Questions and Answers

After 5 years of the Amex Platinum card I have decided it’s no longer for me. My travel is now too infrequent for the benefits to work for me. I can only downgrade to the gold card because I have the Ameriprise version, which isn’t work spending $160 just to keep 120,000 points.

So I need to drain the points today. I am trying to decide between Delta, BA, and Iberia. I have previously transferred to Aeroplan but I’m worried about parking miles there with their looming split from Air Canada. I need a place to move the points where I won’t be able to use them immediately. It may take me years to spend them with my current low travel frequency.

I am lifetime gold on AA so Avios are appealing, but I’ve never used Avios before and I’m concerned about parking the points with a foreign carrier that could devalue their AA award chart. Avios are also appealing because I expect to use them to take my family from NYC to PBI or FLL at least once per year which is less miles than on AA (or usually Delta as well).

Any thoughts? I need to do this today in order to get back the $550 fee which is no longer worth it for me due to my inability to utilize the benefits.

Why not apply for the Amex Everday card? There’s no annual fee, the signup bonus is 10k and you earn full, transferable MR points. If you have 20 or more transactions each billing cycle, you get a 20% bonus on points as well. You’d retain all your existing MR points instead of having to transfer them out with no specific use in mind.

Delta SkyMiles never expire but they can devalue quickly and without notice. BA/IB Avios are good for short haul redemptions though they have some hefty fees on awards.