If you’re currently carrying a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card, American Express has launched a very cool new website that will help you use your points.  If you don’t have the credit card, let me point out some of the features included with this card –

Earn 10,000 Starpoints^® with your first purchase¹ – enough for up to 3 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel.²

Plus – earn an additional 15,000 Starpoints when you spend $15,000 in 6 months.³

Use Starpoints for free nights and upgrades at over 860 participating Starwood hotels and resorts in 95 countries.

Transfer Starpoints – almost always on a 1:1 basis – to the frequent flyer programs of over 30 major airlines.⁴

Earn one Starpoint for every dollar of eligible spending⁵ and double Starpoints at participating Starwood properties and retail outlets.⁶

Pay no annual fee for the first year and only $45 thereafter.⁷

The Starwood card is by far one of the best hotel/airline credit cards.  If it sounds like something you could use, check out the application page.

Looking at the new feature…

Now that we know how to the card works, I’ll talk a little bit about the new feature AMEX has launched.  With this new feature, you’ll be able to search airline tickets and see how many ponts you’ll need to directly purchase them.  When you make the purchase, the points will be deducted from the balance.

I did a quick search and the search works just like any other airline website out there.  Simply put in where you’re leaving and where you want to go at what times and it will show you the available airlines you can fly and how many starpoints you’ll need.  It’ll give you a good idea on how much you’ll need to spend to get a ticket during a certain time period.