American Express Membership Rewards devalues airline miles conversions

Over the past few years, American Express has been devaluing Membership Rewards transfers to airline miles around the world. It’s happened in Germany, in Australia, in Hong Kong, even in the USA to some extent.

And now, it’s Singapore’s turn.

From 23 February 2026, American Express will increase the number of Membership Rewards points required for airline miles conversions by 22-25% (44-50% for Emirates Skywards). This will affect all Membership Rewards-earning cards, from the mighty AMEX Centurion to the lowly AMEX Platinum Credit Card.

Needless to say, this has huge implications across the board. Earn rates will be reduced by 18-20%, but what’s really going to spark outrage — and rightly so, in my opinion — is the fact that this devaluation will also reduce the value of sign-up bonuses yet to be fulfilled.

To put it plainly: if your bonus is not credited before the devaluation comes into effect, then you’ll receive 18-20% fewer miles than what you originally envisioned!

American Express devalues conversions from Membership Rewards points to airline miles

From 23 February 2026, American Express will adjust its redemption rates for Membership Rewards points to airline miles as follows.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (AMEX: Partner)
	Plat Charge Centurion	Others
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 600 : 250	450 : 250 650 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250
	400 : 250 500 : 250	450 : 250 550 : 250

In short:

• If you hold an AMEX Platinum Charge or AMEX Centurion, the cost of transfers will increase by 25% (50% for Emirates Skywards)
• For all other American Express cards, the cost of transfers will increase by 22% (44% for Emirates Skywards)

If it’s any consolation at all, there is no change to the conversion rates to hotel programmes, namely Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy.

Hotel Programme	Conversion Ratio (AMEX: Partner)
	Plat Charge Centurion	Others
	1,000 : 1,000	1,000 : 1,000
	1,000 : 1,250	1,000 : 1,250

There is also no change to the cost of other Membership Rewards options, including Pay with Points (and Pay with Points+), eVouchers, Amex Collectibles and Points for Fee.

However, because of the devaluation of conversion rates, the opportunity cost of these rewards will change too. For example, an AMEX Platinum Charge cardholder who currently chooses Pay with Points is implicitly accepting a value of 0.77 cents per mile (1,000 MR points = 625 miles = S$4.80).

Following the devaluation, that figure increases to 0.96 cents per mile (1,000 MR points = 500 miles = S$4.80), though this really shouldn’t be seen as an improvement, because Pay with Points didn’t get better— redeeming airline miles has simply gotten worse.

Likewise, the opportunity cost of choosing hotel points over airline miles will also change.

For example, an AMEX Platinum Charge cardholder who currently chooses airline miles is giving up 1.6 Marriott Bonvoy points per mile. Following the devaluation, that figure increases to 2 points.

The trade-off depends on how much you value hotel points, but assuming 1 Marriott Bonvoy point is worth 0.7 US cents, then 2 points are worth S$0.018. That’s higher than my value of a KrisFlyer mile (S$0.015), so maybe hotel points will be the way to go now.

What does this mean for earn rates?

American Express cards in Singapore already suffer from mediocre earn rates, and this devaluation is just going to make things even worse.

Here are the revised earn rates with effect from 23 February 2026, valid for all mileage programmes except Emirates Skywards.

AMEX Centurion Card

	Before	After
General Spend 2.5 MR points per S$1.60	0.98 mpd	0.78 mpd
10Xcelerator 20.5 MR points per S$1.60	8.01 mpd	6.41 mpd

AMEX Platinum Charge

	Before	After
General Spend 2 MR points per S$1.60	0.78 mpd	0.63 mpd
Singapore Airlines and Scoot 5 MR points per S$1.60	1.95 mpd	1.56 mpd
10Xcelerator 20 MR points per S$1.60	7.81 mpd	6.25 mpd

AMEX Platinum Reserve and Platinum Credit Card

	Before	After
General Spend 2 MR points per S$1.60	0.69 mpd	0.57 mpd
10Xcelerator 10 MR points per S$1.60	3.47 mpd	2.84 mpd

If you’re an AMEX Centurion Cardholder, your earn rates for general and 10Xcelerator spending get cut by 20% to 0.78 mpd and 6.41 mpd respectively.

If you’re an AMEX Platinum Charge Cardholder, your earn rates for general, SIA/Scoot and 10Xcelerator spending get cut by 20% to 0.63 mpd, 1.56 mpd and 6.25 mpd respectively.

If you’re an AMEX Platinum Reserve or AMEX Platinum Credit Cardholder, your earn rates for general and 10Xcelerator spending get cut by 18% to 0.57 mpd and 2.84 mpd respectively.

What does this mean for welcome offers?

	Welcome Bonus	Before	After
AMEX Platinum Charge	98,250 MR points with S$3K spend Existing	61,406 miles	49,125 miles
	120,000 MR points with S$8K spend New	75,000 miles	60,000 miles
AMEX Platinum Credit Card	23,750 MR points with S$1K spend New	13,194 miles	10,795 miles

The devaluation of Membership Rewards points will also cut the value of welcome offers, with the AMEX Platinum Charge decreasing by 20%, and the AMEX Platinum Credit Card decreasing by 18%.

