American Express Membership Rewards - Bonus MR (CANADA) to British Airways Transfers Until May 31, 2012 (1000:1500)

it looks like canadian amex cardholders are finally gets a transfer bonus!!

1000 MR points = 1,500 Avios

i was just on my plat account looking for something else and came across this offer. it's on membershiprewards.ca

and i just called in to find out if it's true or not since i thought that the website might be giving me US info. good news is that the rep confirmed that it is true!!

having said that, i tried transferring and got an error. i might wait until the end of the month and spend a few more bucks on the card to get a few more miles. good luck!

Is the normal transfer rate in Canada 1000:1000 or is it 1000:750?

Is the normal transfer rate in Canada 1000:1000 or is it 1000:750?

1000:750 :(

so this bonus is double, e.g. a 100% bonus over the usual!! (and i just realized that my title is wrong then! off to correct it)

Just saw the same thing on my monthly search of the AMEX Canada MR website. When did BA go from 1000 MR=750 Avios to 1000=1000? Here's the T+C for the current offer, which shows the 1/1 (bolding mine):


ENJOY 50% MORE AVIOS for a limited time1

1Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. 1,000 Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Avios. From May 1st-May 31st, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 50% more Avios on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1500 MR points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 2250 Avios. Please allow up to 5 working days to receive Avios to your British Airways Executive Club Account. British Airways is responsible for fulfillment of this offer.
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Not bad if you can also find AA flights available for the miles from Avios, to save on the BA high fees.

bj-21.

Just saw the same thing on my monthly search of the AMEX Canada MR website. When did BA go from 1000 MR=750 Avios to 1000=1000? Here's the T+C for the current offer, which shows the 1/1 (bolding mine):


ENJOY 50% MORE AVIOS for a limited time1

1Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. 1,000 Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Avios. From May 1st-May 31st, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 50% more Avios on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1500 MR points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 2250 Avios. Please allow up to 5 working days to receive Avios to your British Airways Executive Club Account. British Airways is responsible for fulfillment of this offer.
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Not bad if you can also find AA flights available for the miles from Avios, to save on the BA high fees.

bj-21.

are you sure that's the canadian MR website? i checked again and i see 1000 MR to 1500 Avios. here's a screen shot:
http://i48.tinypic.com/28c1p2p.png

http://catalogue.membershiprewards.ca/l2Category.mtw?categoryName=ca_frequent_traveller_ participants&parentCategoryName=ca_travel_1&newCategorySearch=true

Ben,

Don't know if the long link above will work, but this is what I'm seeing from the AMEX Canada website for the MR Travel portion. Ever since BA joined the Canadian MR website, it's been 1 MR (CAN.) = 0.75 BA Executive Club mile, similar to DL, AZ, and at one time, CO. Didn't know that the base rate had changed to 1:1. Guess I should check the AMEX website more often to note when they change the rates of exchanges. No problem, as we're both talking about the same AMEX Canada offer.

bj-21.

Found a better link, which is also from the AMEX Canada MR website.
http://catalogue.membershiprewards.ca/viewAwardDetail.mtw?productId=1665538&categoryName=ca_frequent_traveller_participants

Note that it shows the detail of the offer.

Ever since BA joined the Canadian MR website, it's been 1 MR (CAN.) = 0.75 BA Executive Club mile, similar to DL, AZ, and at one time, CO. Didn't know that the base rate had changed to 1:1.


I too thought that the rate was 1 MR = 0.75 Avios.

I was not aware of it going to 1:1 either.


Found a better link, which is also from the AMEX Canada MR website.
http://catalogue.membershiprewards.ca/viewAwardDetail.mtw?productId=1665538&categoryName=ca_frequent_traveller_participants

Note that it shows the detail of the offer.

yes, that's where i grabbed a portion of the screen from.

I'm still getting an error when trying to transfer MR points though. No worries as I'll wait for a bit more spend on the card.

In any case, this is excellent news. I just remembered that since the Canadian Plat card gets 1.25 pts per CAD that the 50% bonus gives you a total of 1.875 Avios per CAD, better than the RBC Avion Infinite card i use and transfer with their 50% bonus for 1.5 Avios per CAD. A significant difference if we can count on a regular appearance of this bonus from Amex.

