In early August, the Amex Membership Rewards program in the United States rolled out a lucrative new transfer bonus. I wanted to post a reminder of this, as it will be expiring shortly, and I imagine many people will be interested in taking advantage of this, if they haven’t already.
In this post:
30% transfer bonus from Amex to Avios
Through Monday, September 30, 2024, the US Amex Membership Rewards program is offering a 30% bonus when you transfer points to British Airways Executive Club.
The same transfer bonus is also being offered to Aer Lingus AerClub and Iberia Plus. Keep in mind that you can transfer Avios between the various “flavors” online at no cost, so this is also a way to acquire Avios with Finnair Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
Points ordinarily transfer at a 1:1 ratio, so during this promotion they transfer at a 1:1.3 ratio. Since the bonus is hardcoded into the transfer ratio, you can take advantage of this promotion multiple times. Transfers between the programs are generally instant.
- 4x points at restaurants, on up to $50,000 in purchases annually
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $325
- Access to Amex Offers
- Redeem Amex Points Towards Airfare
- $375
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or more in a single transaction on up to $2MM per calendar year
- Redeem Points For Over 1.5 Cents Each Towards Airfare
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
For what it’s worth, we haven’t seen such a transfer bonus in over a year, so it’s nice to see it return.
Is acquiring Avios with a 30% bonus worth it?
I think there’s huge value to be had in taking advantage of a 30% bonus on points transfers from Membership Rewards to Avios. That’s not because of any one particular redemption opportunity, but rather because of the collective value of the Avios ecosystem.
Back in the day, the best uses of British Airways Avios were for short haul travel on partner airlines, including on Alaska and American. Unfortunately those redemption opportunities have been devalued horribly.
However, lots of great new options using Avios have emerged. For example, I love how Qatar Airways Privilege Club is now an Avios airline, as this opens up some great opportunities:
- Qatar Airways has one of the world’s best business class products, and the airline makes a vast majority of business class award space available only to those redeeming Avios
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club has some unique partner redemption opportunities, like being able to fly JetBlue Mint across the Atlantic for 78,000 Avios (so with a 30% bonus, that would be just 60,000 Amex points)
Anyway, there’s a ton of potential value here, so see my guides to maximizing Avios with British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus Aer Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, and Finnair Plus.
There are lots of ways to earn Avios
While a 30% bonus on transfers from Amex to British Airways is a good deal, I just want to point out the other ways to earn British Airways Avios. British Airways Executive Club partners with multiple transferable points currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
On top of that, there are three credit cards issued in the US that earn Avios:
- Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card (review)
- British Airways Visa Signature® Card (review)
- Iberia Visa Signature® Card (review)
Lastly, British Airways Executive Club often sells Avios with a bonus.
Bottom line
At the moment, the US Amex Membership Rewards program is offering a 30% bonus on points transfers to British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub. This is the first time in over a year that we’ve seen such a transfer bonus.
While British Airways Executive Club isn’t as useful for partner redemptions as it used to be, I still think this could be worth a speculative transfer. There are five different Avios currencies that are all valuable in their own way, so this opens up a lot of redemption opportunities, including on Qatar Airways.
Do you plan on converting Amex points into Avios with this bonus?
I have the least trust for Avios of any points "currency". Its like a bad crypto... I don't trust IAG at all. Either with direct devaluation, or with even greater surcharges.
2025 will be the 5th time we've flown to Europe x 34k points lie flat IB biz...impossible to beat. And we love both the hard & soft products. I've done the 30% spec transfer for 2026. We'll see if it was a wise move
Lucky: I'm just looking at a JetBlue Mint redemption JFK-LHR on QR website. It is indeed 78,000 but "taxes" are a whopping $843.10... This is pretty insane.
@ Voian -- I just pulled up redemptions from JFK and BOS to LHR and CDG and still see taxes of $10.10. What date were you looking at, so I can investigate?
It's Dec 14, 8:40am flight JFK-LHR. But what's crazy is that the app is showing me $10.10 in taxes, where QR's website is showing $843 for the same flight...
FWIW checked BA flights on that day, both the QR app and website show identical taxes, $1,032. It's only B6 that has this discrepancy.
Also, on a related note, B6 award tickets do not have any luggage allowance. Learned that the hard way when I...
It's Dec 14, 8:40am flight JFK-LHR. But what's crazy is that the app is showing me $10.10 in taxes, where QR's website is showing $843 for the same flight...
FWIW checked BA flights on that day, both the QR app and website show identical taxes, $1,032. It's only B6 that has this discrepancy.
Also, on a related note, B6 award tickets do not have any luggage allowance. Learned that the hard way when I redeemed EK miles for B6 and that was one of the few times I actually had plenty of luggage...
Typical pattern, devalue 50% and give a 30% transfer bonus. Not today, Satan.
Question: Does purchasing business comfort or higher on Qatar using Avios reduce any of the business benefits such as lounge?
No, regular lounge access on QR flights booked with miles.
Come on, Capital One version of this...!
Capital One is like...."what's a 'transfer bonus???'" lolz. Be nice if they did one for wyndham this winter...id even open up a VX biz or savor one if they show they actually want to participate.
Truly stopped myself from booking an avios flight yesterday to see if any of the credit card systems launched a transfer bonus today. So glad I waited
Contemplating if 130k qatar avios (now obtainable with 100k amex) is worth it for a business class award seat later this month from India to Ireland (I already obtained two partner award seats on same itinerary using 42.5k aadvantage miles each and qatar never opens more than 2 business awards to partners and I'm in need of a 3rd seat available only from Qatar directly for 130k)
Cash price for my one way routing if buy directly is about 3k
I will definitely be doing this. My BA balance is dwindling and needs a serious refresh.