I just spoke to AA. The ability to transfer is on its way out, though it can be done for a brief while yet at redeemaamiles.points.com. The reason that AA is discontinuing it is because it now offers the ability to directly book Hilton hotels using points on the Hilton site.
Programs: UA 1K, AA Exec Plat, SPG Plat, HH Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silv, PC Plat Amb, Fairmont Premier
Posts: 7,218
Quote:
Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I just spoke to AA. The ability to transfer is on its way out, though it can be done for a brief while yet at redeemaamiles.points.com. The reason that AA is discontinuing it is because it now offers the ability to directly book Hilton hotels using points on the Hilton site.
Ouch! Thanks for posting this, SD1K and others who've noted this change.
IIRC, the AA redemption for HH hotels option on the AA site is often considerably worse than the AA miles to HH points transfer option is in terms: of miles it costs; sometimes in terms of availability and the fact that the award reservations can't be cancelled without losing points. (And you do mean redeem miles on the AA site rather than points on the HH site, don't you? Or is the way you put it yet a third option?) Also, I wonder if using AA miles this way renders one's HH status meaningless.
Anyway, this seems important and different enough news that I'd suggest starting a new thread in the HH forum so more FT members can be aware of it. Otherwise, it will just get buried here. I'd also suggest referencing it in the AA forum with a link connecting it to the HH thread.
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Great miles think alike.
Last edited by Thunderroad; Aug 11, 11 at 4:21 pm..
and Virgin Atlantic - but you're right, given Virgin Atlantic's transfer ratio, it's really only Hawaiian.
Hawaiian - 1 mile -> 2 Hilton points, done by phone, no fee, takes 2 to 4 weeks to post
Virgin Atlantic - 1-1 ratio, no idea about fee or transfer time
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderroad
IIRC, the AA redemption for HH hotels option on the AA site is often considerably worse than the AA miles to HH points transfer option is in terms: of miles it costs; sometimes in terms of availability and the fact that the award reservations can't be cancelled without losing points. (And you do mean redeem miles on the AA site rather than points on the HH site, don't you? Or is the way you put it yet a third option?) Also, I wonder if using AA miles this way renders one's HH status meaningless.
Yes, I mean booking on the AA site. For example, the Conrad Hilton "costs" 50K Hilton points or 85,900 AA miles/night. If you consider that 3 AA miles are "worth" 5 Hilton points, that means they are charging nearly 3x the level that we can currently get by moving miles to Hilton. No wonder AA wants to do hotel bookings directly. And yes, I expressed my concern to the AA lady about losing the benefits of status if it is booked on the AA site.
Quote:
Anyway, this seems important and different enough news that I'd suggest starting a new thread in the HH forum so more FT members can be aware of it. Otherwise, it will just get buried here. I'd also suggest referencing it in the AA forum with a link connecting it to the HH thread.
I've sent a note to the mods, asking if they want to break this out.
For now, we can make the AA to Hilton transfer at this site:
redeemaamiles.points.com
but it is off the AA website and will be taken from here with no notice.
Last edited by SanDiego1K; Aug 11, 11 at 4:51 pm..
I just spoke to AA. The ability to transfer is on its way out, though it can be done for a brief while yet at redeemaamiles.points.com. The reason that AA is discontinuing it is because it now offers the ability to directly book Hilton hotels using points on the Hilton site.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azepine00
In case you want to transfer before it's over - it's 90K per transfer max and 150K yearly max. $30 fee.
Conversion rates for Virgin Atlantic Airways: Exchange Airline Miles for HHonors Points
Airline Miles for HHonors Points
10,000 -> 20,000
Minimum: 10,000 miles.
Conversion rates for Virgin Atlantic Airways: Exchange Airline Miles for HHonors Points
Airline Miles for HHonors Points
10,000 -> 20,000
Minimum: 10,000 miles.
I like your exchange value better than mine. The Virgin website shows 1:1.
Flying Club members can exchange their miles for HHonors points which can then be redeemed for HHonors rewards such as free hotel nights, experimental rewards, premium merchandise and much much more.
Exchange miles at a rate: 1 Flying Club mile for 1 HHonors point.
Minimum Level: 10,000 miles and then in increments of 5,000. Just call the Flying Club Helpline with your HHonors account number.
That Hilton page shows 1 AA mile transferring to 2 Hilton points, and that hasn't been true for at least several months.
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Posts: 373
Thanks for the clarification, I'd just finished doing some more research and was about to edit my post Got this from a comment on the million mile secrets blog: "VS to Hilton is 1:1 not 1:2. I confirmed this with Hilton by e-mail a few months ago. It seems that not only did they not thank me for pointing out an error on their website – they also did not correct the error. Ridiculous." Way to confuse people Hilton. Good thing I didn't transfer a bunch of SPG points to Virgin to Hilton without checking.
Have they given a date as to when we will no longer be able to transfer?
No and given how they quietly changed 5:10 to 6:10 last year i wouldn't expect any warnings (maybe after the fact announcing an "enhancement" of being able to book hotels directly instead of dealing with point transfer ). The link is already gone from aa site, if you need to convert do it today. I sent 90K yesterday so it seems to work so far.
Programs: DL PM, AA LT PLT, SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond, HHonors Gold, FPC Premier, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 3,810
Thanks for the heads up. With about 800k in AA miles and a whopping 13k in HH I decided to use up 150k right away as we are planning to go to Conrad Rangali Maldives next year and this will go most of the way to paying for a week there.
Thanks SanDiego 1K. Been meaning to transfer miles for some time but never got round to doing it. Already missed out on the 1:2 exchange rate. Just transferred 90,000 of my miles and 42,000 of my wife's miles.
Got this from a comment on the million mile secrets blog: "VS to Hilton is 1:1 not 1:2. I confirmed this with Hilton by e-mail a few months ago. It seems that not only did they not thank me for pointing out an error on their website – they also did not correct the error. Ridiculous." Way to confuse people Hilton. Good thing I didn't transfer a bunch of SPG points to Virgin to Hilton without checking.
). The link is already gone from aa site, if you need to convert do it today. I sent 90K yesterday so it seems to work so far.
