How Long Do Amex Membership Rewards Points Transfers Take?

I was thinking of joining AMEX, I live in Sydney and have found Qantas reward availability to be so tough to secure. Of the airlines that are transfer partners, are any pretty good with releasing reward space? The only thing I can usually use my Qantas points for is upgrades, would be great to use the points to just get a J class ticket outright if possible.

Ben, what about bonus points? When there are promos are bonus points transferred at the same time as the base points? The reason I’m asking is I once had base points take 3 days longer than the base points I transferred from chase to British Airways.

@ Sonofdad -- In my experience the transfer bonuses post at the same time, assuming the bonus is being offered on Amex's end rather than the partner's end. Your experience sounds out of the ordinary to me, though sometimes there are some quirks with these transfers.

@ JK -- Keep in mind these transfer partners are for Amex Membership Rewards in the US, and Australia has somewhat different partners. There are definitely lots of great partners where you can outright redeem for business class. Below is my guide to the best uses of Amex points.
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/redeem-amex-membership-rewards-points/

Thanks!

Is the Aeroplan conversion correct?

Ben, Thanks for the response! I’m curious, is there a way to know in advance if the bonus posts on the credit card companies end versus the partners end in advance?

Regarding my example both Chase and BA were claiming that the other party was responsible for bonus points.

@ Parnel -- It's 1,000:1,000. If you're viewing it on mobile, maybe you're interpreting it at as 1,000:1,600, which is actually the Aeromexico transfer ratio? Sorry for the confusion.

@ Sonofdad -- That's a great question. So when it's offered on the part of the credit card partner (meaning you see it on Amex's site, for example), the intention has always been that it posts at the same time as the initial transfer, in my experience (since Amex is sending over the total amount, including the bonus).

Sometimes there are just unexplainable quirks that delay transfers, which I think is the only way to make sense of what happened in your case. For example, sometimes if two transfers are submitted to the same partner on the same day, the second one gets rejected.

Unfortunately there's no way to know with 100% certainty in advance. Since the terms officially state that transfers can take multiple days, you also typically won't get any help until after that timeline passes.

Sorry I don't have a clearer answer.

Thanks so much for the responses and your answers helps tremendously. You’re the best and I appreciate what you do.

Hey Ben not sure if others had the same experience but my last two AeroMéxico point transfers from Amex MR have been instant.

I just transferred AMEX points to KrisFlyer account two days ago and it took less than two hours. I managed to book an award seat immediately. Now I am waiting for Chase transfer to go thorough before the seat disappears. KrisFlyer no longer allows putting award seats on hold. Chase no longer allows you DIY to transfer points to its partners loyalty programs so you must call in. Last year, it took Chase seven days to transfer points to KrisFlyer and I had to call KrisFlyer every other day, after three days, to beg them not to cancel it. Luckily, I managed to book two tickets on hold but never used them as plans changed. Now I must liquidate those points before they expire in 12/25-- valid for three years only. I plan to start visiting Africa in 2025 so hoping you will also focus on flying in Africa and solicit your global readers for inputs about African destinations (cities and local tour agencies).

Just throwing in my data points....In 2023, I did a few AMEX to Aeromexico transfers and they were all immediate.

Not just the US but also Canada. Have done transfers to BA Executive Club and Air France-KLM Flying Blue in the last month and both were instantaneous transfers.

Does anyone have any information on the continued relationship between American Express and Hawaiian Airlines after the proposed merger with Alaska? I have been waiting to transfer points from Membership Rewards into Hawaiian Airline miles as they usually have a bonus in January, but so far nothing. I asked MR about any upcoming promos and they said they were not aware of any. Since Alaska is not a transfer partner with American Express, is it possible we would not be able to transfer MR to Hawaiian in the future?

@Ben, I would also love your thoughts on Suzanne's question. At the very least, if the DOJ does not block the merger by Feb. 7, transferring Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines sounds like a backdoor way to get Alaska miles once the merger is complete, based on many precedents of merged airlines merging frequent flyer accounts, usually done on a 1:1 basis.

Your 2-3 days Avianca scared me. I’d consider updating as it seems instant transfer is the way of them now.

I just did a transfer from Amex to Avianca and it was truly instant. I was nervous about all I had read and I had an Avianca account that was open for years with zero activity but everything was seamless. 2024 January data point. Moved 85,000 Amex points to Avianca to redeem for LH from NY to FRA to MUC in LH First Class vs. 121,000 United miles.

I am doing my first transfer to air canada. It seems it is not instant. Really eager to receive the points to book the business flights I found. Will the first time take longer? Also haven't received any emails yet.

I’m surprised no one has covered this story yet…Amex had a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic that ended May 31.

I screenshotted and confirmed the time on May 31.

Still haven’t received my bonus. Amex said they had a technical error and that it is not worked out yet. I have been chatting with them every week since then & still getting the same answer.

I’m so mad because they should honor it but they’re giving me the run around

Hawaiian HawaiianMiles is not instant.