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Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program? (2015 - 2021)

Old Jan 17, 2015, 11:52 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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?

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
(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:
  • 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:


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.
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Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program? (2015 - 2021)

Old Jan 24, 2015, 2:10 pm
  #46  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 33
I have about 110K in MR points. I want to move all of them out of my AMEX account. I do not have any concrete travel plans, so would moving them all to SPG make sense? From SPG, I can move the miles to different programs as I need, correct?

Thanks
Buckaroo123 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2015, 2:20 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Buckaroo123
I have about 110K in MR points. I want to move all of them out of my AMEX account. I do not have any concrete travel plans, so would moving them all to SPG make sense? From SPG, I can move the miles to different programs as I need, correct?

Thanks
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. That would be terrible. You only get 1 SPG per 3 MR points which is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible.

Try to figure out where you want to go and then see if it can be done through one of AMEX's travel partners.
TMM1982 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2015, 2:23 pm
  #48  
mia
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Originally Posted by Buckaroo123
...I want to move all of them out of my AMEX account.
The ability to transfer when needed is one of the strengths of Membership Rewards. Why do you want to transfer now?
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Old Jan 24, 2015, 2:30 pm
  #49  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
Originally Posted by Buckaroo123
I have about 110K in MR points. I want to move all of them out of my AMEX account. I do not have any concrete travel plans, so would moving them all to SPG make sense? From SPG, I can move the miles to different programs as I need, correct?

Thanks
If you have a Canadian MR account, here's what to do: call amex and ask to make a transfer of your us points to your canadian account. With the Canadian Peso 20% lower than the us$, they'll credit you 20% more MR points off the top. THEN transfer to SPG, b/c the transfer rate in Canada is constant at 1:0.5

With the exchange rate as bad as it is, now is a great time to make that transfer!

OTOH, if you weren't set on SPG points, transfer to Singapore. Once you sleep in their double bed at 35k feet, you'll see why that's my go to transfer partner, even with the BA 40% bonus!
Preacher7 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2015, 5:00 pm
  #50  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 33
Originally Posted by TMM1982
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. That would be terrible. You only get 1 SPG per 3 MR points which is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible.

Try to figure out where you want to go and then see if it can be done through one of AMEX's travel partners.
Thanks. I feel like a fool. I thought the transfer ratio was 1:1. Ill hold tight, but I was thinking about canceling my MR card.

Thanks guys.
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Old Jan 24, 2015, 5:03 pm
  #51  
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Originally Posted by Buckaroo123
Thanks. I feel like a fool. I thought the transfer ratio was 1:1. Ill hold tight, but I was thinking about canceling my MR card.

Thanks guys.
If you're cancelling because of an upcoming AF, just get another MR card that doesn't have an AF like the everyday or a card that AF waived for a year and then your points automatically carry over. Just get the new card before you close the one you have.
TMM1982 is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2015, 7:17 pm
  #52  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: SPG Gold
Posts: 620
I am helping a friend from work to best utilize his 1 million MR points for a a family Hawaii trip. 2 adults would fly First/Bus with kids in coach. Spending about 10 days in HNL/OGG. In reading through everything I am thinking he should convert to Delta and stay in Hiltons. Could he better take advantage of the BA deal to fly AA? Any other things I am missing?Thanks
ghia74 is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2015, 7:23 pm
  #53  
mia
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Originally Posted by ghia74
....2 adults would fly First/Bus ... Could he better take advantage of the BA deal to fly AA?
If AA calls the premium cabin "First Class", as they do no most domestic routes, BAEC requires 3X the coach points. If AA calls it "Business" they require only 2X. BAEC rigidly follows AA's designation, even if the identical seats are labelled differently on other flights between the same city pair. First is First is 3X.
mia is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 1:30 am
  #54  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Amex MR, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 518
Originally Posted by mia
If AA calls the premium cabin "First Class", as they do no most domestic routes, BAEC requires 3X the coach points. If AA calls it "Business" they require only 2X. BAEC rigidly follows AA's designation, even if the identical seats are labelled differently on other flights between the same city pair. First is First is 3X.
And yet, if flying from the West Coast on a non-stop flight, with the transfer bonus, it would still cost fewer MR points to fly AA than Delta. Delta, at lowest level, is 80000 RT to Hawaii in First. It's 75000 from West Coast to Hawaii non-stop on AA (or AS, which is not bookable on the BA website), so with the bonus that's only ~55K. Even with a stop it might be cheaper. This sounds like it would be from the East Coast, though, so it would be close, and a cursory search makes it look like availability on AA is gonna be difficult.

I suggest searching for availability on AA, AS, and DL, and transferring only once you see the flights you want. On DL with a million points you are guaranteed to find something, though it may not be a price you want to pay.

