American Express' Points for Presents -- topping an acre of land on the moon

I'm kind of shocked you'd recommend anything other than points & travel. You know better than anyone that products/experiences are not the best use of points!

He recommends these horrible redemptions because he is a sellout.

Bingo. It's a business decision though and it's not one aimed at pleasing those of us who value air travel and hotel stays more than poor value redemption options like hot air balloon rides. ($100 value in my neck of the woods when the balloons are flying - awful, awful value for points)

As for the Axon award option, that's not too terrible really and it's been discussed around the blogosphere and forums in depth. If you don't want / can't travel, the Roy's option isn't terrible either. 1 cent per point is the most common option on any gift card redemption method in the majority of programs, I believe.

a boss who has everything... would fly in coach???

Wow, I hate that TravelBuzz blog garbage, but he's right.... what a huge sellout Lucky

Getting paid off by Amex to "help educate consumers" on different ways, most of which you would never in a million years ever recommend were it not to come with an AMEX paycheck (and not even remotely a disclosure of "oh btw... redeeming your points for a balloon ride is a horrific value")

I expect this transparently blatant shilling from TPG, but not from you

I thought this was hilarious. But who am I, an anonymous internet commenter, to judge?

Sorry folks, maybe the humor was lost somewhere in the interwebs with some of the recommendations...

@ Gabe -- Thank you! 😀

I say take Amex's money and run! Anyone who reads your blog on a regular basis knows this asignment is a marriage of convenience. I equate your "purple cow" suggestion to a POW discretely flipping the bird to the camera so his family will know he hasn't been turned. Don't let them break you Ben!

So, the needle is a tough one to thread. Take Amex's money and know that they're going to read what you say so you can't just take the $$$ and run because then, well, you won't be invited back to the party next year. And you can't be too "l00k at these AMAZING DEALZ!!!!" because you'd absolutely lose whatever credibility some people think you have left (and I'd bet cc signups pay more than Amex - even though there's a bit of intertwining there).

I'd rate this post as somewhat less sellout-y than the first one and I can tell you took some time to find redemptions that are close to a penny apiece. So, there's that.

And folks, remember, we know better. For those that don't, let them redeem at the crappy rates above so the average cost of an MR point to Amex is lowered. Just a mercenary devil's advocate way of looking at it. 😉

Thanks, Lucky, those were some interesting (and funny) suggestions! We'll have to work on this more as he hates to travel (though he owns 2 jets) and he's 81 so he doesn't know how to play Farmville (much less use his new iPhone!) I like the Roy's gift card idea ... he does like to eat! Thank you for your help.

I took it basically as humor with some amusing ways to use points that I'd obviously never use but also didn't know about before. Not every post has to be about how to get 5X spend on a gift card using such-and-such portal. They get a kickback which they were up front about and the readers get a post that they can take or leave. It's no different than a banner ad, just in a different form. And there was no implication that these were the BEST uses of points, just that they existed. Lighten up, and Merry Christmas.

Lucky,

Did you realllllllly select Roy's all on your own? 😉 AMEX constantly sends me targeted promos for Roy's at Staples Center, perhaps one day they will realize I'm not interested.

Expert sellout. Disappointing.

wow, joke or not what a sell out post... i get its your blog and all, but still... wow

Hopefully Lucky will learn the value of being someone that people trust with his advice. Now I question any of his opinions on the value of a particular redemption, credit card offer, etc.

How much did they pay you for this post?

Toungue in cheek folks. geez.

Gee, I can't help laughing! Great job, Lucky!

I like J.J.'s comment. Lighten up, everybody! We all do what we need to do to pay the bills, right? Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

well FWIW, I don't even play FarmVille but I kinda want a purple cow after reading this post... 🙂 it's only a measly 540 points!