American Express Membership Rewards - Can MR pts be transferred to FF acct and then to another FF acct

Has anyone ever tried to transfer Amex MR pts to their FF acct at a partner airline and then further transfer those miles to a non-participating airline's FF acct? I know that the transfer to the participating airline's FF acct will allow the booking of a flight on a non-partner airline, but can the miles actually be transferred?

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Most airline programs do not offer any outbound transfer option. Some that do allow transfers permit only "earned" miles to be transferred and will not re-transfer, or cap transfers at a specific amount per year. There is typically some loss of value in the process.

If you care to mention the names of the airlines you have in mind someone may be able to give you a specific answer or suggest another solution.

for example the transfer of AMEX pts to Mexicana airlines ff acct and then transfer them from Mexicana to AA ff acct?

for example the transfer of AMEX pts to Mexicana airlines ff acct and then transfer them from Mexicana to AA ff acct?


You will get a better value out of buying a partner award from Mexicana on AA metal. Usually these awards are a tad more expensive I think 28,000 for a domestic coach ticket vs. 25K when buying on AA.com.

This is because you cannot transfer from Mexicana miles to AA miles directly. Check out the mileage converter (http://www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage_converter/) on insideflyer and see how they get devalued as you must transfer through HHonors.

Try http://www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage_converter/. If you can do it, it will be at a major loss.

Transfer to an AA partner and book award that way.

Your question is really about a path to convert Membership Rewards points to AAdvantage Miles, right? There are two paths, both with drawbacks:

60,000 Membership Rewards
20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest
25,000 AAdvantage
2.4:1

-OR-

25,000 Membership Rewards
25,000 Continental OnePass
25,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards
75,000 Choice Hotel Privleges
15,000 AAdvantage Miles
1.6:1

Even though the second path offers a better transfer ratio there are two significant limitations. 1) To make any transfer out of Amtrak Guest Rewards you must hold their new affinity credit card, issued by Chase (or Amtrak elite status). 2) The maximum transfer out of Amtrak Guest Rewards is 25,000 points per calendar year (50,000 if you hold their highest elite status), which means the transfer illustrated in my example is the maximum transfer in 2008.