Transferring miles among various programs?
 

Probably mentioned a few times here but here goes;

I have several miles in several programs. I'd like some feedback on what's my best options.

My programs are Aeroplan, Skymiles, Aadvantage and AE rewards miles.

I'm not sure AC is the best option anymore for travel. I've been flying Delta recently and as much as it's comfortable and nice service, their points structure is a bit of a shocker - on top of that, they'll be switching redemption amounts June 2014. I flew previously with AA because it was the cheapest in taxes / airport fees and I took advantage of some sweet bonuses in the past. Not amazingly comfortable in econo class. I just signed up for an AE card with some nice bonuses after a low spend. Anyone know where I should transfer to?

Should I leave them spread out like that? Consolidate somewhere? Swap from one program to an other?
(To use with partners?)

I often travel from YUL/BTV/PBG (ALB sometimes too) to Mainly FLL/MIA an at least once a year to France or Israel.

Much appreciated!

Phil

I don't think you can move miles from one program to another without losing much value. You can try points.com to see the transfer ratio and associated fees.

Probably the easiest option here is to accumulate enough in your balances to make a redemption that you want. Aeroplan is very easy to earn if you're living in Canada. Then make one of your program the primary ones.
If you have a lot of credit card spend consider using miles that are transferrable (like the AMEX SPG) so you hae a lot of flexibility.

AE in Canada has very crappy transfer partners and I would recommend against transferring to Delta as the ratio is only 1:0.75. The best is probably Aeroplan and Avios (which has a 50% ratio, so hold out for that). If you need any help with your miles feel free to send me an email (see my blog for that).

Unfortunately nearly all of the points.com transfer ratios suck.

You can't move miles from one program to another, and you would probably do best trying to accumulate miles as much as possible in a single program in the future. DL miles are notoriously hard to redeem, so DL would probably not be a good choice.

As far as your existing miles are concerned, AA permits OW redemptions for half the miles required for RT. If that's true of AC as well (I don't know AC's policies, but its partner UA is the same as AA in this respect), you may be able to draw on both programs to book the equivalent of a RT flight. It's not quite the same as transferring miles, but it is a way to apply miles from two programs to one trip.

Transferring miles among various programs?
 

Don't bother transferring, you'll end up with a crappy points balance (and that's if the trf works)
Just spend them all and then start flying one specific loyalty program

Thanks for the heads up!

There seems to be a 1:1 transfer ratio for amex to AP. maybe ill look into that.

There used to be a trick to transfer AP to AA via RBC/Esso, 10:9 ratio. Im not sure if thats still ongoing. But if it is, its not a huge loss.

Points.com is horrible at trades, plus u have to pay something out of pocket!

Ill keep looking around and apprexiate future pointers!

Phil

AFAIK it's not 1:0.9, more around 1:0.65/0.8 (with yearly 25% promo).

If your balances are at a point where they can be used and used up, you may want to begin crediting to Alaska - they partner with AA, DL, BA and others and are easy to search and redeem. They even have a 25K bonus on their credit card (annual fee not waived) https://www.applyonlinenow.com/CACCa...=CPYZ&lc=en_CA

NVM answered my own question. lol

But ya about this topic. I have never tried making transfers, but I feel like it's best to have miles/points in different programs that way you have many options.

I agree with you as long as you accumulate in different programs belonging to different alliances (for airlines); otherwise, it would be best to accumulate in one program.