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)
May 3, 2017, 9:40 pm
#676
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 5
Assuming that your Amex MR account is based in the U.S., and assuming that you can find SAAver seats on the AA flights you want, your best value would be to transfer 25K MR points to Etihad, and redeem for your award travel with them. Here's a link to a useful article about redeeming partner awards through Etihad:
By contrast, you would have to transfer 44K MR points to BAEC to get the 35K Avios that BA would charge for your roundtrip itinerary.
How much does AA want for a cash ticket on your desired dates of travel?
By contrast, you would have to transfer 44K MR points to BAEC to get the 35K Avios that BA would charge for your roundtrip itinerary.
How much does AA want for a cash ticket on your desired dates of travel?
AA wants $580-601 or 30k + 20k for round trip Economy AAnytime
Do I have any other options? or should I just buy the flight without using my points?
Last edited by PTBKoo; May 3, 2017 at 11:28 pm
May 4, 2017, 1:17 am
#677
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
May 4, 2017, 1:34 am
#678
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,601
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any flight with SAAver availability, only Economy AAnytime. Is it true that I need to wait for SAAver seats to become available closer to my flight date? or are they all already gone for July? I did look at May and there were some SSaver seats available.
So it looks like I wont be able to book on Eithad AND BA since I couldnt find any SAAver seats.
AA wants $580-601 or 30k + 20k for round trip Economy AAnytime
Do I have any other options? or should I just buy the flight without using my points?
So it looks like I wont be able to book on Eithad AND BA since I couldnt find any SAAver seats.
AA wants $580-601 or 30k + 20k for round trip Economy AAnytime
Do I have any other options? or should I just buy the flight without using my points?
May 5, 2017, 1:09 pm
#679
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any flight with SAAver availability, only Economy AAnytime. Is it true that I need to wait for SAAver seats to become available closer to my flight date? or are they all already gone for July? I did look at May and there were some SSaver seats available.
However, at least for my domestic economy AA flights (which are of course different from yours), very often I find the best fares around 6 to 8 weeks out, and fares before that are actually worse. So it's not clear if those $580 to $601 fares will stick or not. I recommend that you try doing searches for dates different amounts of weeks out on the same route and see if you spot any such pattern.
There are some high-demand-low-availability destinations (like ANC in the summer) where you need to book many months out for the best cash fares, but in conventional lower-48 mainline (not regional jet) trips I find booking too far out actually gives worse fares.
Jun 4, 2017, 11:33 am
#680
Join Date: Jun 2017
Programs: AMEX Plat, Chase Sapphire, Alaska
Posts: 38
Newbie: Where to transfer MR points?
After several hours today of searching through wikis and various forums-thought I'd just ask the question.
Points:
200K MR
125K Chase
175K alaska miles
I would like to transfer my MR points to an airline program, and non-renew the card this year.
Given that my preferred airline is Alaska, and my future (TBD) award plans would probably involve PDX to Costa Rica and/or Australia/NZ, where would you suggest my MR be transferred to?
Aeroplan
Flying Blue
Other suggestions?
Thanks in advance....
Points:
200K MR
125K Chase
175K alaska miles
I would like to transfer my MR points to an airline program, and non-renew the card this year.
Given that my preferred airline is Alaska, and my future (TBD) award plans would probably involve PDX to Costa Rica and/or Australia/NZ, where would you suggest my MR be transferred to?
Aeroplan
Flying Blue
Other suggestions?
Thanks in advance....
Jun 4, 2017, 12:14 pm
#681
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Which card do you have now? You can preserve your Membership Rewards balance at no cost by applying for an Everyday or Blue Business Plus card. See these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...day-cards.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-3-months.html
Jun 5, 2017, 1:54 pm
#682
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: status free since 2017
Posts: 2,188
I am closing my PRG card and have couple of options... any recommendations?
1. I can move points to Blue for Business where they become a non-transferable currency until I can move another card in future and enable for transfer partners again.
2. Open Amex Everyday card (no-fee) and keep them all in transferable mode.
Just hesitating on #2 since I recently opened HH Surpass. Not sure if that will be too much.
1. I can move points to Blue for Business where they become a non-transferable currency until I can move another card in future and enable for transfer partners again.
