Transfer MR into someone else's FF account?
 

Surprised I couldn't find the answer in a a search. I'm of the impression one can do a transfer of MR points into any FF account they choose and that names of the account's needn't match. True or false?

I was able to do that a number of years ago but tried about 6 months ago and wasn't able to. I don't think you can do it now.

You can do it
 

You can do it. There is no need for name match nor address nor anything of that sort. I have done it myself to two different accounts in the last month, in most cases the transfer is instant.

I seems to be important to do this online. Do not speak to anyone at American Express or the receiving program.

Go to: http://membershiprewards.com

LOGIN

Link the recipient's airline or hotel account.
If there is going to be a problem it should be evident at this stage. Do not be concerned if it takes a few days for the link to be confirmed.

Transfer points

I did this recently and you can do it. You have to call though and make sure you have the recipient's MR account # to do this. The transfer is instant.

The Membership Rewards rules indicate that you can only transfer points to an account of someone who is the card holder or an additional cardholder. Based on anecdotal evidence as of late here on Flyertalk there seems to be limited enforcement of this rule at best.

I just did it today. Seems like the online transferring is working without glitches now, though I've also done it on the phone several times. Never been questioned. Makes MRs worth a lot for me.

I've been doing this for quite some time, but only with a handful of FF programs.

Are there any programs where this doesn't work? That is, where you link an account but a transfer gets rejected?

And is there a list anywhere of which partners are 'live' with Amex (points transfer instantly) versus which ones still take a few days?

CO, DL and VS are immediate, even from another's MR account to my airline account. NH take about 2 days. These are my own experiences, that I have seen confirmed elsewhere.

On a related note; is it possible ot transfer MR points from person to another? Or SPG points from one person to another?

Folks with additional cards on the same account can share access to a MR account. There isn't AFAIK a transfer mechanism from one unrelated MR account to another.

SPG points can be transferred, though -- between any two accounts that display the same residential mailing address, it just takes a phone call (and knowledge of the trasferring account's password).

SQ also takes ~ 2 days, from one person's MR account to another's SQ account.

Just tried this with the wife and son's accounts.
Waiting on the linking right now...and then will try to top them off using the 25K MR points from the Amex Gold deal.

Thanks gleff.

do you need to change the address also? like spg?