For example, the AMEX Platinum Charge is currently offering existing AMEX customers 98,250 bonus MR points with a minimum spend of S$3,000. At current conversion rates, that is worth 61,406 miles. Following the devaluation, it will be worth just 49,125 miles. In other words, the payoff ratio (bonus miles divided by minimum spend) has decreased from 20.5 to 16.4.

And if you referred a friend or family member to the AMEX Platinum Charge, that juicy 140,000 MR points will now be worth 70,000 miles, instead of 87,500 miles. Referrals for the AMEX Platinum Credit Card (30,000 MR points) will now be worth 13,636 miles, instead of 16,667 miles.

Devaluing redemption rates is especially punitive

As much as I hate devaluations, I think this would be far easier to swallow if it were earn rates that were cut. After all, earn rates relate to your future spending. If you don’t like the new value proposition, you can just change the card you use. 

Cutting redemption rates is much more punitive because it devalues your past spending. You can’t go back in time to change the card you used. Whatever points stash you’ve built up will soon be worth less, and while you still have one month to cash it out at current rates, it forces you to make decisions about where to transfer and travel earlier than you might have wanted to. 

But the absolute worst thing about this devaluation is its impact on cardholders whose welcome bonuses are still pending. It’s one thing if you’re still on the fence about applying. You can process this new information and decide whether the welcome offer is still lucrative enough to take up. It’s another thing if you’ve pulled the trigger already.

I don’t know what to tell you. I’d be very upset, to put it mildly. And I wouldn’t be the only one. Given the 12-week lead time for bonuses to be credited, this devaluation could potentially affect anyone who applied for an AMEX card from late November 2025 onwards.

There really isn’t a precedent for this, at least not that I can recall. The only card issuer to have devalued their conversion rates in recent memory is Bank of China and HSBC (for KrisFlyer only), and even then they didn’t face the same issue as they either weren’t running any welcome offers around the time, or there were other partners which didn’t devalue.

I’m sure American Express has thought this through already, and figured that the short-term outrage will be more than outweighed by the long-term benefit to its balance sheet, and in one sense they’re right. How many casual users out there even know the regular MR points to miles conversion rates, much less know when it’s changed?

Still, at least among those paying attention, a burn-side devaluation will undermine confidence in any future welcome offers. While it’s highly unlikely we’ll see another MR points devaluation anytime soon, this will inevitably weigh on the mind of anyone considering applying for an AMEX card— if they did it once, they can do it again!

What should you do now?

Existing MR points

If you have an existing MR points stash, I’d highly recommend transferring a big chunk of them to airline miles, since that’s the best use of MR points in my opinion.

That said, you might want to keep a “working capital” balance remaining for AMEX Experiences which require MR points, or for the flexibility of making small top-ups to frequent flyer balances. One advantage that AMEX cards have is their relatively small conversion block— you can transfer as little as 250 miles without any conversion fees, and conversions to Singapore Airlines and Qantas Frequent Flyer are instant. 

Alternatively, you might consider keeping some MR points handy for hotel transfers too, if you’re already invested in the Hilton or Marriott Bonvoy programmes. 

Spending

The way I see it, nothing changes here. There was never a good reason to use American Express cards for day-to-day spending in the first place, with the exception of:

• 10Xcelerator merchants
• AMEX Offers
• Chillax
• Love Dining

By all means, continue using your AMEX cards in these cases. Even though the reduced 10Xcelerator earn rates for the AMEX Platinum Reserve and Platinum Credit Card may look more marginal, it’s important to remember they’re uncapped— a useful fallback if 4 mpd options have been exhausted, or if you prefer the flexibility of MR points.

Pending welcome bonuses

What should you do if you’ve already applied for an AMEX card with a sign-up bonus denominated in MR points?

Your options depend on what stage of the process you’re at.

• If you haven’t activated the card yet, or have activated it but have yet to pay the annual fee, I think it’s worth calling up to ask if you can cancel it
• If you have already activated the card, paid the annual fee and met the minimum spend, then quite frankly you’re stuck. The AMEX T&Cs explicitly say that expedited crediting will not be entertained, so all you can do is pray for a miracle

Keep in mind that if you were a new-to-AMEX customer, you lost that status once you were approved for the card. Even if you don’t activate it or cancel it before the annual fee comes due, you will not be eligible for another new-to-AMEX offer for the next 12 months.

Is it worth complaining? Well, I’m skeptical how much that will achieve. American Express will probably say that they promised you X MR points, and X MR points is exactly what you’ll get. “And don’t forget, there are many other great ways of spending your MR points like Pay with Points or Amex Collectibles!”

That said, if you plan to try and cancel, I think it’s worth politely expressing your dissatisfaction with this turn of events (I want to emphasise again that these decisions are made millions of miles above the CSOs’ heads, so screaming and ranting at them is only going to make you look like a tool).

It’s not going to make American Express walk back their decision, but if enough people make noise, perhaps they’ll…say thank you for the feedback?

Conclusion

From 23 February 2026, American Express will be increasing the cost of Membership Rewards points to airline miles conversions by 22-25%.

This effectively cuts earn rates and welcome offers by 18-20%, making AMEX cards even less attractive compared to the competition. And if you’re a cardholder whose sign-up bonus is currently in transit, it could very well be smaller than expected upon arrival.

Burn-side devaluations are arguably the worst kind of devaluation, and this is one heck of a way to start 2026…

What do you make of the AMEX Membership Rewards devaluation?