Oct 9, 2013, 1:33 pm
Last edit by: gooselee
Q. Where can I find a list of the airline and hotel transfer partners?
Partner airline and hotel programs, transfer ratios, and rules vary by the country where your American Express card is issued:
Australia: Airlines & Hotels
Canada: Airlines & Hotels
International Dollar & Euro Cards: Airlines & Hotels
New Zealand: Airlines & Hotels
UK: Airlines, Hotels
USA: Airlines & Hotels Transfer ratios explained below.
Q. What are the transfer ratios to USA airline and hotel partners?
Q. How long does it typically take to compete a transfer?
MR USA airline and hotel partner transfer times.
Q. How can I use Membership Rewards points to travel on American Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines or other carriers which are not transfer partners?
Membership Rewards (USA) points can be transferred to three or more frequent flyer programs in each of the international alliances. Any program can arrange award travel on flights operated by all members of the same alliance. Points cannot be transferred from one frequent flyer program to another, instead you redeem for a partner award. The number of miles required is determined by the program through which you redeem, not by the airline operating the flights. Programs in the same alliance will require different amounts of miles, and different co-payments, for the same flights. Do not transfer until you understand the full cost of the flights you need. Do not transfer until you have confirmed availability for your specific dates and route.
To travel on American Airlines, US Airways or any other OneWorld carrier redeem through:
To travel on Delta Air Lines or any other SkyTeam carrier redeem through:
To travel on United Airlines or any other Star Alliance carrier redeem through:
To travel on Alaska Airlines redeem through:
Q. Rather than transferring now, can I preserve my Membership Rewards USA points balance without paying any annual fee?
Apply for an American Express Everyday card, and link it to the same Membership Rewards account. You may then close the other cards.
Partner airline and hotel programs, transfer ratios, and rules vary by the country where your American Express card is issued:
Australia: Airlines & Hotels
Canada: Airlines & Hotels
International Dollar & Euro Cards: Airlines & Hotels
New Zealand: Airlines & Hotels
UK: Airlines, Hotels
USA: Airlines & Hotels Transfer ratios explained below.
Q. What are the transfer ratios to USA airline and hotel partners?
For most frequent customer programs, 1,000 Membership Rewards points will equal 1,000 miles, points or credits and must be transferred in 1,000-point increments unless otherwise noted.
The only exceptions are:
JetBlue Airways: 250 points = 200 JetBlue TrueBlue® points; must be transferred in 250-point increments
El AL Israel Airlines: 1,000 points = 20 Matmid points
Starwood Preferred Guest®: 1,000 points = 333 Starpoints®
Hilton®: 1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors™ points
Virgin America: 200 points = 100 Elevate points; must be transferred in 200-point increments
The only exceptions are:
JetBlue Airways: 250 points = 200 JetBlue TrueBlue® points; must be transferred in 250-point increments
El AL Israel Airlines: 1,000 points = 20 Matmid points
Starwood Preferred Guest®: 1,000 points = 333 Starpoints®
Hilton®: 1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors™ points
Virgin America: 200 points = 100 Elevate points; must be transferred in 200-point increments
Q. How long does it typically take to compete a transfer?
MR USA airline and hotel partner transfer times.
Q. How can I use Membership Rewards points to travel on American Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines or other carriers which are not transfer partners?
Membership Rewards (USA) points can be transferred to three or more frequent flyer programs in each of the international alliances. Any program can arrange award travel on flights operated by all members of the same alliance. Points cannot be transferred from one frequent flyer program to another, instead you redeem for a partner award. The number of miles required is determined by the program through which you redeem, not by the airline operating the flights. Programs in the same alliance will require different amounts of miles, and different co-payments, for the same flights. Do not transfer until you understand the full cost of the flights you need. Do not transfer until you have confirmed availability for your specific dates and route.