For the hotel piece, go ahead and price it out in HHonors points, but I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where I'd want to transfer MR points to a hotel program.
taliesin is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 7:58 am
  #55  
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Originally Posted by ghia74
I am helping a friend from work to best utilize his 1 million MR points for a a family Hawaii trip. 2 adults would fly First/Bus with kids in coach. Spending about 10 days in HNL/OGG. In reading through everything I am thinking he should convert to Delta and stay in Hiltons. Could he better take advantage of the BA deal to fly AA? Any other things I am missing?Thanks
A few other thoughts --

1. If you are coming from the East Coast, keep in mind that there is a very wide range of levels of quality of product flying to Hawaii. If you transfer to Delta, you may end up having to pay one of the higher mileage prices (the lowest possible mileage price to Hawaii is often unavailable), and if you do, might as well make sure you are booking a decent product. On Delta that means trying to get onto the nonstop flight from Atlanta, which has international lie-flat seats in business class. Most of the flights from the West Coast, by contrast, are going to be on standard domestic first class seats with limited recline (there is one LAX flight on an international aircraft but it doesn't offer many connecting opportunities).

With American, you will be very limited since BA can't book you into any seats unless they're available at the lowest award level, but if you do find something, keep in mind the DFW flight is on an international aircraft while the others mostly are not.

With United, you would similarly be limited but if you can find an option (via miles transfer to Air Canada or ANA), their EWR and IAD flights, and sometimes the IAH flight, have international business class seats.

2. As taliesin said, MR points to hotel programs is generally a bad idea. If you really want this to be a "free" trip, you may be better off searching Amex Travel for hotel options and then using "pay with points," which gives you 1 cent per MR point off your booking. (For that matter, it is worth looking at Pay with Points options for your airfare too -- if you book in advance business class to Hawaii can be pretty cheap, whereas redeeming miles through Delta can be quite expensive, so you might find better options that way. You would also be able to easily fly AA or UA if you prefer them, and you would earn status and redeemable miles for the flights purchased using pay with points.)

3. Search for options for 1 person as well as looking at options for 2 people. If, for example, Delta has 1 business seat available at a lower mileage price and you search for 2 people, they will quote you the higher mileage price for both. But if you book both separately, you can get the first one at the lower price and the second at the higher price. The only downside here is that if there are flight cancellations or disruptions, they might not get rebooked onto the same alternative flights, but since the kids in coach are likely going to have to be on a separate booking anyway, it wouldn't be too much worse.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 8:07 am
  #56  
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Originally Posted by ghia74
I am helping a friend from work to best utilize his 1 million MR points for a a family Hawaii trip. 2 adults would fly First/Bus with kids in coach. Spending about 10 days in HNL/OGG. In reading through everything I am thinking he should convert to Delta and stay in Hiltons. Could he better take advantage of the BA deal to fly AA? Any other things I am missing?Thanks
One more thought -- Hawaiian Airlines is also an MR transfer partner, and they fly to JFK. Their business class seat is not as nice as the ones Delta has to ATL or United has to EWR, but they may be easier to find award space on. Assuming you are starting in Boston you would have to book a separate flight (or train) from Boston to JFK. It looks like Hawaiian could offer you a redemption on JetBlue for that route, but you would probably be better off just paying cash. You would also need to make sure you leave plenty of connecting time between the two separate tickets.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 10:58 am
  #57  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: SPG Gold
Posts: 620
Thank you all for the insight, it was very helpful. I will look through the scenarios you suggested. Origination is BOS but getting to NYC is a good option. I knew the hotel values were not great but did not realize they were that bad.
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Old Jan 29, 2015, 1:06 am
  #58  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Amex MR, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, AS MVP
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Originally Posted by bgriff
One more thought -- Hawaiian Airlines is also an MR transfer partner, and they fly to JFK. Their business class seat is not as nice as the ones Delta has to ATL or United has to EWR, but they may be easier to find award space on. Assuming you are starting in Boston you would have to book a separate flight (or train) from Boston to JFK. It looks like Hawaiian could offer you a redemption on JetBlue for that route, but you would probably be better off just paying cash. You would also need to make sure you leave plenty of connecting time between the two separate tickets.
BOS-JFK would only be 4500 Avios pp in coach if you transferred a few points to BA. And there's a transfer bonus right now so it would cost only about 10000 MR points to fly four people on that route.
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Old Jan 29, 2015, 1:10 am
  #59  
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Well BA just went down the dump so not the best option anymore.
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Old Jan 29, 2015, 2:34 am
  #60  
mia
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Originally Posted by TMM1982
...not the best option anymore.
Not the best option for which specific redemptions? It would be far more helpful to mention specific routes affected by BA's price increase than to just throw away a one line sweeping generalization.
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