Should I transfer MR (Canada) to Avios?
 

I'm trying to decide if transferring Amex MR (Canada) to Avios is a good idea in my case. I have about 275k MR.

In the past I always transferred to Aeroplan, but with their uncertain future I want to look at other options.

The reason I'm considering this now is the SPG/Marriott merger. If I want to transfer my MR to SPG I want to do it before the end of July. I've read speculation that the current 2:1 (Canada) transfer rate could go to 3:1 as of Aug 1. MR airline transfer partners in Canada are pretty limited but if Avios looks like a good option for me I'll hold off on a SPG transfer.

I have a B.A. Avios account but am currently in Asia and could not log in. I got a "unusual traffic" message and my i.p. seems to be blocked. I sent an email to "brightcloud", whoever they are, no idea if it will get unblocked. I mention this because I'm unable to check on options through the site. I've never had many Avios points and only used them for a couple of short haul N.A. redemptions. I know fuel surcharges flying on B.A. are high. That doesn't work for me, but I'm curious about partner redemptions.

Most of my travel would be from YUL/YOW/YYZ to BKK in C. I have used Alaskan points for BKK - YYZ on CX once and it was great. But Alaskan isn't a transfer option, unless I go through SPG. I know CX is a B.A. partner, generally speaking how is availability and what are the surcharges like? Are there other good options for my route? How many points for one way/return in C? Is a one-way typically 1/2 the points? I ask this because I normally book one-way with Aeroplan since I can jump on flights when they are released.

Thanks in advance!

there was a 25% transfer bonus from MR to Avios last year (2017) from September 11 to November 12. If i weren't in a rush, i might wait to see if that happens again.

Except for distance-based, multi-partner awards, BA charges for each flight flown. I don't recall whether YYZ-HKG was "grandfathered" when BAEC abandoned its zone-based award system, so Business Class on that route will either be 105K Avios or 150K Avios, one way. Add an additional 15K miles for HKG-BKK in Business. Plus whatever carrier-imposed surcharges CX has on those routes. Overall, pretty poor value for YYZ-BKK in Business.

Thanks for the replies.

They unblocked my ip so I was able to log into my avios account. It is 120k one way in J from YYZ - BKK plus about $240 in taxes with CX. I agree, not great value at all. I also see it's 81,250 plus about $207 for PE one way.

Since I have about 13k avios, and about 27k avion points I will probably wait for a transfer promo and move the avion to avios. I'll then see if there's another amex transfer promo and move enough amex for a one way - probably just in PE since it looks pretty decent on CX. But I won't move the bulk of my points to avios!

That leaves 1 to .75 to move my MR to Delta or Asia Miles or ultimately about 1 to .625 to move them through SPG to another FFP. I'll probably park most of them in SPG till I figure out what to do. Asia Miles doesn't look like great value and Delta seems really convoluted - though it might be worth putting enough there for a one-way if I can make more sense of it. I'll do some more research on Delta.