2. Open Amex Everyday card (no-fee) and keep them all in transferable mode.
Just hesitating on #2 since I recently opened HH Surpass. Not sure if that will be too much.
Jun 5, 2017, 6:25 pm
#683
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
I am closing my PRG card and have couple of options... any recommendations?
1. I can move points to Blue for Business where they become a non-transferable currency until I can move another card in future and enable for transfer partners again.
2. Open Amex Everyday card (no-fee) and keep them all in transferable mode.
Just hesitating on #2 since I recently opened HH Surpass. Not sure if that will be too much.
1. I can move points to Blue for Business where they become a non-transferable currency until I can move another card in future and enable for transfer partners again.
2. Open Amex Everyday card (no-fee) and keep them all in transferable mode.
Just hesitating on #2 since I recently opened HH Surpass. Not sure if that will be too much.
If only the HH Surpass, then it might not be a problem at all. See this thread:
People in that thread seem to report no issues applying for two cards a week (maybe even less) apart, as long as it was only two cards in a short time, not three.
If that still worries you after reading that, you could do a combination of 1 now and 2 when you feel ready for it, as long as you don't transferabiilty before that.
Also, a long range option: Amex has replaced the Blue for Business card (in terms of new applications) with the Blue Business Plus card, which has transferability. At some point (though maybe not until after you've had it a year?), Amex may be likely to replace your Blue for Business card with that automatically. See here for more on that card:
Jun 7, 2017, 5:43 pm
#684
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: status free since 2017
Posts: 2,188
Jun 8, 2017, 1:04 pm
#685
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
If the Amex Blue for Business was during the 10x restaurant promo and thus about 4ish months ago, you should certainly be fine. I would only be concerned if both of those were opened less than 90 days ago.
Jun 8, 2017, 3:21 pm
#686
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: status free since 2017
Posts: 2,188
Jun 26, 2017, 6:26 pm
#687
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SFO
Posts: 266
got a newb question, as I'm still in the accumulation phase of my process. I've never booked an international business class tickets before with reward points. From West Coast to Australia/NZ, what's the estimated MR points I need to aim for per seat for a RT?
I know there's a lot of variables such as which airline, flight pricing, availability, transfer bonuses, etc, but what's the rough number I need to aim for? (I estimated I need about 120k-150k per seat, sound about right?)
edit: nevermind, I found this site. Hmm, looks like the variations are huge. Anyone with recent experiences you can share with me? I'll be combining mostly MR points with about 10k of UR points. https://thepointsguy.com/2015/03/how...vel-to-sydney/
I know there's a lot of variables such as which airline, flight pricing, availability, transfer bonuses, etc, but what's the rough number I need to aim for? (I estimated I need about 120k-150k per seat, sound about right?)
edit: nevermind, I found this site. Hmm, looks like the variations are huge. Anyone with recent experiences you can share with me? I'll be combining mostly MR points with about 10k of UR points. https://thepointsguy.com/2015/03/how...vel-to-sydney/
Last edited by mdosu; Jun 26, 2017 at 6:36 pm
Jul 10, 2017, 4:53 pm
#688
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 512
Welcome to Flyertalk. I have appended your question to the established thread on this topic. Please read the Wikipost at the top of thread for a summary, including information about using Membership Rewards points to travel on flights operated by Alaska Airlines.
Which card do you have now? You can preserve your Membership Rewards balance at no cost by applying for an Everyday or Blue Business Plus card. See these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...day-cards.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-3-months.html
Which card do you have now? You can preserve your Membership Rewards balance at no cost by applying for an Everyday or Blue Business Plus card. See these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...day-cards.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-3-months.html
Are the same transfer travel partners available with the Everyday card?
The annual fee is due for my Plat and I don't think its going to make sense keeping it. The only thing that I like is the Executive status with National and Gold SPG, but I'm 100% sold that it is worth the AF. I make use of a Centurion Lounge maybe once a year and don't UBER.
I was going to try and figure out a partner to transfer all my MR points to (about 150k), but if the transfer partners are the same for the Everyday card.
Jul 10, 2017, 5:29 pm
#689
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958