flight booking dilemma - Amex points

I've purchased flights before using the AMEX travel site (without points) and what I've found in the past is that it's sometime a bad deal because the airline then won't let you select a seat (each airline is different and you need to make sure to find out before purchasing). So, I've avoided booking flights with AMEX and just let my points accumulate so I can transfer to an airline rewards program.

Hang on to the points to use for off peak travel

I found a similar situation when trying to use BECU Visa points. It was for a multi-city KLM flight, Amsterdam to Stockholm and Bergen to Amsterdam. The price difference wasn't that big, though. I ended up buying the tickets through KLM.

It seems like the flight "deals" with credit card points aren't as good as they were even 3.5 years ago.

Actually this IS for off-peak travel in November. Expedia is $850 and Amex is $1350. Booking through Lufthansa is also about $1350.

I had a bad experience with Expedia once, when I had to change a flight due to medical issues. The airlines wouldn't speak to me about it since I bought through Expedia, and Expedia refused to make any changes because the were multiple airlines involved, so I lost the price of the entire ticket. I'll be getting travel insurance this time but I'm still hesitant to use Expedia just for the hassle factor.

Lufthansa is my preferred airline and I've found that even when booking flights through a third party I am able to select my seats directly on Lufthansa's website. I've found major price differences in the past between sites like Expedia and Lufthansa and I always end up getting the cheaper option. In doing this, I lose out on getting more points because I've booked with a lower booking class. If you don't care about accumulating miles for this flight, I would just go with the cheaper option.

Expedia has much better deals than the Amex Travel site. (I can save
about $500).

Simple decision. Always go for the best price. Don't let points dictate your decision, use them when it's worthwhile to use them. I tried booking car rentals and lodging through Southwest a few times and I just can't stomach the inflated prices that I can easily beat on my own (by not using the airline site). I'm sure the same is true of Amex.

The way to get the best value for AMEX points is by transferring them to the affiliated airline’s loyalty program. During the year some of those airlines offer bonuses if you transfer AMEX points to that particular airline. Last year Iberia ran a promotion that allowed me to get tickets from Miami to Trieste and Turin to Miami for about 45,000 Miles. The regular cost of the flights would have been 60,000 miles. Taxes and fees were an additional $262.

Check to see if any of their partner airlines flies the route you want to fly. If more than one airline has the same route, see what the total miles + taxes and fees are. Then make your choice. Taxes and fees can vary widely depending on airline’s country of origin and what airports are used.

Same boat -- over the past two years I have booked cash flights during big sales rather than using 60,000 United miles for Economy RT (one sale price was even on United!) Used miles for a Christmas trip, since the mileage cost doesn't change but the $$$ price would be high.

The way to get the best value for AMEX points is by transferring them to the affiliated airline’s loyalty program.

Agree. One Amex point for one mile, on the affiliated airlines only.

https://rewards.americanexpress.com/myca/loyalty/us/catalog/view/ptlanding/?tier=MR

Well, the cheap Expedia flight has disappeared.

Thanks to your advice though, I have discovered you can pay with Amex points on Expedia (about a 140 points/dollar, not awesome) or I can transfer Amex points to KLM. They have some flights that would work for me.