American Express Membership Rewards program no longer allows points to be transferred to accounts other than the cardmember’s account or an authorized user on the same account. In the past, American Express allowed members to transfer Membership Rewards to any account, which allowed cardholders to transfer to friends and family members that were not authorized users on the card.

Bottom line: This is technically not a change to the terms and conditions of the program, since the official rules state that transfers were only allowed to accounts that were linked to your Membership Rewards account, but the American Express website previously allowed you to enter the name and account number of anyone you’d like to transfer points to. Some cardholders may be less than excited to learn that you can no longer help other frequent flyers avoid mileage expiration or even transfer a few points to help a travel companion gain enough points to redeem an award flight.