To travel on American Airlines, US Airways or any other OneWorld carrier redeem through:
- Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
- British Airways
- Iberia Airlines
------------------ - El Al is not a OneWorld member, but they do have a rewards partnership with American Airlines, see HERE. Ends October 31, 2014.
- Hawaiian Airlines is not a OneWorld member, but they do have a rewards partnership with American Airlines, see HERE.
To travel on Delta Air Lines or any other SkyTeam carrier redeem through:
- Delta Air Lines
- AeroMexico
- Alitalia
- FlyingBlue (Air France, KLM, Air Europa, Kenya Airways, Aircalin and Tarom.)
*Note: DL permits one-way awards as of 01 JAN 2015, however trips originating outside of USA carry additional surcharges.
To travel on United Airlines or any other Star Alliance carrier redeem through:
- Aeroplan (Air Canada) No fuel surcharge on flights operated by UA and many other airlines. Read current list HERE.
- All Nippon Airways. Read about ANA fuel surcharges HERE. Read about changes to partner redemption charts in April 2015 HERE.
- Singapore Airlines. Read HERE
Read about Singapore Airlines' reciprocal mile conversion arrangement with Virgin Australia HERE.
To travel on Alaska Airlines redeem through:
- Asia Miles
- British Airways
- Delta Airlines
- Emirates
- FlyingBlue
Q. Rather than transferring now, can I preserve my Membership Rewards USA points balance without paying any annual fee?
Apply for an American Express Everyday card, and link it to the same Membership Rewards account. You may then close the other cards.
Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program? [2008 - 2014]
Mar 18, 2011, 1:52 pm
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
Wow, that's a great idea, UA Fan. Thanks!
Now, is it better to have 230K at United (my original 80K plus the 150K), or is it better to have the 80K at United and say, 210K at BA (the 150K plus 40% bonus.)?
I know what's "better" is very subjective - it's just that I've found it hard to redeem my United miles for a big ticket. Does BA have significantly less blackout dates than United, for example?
Thank you for your patience with such basic questions!
Now, is it better to have 230K at United (my original 80K plus the 150K), or is it better to have the 80K at United and say, 210K at BA (the 150K plus 40% bonus.)?
I know what's "better" is very subjective - it's just that I've found it hard to redeem my United miles for a big ticket. Does BA have significantly less blackout dates than United, for example?
Thank you for your patience with such basic questions!
Mar 18, 2011, 2:08 pm
#62
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8
Ah, high fuel charges for a trans-atlantic flight on AA.. that's exactly the sort of info that will help make this decision.
Would you mind elaborating on how one-ways plus stopovers can translate to double miles? Sounds excellent.
Would you mind elaborating on how one-ways plus stopovers can translate to double miles? Sounds excellent.
Mar 18, 2011, 2:29 pm
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
I am DFW based, my wife works in PHX and my parents are in PHL. I visit my wife every few weeks and my parents less than often. So I paid for a one-way ticket to PHX, then redeemed BA miles for an award from PHX-PHL with a stop in DFW. I took the PHX-DFW flight on a Sunday and then a few Fridays later the DFW-PHL flight. Similarly for the return, booked a PHL-PHX with a stop in DFW.
Last edited by UA Fan; Mar 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Mar 18, 2011, 2:32 pm
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
Also the general rule of the thumb is that non-US carriers charge fuel surcharges (denoted by YQ), so watch out for Virgin, SQ. Although if you use their miles on an American carrier there is generally no YQ.
Also please avoid DL like the plague. Visit the DL forum and you will see almost daily threads of how poor the award availability is. Their partners are few and also have spotty availbility. The one exception is AS.
Also please avoid DL like the plague. Visit the DL forum and you will see almost daily threads of how poor the award availability is. Their partners are few and also have spotty availbility. The one exception is AS.
Mar 18, 2011, 2:36 pm
#65
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Welcome to Flyertalk. I would be very surprised if you have encountered a problem caused by blackout dates, which are predetermined dates on which no rewards are available. More likely you encountered capacity controls, which simply means that airlines limit the number of seats available for rewards, based on the number of seats they project they will sell.
