Ugh. American Express devalues their points from September 1st (AMEX Sweden)

American Express Sweden announced changes in their points program, with new rates and values coming up.

As of September 1, 2022, all Amex cards linked to the Amex points program will earn 1 Amex point per kronor spent – regardless of previous earnings.

1 Amex point will correspond to SEK 0.0028 when you choose to pay with points, which means Amex points worth: 

• SEK 2,100 if you shop for SEK 300,000/year with a Platinum credit card
• SEK 700 if you shop for SEK 150,000/year with a Gold Card credit card
• SEK 490 if you shop for SEK 100,000/year with a Green Card credit card
• SEK 420 if you shop for SEK 150,000/year with a Green, Gold or Platinum payment card
• SEK 5,600 if you shop for SEK 1.5 m/year with Centurion

The above example includes achieved Extra Points bonus for our credit cards.

It means that, spending 150k kronor a year with a Gold card, you get back less than 0.5% in return (not including the fees you pay for Gold). It sounds like a terrible idea to use your points this way.

If you choose to convert your points to our hotel and airline partners, you do so as a conversion as follows:

• SAS – 29 Amex points equal 1 EuroBonus Extra point
• British Airways – 20 Amex points equal 1 Avios
• Air France/KLM – 29 Amex points equal 1 Flying Blue Miles
• Iberia – 20 Amex points equal 1 Avios
• Delta – 40 Amex points equal 1 SkyMiles®
• Finnair – 20 Amex points equal 1 Finnair Plus point
• Qatar – 27 Amex points equal 1 Avios
• Thai – 34 Amex points equal 1 Royal Orchid Plus miles
• Hilton – 13 Amex points equal 1 Hilton Honors point
• Radisson – 8 Amex points equal 1 Radisson point

The ones who have a SAS Amex card or Blue Cashback are not affected by this. 

 Overall, it is a significant devaluation not only using your points to pay for your invoice, but also for converting points to other programs.

When I started with American Express in 2014, the rates for most airlines (Avios, Delta, Qatar, Air France, KLM, was 10:1. With these new changes it gets close to 3 times worse.

The points and miles game keeps getting harder and more complex, and given the current world’s situation, it is going to be more and more difficult to get rewards back from the financial entities that have to deal with inflation and other unpredictable factors.

If I would have to give one piece of advice, don’t aim long term these days. Don’t optimize your strategy for long and stable periods thinking you can earn miles for 12-24 months until you can redeem a reward, because the game is likely to be very different by then.

Instead, aim for short-term reward: for example, if you get cash back or reward points that you can use immediately, securing the value of your award, then go for it. The Amex Blue Cashback card or some of the cards I mention here are great for these purposes.