bgriff

It is up to you but I would suggest separating the "what do we do with our MR points balance so we can close our accounts?" question and the "how do we plan our upcoming trip?" question in your thinking. It sounds like the airfare part of your upcoming trip can probably be covered with existing AA/BA balances, so the MR points probably won't help much there, and MR->hotel options are not such a good value.

So if you are going to close your MR account, the separate question would be, are poor values from hotel transfers still a better option for you than some other path, like transferring to BA with no particular plan for how you'd eventually use the miles, or transferring to something else entirely? (And keeping in mind that some of the hotel options, like transferring to Hilton, are arguably a worse use than just cashing out for non-travel gift cards, if you really just want to liquidate.)

Have you considered opening (or converting an existing card to) a no-annual-fee Everyday card to keep your MR balance alive indefinitely so you aren't forcing yourself to make a suboptimal use of the points now?

moretimeoffguy

Thanks for the suggestions and thoughts. Wife already has a no annual fee Amex EveryDay card we're going to hold indefinitely due to one sign-up bonus per lifetime policy. So, could we log on to her account and link the points? Might be a great option. Me, I'm trying to keep my apps per year low. Not for Chase 5/24 particularly (would take quite a while for me to get to 5/24). But less to manage, etc. Also, to be prepared to jump on any really stellar sign-up bonus offers. However, an Amex EveryDay card that I hold forever could help the average age of accounts, so something worth considering. In addition to it allowing me to hold on to my MR points and, like you say, avoid making a suboptimal decision now.

I generally try to make points decisions "With the End in Mind" (redemption-wise)--and advise others to do the same (especially newcomers); but this is a case where I haven't practicing what I preach. So I hear you on that. Got the two Premier Rewards Gold MR cards when the 50K offers were available, not really anticipating where I'd ultimately redeem.

Thought about transferring our MR points to AeroPlan, since nearly all our trips to Europe have been on United mileage plus miles, with Air Canada being the partner: typically RDU > YYZ > CDG or RDU > YYZ > FCO. We've loved our Air Canada flights, and they always have availability to Europe for the times we like to go (Sept and May). While we don't currently even have AeroPlan accounts, I see there are TD Bank America AeroPlan cards. Bonuses aren't terrific, but combined with our MR, thought it could be a good play. We love Europe. And while we don't have Europe currently as a target, it will eventually come back up. However, I saw that Amex charges some sort of fee to xfer MR to AeroPlan--a fee I thought was exorbitant at the time I checked. Don't like the idea of paying fees to transfer out of MR.

I'll reconsider the value of making MR non-travel GC redemptions. Historically, however, I've always seemed able to get the most redemption value from miles and points on travel itself.

Thanks again for helping me think this through; hasn't been easy in this case to consider disaggregating the two questions. Appreciate the assistance. My gut tells me, though, that I'd be more comfortable unloading my MR points via transfer.

Perhaps we could top off our BA and Hilton accounts, then make GC redemptions with the rest.

bgriff

I agree that miles and points are usually worth more than gift cards -- but I guess the takeaway is, if you are going to make a Hilton transfer that you feel is worth less than 1 cent per MR point (and I would agree), then you might as well get gift cards at ~1 cent per point to store(s) that you frequent and you would be better off. So that makes a useful minimum value to accept when considering other options.

Good luck thinking through your choices!

moretimeoffguy

Thanks bgriff. Leaning toward topping off / setting the expiration clock back on a few accounts (BA and Hilton), then using the rest on Hyatt Gift Cards--presuming the risk of fraud has subsided. Otherwise, will look for non-travel GCs. There's a thread on Hyatt GC fraud:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...gift-card.html

On the other hand, I have some Starwood SPG points (less than 10K) that I might use to top off accounts. Won't be acquiring any more SPG.

moretimeoffguy

Checked our balances and realized we both had close to 52K MR points each. So for now, we transferred 1K MR points each to our HHonors accounts. This set the expiration clock back 12 months and got us each 1.5K HHonors points.

For my wife only, we transferred 250 MR points to get 300 avios, setting her BA avios expiration clock back 36 months. I'd had some BA activity a few months ago, and so had no particular need to reset the expiration clock. BA has the most generous expiration period of any airline loyalty program I know of aside from Delta (no expiration at all). But we burned our remaining Delta SkyMiles for a trip to Hawaii this Fall.

So, still deciding on the best transfer, or deferment, for the remaining ~100K MR points for our particular situation.

moretimeoffguy

Took another look at MR Hotel GCs and see there's a Hilton one that can be used globally vs. the Hyatt GC's that can only be used in North America. The $500 ones are 53,572 MR points--don't have enough for that--while $200 Hilton GCs can be had for 21,429 each. So for 42,858 I could have $400 worth of Hilton bucks. Marriott is over the top, with a $500 Marriott GC costing 71,429 MR points. For hotels, I tend to favor high end Hyatts and Hiltons. I like the international reach of the Hilton GC vs. the Hyatt. Anyway, hope that's useful info to others out there contemplating what to redeem MR points on given the current MR > BA promo.

FlyAO2

Why would AMEX run this promo for BA and not Iberia?? You'd have to be a fool to transfer them to Iberia when you can take the promo to BA and then move to Iberia...nevermind that's how I do it anyway since BA goes instant and IB takes days

Big4Flyer

What are the chances if I apply for an AmEx Plat today and get approved, and can hit the minimum spend within a few days of getting the card, that I could get the points in time for the transfer bonus?

bgriff

Which bonus are you looking at? Are you taking into account the negative experiences described on this thread? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-plat-usa.html

In my experience if you are an established Amex customer and working with a "legit" or targeted sign-up bonus offer they are pretty generous about giving you the bonus quickly, in some cases as quickly as the day you achieve the spend bonus without needing to wait for the statement to close. But if you don't have any MR cards now they are much less generous and you at least have to wait until the first statement closes, and sometimes they hold back the points for a while longer, apparently to guard against the possibility of people making returns after getting and transferring the bonus points.

sciconf

Current ratio is
British Airways: 250 points = 200 Avios

Comparing with the redemption ratio on BA, what is worth?

I tried SAN to SFO/SJC - they want 12k Avios in Oct for a Tuesday via LAX.
When I tried SAN to SFO/SJC - they want 30k Avios in end of Sept for a Sunday travel as the economy is not available.

Do they have enough award seats?

Where is it worth redeeming - what travel?

Any other tips?

Mwenenzi

As BA does not fly those routes any flights will be on AA or AS. Needs AA or AS award space

cesco.g

deleted

mia

Award inventory is controlled by the airlines operating the flights. In the case of AA you must find MileSAAver seats. (AAnytime inventory is only available when redeeming AAdvanatage miles.)

Biddle

Amex now has a 50% extra bonus when you transfer MR points to Avios. It used to be 5 MR to 4 Avios, now it is 1 MR to 1.2 Avios.^

sciconf

My spouses a/c has 140k MR points.
We four of us plans to go to Frankfurt from SFO, possibly stopover (will they allow it) in UK perhaps on the return journey to avoid surcharge.

Will there be award seats available on economy - when should I expect to travel - kids go to school?

https://wandr.me/avios-calculator/ tells me 29.5k one way via LHR - will there be a surcharge?

How many MR points should we move - it would be an economy travel? Someone else posted BA allows family a/c- how do I do this?