All airlines use capacity controls, but differ in how they manage inventory. United, in particular, is notorious for Starnet blocking, the practice of not offering all available Star Alliance partner reward flights. (Frequent flyer miles need not be redeemed for travel on the airline which operates the program. Often the best value is to redeem for flights operated by one of their alliance partners.)
European airlines tend to charge co-payments (which they call fuel surcharges) on awards. US airlines tend to charge co-payments only on upgrade awards. If you redeem for travel in economy class you need to avoid fuel surcharge co-payments, because a very high proportion of coach airfare is the fuel cost, and you won't realize much savings versus buying a ticket. However, if you redeem for business or first class the arithmetic is quite different.
All airlines use capacity controls, but differ in how they manage inventory. United, in particular, is notorious for Starnet blocking, the practice of not offering all available Star Alliance partner reward flights. (Frequent flyer miles need not be redeemed for travel on the airline which operates the program. Often the best value is to redeem for flights operated by one of their alliance partners.)
European airlines tend to charge co-payments (which they call fuel surcharges) on awards. US airlines tend to charge co-payments only on upgrade awards. If you redeem for travel in economy class you need to avoid fuel surcharge co-payments, because a very high proportion of coach airfare is the fuel cost, and you won't realize much savings versus buying a ticket. However, if you redeem for business or first class the arithmetic is quite different.
Mar 18, 2011, 3:05 pm
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
All airlines use capacity controls, but differ in how they manage inventory. United, in particular, is notorious for Starnet blocking, the practice of not offering all available Star Alliance partner reward flights. (Frequent flyer miles need not be redeemed for travel on the airline which operates the program. Often the best value is to redeem for flights operated by one of their alliance partners.)
Mar 18, 2011, 3:07 pm
#67
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
OP, another benefit to Amex points is that you can redeem them for paid airfares. One problem with redeeming miles is that there are a limited number of free seats allocated to each flight. Once they are taken, you cannot redeem miles even if there is a seat to be bought. However if you pay double miles, then you can redeem.
With Amex points you use the points at 1c/mile to buy airfares and so if there are no award seats available, you can buy tickets using your points.
With Amex points you use the points at 1c/mile to buy airfares and so if there are no award seats available, you can buy tickets using your points.
Mar 18, 2011, 3:37 pm
#68
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8
UA Fan: that's brilliant the way you navigate the three cities. Double miles, indeed. I don't think I could take advantage of a plan like that at this point, but it's brilliant nonetheless.
I'm glad you mentioned DL. I had no idea the rewards program was so bad. Might have used them for no reason other than I flew them a few years ago.
mia: Hello and thanks for the welcome. This forum is a great resource so far!
I hope you don't mind if I have a few more questions for both of you.
Yes, it does sound like capacity controls. To elaborate on my situation, I called United twice to check for availability for a trip to Nepal. Each time, the agent put me on hold for a while and searched. After about 15 minutes of searching each time, the agent said there was nothing available and to try again sometime in the future.
When I go to the Mileage Plus website to search, I get a message saying there are no available flights no matter what dates I use.
Do I understand correctly that this is capacity control? Does this mean I'll never be able to use the miles to get there?
I like having all the miles in one place, and UA Fan's trick of using CO to merge the miles is appealing, but not of course if I can't use the miles.
Re: the other leading option (transferring to BA and getting the 40% bonus). Another added bonus to this choice is that it looks like there would be no fee for this transfer (as opposed to a fee for the CO transfer).
But then does that mean that I will have a high YQ to get to Asia? Is there a ballpark amount for this YQ?
I'm beginning to think that it may be impractical to use these miles to get to Nepal. Am I being unrealistic? Do you think I should I just use the miles to travel domestically and try to someday purchase tickets to get to Nepal?
