Where Can I Fly To For 20K Amex Points?

If you’ve been searching the web about travel points you may have seen the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card often mentioned by bloggers & websites. It has one of the most generous sign up offers (10K Amex Points) considering the card has no annual for the first year! You can also be referred by myself for the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card, you will receive an additional 2000 points. Get a referral here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including IHG credit card, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for avios, hotel stays and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use one of my links for a referral to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

This is my third part of three articles looking at how you can spend your 20K Amex Points. This part focuses on where you can fly to with your points! The first part focuses on what hotels you can stay in for 20K Amex Points. The second part focuses on the experiences you can redeem your points for such as concerts, sports events and unique ‘days out.’

What airlines can I convert 20K Amex Points to?

There are currently 12 different airline partners you can directly transfer your membership reward points into. These include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates, you can see the rest of the partners here – https://catalogue.membershiprewards.co.uk/travel/airlines?currenttravelproducttype=Travel&linknav=uk-mr-vrp-shoppinglanding-travelmenu-uk2aairlinetransferpartners – Do remember that taxes and other fees are due with a flight redemption unlike on the majority of hotel and experience bookings. This article focuses on British Airways and Avios however you will find the majority of information is similar or applies to other airlines

Avios is one of the most popular frequent flyer/point schemes in the UK. As it covers lots of short haul and long haul flights from the UK it’s also my favourite flying scheme to redeem points into. To calculate how many points you will need for a redemption you can use BA’s reward flight calculator here – https://www.britishairways.com/travel/avios-calculator/public/en_gb?eId=199006 – There is also a useful third party tool called reward flight finder that you can find here – https://rewardflightfinder.com/

One of my favourite things about British Airways and Avios is their reward flight saver scheme (RFS.) This caps economy returns at £35pp and business at £50pp in Europe. You’re eligible as long as you’ve collected at least one Avios in the past 12 months. It’s important to note this might not be the cheapest way to travel with your avios points, also check reward flights as two single fares as occasionally this will be cheaper.

20K Amex Points converts to 20000 Avios so here is where that could get you…

2 return economy seats from London to Zone 1 destinations in Europe which include Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen & Paris for 8000 points (off peak, 9000 points peak) & £35 per person. Alternatively you can get 1 return business seat for 15500 points (off peak, 18000 points peak) & £50.

1 return economy seat from London to Zone 2&3 destinations in Europe which include Venice, Paphos & Ibiza.

Zone 2 will cost you 13000 points (off peak, 15000 points peak) & £35

Zone 3 will cost you 17000 points (off peak, 20000 points peak) & £35

For a full breakdown of which destinations full in these zones take a look below

Zone 1

Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Bergerac, Berlin, Bilbao, Billund, Bordeaux, Brussels, Chambery, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Geneva, Genoa, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Grenoble, Hamburg, Hannover, Innsbruck, Inverness, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, Limoges, Luxembourg, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nantes, Newcastle, Nice, Paris, Prague, Quimper, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Turin & Zurich

Zone 2

Algiers, Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Budapest, Cagliari, Dubrovnik, Faro, Figari, Florence, Gibraltar, Granada, Helsinki, Ibiza, Krakow, Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga, Menorca, Naples, Olbia, Oslo, Palermo, Palma, Pisa, Porto, Pula, Rome, Seville, Split, Stockholm, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw & Zagreb

Zone 3

Athens, Bucharest, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Istanbul, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Kiev, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Malta, Marrakech, Moscow, Mykonos, Paphos, Reykjavik, Rhodes, Santorini, Skiathos, Sofia, St Petersburg, Teneriffe, Thessaloniki, Tirana & Zakynthos

What value should I be aiming to get on an avios redemption?

Unless you are travelling in Europe do not redeem avios points for economy. This often is very poor value (points to pence) and you’d be better off paying cash for economy or redeeming for a business or first redemption. With avios points I aim for at least 1p to a point, but depending on how you earn your points/how you normally fly you may have a different valuation of your points. If you often fly budget airlines in Europe you may find saving your points for premium long haul redemptions better value!

Let us know where you’ve flown to for 20K Amex Points or less in the comments below!