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Reposting this deal as it ends Monday (10/10).  If you hadn’t seen this, or meant to transfer and forgot, you have a few days left

American Express is like Citi ThankYou points and Chase Ultimate Rewards in being called a “convertible” currency.  The reason for that is that one of the most valuable uses of those points is that you can transfer them to a variety of airline, hotel and other travel partners.

I’ve transferred American Express Membership Rewards points to Air Canada to get around the close-in booking fee that United charges.

American Express frequently runs transfer bonuses to its transfer partners, and there is currently a 50% bonus from American Express to British Airways

American Express 50% transfer to British Airways

I learned from Doctor of Credit that American Express is offering a 50% bonus if you transfer your Membership Rewards to British Airways.  You can transfer your Membership Rewards here on the Amex site (you’ll have to log in, of course).

amex-british-airways-transfer-bonus

Why British Airways Avios are good miles to have (even if you never leave the USA)

When I first started out in the miles and points world, I only focused on the US airlines since I was planning on domestic travel.  What I didn’t realize is that because of airline alliances

When I did my first ever trip with miles and points (from Cincinnati to Miami), I used 20,000 US Airways miles to fly roundtrip via Charlotte

cvg-clt-fll

But if I had realized it, I could have used only 15,000 British Airways Avios to fly on the direct American Airlines flight to Miami, saving miles AND time.

It used to be that any flights under 650 flown miles cost 4500 Avios, but that has gone away in North America.  It’s still 4500 Avios for those shorter flights in other countries, but if the origin or destination is in the United States, it’s a minimum of 7500 Avios (which is still often a pretty good deal)

Is it worth transferring to Avios?

The bummer about this 50% bonus transferring to Avios is that late last year, Amex devalued their transfer to British Airways.  So where it used to be 1:1, now you have to transfer 250 Membership Rewards to get only 200 Avios.  With the 50% bonus, you’ll get 300 Avios (or a 20% increase of your MRs)

Still, while it stings that this 50% bonus really feels like only a 20% increase, this is probably the best you’re going to get now, so if you want to get a bonus on your British Airways Avios, I’d recommend transferring now.  The transfer bonus ends October 10th.


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