American Express has announced some unwelcome news this week, with confirmation that “there will be changes” to the number of Membership Rewards points you’ll need to part with when transferring into all eight of their frequent flyer programme partners, from mid-February 2026.

The big news here is that American Express isn’t just reducing the rates at which you will earn miles in future. By devaluing the transfer ratio of Membership Rewards (MR) points to miles, this also affects the effective earn rate on spend you’ve already made with your cards, if you don’t transfer out before the new ratios take effect.

That means not only will you earn fewer miles going forward, but the points you earned in the past will be worth less, if you don’t transfer out in time!

What’s changing?

From 23rd February 2026, American Express Singapore will increase the number of MR points required for airline miles conversions. The changes affect all Membership Rewards-earning cards and all eight airline transfer partners that are part of Amex’s Singapore programme.

The Platinum Card Centurion Card New Transfer Ratios
FFP		Current rate	Rate from 23 Feb ’26	Increase
	BA Avios	400 250	500 250	25%
	Cathay Asia Miles
	EVA Air Miles
	MAS Points
	Qantas Points
	SIA KF Miles
	Thai Miles
	Emirates Miles	400 250	600 250	50%

Rates shown are for Platinum Charge and Centurion cards. Other Membership Rewards cards face slightly lower increases of 22% (44% for Emirates), because their rates are being changed from 450:250 to 550:250 (or 650:250 in the Emirates example).

This change effectively devalues earn rates with Platinum Charge and Centurion card by 20%, for those transferring to one of the seven main transfer partners like KrisFlyer (i.e. not to Emirates).

Here’s how it looks for the Platinum Charge card.

Impact on Earn Rates (Platinum Charge Example)
Spend category	Current earn rate	New earn rate	Reduction
General spend	0.78 mpd	0.63 mpd	20%
SIA / Scoot	1.95 mpd	1.56 mpd
10Xcelerator merchants	7.81 mpd	6.25 mpd

Do note that if you’re holding one of the Amex KrisFlyer co-brand credit cards you’re not affected by this change – those cards do not earn MR points but instead accrue KrisFlyer miles directly, with no changes to rates in the immediate pipeline.

The Emirates situation

The Emirates situation deserves special attention. Not only is the conversion ratio being hiked by a staggering 50%, but members currently cannot even transfer points to Emirates at the current rate. The option has been missing from the online portal since 29th May 2025.

It was supposed to return in December 2025, but that never happened. The site now simply says the option will be unavailable “until further notice”. It’s therefore entirely possible that members will never be able to transfer their MR points to Emirates at the current 400:250 ratio, before it jumps to 600:250.

On the plus side, Emirates Skywards miles are very poor value these days due to high rates and significant cash surcharges on award tickets, so most of our readers aren’t making use of this transfer option anyway, though it’s worth noting Amex is the sole Emirates transfer partner in Singapore.

Why redemption ratio devaluations are especially painful

While it’s rare, we’ve seen a few banks take this redemption ratio devaluation approach before, taking a knife to conversion rates rather than reducing earning rates:

• Bank of China did it in mid-2020 for transfers to KrisFlyer and Asia Miles
• HSBC did the same more recently for KrisFlyer transfers

This approach is particularly painful because it effectively devalues your past custom, punishing cardholders who were spending with specific earn rates in mind, and who may now feel the rug has been pulled from under them.

Impact on pending welcome bonuses

Perhaps the most painful aspect of this devaluation is its impact on cardholders whose welcome bonuses are still pending. Given the typical 12-week crediting timeline, anyone who picked up an Amex card during that window might not receive their bonus points before the transfer ratios change – for the worse.

This means they could receive 20% fewer miles than what was advertised when they signed up, through no fault of their own, assuming a transfer to one of Amex’s seven main transfer partners was their intention (i.e. not to Emirates).

Impact on Welcome Bonuses (Platinum Charge Example)
Welcome offer	Current miles	New miles	Reduction
Existing customer (98,250 MR points)	61,406	49,125	12,281 miles
New customer with referral (140,000 MR points)	87,500	70,000	17,500 miles

Amex’s T&Cs explicitly state that expedited crediting will not be entertained. If your bonus won’t be credited before the devaluation, you’re effectively receiving significantly fewer miles than you expected.

Singapore joins other Amex devaluations

Singapore’s devaluation follows a pattern of Amex Membership Rewards devaluations across multiple markets over the past couple of years.

In Australia:

• The most severe devaluation before Singapore, this one was effective from 15th December 2025. Most airline partners went from a 2:1 to 3:1 ratio (+50%), while Emirates went from 3:1 to 4:1 (+33%). Only Qantas and Virgin Australia were spared, retaining their 2:1 rates.

In the UK:

• From 1st February 2026, the transfer rate from Amex Membership Rewards to Emirates Skywards is being cut from 4:3 to 2:1, a 33% devaluation for UK cardholders.

In the USA:

• Emirates Skywards (Sep 2025): Transfer ratio changed from 1:1 to 5:4, a 20% cut.
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (Mar 2026): From 1st March 2026, Amex USA will devalue Cathay transfers from their current 1:1 ratio to 5:4, another 20% cut.

In Germany:

• Amex Germany changed transfer rates effective 1st August 2025, with members losing 12-30% compared to previous rates. Affected partners included Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

In Hong Kong:

• Amex Hong Kong devalued airline transfers effective from 1st December 2023, changing the conversion rate from 15,000 points to 1,000 miles to 18,000 points to 1,000 miles, a 20% increase in points required.

This pattern strongly suggests a coordinated global strategy by American Express to trim the cost of its Membership Rewards programme.

Singapore cardholders can take cold comfort in the fact that at least their devaluation (22-25%) is less severe than Australia’s (33-50%), though unlike Australia, Singapore is seeing hikes across all airline partners with no exceptions.

Some good news: FCY spend promotion

As some consolation, American Express is introducing an enhanced earn rate on foreign currency spend for Platinum Card members.

From 23rd February 2026 to 22nd February 2027, members can earn up to 7 MR points per S$1.60 spent on non-SGD transactions (capped at S$15,000 equivalent). Enrolment will be required, from 23rd February 2026.

However, even with the new transfer rates 7 MR points per S$1.60 works out to just 2.18 miles per dollar for most airline partners, after the transfer ratio changes. Decent, but definitely not groundbreaking compared to other specialised miles cards on the market.

What should you do now?

If you have MR points: Transfer them to your preferred airline programme by 22nd February 2026 to lock in the current rates. KrisFlyer and Qantas transfers are instant, others may take a few days, but Amex has clarified that provided your transfer is initiated by 22nd February 2026, you’ll get the existing rates regardless of the partner programme you choose.

If you’re waiting for bonus points: Unfortunately, Amex’s T&Cs explicitly state that expedited crediting will not be entertained. If your bonus won’t be credited before the devaluation, you may wish to contact Amex to express your concerns.

If you recently applied: If you haven’t activated the card yet, or have activated it but have yet to pay the annual fee, it may be worth calling to ask about cancellation options.

Consider hotel transfers: Transfer rates to Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy remain unchanged, making these relatively more attractive post-devaluation.

From 23rd February 2026, American Express Singapore will increase the cost of Membership Rewards points to airline miles conversions by 22-25% (44-50% for Emirates). This effectively cuts earn rates and welcome offers by around 20% in most cases, making Amex cards even less attractive compared to the competition.

Arguably the writing has been on the wall for some time, with similar devaluations rolling out across Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, the USA, and the UK.

Key deadline: Transfer your MR points to airline partners by 22nd February 2026 to benefit from the current conversion rates.

(Cover Photo: The Points Guy)