(Thanks again for the advice)
I'm glad you mentioned DL. I had no idea the rewards program was so bad. Might have used them for no reason other than I flew them a few years ago.
mia: Hello and thanks for the welcome. This forum is a great resource so far!
I hope you don't mind if I have a few more questions for both of you.
Yes, it does sound like capacity controls. To elaborate on my situation, I called United twice to check for availability for a trip to Nepal. Each time, the agent put me on hold for a while and searched. After about 15 minutes of searching each time, the agent said there was nothing available and to try again sometime in the future.
When I go to the Mileage Plus website to search, I get a message saying there are no available flights no matter what dates I use.
Do I understand correctly that this is capacity control? Does this mean I'll never be able to use the miles to get there?
I like having all the miles in one place, and UA Fan's trick of using CO to merge the miles is appealing, but not of course if I can't use the miles.
Re: the other leading option (transferring to BA and getting the 40% bonus). Another added bonus to this choice is that it looks like there would be no fee for this transfer (as opposed to a fee for the CO transfer).
But then does that mean that I will have a high YQ to get to Asia? Is there a ballpark amount for this YQ?
I'm beginning to think that it may be impractical to use these miles to get to Nepal. Am I being unrealistic? Do you think I should I just use the miles to travel domestically and try to someday purchase tickets to get to Nepal?
(Thanks again for the advice)
Mar 18, 2011, 3:57 pm
#69
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8
A couple of follow ups. I realized I didn't address UA Fan's last posts..
UA Fan, we need to do the transfer as opposed to booking tickets. She's closing her account very soon, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to travel.
Interesting. Another wrinkle! How likely is it, do you think?
European airlines tend to charge co-payments (which they call fuel surcharges) on awards. US airlines tend to charge co-payments only on upgrade awards. If you redeem for travel in economy class you need to avoid fuel surcharge co-payments, because a very high proportion of coach airfare is the fuel cost, and you won't realize much savings versus buying a ticket. However, if you redeem for business or first class the arithmetic is quite different.
I think this is key. It sort of defeats the purpose of using the miles for a big ticket if I would have to spend a large amount on a co-payment. And, yes, I was definitely thinking economy.
OP, another benefit to Amex points is that you can redeem them for paid airfares. One problem with redeeming miles is that there are a limited number of free seats allocated to each flight. Once they are taken, you cannot redeem miles even if there is a seat to be bought. However if you pay double miles, then you can redeem.
With Amex points you use the points at 1c/mile to buy airfares and so if there are no award seats available, you can buy tickets using your points.
With Amex points you use the points at 1c/mile to buy airfares and so if there are no award seats available, you can buy tickets using your points.
European airlines tend to charge co-payments (which they call fuel surcharges) on awards. US airlines tend to charge co-payments only on upgrade awards. If you redeem for travel in economy class you need to avoid fuel surcharge co-payments, because a very high proportion of coach airfare is the fuel cost, and you won't realize much savings versus buying a ticket. However, if you redeem for business or first class the arithmetic is quite different.
Mar 18, 2011, 4:04 pm
#70
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
Yes, it does sound like capacity controls. To elaborate on my situation, I called United twice to check for availability for a trip to Nepal. Each time, the agent put me on hold for a while and searched. After about 15 minutes of searching each time, the agent said there was nothing available and to try again sometime in the future.
The thing is that get the best flights, agents are my last resort. I do all my research and then call them. I find my agents very average in knowledge of award booking possibilities. You cannot check award availabilty for partners on united.com (popularly called .bomb). What they normally do is plug JFK in the origin and KTM as the dest in their computer and then press submit. Computers maybe awesome, but they don't show all the potential routings. They often show just the simplest, most direct routing.
I check all Star partners availability through ANA.com. ANA shows award availbilty for most if not all star partners. Similarly BA.com shows award availability for 1W partners. I then call the airline with whose miles I am booking an award and give specific flight# and times and finish my booking in a few minutes.
