Jan 17, 2015, 11:52 am
Last edit by: mia
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
Germany: 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?
(The Canadian transfer ratios are listed directly on the Canadian site.)
Q: After I transfer, when will my miles expire at that airline/hotel program? Is there anything I can do to avoid expiration there?
The Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire wiki lists all of the Amex USA airline/hotel transfer partners and their respective expiration policies.
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 or any other OneWorld carrier redeem through:
American also has partnership outside OneWorld with:
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
Germany: 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.
In the USA version of Membership Rewards the exceptions are:
El AL Israel Airlines: 1,000 points = 20 Matmid points
Hilton®: 1,000 points = 2,000 Honors points (as of 1/11/2018)
JetBlue Airways: 250 points = 200 JetBlue TrueBlue® points
In the USA version of Membership Rewards the exceptions are:
El AL Israel Airlines: 1,000 points = 20 Matmid points
Hilton®: 1,000 points = 2,000 Honors points (as of 1/11/2018)
JetBlue Airways: 250 points = 200 JetBlue TrueBlue® points
Q: After I transfer, when will my miles expire at that airline/hotel program? Is there anything I can do to avoid expiration there?
The Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire wiki lists all of the Amex USA airline/hotel transfer partners and their respective expiration policies.
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 or any other OneWorld carrier redeem through:
- Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
- British Airways
- Iberia Airlines
- Qantas Airways
American also has partnership outside OneWorld with:
- Etihad
To travel on Delta Air Lines or any other SkyTeam carrier redeem through:
- Delta Air Lines (DL permits one-way awards as of 01 JAN 2015, however trips originating in Europe carry additional surcharges; Delta also imposes surcharges on trips using some partner airlines such as China Eastern or China Southern, but notably not on trips involving its European partners (as long as the trip originates outside Europe) or Virgin Australia.)
- AeroMexico
- Alitalia
- FlyingBlue (Air France, KLM, Air Europa, Kenya Airways, Aircalin and Tarom.)
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. See also transatlantic strategy discussion HERE. Read about changes to redemption charts in December 2015 HERE.
- All Nippon Airways. Read about ANA fuel surcharges HERE. Read about changes to partner redemption charts in April 2015 HERE.
- Avianca Airlines
- Singapore Airlines. Read HERE
Read about Singapore Airlines' reciprocal mile conversion arrangement with Virgin Australia HERE.
To travel on Alaska Airlines redeem through:
- BA British Airways
- CX Asia Miles https://www.asiamiles.com/en/earn-mi...irlines#redeem
- EK Emirates https://www.emirates.com/us/english/...-airlines.aspx
- SQ Singapore Airlines https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/p...s_AwdChart.pdf
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? (2015 - 2021)
Sep 16, 2016, 4:02 pm
#541
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
I have just under 70k MR points and should get 25k with a new Everyday card.
Earlier this year, my target was to transfer all these points into DL SM, where I have just over 166k miles.
The idea was to redeem one J saver award for 125k (TATL) and then the remaining 41k miles with the 70k+25k MR points would net me enough for another TATL J saver award.
But that isn't going to work now with DL's annual devaluation of Skymiles.
So I'm thinking I'd either try to get a TPAC J saver award and then transfer the MR points to some other program or see if I get lucky on a J saver award to Oceania, which would require transferring around 14k MR points to DL and then transfer the remaining MR points to some other program.
The question is which other program?
In these scenarios, I'd have either 95k MR points or 81k MR points to transfer.
Only elite status I have is with UA. But I also have a ton of UR points so I could combine UR points with the MR points to SQ for instance.
However, when I search SQ, I don't see great availability of premium class awards out of SFO. Most of the awards are shown as Waitlisted. From searching the forums, it doesn't sound like Waitlisted awards clear or only clear at the last few days before departure. So for all the raves about SQ's product, I don't know if it's reliable for award redemptions.
I'm not familiar with the other *A transfer partners of both MR and UR programs. I heard Aeroplan has high fuel fees on awards. In any event, it looks like AC is not a UR transfer partner.
So the choices seem to be (programs which are in both MR and UR):
1. DL
2. SQ
3. AF/KLM - I don't know if J saver award availability is better, how much their award chart, etc.
4. BA - Again, don't know about availability and price, though I've heard of high fuel charges.
5. VS - Don't know their availability. Do they have access to Virgin Australian awards?
Looks like MR and UR do not have common hotel programs, though I'm not a member of any hotel program nor know much about whether redeeming MR or UR points for hotel stays is as good a value as premium cabin awards on international flights.
