind.
- Falling for the Hilton 1:2 ratio. Better deployments exist for almost every Membership Rewards point you would otherwise send to Hilton.
- Missing transfer bonuses. Say you need 65,000 miles: with a 30% bonus running, 50,000 Membership Rewards points cover it. Check Amex's transfer page before every transfer.
- Forgetting transfer minimums and name matching. Amex sets a 1,000-point minimum for most partners, 500 for Qantas and 250 for JetBlue. Your Amex account name has to match your partner program name exactly. If you have a typo, fix it before you transfer or your points will sit in limbo.
How I Would Use 100,000 Membership Rewards Points Right Now
If you handed me 100,000 Amex points today, here is what I would do with them:
Option A: 75,000 to ANA for one-way business class to Tokyo, save the remaining 25,000 toward the next trip. This is the highest cents-per-point redemption available in the program.
Option B: 60,000 to Aeroplan for one-way business class to Europe on Lufthansa or Swiss. Use the stopover for 5,000 extra miles to break the trip in Frankfurt or Zurich.
Option C: Wait. If you expect a Virgin Atlantic bonus, sit on the points. A 50,000-point Delta One transcon booked with bonused Virgin points is one of the best business-class transcons in points.
What I would not do: spend 100,000 points on hotels, on JetBlue, on Aeromexico, or on a portal booking. The whole reason Membership Rewards points are worth holding is the airline transfer ceiling. Use them where they earn their keep.
For more on stretching transferable currencies, Virgin Atlantic miles guide walks through the redemption process step by step.
Conclusion
Amex Membership Rewards has one of the deepest airline partner lists of any U.S. transferable currency in 2026, but the value is concentrated in a handful of partners. ANA, Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Avianca, Singapore, and British Airways for short-haul AA do almost all the heavy lifting. The hotel partners are largely traps. Transfer bonuses are where readers paying attention pull ahead of those who transfer randomly.
Earn aggressively with the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold on the personal side, the Amex Business Platinum and Amex Blue Business Plus on the business side. Hold the points flexibly. Transfer only when you have award space confirmed and ideally when a bonus is running. That is the playbook in 2026.
Updated September 30, 2026: We matched the partner list to Amex's transfer page (16 airlines and four hotel programs, Cathay Pacific and Emirates at 1,000 points to 800 miles, The Leading Hotels of the World added, the British Airways Club and Iberia Club names, Etihad Guest and Hawaiian Airlines removed as they aren't on Amex's list), updated card earning rates from Amex's card pages, removed the Green Card paragraph, which we could not confirm on Amex's site, and removed bonus history and several figures we could not source.
Sources
- American Express, Membership Rewards transfer partners: ratios, estimated transfer times and terms for all 20 partners (read 2026-09-30)
- American Express, Platinum Card page: $895 annual fee, 5X on flights and prepaid hotels (read 2026-09-30)
- American Express, Gold Card page: $325 annual fee, 4X restaurants up to $50K, 4X U.S. supermarkets up to $25K (read 2026-09-30)
- American Express, Business Platinum Card page: $895 annual fee, 5X on AmexTravel.com, 2X key business purchases up to $2 million (read 2026-09-30)
- American Express, Business Gold Card page: $375 annual fee, 4X top 2 categories on first $150,000 (read 2026-09-30)
- American Express, Blue Business Plus page: 2X on first $50,000 of eligible purchases (read 2026-09-30)