Sign up for FFP in these two accounts, and you can search for award availability. For non-alliance partners like EK, I signed up for an EK account and searched for awards. In general if the airline releases a seat for FFP redemption to their own members they will release to partners. I have only seen CX release awards for partners but not for its own members.
Award booking can take time. Research is key. Another trick is to book segment by segment.
One advantage with CO and AA is that you can combine non-alliance partners in any award booking, which is a significant drawback in UA.
For US-Europe, I think it was $400 ish and $600ish to India. You can check it on ba.com
Last edited by UA Fan; Mar 18, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Mar 18, 2011, 4:06 pm
#71
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
It looks like the only way to KTM is thru BKK on TG. It might be tough getting to KTM from ORD by booking through UA as they generally do not allow you to fly to Central Asia via the Pacific from ORD. CO is said to be generous with routing rules. So call CO and try to set up an award. If they say you don't have miles, tell them you will transfer from UA or Amex and they will create an award and put it on hold for three days.
We don't know how the merged CO and UA will look like, but here is why I like CO:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...oughts-co.html
I gave up on UA only b/c of Starnet. I mean you work hard to accumulate the miles and redeem for seats that are as it is few in number. If UA lies to me and takes away the little thats available, it does not deserve my business.
We don't know how the merged CO and UA will look like, but here is why I like CO:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...oughts-co.html
I gave up on UA only b/c of Starnet. I mean you work hard to accumulate the miles and redeem for seats that are as it is few in number. If UA lies to me and takes away the little thats available, it does not deserve my business.
Last edited by UA Fan; Mar 18, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Mar 18, 2011, 4:26 pm
#72
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8
Great post, UA Fan. Much to digest. I was definitely going about this the long (and wrong) way.
Does this mean that I would be better off transferring the 150K miles to CO, then transferring my current 80K UA miles to CO as well? Would I be more likely to be able to secure an international flight using CO as opposed to UA?
Ouch. That's definitely a deal breaker. Frustrating, as I didn't account for that at all. Unless there's some other sort of workaround that you know of. If we transfer the 240K miles to BA (including all bonuses), is it possible to use additional miles to pay YQ?
Ouch. That's definitely a deal breaker. Frustrating, as I didn't account for that at all. Unless there's some other sort of workaround that you know of. If we transfer the 240K miles to BA (including all bonuses), is it possible to use additional miles to pay YQ?
Mar 18, 2011, 4:28 pm
#73
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8
It looks like the only way to KTM is thru BKK on TG. It might be tough getting to KTM from ORD by booking through UA as they generally do not allow you to fly to Central Asia via the Pacific from ORD. CO is said to be generous with routing rules. So call CO and try to set up an award. If they say you don't have miles, tell them you will transfer from UA or Amex and they will create an award and put it on hold for three days.
We don't know how the merged CO and UA will look like, but here is why I like CO:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...oughts-co.html
I gave up on UA only b/c of Starnet. I mean you work hard to accumulate the miles and redeem for seats that are as it is few in number. If UA lies to me and takes away the little thats available, it does not deserve my business.
We don't know how the merged CO and UA will look like, but here is why I like CO:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...oughts-co.html
I gave up on UA only b/c of Starnet. I mean you work hard to accumulate the miles and redeem for seats that are as it is few in number. If UA lies to me and takes away the little thats available, it does not deserve my business.
Mar 18, 2011, 4:33 pm
#74
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: New England
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Jetblue Mosaic (past)
Posts: 298
I am DFW based, my wife works in PHX and my parents are in PHL. I visit my wife every few weeks and my parents less than often. So I paid for a one-way ticket to PHX, then redeemed BA miles for an award from PHX-PHL with a stop in DFW. I took the PHX-DFW flight on a Sunday and then a few Fridays later the DFW-PHL flight. Similarly for the return, booked a PHL-PHX with a stop in DFW.
This sounds amazing!
Mar 18, 2011, 4:34 pm
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
I don't think so, I haven't heard of any.