Best way to use 177,000 membership rewards points

I've read a few threads on this, but they all seem to be at least a year old, and I know there's been some belt tightening on these rewards programs lately.

Anyone have good suggestions for unloading 177,000 points? Ideally it would come out to cash--I suppose I could get about 80% return by turning HD gift cards to plastic jungle, but I'm curious if there's anything better. free flights would be great as long as it's not too costly to do.

i'm thankful for all suggestions.

I converted mine during the 50% off Gap $25 GC sale with membership points

doesn't appear that the sale is still going on

bigdaddycincinnati said:   hebron1427 said:   doesn't appear that the sale is still going on

It's not. Hold tight.
Weird,

I posted that about the sale on gift cards in the other thread. After I posted it, I got a promo email from AMEX
"Save up to 40% when you use Membership Rewards® points through March 31, 2012."
"HOTELS. Save 15% on hotel gift cards for great brands like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt® and Marriott®."
"CAR RENTALS. Save 20% on car rental certificates for Enterprise Rent-A-Car® and National Car Rental®."

...
"Save 40% on gift cards and travelers cheques GIFT CARDS & TRAVELERS CHEQUES.
Save 40% on these flexible options, perfect for souvenirs, gifts and dining out."
...

"Offers valid for solicited U.S. Membership Rewards(R) program enrollees only. Offers must be redeemed online between 2/1/2012 and 3/31/2012. Offers are not transferable and may not be combined with other offers. American Express in its sole discretion reserves the right to alter and/or terminate these offers at any time. To be eligible to receive these offers, all Card accounts linked to an enrollee's Membership Rewards program account must be active and not in default at the time of point redemption. Individual terms, conditions, and restrictions apply to the respective Membership Rewards offers. "

"American Express(R) Gift Cards & American Express(R) Travelers Cheques
Only online redemptions of Membership Rewards(R) points are eligible for the offer. Offer valid for the redemption of a maximum of 20 American Express(R) Gift Cards and 20 American Express(R) Travelers Cheques per Membership Rewards account for each of the denominations listed."

link to TOC

So the promo should still be going on, and it shows up for me (I have the AMEX PRG card only).

from AMEX account home, I clicked
"account summary"
"use Points"
"shopping"
"gift cards"

First item that appears is:
American Express® Gift Card
American Express® Gift Cards
Was: 5,000 Points
Now: 3,000 Points (Save: 2,000 Points)

HOWEVER, despite the fact that the email said "through March 31, 2012" I don't see any discounted items that I saw last week.
Here's a link for the page that mentions the discount (from email). When you click the link, no discount is mentioned. BUT, even if you were logged in to AMEX, then copy that website in, you'll be logged out.

So goto that website, click login (top right), then click through, I see the discount when I go that way now.

backwards

imbatman said:   bigdaddycincinnati said:   hebron1427 said:   doesn't appear that the sale is still going on

It's not. Hold tight.
Weird,

I posted that about the sale on gift cards in the other thread. After I posted it, I got a promo email from AMEX
"Save up to 40% when you use Membership Rewards® points through March 31, 2012."
"HOTELS. Save 15% on hotel gift cards for great brands like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt® and Marriott®."
"CAR RENTALS. Save 20% on car rental certificates for Enterprise Rent-A-Car® and National Car Rental®."

...
"Save 40% on gift cards and travelers cheques GIFT CARDS & TRAVELERS CHEQUES.
Save 40% on these flexible options, perfect for souvenirs, gifts and dining out."
...

"Offers valid for solicited U.S. Membership Rewards(R) program enrollees only. Offers must be redeemed online between 2/1/2012 and 3/31/2012. Offers are not transferable and may not be combined with other offers. American Express in its sole discretion reserves the right to alter and/or terminate these offers at any time. To be eligible to receive these offers, all Card accounts linked to an enrollee's Membership Rewards program account must be active and not in default at the time of point redemption. Individual terms, conditions, and restrictions apply to the respective Membership Rewards offers. "

"American Express(R) Gift Cards & American Express(R) Travelers Cheques
Only online redemptions of Membership Rewards(R) points are eligible for the offer. Offer valid for the redemption of a maximum of 20 American Express(R) Gift Cards and 20 American Express(R) Travelers Cheques per Membership Rewards account for each of the denominations listed."

link to TOC

So the promo should still be going on, and it shows up for me (I have the AMEX PRG card only).

from AMEX account home, I clicked
"account summary"
"use Points"
"shopping"
"gift cards"

First item that appears is:
American Express® Gift Card
American Express® Gift Cards
Was: 5,000 Points
Now: 3,000 Points (Save: 2,000 Points)

HOWEVER, despite the fact that the email said "through March 31, 2012" I don't see any discounted items that I saw last week.
Here's a link for the page that mentions the discount (from email). When you click the link, no discount is mentioned. BUT, even if you were logged in to AMEX, then copy that website in, you'll be logged out.

So goto that website, click login (top right), then click through, I see the discount when I go that way now.

backwards

40% off AMEX gift card is still <1 CPP, although it's probably worth it. thanks for the linky. it's a gold card through my wife's job; she doesn't travel hardly at all anymore (used to be gone every week), so it's not worth paying the membership rewards fee for her at this point. since she wont be paying the fee, we probably need ot use these points soon.

going forward, I'll have her do her expenses on a fee-free AMEX blue card....i'm only a new FWF member =)

hebron1427 said:   

link doesn't work

just worked for me in IE8 and firefox

imbatman said:   hebron1427 said:   

40% off AMEX gift card is still <1 CPP, although it's probably worth it. thanks for the linky. it's a gold card through my wife's job; she doesn't travel hardly at all anymore (used to be gone every week), so it's not worth paying the membership rewards fee for her at this point. since she wont be paying the fee, we probably need ot use these points soon.

going forward, I'll have her do her expenses on a fee-free AMEX blue card....i'm only a new FWF member =)

Yes, it's better to redeem for airfare right now. But if someone wants cash equivalent, that's the best way to do it.
I'm hanging on to my 100k for another Delta promotion.

how about Home Depot + PlasticJungle?

bet it all on black

hebron1427 said:   qcumber98 said:   bet it all on black

i love vegas. in fact, i'm now wondering how many flights i could get there with 177k AMEX points......hmmmmmmmmmmdepends on if you like to fly with style

hebron1427 said:   jkimcpa said:   hebron1427 said:   qcumber98 said:   bet it all on black

i love vegas. in fact, i'm now wondering how many flights i could get there with 177k AMEX points......hmmmmmmmmmmdepends on if you like to fly with style

i like to fly for cheap....Depends on where you live.

177k mr
Points should be able to get you 6-7 coach round trip tickets to Vegas from Atl.

sure. 177k MR points can be converted to 177k skymiles on a bunch of airlines that fly ATL-LAS direct.

ATL-LAS can be spotty in terms of low lever rewards, but they can be found for 25k miles round trip + $10 in fees per ticket.
177k/25k = 7 with 2k leftover.