Does this set of circumstances (95k MR points, 166k DL Skymiles, 350k UR points with more to come from CSR) suggest a more obvious and optimal way to use and combine this currency, primarily for international premium cabin awards (but open to other suggestions)?
Earlier this year, my target was to transfer all these points into DL SM, where I have just over 166k miles.
The idea was to redeem one J saver award for 125k (TATL) and then the remaining 41k miles with the 70k+25k MR points would net me enough for another TATL J saver award.
But that isn't going to work now with DL's annual devaluation of Skymiles.
So I'm thinking I'd either try to get a TPAC J saver award and then transfer the MR points to some other program or see if I get lucky on a J saver award to Oceania, which would require transferring around 14k MR points to DL and then transfer the remaining MR points to some other program.
The question is which other program?
In these scenarios, I'd have either 95k MR points or 81k MR points to transfer.
Only elite status I have is with UA. But I also have a ton of UR points so I could combine UR points with the MR points to SQ for instance.
However, when I search SQ, I don't see great availability of premium class awards out of SFO. Most of the awards are shown as Waitlisted. From searching the forums, it doesn't sound like Waitlisted awards clear or only clear at the last few days before departure. So for all the raves about SQ's product, I don't know if it's reliable for award redemptions.
I'm not familiar with the other *A transfer partners of both MR and UR programs. I heard Aeroplan has high fuel fees on awards. In any event, it looks like AC is not a UR transfer partner.
So the choices seem to be (programs which are in both MR and UR):
1. DL
2. SQ
3. AF/KLM - I don't know if J saver award availability is better, how much their award chart, etc.
4. BA - Again, don't know about availability and price, though I've heard of high fuel charges.
5. VS - Don't know their availability. Do they have access to Virgin Australian awards?
Looks like MR and UR do not have common hotel programs, though I'm not a member of any hotel program nor know much about whether redeeming MR or UR points for hotel stays is as good a value as premium cabin awards on international flights.
Does this set of circumstances (95k MR points, 166k DL Skymiles, 350k UR points with more to come from CSR) suggest a more obvious and optimal way to use and combine this currency, primarily for international premium cabin awards (but open to other suggestions)?
Despite Delta increasing TATL J prices from 125K to 140K, you still have enough for at least one DL TATL flight. So if you can find a 140K TATL flight on DL that you like, go ahead and book it using your existing Skymiles ... no need to worry about transferring MR in until you *don't* have enough Skymiles for the award you want. (Unless you are trying to book for 2 people? It's not clear from your post.) If you don't have an immediate need for the second ticket, you can just keep both the Delta and MR balances going, and perhaps by the time you need a second ticket, you will have enough between them to make it work.
Likewise you have plenty of UR points to do a lot of things without having to worry about finding a way to combine with the MR points. So if you value UR more highly than MR and you happen to be booking an award through BA, SQ, AF, or VS (DL is not a UR partner), then by all means transfer MR first and then top up with UR -- but if the best award option is through UA, then just use your ample UR balance.
The 4 airlines that are shared between MR and UR each have their own pros and cons, but again with your large UR balance there's no particular need to focus on those programs unless you want one of them for another reason. All 4 charge fuel surcharges, which vary by route but are usually high on trans-Atlantic flights and somewhat more reasonable on trans-Pacific flights. AF, BA, and VS do all have the advantage of fairly good availability to Europe in exchange for the high fees, though. Mileage requirements vary and would depend on your itinerary.
As you have noticed, SQ awards can be hard to come by. If you are looking for First Class it will be very difficult out of SFO as they have downsized their 777 first cabins to 4 seats, which likely means very limited awards going forward, and one of the SFO flights is going to an A350 with no first cabin at all. Business class may be somewhat easier to come by. But SQ awards from the US tend to require advance planning, ideally booking as soon as the schedule opens almost a year out (or sometimes grabbing a seat that may open up last minute in the days before departure -- which can be tricky since points don't transfer to SQ instantaneously). If you are looking for awards you can plan on, say, a 2-4 month horizon and aren't willing to gamble with SQ waitlists or last-minute space, it's probably not for you.
Sep 16, 2016, 4:09 pm
#542
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,956
Depends on the carrier operating the flights. See this thread in the AC forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...rd-travel.html
I think you know this, but Delta is not a Chase transfer partner.
