Points advance.

A little known feature of the American Express Membership Rewards program is points advance. You can advance yourself up to 60,000 points at a time. Then, you have 12 months from the date of advance to earn those points to offset. Otherwise, you revert to paying 2.5 cents per point for any “unpaid” points. This is a great program in that you have very little downside. I especially like it right now in that if will allow me to earn some free SWA tickets prior to June 30, which is the date that SWA ends its relationship with membership rewards. If you have 4-8 credits to go for a free SWA ticket, transferring Amex MR points could be a great move, especially since Starwood doesn’t allow transfers and other programs (such as Priority Club) require a relatively high number of points for credits (PC requires 10,000 points for 2 credits). Sorry, PC, but those 10,000 points can get me 2 Point Breaks nights (and have in the past, such as in Sydney).