Amex forces monthly auto-transfer of MR points into King Miles

American Express just took the “flexible” out of Membership Rewards for Kingfisher First cardholders. From April 2011, you no longer choose when — or whether — to convert MR points into King Miles. Your entire MR balance gets auto-swept into King Club every single month, whether you wanted those miles or not.

That’s a real loss of optionality dressed up as convenience. The whole point of a flexible points currency is that you sit on it until the right redemption shows up. Amex has replaced that choice with a forced monthly conversion into a single airline’s currency — and not just any airline, but one whose finances look increasingly shaky.

Optionality is worth money. A point you can still move is worth more than a mile locked into one carrier, and this change converts the former into the latter automatically.

Our take: call this what it is — a devaluation by removal of choice. Locking cardholders into one wobbly airline currency is exactly the wrong kind of “simplification.” If you hold this card, spend your King Miles as they land; don’t let them pile up.