The base transfer rate of 1:1 was implemented very recently. So 1:1.5 is a 50% bonus, however considering how recently the regular transfer rate was 1:0.75, it very much feels like a 100% bonus.

I hope the 50% bonus transfers become a regular thing like the RBC Avion 50% bonus as it'll be a very quick way to accumulate Avios (even though surcharges on redemptions sucks).

Argh, I just transferred bunch of points last week when I realized it was at 1:1 instead of .75. Amex says to call BA as its their promo. Can`t reach them right now. Any chance of BA reversing the transfer so I can redo?

Got an email today from AMEX Canada to announce the above 50% bonus for the MR to BA exchange offer that expires the end of May. It refers to the regular exchange rate "now being one-to-one" instead of the previous one-to-0.75 BA as in the past when BA originally joined the Canadian MR scheme.

bj-21.

of course, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
my MR points posted as Avios but the additional amount was only 30% rather than 50%. After waiting half-an-hour for BAEC, they don't have a clue as to what i'm talking about. They'll look into it but tell me to call AMEX. Now on the phone with Amex, they tell me it's not their problem and to call BA. Round and round we go.
I am so fed up with the incompetence of these companies.

You received 1300 Avois per 1000, rather than 1500? I wouldn't bother contacting either company until Monday. The best people typically do not work weekends. Should be easy to sort out because the 1000:1500 rate is explicitly stated in the offer. I would only mention numbers of points, not percentages which many people find confusing.

My hunch is that the error is on BA's end, but American Express should help you fix it if BEC is not responsive.

You received 1300 Avois per 1000, rather than 1500? I wouldn't bother contacting either company until Monday. The best people typically do not work weekends. Should be easy to sort out because the 1000:1500 rate is explicitly stated in the offer. I would only mention numbers of points, not percentages which many people find confusing.

My hunch is that the error is on BA's end, but American Express should help you fix it if BEC is not responsive.

correct, i receive 1300 instead of 1500. i agree that since it's a weekend i shouldn't expect too much but none the less i called both ba and amex just to get the ball rolling. we'll see what happens on monday.

Ben,

Did you save the email that I mentioned above the other day that officialy "announced" the bonus offer? If so, try to reply to that to both AMEX Canada and BA as a reference to your incorrect posting of the bonus miles. And when you transferred the MR points, did you get either a reference number for the transfer, or an email to confirm it, which you could use as a reference point? If you don't still have the original email, PM me and I'll try to copy and paste it for you to use, without of course, my personal info in it.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

bj-21.

Ben,

Did you save the email that I mentioned above the other day that officialy "announced" the bonus offer? If so, try to reply to that to both AMEX Canada and BA as a reference to your incorrect posting of the bonus miles. And when you transferred the MR points, did you get either a reference number for the transfer, or an email to confirm it, which you could use as a reference point? If you don't still have the original email, PM me and I'll try to copy and paste it for you to use, without of course, my personal info in it.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

bj-21.

Thanks for the offer but I have a lot of stuff to back me up. I'm used to not getting what was promised so I always takes tons of screenshots, save emails, etc until the points are in my account.
I spoke with Amex at length yesterday and insisted on speaking with a supervisor since the rep on the phone gave me the usual "I'm sorry you're disappointed" BS. I told here that my being disappointed had nothing to do with it. Anyway, she passed me to someone who was actually interested in solving the problem. He understood the problem and said he would contact Amex's liaison person with BA which exactly the right thing to do. Of course that person isn't in the office over the weekend so I'll have to wait until Monday.
I have absolutely no doubt that I will get my points but that's not the issue. The issue is, why do I have to jump through all these hoops to get what I was offered?

I logged in to transfer points yesterday, and got an error message when I tried to do it. called Amex and transferred over the phone.

Rep said she had a few calls of people who could not complete online, possibly they are trying to fix an IT bug?

Just checked my Avios totals, the transfer rate was 1000:1300, not the correct rate of 1000:1500.

Emailed Amex, will see how long this takes to correct.

Underwhelmed by this.

I logged in to transfer points yesterday, and got an error message when I tried to do it. called Amex and transferred over the phone.