Bear in mind that many programs now offer one-way redemptions for half the miles of a roundtrip. You don't necessarily need all in one program.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...rd-travel.html
(programs which are in both MR and UR):
1. DL
2. SQ
3. AF/KLM - I don't know if J saver award availability is better, how much their award chart, etc.
4. BA - Again, don't know about availability and price, though I've heard of high fuel charges.
5. VS - Don't know their availability. Do they have access to Virgin Australian awards?
1. DL
2. SQ
3. AF/KLM - I don't know if J saver award availability is better, how much their award chart, etc.
4. BA - Again, don't know about availability and price, though I've heard of high fuel charges.
5. VS - Don't know their availability. Do they have access to Virgin Australian awards?
Bear in mind that many programs now offer one-way redemptions for half the miles of a roundtrip. You don't necessarily need all in one program.
Sep 16, 2016, 4:22 pm
#543
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
Ah yes, I have to think about the one-way awards, and yeah DL is not in both.
Sep 17, 2016, 2:22 pm
#544
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 324
Anyone ever have any success somehow transferring Amex UR points to KE?
Sep 17, 2016, 2:47 pm
#545
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,956
Sep 17, 2016, 2:52 pm
#546
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 324
I have looked and it seems that Skyteam has very little actual KE awards.
Anyone know how to standby for KE awards via Skyteam?
Anyone know how to standby for KE awards via Skyteam?
Sep 17, 2016, 3:01 pm
#547
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,956
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ds-korean.html
Sep 17, 2016, 7:22 pm
#548
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Chase UR points transfer to KE, if you have any of those or are thinking of obtaining any. And Starwood points transfer as well. You could transfer Amex points to Starwood and then to KE, but the Amex->Starwood transfer is at an unfavorable rate and Starwood->KE can take up to 2 weeks, so that is not recommended unless you absolutely need KE points and have no other way to get them.
Sep 28, 2016, 6:51 pm
#549
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 480
What's the cheapest (points) way to get from SFO to Thailand on one of the Membership Rewards partners? I've been poking around for a while now and can't seem to find any good options.
Sep 28, 2016, 8:29 pm
#550
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott/SPG/Hilton Gold, PreCheck + Clear
Posts: 2,306
https://www4.aeroplan.com/static/pdf...s-Chart-en.pdf
But it might not be worth it, since cash fares are <$600 right now!
Sep 29, 2016, 1:07 pm
#551
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 644
Can somebody please suggest the best use of amex 100K MR to get a one way business class ticket from Hyderabad(India) India to Dallas for late Jan/early Feb 2017 timeframe?
Sep 29, 2016, 6:32 pm
#552
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Amex MR, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 518
It also looks like there is availability through Krisflyer to fly SQ HYD-SIN-NRT-LAX for 76.5k + 31254 INR. But the Singapore website only lets you search award availability on SQ itself, and they don't fly to DFW. So you would have to call them about that last LAX-DFW leg. By their award chart it looks like it would cost 97.5K miles.
Those look like the best bets to me. I couldn't even get DL's website to search the route, and Etihad was 135k miles. BA and CX have distance-based award charts, so they would cost a lot on this route.
Sep 30, 2016, 4:42 am
#553
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,956
Moderator action
Discussion of a technical problem transferring points to linked partners has been extracted to a separate thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nts-fails.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nts-fails.html
Sep 30, 2016, 5:39 am
#554
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott/SPG/Hilton Gold, PreCheck + Clear
Posts: 2,306
Discussion of a technical problem transferring points to linked partners has been extracted to a separate thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nts-fails.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nts-fails.html
Oct 5, 2016, 11:20 am
#555
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 36
Hi All. I currently have 53k of reward points from American Express. In addition, I have about 8k of points sitting with United Airline, which is the only airline I have an account with (MileagePlus).
Considering that most of my travels are domestic, could someone advise on how I can use these points? Does it make sense to combine them before using...or simply forget about the 8k sitting with United Airline?
I see that there is currently an offer that 250 = 300 transfer to british airway (Avios). Is this a good opportunity to transfer? If I open an account with british airway, does that impact my credit report/score?
Considering that most of my travels are domestic, could someone advise on how I can use these points? Does it make sense to combine them before using...or simply forget about the 8k sitting with United Airline?
I see that there is currently an offer that 250 = 300 transfer to british airway (Avios). Is this a good opportunity to transfer? If I open an account with british airway, does that impact my credit report/score?
Last edited by lakersgo; Oct 5, 2016 at 11:41 am