Rep said she had a few calls of people who could not complete online, possibly they are trying to fix an IT bug?

i mentioned that at the begining of this thread. amex IT is very poor.

Just checked my Avios totals, the transfer rate was 1000:1300, not the correct rate of 1000:1500.

Emailed Amex, will see how long this takes to correct.

Underwhelmed by this.

the problem is most likely at BA's end since amex just transfers your points and then BA adds the bonus. but i called amex and said that since it's their offer, they should be calling BA to get it straightened out.

i talked to a supervisor named carl. he's familiar with the problem since i spoke with him for 20 minutes about it. he said he contact amex's ba liaison on monday.

How can these people be so incompetent???

but i called amex and said that since it's their offer, they should be calling BA to get it straightened out.

Exactly. When I log in to my Amex account, the offer is 1000:1500. Nowhere does it say "We transfer some points and then BA adds some points."

I come from the One Neck To Wring School. Amex is the neck, not BA.

Amex told me via email to contact BA, so I phoned Amex and said to send the points back to my MR account until they straighten this out. Concierge said she would get back to me by suppertime tomorrow to get it fixed. Will report back when/if it gets fixed.

Has anyone had the correct amount of points transferred?

BA has corrected my account. They withdrew the normal transfer plus the erroneous 30% bonus and redeposited the normal transfer plus a 50% bonus.

i would imagine that the issue at BA is probably corrected now.

BA has corrected my account. They withdrew the normal transfer plus the erroneous 30% bonus and redeposited the normal transfer plus a 50% bonus.

i would imagine that the issue at BA is probably corrected now.

My account has been corrected too.

No call from Amex as promised, but no call backs are SOP

Hm... why is it 1:1 now? I thought the promotion goes until May 31.

Hm... why is it 1:1 now? I thought the promotion goes until May 31.

still 1 to 1.5 to me on AMEX MR site (it always showed 1 to 1, the bonus will come later)

https://catalogue.membershiprewards.ca/viewAwardDetail.mtw?productId=1665538&categoryName=

Transfer Points
1,000 Membership Rewards points is equal to 1,000 Avios


Please log in:
To redeem points, please log into My Account to continue shopping



Close Product Information Delivery Information Terms & Conditions ENJOY 50% MORE AVIOS for a limited time1

1Membership Rewards point transfers must be made in increments of 100 points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 points for each transfer. 1,000 Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Avios. From May 1st-May 31st, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Avios you will receive 50% more Avios on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1500 MR points to Avios, you will be credited a total of 2250 Avios. Please allow up to 5 working days to receive Avios to your British Airways Executive Club Account. British Airways is responsible for fulfillment of this offer.

is it worth to tfr 60k amex... i will have 90k avios. I'm close to montreal ?
how steep are the taxes and fees on say a return YUL-LHR flight. seems like I need appx 45k points if im reading it correct !!

is it worth to tfr 60k amex... i will have 90k avios. I'm close to montreal ?
how steep are the taxes and fees on say a return YUL-LHR flight. seems like I need appx 45k points if im reading it correct !!


I just checked and YUL-LHR in Economy is
30,000 Avios + $627.28 in fees

(So if you were to transfer from Amex to Avios during the 1 1/2 promotion it would only cost you 20,000 points + 627.28)


If you transfer to Aeroplan instead it would cost you
60,000 points + $660.85 (If you fly Air Canada)
or
60,000 points + $265.15 (If you fly United)


Sounds like BA is a clear winner.

how many points would say YUL-FCO be. and taxes and fees ?
thanks for the help... trying to decide if its worth switching 60k amex points. The YUL-LHR is a good deal point wise but I can get cheap Air transat flight for almost the same money as the 30k points plus $627 in fees.. 90k avois would be better spent on elsewhere then... avoiding LHR saves quite abit i have heard.

thank again

how many points would say YUL-FCO be. and taxes and fees ?
thanks for the help... trying to decide if its worth switching 60k amex points. The YUL-LHR is a good deal point wise but I can get cheap Air transat flight for almost the same money as the 30k points plus $627 in fees.. 90k avois would be better spent on elsewhere then... avoiding LHR saves quite abit i have heard.

thank again

Hi Kennyg1966,

You should be able to check yourself on BA.com. (I have 0 Avios points and I can check.)

If you just want to know the amount of points required, go to the Points Calculator:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/avios-calculator/public/en_us

This will give you the ONE WAY amount of points.
YUL-FCO is 22,500 (each way) in Economy


If you want to see the taxes and fees, go to the "Book Flights with Avios"
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/redeem/execclub/_gf/en_us

For YUL-FCO it would be 45,000 point + $540.82 RETURN in Economy.


The equivalent flight on Aeroplan would be
60,000 points + $361.25 in Fees (If you fly Swiss)
or
60,000 points + $541.45 in Fees (If you fly Lufthansa)


The major difference is that BA will NOT allow any stops other than London. With Aeroplan you could hop around Europe (up to 3 full stop and 7 layovers less than 24 hours)

Before you transfer your points to British Airways, you may want to look at this Aeroplan Promotion.

Here is the Flyertalk post: (THANKS GLOBEX !!!)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-canada-aeroplan/1348925-earn-up-40k-bonus-ae-partner-conversions.html


"Turning your points to miles is easy. From May 21st to June 18th, 2012, convert points from a wide selection of partner loyalty programs to earn up to 40,000 bonus Aeroplan Miles.

For the first time, Aeroplan will combine all the miles you convert from a wide selection of partner loyalty programs to help you reach a higher bonus threshold and reap the rewards in thousands of extra Aeroplan Miles. "

For 5,000 miles -> get 1,000 bonus miles
10,000 miles -> 2,000 bonus miles
20,000 miles -> 4,000 bonus miles
50,000 miles -> 10,000 bonus miles
100,000 miles -> 25,000 bonus miles
150,000 miles -> 40,000 bonus miles

Partners include AMEX Canada (but not AMEX US), Starwood, Hilton, Mariott, CIBC Aventura, Points.com, etc. Check the link for more partners.

I did a transfer on Sunday and by Monday the proper amount showed up in my BAEC account. The transfer showed as two lines, first line appears as coming from Membership Rewards Canada, and next line is simply "Avios."

Based on others experiences I'm a bit surprised at the simplicity of the transfer since I didn't have to follow-up either Amex or BAEC.

I think this is an excellent promo for me since I plan on redeeming for premium travel on CX. While I wouldn't mind flying BA, the YQ amounts are too tough to swallow. I'll save miles redemptions on BA for revenue WT+ tickets and MFU to Club.

I normally convert my MR points to Aeroplan. I fly overseas typically at least once per year, and have noticed that it's becoming more and more difficult to use Aeroplan for Star Alliance. With the latest 50% bonus on converting to Avios, I'm wondering if I'd be better off to go this route, but I'm unclear whether it's any easier to redeem Avios for overseas flights vs Aeroplan. Can anyone give me some colour on this?

I normally convert my MR points to Aeroplan. I fly overseas typically at least once per year, and have noticed that it's becoming more and more difficult to use Aeroplan for Star Alliance. With the latest 50% bonus on converting to Avios, I'm wondering if I'd be better off to go this route, but I'm unclear whether it's any easier to redeem Avios for overseas flights vs Aeroplan. Can anyone give me some colour on this?

Based on my recent research, BA seems easier to redeem with. I was looking for First and every search I made seemed to have at least 2 seats.

BA does seem to charge more points for Medium to Long Haul than Aeroplan (Short Haul are a good deal). And BA does have more surcharges (specially for premium cabins). Also BA does not allow free stopovers (except for London), you have to use points for every leg.

If you apply for the BA RBC Visa you can get a 2 for 1 Companion ticket that adds a lot of value. When you redeem with BA (not partners) you can get a 2nd ticket for the same amount of points (You only pay the fees/taxes).

If you apply for the BA RBC Visa you can get a 2 for 1 Companion ticket that adds a lot of value. When you redeem with BA (not partners) you can get a 2nd ticket for the same amount of points (You only pay the fees/taxes).

Just to be sure I'm understanding you correctly, I can use Avios for the first ticket and then use the companion ticket to get another?

Just to be sure I'm understanding you correctly, I can use Avios for the first ticket and then use the companion ticket to get another?

Yes, you are correct.

"buy" one ticket with Avios and get a second ticket for 0 Avios. You must pay taxes etc on both though. And the RBC BA Visa require a $30k spend in a calendar year to get that companion ticket.

Yes, you are correct.

"buy" one ticket with Avios and get a second ticket for 0 Avios. You must pay taxes etc on both though. And the RBC BA Visa require a $30k spend in a calendar year to get that companion ticket.

I applied for the BA Visa for this exact reason, transfer MR points to Avios at 1.5x, and use the companion ticket supplied with the BA Visa.

By my calculations, BA Visa with 30k spend in the first year:
+50k Avios for sign-up bonus
+30k Avios on spend
+80k Avios on second ticket
= 160,000 Avios for $165 plus 30k spend first year.

Second year drops the BA Visa 50k bonus, but still good:
30k Avios on BA Visa spend
27k AMEX MR spend (1:1.5 transfer on points accumulated at 1.25/$)
So 57k in spend yields 160k worth of Avios points, or 2.8 Avios per dollar

If my math works, of course.

And I can take the time and flights.

I was looking into this also as I use the RBC infinite with the transfer bonuses. However with the BA cards you are given avios miles automatically and not RBC points so I think the 50% bonus doesn't apply. Other then that seems like a good card. Also you can add stops in to the travel other then London but you have to phone BA and they do it over the phone. I did it twice in the last year no problem. Air Canada let's you play with it online much better platform. My question is that I never have AA pop up on my searches for partner flights anywhere. Anyone else have this problem.

First post in a long time. Nice to be back. :-)

Sadly all this time away has significantly dulled my skills when it comes to figuring out how to maximize rewards. I was hoping I could solicit some advice here.

My partner has ~70k in MR points, I have 28k MR points. We're planning to go to Australia (Perth, ideally, but we'll take Sydney if necessary and make our way to Perth from there) in December. We want to leave shortly after Christmas day and return roughly 3 weeks later. Exact dates are flexible. Seeing as how we live in Vancouver, our thinking was that we'd fly BLI-NHL, spend a day there, then fly HNL to Australia. Same 1 day layover in Hawaii on the return. Last time I checked, BLI-HNP was ~$500, HNL-SYD was ~$2200.

This bonus for MR-to-BAEC transfers seems terrifc. BA's calculator shows partner reward flights HNL-SYD for 50k points return, which seems like a great deal on a $2200 route. My fear is that we convert our MR rewards to Avios then can't get reward flights on that route.

So... how does one determine if there is reward inventory available on a BA partner airline?

First post in a long time. Nice to be back. :-)

So... how does one determine if there is reward inventory available on a BA partner airline?

I had the same question. If you sign up for BAEC, you can go on the site and check the inventory for your dates of travel. You should be able to access the site immediately after joining on-line.

BA's calculator shows partner reward flights HNL-SYD for 50k points return, which seems like a great deal on a $2200 route. My fear is that we convert our MR rewards to Avios then can't get reward flights on that route.


Be sure to find out how much taxes, fuel surcharges, fees, etc. are before you do anything else. you may find that it's not such a great deal after all.

transfers from MR to BAEC have gone through in less than 48 hours for me. i think you'll just have to roll the dice since that's going to be the case with any airline transfer.

I had the same question. If you sign up for BAEC, you can go on the site and check the inventory for your dates of travel. You should be able to access the site immediately after joining on-line.

I did that, and I can search for BA flights. But BA doesn't fly the routes I want, Quantas does.

Hmmm, I think I might have just answered my own question. I'll sign up for Quantas' FF program and search from there.

I did that, and I can search for BA flights. But BA doesn't fly the routes I want, Quantas does.

You still need to search on ba.com to see the award availability, point requirements, fuel surcharges, fees and taxes. You can use ba.com to search for partner availability. If I recall correctly you must first search as if you were looking for a BA flight, only then it will give you the option to include other airlines. The best place to learn the nuances is in the British Airways forum.

I still see the bonus 50% but the link doesn't work? Need to transfer today!

I still see the bonus 50% but the link doesn't work? Need to transfer today!

I just tried it and it still seems to be working for me.

I transferred yesterday and worked fine 100% of miles and bonus were there this morning. Only 24 hours to show up. Good service for once.